Abstract

Metaphor, which exists extensively in our daily life, is not merely a linguistic phenomenon but also a significant thinking mode for people to learn the world. Meanwhile, metaphor is also used in a large number of literary works to achieve special expressive and aesthetic effect. Metaphor and translation share many common grounds since metaphor is a way of thinking while translation is the thinking activity of human beings. However, metaphor has different meanings in different cultures so it inevitably brings some difficulties in literary translation.

Since its proposal, Nida’s Dynamic Equivalence Theory has caused a big stir in the translation field both at home and abroad. It calls for the same effect of the translation on target-text readers as that on original readers, putting great emphasis on the agreement between target language and source language. It is widely acknowledged that Dynamic Equivalence Theory plays a guiding role in translation practice.

This paper, taking Fortress Besieged as an example, aims at analyzing different metaphor translation methods used in the novel from Nida’s Dynamic Equivalence Theory. There are mainly two purposes: firstly, to arose more interest of Chinese and overseas scholars in the novel and its English translation in the hope that more English versions can be published; secondly, to find out some practical and useful ways to deal with metaphor translation in literary works so that people can understand them further and better. Only in this way can we bring our ample and profound Chinese culture to the whole world and promote cultural exchanges between different countries.

The study finds out that while dealing with metaphor translation in the novel, the translators mainly adopt literal translation and remain metaphorical objects to retain the original charm of Chinese language therefore to promote the integration of Chinese culture into the world. However, when literal translation fails to achieve the optimal equivalence, the translators also turn to free translation, abandoning the original vehicles. Besides, despite its guiding status in the translation field, some limitations still exist in Nida’s Dynamic Equivalence Theory, especially in literary translation.

Key Words: Fortress Besieged     Metaphor Translation     Dynamic Equivalence Theory

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One  Introduction-1

1.1 Background of the research-1

1.2About Fortress Besieged-1

1.3 Significance of the study-2

1.4 Overall structure of the thesis-3

Chapter Two Metaphor and Metaphor Translation-5

2.1 Definitions of metaphor-5

2.2 Metaphor studies in the West and the East-5

2.2.1 Metaphor studies in the West-6

2.2.2 Metaphor studies in China-7

2.3 Metaphor translation-8

Chapter Three  Dynamic Equivalence Theory-9

3.1 Definition of Dynamic Equivalence Theory-9

3.2 Translation principles required by Dynamic Equivalence Theory-9

3.3 Limitations of Dynamic Equivalence Theory in literary translation-10

Chapter Four  Analysis of Metaphor Translation in Fortress Besieged based on Dynamic Equivalence Theory-12

4.1 Literal translation-12

4.1.1 Retain the original vehicle-12

4.1.2  Retain the original vehicle with annotation-14

4.1.3 Retain the original vehicle with supplement-14

4.2 Free translation-15

4.2.1 Abandon the original vehicle by paraphrasing-16

4.2.2 Abandon the original vehicle by substituting-16

4.2.3 Abandon the original vehicle by deleting-17

Chapter Five  Conclusion-18

5.1 Major findings of the study-18

5.2 Limitations and suggestions for further study-18

References-20