Metaphors we translate by : the influence of conceptual metaphor in translation studies

Abstract EN

Metaphors are pervasive in our lives.

They are not merely the traditional linguistic devices used to express similarities, but conceptual tools used to understand abstract concepts and experiences in terms of richly concrete ones.

Translation, a complex concept as it is, has long been understood by the use of conceptual metaphor.

This, of course, has resulted in many entailments both positive and misleading, which influenced the theory of translation.

This paper looks at one major metaphor of translation, namely the Transfer-Metaphor.

This metaphor entails that meanings are transferred from the source language to the target language, and those meanings should be housed in equivalent containers.

It also entails that some source-text elements can be either lost or untransferable in the process of transfer.

Therefore, this loss should be compensated for.

An analysis of these entailments is provided with a special reference to their existence in translation studies discourse, and in actual translation theories between 1959 and 1977.

It is not the aim of this study to accuse translation theory of using metaphors.

In fact, conceptual metaphors are essential to enrich our understanding of such a complex activity as translation.

However, the entailments of conceptual metaphors should be questioned and tested by logic.