Abstract

With the increasingly frequent cross-cultural communication, translation studies have turned from purely linguistic to cultural-related, and translation is widely regarded as cultural behavior. Metaphor shows the genius of human language and culture. Its translation should be paid more attention to. As metaphor has an intimate relationship to culture, it would be difficult for readers to understand the actual meaning and cultural intention of the source language if the cultural background is not understood and appropriately translated. Therefore the study of metaphor translation from cultural perspective could help the translator convey the original information more accurately, especially its cultural information and intention. Fortress Besieged is written by Ch’ien Chunshu in the 1940s, and is widely considered one of the masterpieces of Chinese literature in the twentieth century. The success of Fortress Besieged lies a great deal on its humorous language and numerous metaphors. Through the research and analysis of the metaphors in Fortress Besieged and its English translation, the author aims to discuss metaphor translation from cultural perspective. Foreignization and Domestication as well as Newmark’s approach to metaphor translation are introduced to evaluate the metaphor translation in Fortress Besieged.

Keywords: metaphor translation; Fortress Besieged; culture; foreignization and domestication

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature Review-1

2.1 On Translation from cultural perspective-1

2.2 Metaphor-2

2.2.1 Definition of metaphor-2

2.2.2 Development of metaphorical studies-2

3. Metaphors in Fortress Besieged-3

3.1 An introduction to Fortress Besieged-3

3.2 Features of metaphors in Fortress Besieged-4

3.2.1 The consistency of language style and metaphor use-4

3.2.2 Outstanding associative ability-4

3.2.3 The use of proverbs in metaphors.-5

3.3 Classification of metaphors in Fortress Besieged-5

3.3.1 Metaphors in name-5

3.3.2 Metaphors in portraying people-5

3.3.3 Metaphors in describing things-6

4. Analysis of metaphor translation in Fortress Besieged from the cultural perspective-6

4.1 Approaches to metaphor translation from cultural perspective-6

4.1.1 Foreignization and domestication-6

4.1.2 Newmark’s approach to metaphor translation-7

4.2 Analysis of translation of different types of metaphors in Fortress Besieged-7

4.2.1 Translation of metaphors in name-7

4.2.2 Translation of metaphors in portraying people-8

4.2.3 Translation of metaphors in describing things-9

5. Conclusions-10

5.1 Summaries of the major results of the study-10

5.2 Significance and implications of the study-10

References-11