A Model for Metaphor Translation from English Literature into Arabic

Abstract

Except for two main contributions to models of metaphor translation from English into Arabic by (Newmark (1988) and Dickens (2002), this area of research remains neglected despite the numerous studies on translation studies. This research attempts reconsidering the two previous models and presents a model based on translation perspectives. Newmark's model establishes metaphor classification on rhetoric, and Dickens’ on lexicology. The grounds on which metaphor classification is set up and the overlap between metaphor translation techniques are the two unconvincing and deficient resolutions within those available contributions which have triggered us to look for some further distinctive features for metaphor translation. This thesis main objectives are the discovery of metaphor translation most efficient strategies and procedures together with the establishment of a model, capable of overcoming the cultural barriers in translation in order to preserve metaphor power and function in the target language. The scientific method to achieve them is the application of a quantitative approach at a macro level on a wide range of the selected data particularly from Shakespeare poetry and some idioms. The rationale behind my pinpointed choice is the adequacy of poetry as a genre of literary text type characterized by the density of metaphor usage. The translation on which the analysis is carried on is my own translation since my purpose is the formulation of metaphor translation rules rather a comparative study between translations.
My model proposes classification of metaphor into common and specific metaphors from a pure translation perspective. The diverse translation exercises conducted along this study have manifested the following five techniques for the translation of English metaphor into Arabic language:
Replacing the SL metaphor by the same or a similar vehicle,
Replacing the SL metaphor by a different vehicle,
Converting the SL metaphor into a simile,
Reducing the SL metaphor into ground/sense,
Converting the SL metaphor into another metaphor,
This thesis shows how translation by metaphor seems to be the decisive technique that distinguishes between common and specific metaphors. Translation by metaphor as a technique reveals that some specific metaphors are purely cultural, and the only means for their translation is by their cultural correspondences.