Metaphor Translation:A Cognitive Linguistic Approach

Metaphor has been traditionally categorized as a special form of rhetoric. Metaphor translation theory has been for a long time considered as an issue of inter-lingual transition on the rhetorical level. However, the essence of metaphor is to experience one thing through another, therefore metaphor is also semantic interaction of two cognitive fields. From the view of modern cognitive linguistics, the traditional translation theory on metaphor has obvious disadvantages: It neglects the essence of metaphor—semantic interaction of two cognition fields, and lacks the proper comprehension of translation. Language results from people’s organizing the experience of the objective world. Linguistic symbols have no direct equivalence with the outside world; it is consistent with the interaction between human cognition and concrete reality. Traditional metaphor translation is restricted by aesthetic methodology and emphasizes on the transfer of the macro part, but it lacks scientific and systematic demonstration on the micro level. This article analyzes the features of metaphor under the cognitive linguistic frame, and presents a research into the techniques and strategies of metaphor translation from the cognitive approach.