Metaphor translation : a cognitive re-visit of the results of an empirical research

الملخص EN

Metaphor translation has continually been a concern for translation studies, where various metaphor translation procedures were suggested.

From a cognitive approach perspective, however, the metaphor translation concern has yielded different models that tackled a deeper level of the metaphor as a conceptual device.

The present research paper -providing a cognitive analysis of the results of an empirical research on metaphor translation, from a linguistic approach perspective -sets to answer the following question: what can a cognitive analysis of metaphor translation add to the linguistic analysis? The previous empirical research studied the translation strategies employed by forty eight second and third year students of translation to translate metaphors and the correspondence of these strategies to Newmark's (1982) order of preference of metaphor translation.

Inspired by cognitive models for metaphor translation between English and Arabic, this study proposes a three– step cognitive model to analyze metaphors and their translations.

The cognitive analysis of the results shows that metaphors translated with 'reproduction of the same image' are metaphors which have similar mapping conditions (SMC) and 'potential' similar mapping conditions (PSMC) with their TL counterparts.

On the other hand, metaphors that were translated with 'replacement with an equivalent image' or with 'sense' have different mapping conditions (DMC) with their TL counterparts or macro-level similar mapping conditions (MLSMC).

Another important insight of the research is the unveiling of ways in which the cultural aspect impacts the conceptual mapping.