Conceptual Metaphor in Translation

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Farzaneh Farahzad 1
Gaseme Vadipoor 2
1 Faculty member of Allame Tabatabai University
2 MA graduate of Translation studied, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch
Abstract
The present paper employ a cognitive approach to metaphor launched by Lakoff and Johnson’s influential book, Metaphors We Live By, and adopts the cognitive translation hypothesis proposed by Kovecses (2005). The corpus of the study includes two collections of documentary films entitled Planet Earth and Elegant Universe, altogether nine hundred minutes, translated by Iran Market Center and Mehr & Sepehr Software Co. respectively. The reasons behind choosing these documentaries are first, similarity of genre (i.e. documentary) and second, diversity of the context under study. The study first identified different instances of conceptual metaphors in English and Persian texts. Then it examined similarities and differences of the conceptual mappings based on comparative literature and explored the translation strategies underlying them and illustrated what a cognitive approach could offer to the description of metaphor in translation. The results obtained from the comparison of linguistic and cultural peculiarities of the metaphorical expressions between the two languages revealed that similarities in metaphorical expressions increase translatability, while differences hinder the translation process.

Keywords

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Pazand Quarterly
Volume 6, 22-23 - Serial Number 22
Special issue: cognitive linguistics
Autumn 2010
Pages 3-18