4. How Are Metaphors Translated? 

The above methods, envisaged as guidelines for the translation students 
as well as the practical translators, are quite exhaustive of rendering 
the metaphor. Which of the methods of translation are actually domesticating 
and which ones foreignizing? In the following section I will cite some 
examples of metaphor translation from two translation textbooks, two dictionaries 
and two articles as the source for the analysis. 

4.1 Examples 

Examples are cited from: (1) E-C Translation Coursebook (1980) by Zhang 
Peiji (张培基) et al., (2) A Practical Coursebook in Translation Between 
English and Chinese (1996, revised edition) by Guo Zhuzhang (郭著章) et 
al., (3) The English-Chinese Dictionary (1993,Unabridged) by Lu Gusun (陆谷孙，chief 
editor), (4) Longman English-Chinese Dictionary of English Idioms (1995) 
by Li Yinhua (李荫华) et al. (revisers of translation), (5) "Free translation, 
literal translation and word-for-word translation" (1981) by Feng Shize 
(冯世则), and (6) "Pragmatics and translation" (1994) by He Ziran (何自然). 

Example 1 

But I hated Sakamoto, and I had a feeling he’d surely lead us both to our 
ancestors. 

但是我恨阪本，并预感到他肯定会领着咱们去见祖先。 (Zhang，1980: 12)。 

(My back translation: But I ... he’d surely lead us to see our ancestors.) 

Example 2 

Hitler was armed to the teeth when he launched the Second World War, but 
in a few years, he  

was completely defeated.  

希特勒在发动第二次世界大战时是武装到牙齿的，可是不到几年，就被彻底击败了。 

(Zhang，1980: 13) (Back translation: Hitler was armed to the teeth ...) 

Example 3 

He walked at the head of the funeral procession, and every now and then 
wiped away his  

crocodile tears with a big handkerchief. 

他走在送葬队伍的前头，还不时用一条大手绢抹去他那鳄鱼的眼泪。 (Feng , 1981) 

(Back translation: He walked ... his crocodile tears ...) 

Example 4 

Among the blind the one-eyed man is king.  

山中没老虎，猴子称霸王。(Guo & Li, 1996: 183) 

(My back translation: The monkey reigns in the mountains when there is 
no tiger there.) 

Example 5 

Talk/Speak of the devil (and he will appear). 

说到曹操，曹操就到。(Lu, 1993: 463) 

(My back translation: Talk of Caocao, and he will appear.) 

Example 6 

Peter does annoy me, coming around here all the time. Oh, talk of the devil! 
That’s probably  

him at the door now. 

彼得真令我讨厌，老是到这儿来。哦，说鬼鬼到！在门口的可能就是他。(Li , 1995: 
118) 

(My back translation: ... Oh, speak of the devil, and he will appear.) 

Example 7 

One boy is a boy, two boys half a boy, three boys no boy. 

一个和尚挑水吃，两个和尚抬水吃，三个和尚没水吃。 (Zhang, 162) 

(My back translation: One Buddhist monk carries water for himself, two 
monks carry water  

together, three monks have no water to drink.) 

Example 8 

Every family is said to have at least one skeleton in the cupboard. 

据说家家户户至少也有一桩家丑。(Feng, 1981) 

(My back translation: Every family is said to ... family scandal.) 

Example 9 

A skeleton in the cupboard/ closet 

衣柜里的骷髅, 见不得人的事儿 (He, 1994) 

(My back translation: a skeleton in the closet, something not fit to be 
seen)  

Example 10 

To carry coals to Newcastle 

运煤到纽卡索，多此一举。 

注："纽卡索" 是英国的一个产煤中心地，运煤到此是多余的事。 (Zhang, 1980:163-4) 

(My back translation: To carry coals to Newcastle, making an unnecessary 
move) 

Example 11 

The teenagers don’t invite Bob to their parties because he is a wet blanket. 

青少年们不邀请鲍勃参加他们的聚会因为他是一个令人扫兴的人。(Zhang, 1980: 
162) 

(My back translation: The ... because he is a disappointment.) 

Example 12 

She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth; she thinks she can do what 
she likes. 

她生长在富贵之家，认为凡事都可以随心所欲。 (Zhang, 1980: 163) 

(My back translation: She was born in a wealthy family....) 

Example 13 

He who keeps company wtih the wolf will learn to howl" 

近朱者赤，近墨者黑。 (Guo, 1996: 183) 

(My back translation: He who touches vermillion will be reddened, and he 
who deals with  

ink will be blackened.) 

Example 14 

Great men are not always wise. 

人有失手日，马有失蹄时。(Guo, 1996: 182-3) 

(My back translation: Men will make mistakes, horses all stumble.) 

4.2 Analysis 

The analysis is based on the following five common translation methods: 
(1) Literal translation (retaining the same image in the target language); 
(2) Replacing the SL image with a standard TL image; (3) Literal translation 
plus sense and explanation; (4) Converting the metaphor to meaning; (5) 
Using Chinese couplets to replace the English metaphor. 

Metaphors in examples 1, 2, 3 and 6 are translated literally. The aim of 
literal translation is to retain the national or local colour, the original 
images as well as the foreign expressions so as to enrich the target language 
. (Zhang, 1980: 161). "To his ancestors" (Example 1) "去见祖先" , is a 
euphemism for "to die". This expression is vivid and easy for the ordinary 
Chinese reader to understand. "Armed to the teeth" (Example 2) "武装到牙齿" 
sounds a bit exaggerating but very impressive. The image of a person armed 
to the teeth is so picturesque that it is hard for the target language 
reader to forget. This literal translation has been widely accepted since 
New China was established.  

"A more common procedure for translating metaphors is to replace the SL 
image with another established TL image, if one exists that is equally 
frequent within the register" (Newmark, 1988: 109). The proverbs in examples 
4,5, and 7, are all adapted into Chinese versions, replacing the SL images 
with TL images which are familiar to the Chinese reader. These Chinese 
images are widely different from but similar in sense to the original ones 
. Perhaps it is all right to render the proverb in example 4 "among the 
blind the one-eyed man is king" literally into "盲人之中单眼汉为王", because 
the meaning as well as the image is clear. But the proverb "One boy is 
a boy, two boys half a boy, three boys no boy" is a concept rather than 
an image, if it is translated literally, it would be wordy and may not 
be able to impress the Chinese reader as strongly as the converted version. 

There has been some arguments about the translation of the metaphorical 
saying "Talking of the devil, and he will appear". Some (Zhang, 1980; Lu, 
1993) believe that it is acceptable to convert it into "说到曹操，曹操就到" 
because this figurative expression is known to all, while others (Guo, 
1996; Li, 1995) think that Caocao is a national figure in the Chinese history 
who represents certain features of the Chinese culture. If the original 
text is about western culture and western people, it would be inappropriate 
to bring CaoCao into the scene. Perhaps that is why Li and his colleagues 
decided to translate it literally into "说鬼鬼到" ( Example 6).  

The translation method applied to metaphors in examples 8, 11 and 12 is 
"free translation" (the usual Chinese term) or in Newmark’s words, converting 
the metaphor to sense. To the Chinese reader, the image of "a skeleton 
in the cupboard", may mean ugly, horrible and frightening; "a wet blanket" 
is merely a blanket which is soaked with water, and "a silver spoon" is 
just a spoon different from a china spoon. They may not be able to understand 
the referential meanings these images carry in the metaphors. Most probably 
for this reason the metaphors are all converted to sense, to more general 
expressions, "family scandal" (家丑) , "a disappointment" (令人扫兴的人) 
and "a wealthy family"(富贵之家) which are abstract concepts rather than 
concrete images. Snell Hornby is right in saying that "as an abstract concept, 
metaphor might be universal; in its concrete realization however, being 
closely linked with sensuous perception and culture-bound value judgments, 
it is undoubtedly complicated by language-specific idiosyncrasies" (1988: 
62-3). 

The metaphor in Example 9 is the same as that in Example 8, but is treated 
differently. Actually, there has been some arguments about the translation 
of this metaphorical phrase. In an article written in 1981, Feng Shize 
says that if the English idiom "skeleton in the cupboard" is translated 
literally into "衣柜里的骷髅", the Chinese reader might not understand 
what it means, so he suggested to render it to sense. In another article 
written later in the same year, Xu Shigu (徐世谷) does not subscribe to 
Feng’s opinion. He argues that if the first translator of the metaphor 
"the crocodile’s tears" thought in the same way as Feng, the Chinese reader 
would not have been able to understand the image, neither could the expression 
be able to get into the Chinese vocabulary. Xu proposed translating it 
literally plus meaning or explanation. But it took a long time for people 
to accept the "skeleton" image:. In the English-Chinese Dictionary (unabridged) 
, the standard dictionary of this kind in China, the translation of the 
metaphor is nearly the same as Feng’s. It was not until 1992 had the "the 
skeleton" image been directly brought into the Chinese culture, although 
with a brief interpretation to reveal its implied meaning (see Example 
9).  

The translation of "To carry coals to Newcastle" indicates another common 
problem. Zhang and his colleagues translate this metaphor literally into 
"运煤到纽卡?quot; and then add the referential meaning "多此一举" (making 
an unnecessary move). Still they assume that it can not be understood completely 
because the reader may not know what "Newcastle" means, so they suggest 
making a note to identify this place rich in coal. 

In the last two examples, we see that "He who keeps company with the wolf 
will learn to howl" is turned into "近朱者赤，近墨者黑" (He who touches 
vermilion will be reddened, and he who deals with ink will be blackened); 
"Great men are not always wise" becomes "人有失手日，马有失蹄时" (Men will 
make mistakes, horses all stumble). There is a change of image and references 
in both translations. Antithetical couplets are a special feature in the 
Chinese culture. When the Chinese couplets are used to render the English 
proverbs, the translated version often bring in more images than the original 
although the philosophy of the proverb remains the same. 

5. Findings and implications 

Are SL culture specific expressions replaced purely and simply or are they 
more often than not retained in Chinese translations? My investigation 
shows neither. From the above examples of metaphor translation and analysis, 
we can see that methods 1 and 3 ( literal translation; literal translation 
plus sense and explanation) are practiced with the concept of foreignization. 
The translator "deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something 
of the foreigness of the original" (Shuttleworth &Cowie, 1997:59). The 
translator’s choice, in Venuti’s words, is an ethno-deviant pressure on 
target language values "to register the linguistic and cultural difference 
of the foreign text, sending the reader abroad" (1993: 20). 

Methods 2, 4 and 5 (Replacing the SL image with a standard TL image; Converting 
the metaphor to meaning; using Chinese couplets to replace the English 
metaphor.) are domesticating strategies, in which "a transparent, fluent 
style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text 
for target language readers" (Shuttleworth &Cowie, 1997:59). 

Then what makes the translator decide on the domesticating or foreignizing 
strategy? My research shows that  

(1) When the basic metaphorical concepts of SL and TL communities correspond, 
as in "to our ancestors" and "armed to teeth", the original image or flavour 
is most likely to be retained.  

(2) When they come cross SL historical, geographical or folk heritage in 
cultural-specific metaphors as such "to carry coals to Newcastle" and "a 
skeleton in the cupboard/closet", the Chinese translator would try very 
hard to find suitable solutions for them. The best solution so far is to 
retain the original image or cultural -specific features with the support 
of interpretations so that the implications of the story generally accepted 
by members of the culture eventually get cross to the TL reader. 

(3) The TL reader’s response is still a significant criterion and the main 
consideration in metaphor translation. When the associations of an image 
in the SL is lacking in the TL, for  

instance, "to be born with a silver in one’s mouth", "a wet blanket", the 
translator tends to adapt the metaphor into idiomatic target language expressions. 

(4) When translating the English metaphor, particularly those embedded 
in proverbs, such as "He who keeps company with the wolf will learn to 
howl" and "Great men are not always wise", the Chinese translator, more 
often than not, seeks for an equivalent expression (e.g. a Chinese couplet) 
to replace the original, although the equivalence is sometimes far from 
accurate

 

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