## Metaphor, Meaning and Translation 1

## Abstract

Over the last decades, metaphor has been subject to intensive research within philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, pedagogics, etc., whereas there has been less focus on the study  of  metaphor  as  a  linguistic  utterance.  But  to  a  translator  metaphor  is  a  very intriguing practical linguistic problem. How do we translate for instance the Danish metaphor blæksprutte ? In this article, we will discuss to what extent ordinary dictionaries may be of use (can you look up the metaphor blæksprutte ?) and will describe the database of metaphors that we are establishing with examples from economic and political texts  in  Danish,  French and Italian. The database is organized as a thesaurus where metaphorical utterances are categorized under Meaning and Source domain and where translators  may  find  inspiration  when  having  to  render  metaphors  in  the  three  languages.

## 1. Introduction

In a pilot study on the interpretation of metaphors, Bruce Fraser (1993: 338) has examined the importance of the context for the interpretation of a novel metaphor. He created a number of anomalous sentences, i.e. sentences  considered  unusual  by  native  speakers.  One  of  them  contained the word octopus :

- (1) He is an octopus She is an octopus

A certain number of persons were asked to explain how they understood the sentence in question. This is what they answered:

* Mirella Cristofoli, Gunhild Dyrberg &Lilian Stage Institut for fransk, italiensk og russisk Handelshøjskolen i København Dalgas Have 15 DK-2000 Frederiksberg

1 This article is based on a paper read at the Second International Seminar on Researching and Applying Metaphor, 29 th - 31 st May 1997, at the University of Copenhagen.

He: is all arms, climbs, does a lot, is clumsy, is aggressive, is motororiented, is into everything, cannot keep his hands off girls, is grabby.

She: does lots at once, is always hugging and touching, has fingers in many pies, is domineering, is manipulative, is great on first dates, is all over the place, touches everything, is grabby.

Fraser's experiment proved that there is no 'most-probable' interpretation of a zero context metaphor. In English, octopus is a novel metaphor, but the Danish metaphor blæksprutte is conventional and frequent in job advertisements like:

- (2) Til et nyopført kulturhus søges en 'blæksprutte'leder - gerne en kulturel ildsjæl med store administrative evner. (...) Udover at kunne håndtere de mange bolde i luften, og sikre en professionel administration af huset, skal den nye leder af huset være i besiddelse af fingersnilde og ikke være bange for at tage fat. (Politiken 12-10-97 3. sektion p. 5)

When our students were asked to translate this metaphor into French, they proposed all sorts of blæksprutter : pieuvre, seiche, poulpe, octopode . Those who chose the word seiche revealed that they do not know much about that animal since the seiche does not have long arms! Most of the students translated the metaphor by pieuvre . But in French, this word is used metaphorically with another meaning, as indicated in the French dictionary Le Nouveau Petit Robert: 'personne insatiable dans ses  exigences,  qui  ne  lâche  jamais  sa  proie'.  Some  recent  examples from Le Monde show that it is also used to express the idea of criminal activities.

- (3) Destiné  à  marquer  la  détermination  de  la  justice  française  à «éradiquer les tentacules de la pieuvre » du terrorisme, le réquisitoire n'en a pas moins provoqué un malaise et suscité quelques interrogations.

(Le Monde 14-12-96 p. 15)

- (4) Une affaire de corruption aux ramifications étendues au coeur même de l'appareil de l'Etat et du monde politique domine l'actualité  en  Turquie  (...).  Le  dirigeant  social-démocrate  Deniz Baykal parle d'«une pieuvre dont il faut trouver la tête». (Le Monde 23-12-96 p. 2)

In short, it is not possible to render the Danish metaphor blæksprutte by the French word pieuvre, nor by any of the other French words men- tioned above. The question is now what does a translator do in a case like this?

## 2. Metaphor theories

It  has  often  been  claimed  that  our  way  of  thinking  is  largely  metaphorical  (see  for  instance  Richards  1979:94  and  Lakoff  &  Johnson 1980:6). It is true that metaphor is not just a matter of language, but for a translator, metaphor is an intriguing linguistic phenomenon.

There are four main interpretative theories of metaphor: the substitution theory, the comparison theory, the interaction theory and the cognitive theory. According to the substitution theory the literal expression is replaced by a metaphorical expression for stylistic reasons. The comparison  theory  views  the  metaphor  as  an  elliptical  comparison.  A French proverb says that you must compare things that are comparable ('Il faut comparer ce qui est comparable'), but a comparison between an  octopus  and  a  squid  can  neither  be  interpreted  as  a  metaphorical comparison nor be reduced to a metaphor by ellipsis. Only comparisons between unlike, heterogenous things can create a metaphor by ellipsis, that is a sort of comparison in defiance of common sense.

The interaction theory put forward by Richards (1936) and Black (1962 and 1993) claims that there is an interaction between the two parts  of  a  metaphorical  utterance,  a  sort  of  tension  between  what Richards calls tenor and vehicle .  The vehicle corresponds to what is normally called the metaphorical expression. The interaction theory is indeed very important in the sense that it stresses the fact that in order to understand a metaphor it is necessary to consider at the same time the tenor  and  the  vehicle,  i.e.  the  whole  metaphorical  utterance.  In  the Danish blæksprutte metaphor (2), the sense can only be inferred from the interaction between the two parts of the metaphorical utterance. The blæksprutte metaphor utilizes one of the characteristics of the octopus (many long arms) to emphasize certain qualities of the human being in question, describing him as someone who can do many different things at the same time, as if he had many long arms like the octopus. The vehicle only attains its sense in discourse, i.e. in interaction with the tenor. It is in fact the use of a word in an unusual frame that 'makes' the metaphor.

According to the cognitive theory metaphorical concepts structure our way of thinking (Lakoff and Johnson 1980:6). They give as examples: ideas are food, ideas are plants, ideas are products, ideas are money, etc. As we can think about ideas as food, we are able to say: 'What he said left a bad taste in my mouth' (ibidem 1980:46). Consequently, 'the locus of metaphor is not in language at all, but in the way we conceptualize one mental domain in terms of another. The general theory of metaphor  is  given  by  characterizing  such  cross-domain  mappings' (Lakoff 1993:203).

The interactive theory is particularly useful to us in our research with its well-defined distinction between the two parts of the metaphorical utterance, the vehicle and the tenor. From the cognitive theory we have borrowed the idea of cross-domain mappings, the tenor and the vehicle coming from different domains. This interaction or crossing of domains is the 'locus' where the meaning emerges. If the metaphor emerges as a result of a thought process, it is nevertheless important and interesting to analyze the linguistic expressions because metaphors also have to be translated in some way.

## 3. Data

Our  interest  in  metaphor  stems  from  this  practical  perspective:  We would like to know more about metaphorical utterances in order to be able to translate them. We focus on metaphors in economic and political language in Danish, French and Italian.

There is a fundamental difference between metaphors in fiction and metaphors in non-fiction. This dissimilarity is due to different situations of communication. Metaphors in non-fiction must be grasped immediately by the receiver, without too much effort. A metaphor used in economic and political language would have very little effect if it was not understood immediately by the reader or the audience. Metaphors in fiction, on the other hand, very often demand a great effort of interpretation, and different readers do not always agree upon the interpretation. Metaphors in non-fiction are frequently recycled, carrying much the  same  meaning  in  different  contexts.  This  recycling  makes  them interesting from a translator's point of view.

In order to decide how a given metaphor in the source language may be rendered in the target language - whether or not it can be translated using the same metaphor - we must have a comprehensive knowledge of the meaning and occurrence of metaphorical expressions. For this purpose, we need a large body of empirical data. We are, therefore, collecting examples of metaphorical utterances from newspapers, periodicals, magazines, essays, etc.

This  type  of  recording  work  might  be  compared  to  composing  a phraseological dictionary. Many researchers have warned against such a project. According to Ricoeur (1975:125), there are no metaphors in dictionaries. Metaphors are found only in discourse ('il n'y a pas de métaphore dans le dictionnaire, il n'en existe que dans le discours; en ce sens, l'attribution métaphorique révèle mieux que tout autre emploi du langage ce que c'est qu'une parole vivante; elle constitue par excellence une 'instance de discours'').

Charbonnel (Vol.I 1991:215) suggests that it might be a dangerous task to gloss a metaphor (' gloser une métaphore est peut-être une tâche dangereuse'), and she adds that figures of speech resemble soap bubbles, which burst when approached ('Dans le langage, les figures sont comme des bulles de savon, qui crèvent d'être approchées').

According to Black (1993:24), 'a metaphorical statement involves a rule violation: There can be no rules for 'creatively' violating rules. And that is why there can be no dictionary (though there might be a thesaurus) of metaphors'.

We quite agree with these researchers that glossing a metaphor is a difficult task. Nevertheless, lexicographers have to face the question of metaphors in dictionaries.

## 4. Dictionary versus thesaurus

Obviously, original metaphors cannot be found in dictionaries:

- (5) Pour obtenir un accord des Allemands sur ce sujet, encore faudrait-il que Jacques Chirac ne danse pas avec le chancelier Kohl le tango européen, deux pas en arrière, un pas en avant (...) (Le Nouvel Observateur 12-09-96 p. 29)
- (6) Le projet économique du Parti sent la naphtaline . Quelle proposition nouvelle et réaliste depuis un an? Sur l'Europe, le Parti se livre à d'incroyables contorsions.
3. (Le Nouvel Observateur 26-12-96 p. 27)

- (7) Mais, au coeur de l'été, le président vient de rappeler à tous, y compris à son Premier ministre, que c'était lui le maî tre de bal-
2. let.

(Le Nouvel Observateur 08-08-96 p. 29)

When you find a metaphor in the dictionary, it is normally a very common one that lexicographers consider to be part of frequent usage. In dictionaries metaphors are listed under the vehicle as a regular lexical entry. Let us illustrate this point with some examples.

- (8) L'exclusion de l'Italie déchaî nera la spéculation internationale. Elle entraî nera une hausse des taux d'intérêt et la dévaluation de la lire. Dévaluation qui provoquera vraisemblablement des mesures de rétorsion italiennes. Certes, cette spirale ne pourra pas se dérouler indéfiniment: les règles du libre commerce l'interdisent. Mais on ne pourra pas empêcher un véritable raz de marée . La  seule  consolation  c'est  qu'il  n'emportera  pas  seulement l'Italie. Il aura des répercussions dans toute l'Europe, surtout en France, mais aussi en Allemagne.

(L'Evénement du Jeudi 19-06-97 p. 53)

Raz de marée is commonly used metaphorically in political and economic language. In Le Nouveau Petit Robert, the figurative meaning is recorded  under  the  word raz :  'Bouleversement  moral  ou  social  qui détruit l'équilibre existant. (...) Raz-de-marée socialiste aux élections '.

The following example can also be found in the dictionary under the key word of the vehicle, cyclone :

- (9) Les syndicats, en alerte, sont prêts à déclencher un plan Orsec (...)  Un tiers des effectifs pourrait être supprimé. L'état-major sera remanié. L'organisation de la production française, aujourd'hui éclatée sur onze usines, doit être rationalisée. Cinq d'entre elles seraient dans l'oeil du cyclone.

(Le Nouvel Observateur 13-06-96 p. 20)

Le Nouveau Petit Robert explains this metaphor with the words: 'au centre des difficultés'.

Many metaphors appear quite frequently but are not listed  in  the dictionaries. To mention some examples: The French metaphor porter le maillot jaune signifying a leading position and the Italian metaphor matrimonio in the sense of union.

Most of the metaphors listed in monolingual as well as bilingual dictionaries are dead or conventional. In the bilingual dictionary the number of metaphors is often less important than in the monolingual dic- tionary.  When  a  bilingual  lexicographer  has  to  search  for  equivalent metaphors in the target language, he will encounter difficulties because he can only look up the metaphor under the vehicle in existing monolingual dictionaries in the target language, and he will only succeed if the target language happens to use the same metaphor. If this is not the case, he has to interpret the metaphor in order to find the underlying idea or concept. But this will not necessarily give him the solution to his problem, because in most cases the dictionary provides him with a non metaphorical expression.

In contrast to dictionaries which are arranged alphabetically, we have organized our database as a thesaurus. The metaphor will therefore not be categorized according to its vehicle, but according to the idea expressed by that vehicle. A categorization of the metaphors according to their meaning in the database will enable the translator to find equivalent metaphors conveying the same sense in the target language. He will not only be able to find target language metaphors which come from the same source domain, but also from other source domains.

The record of a metaphor is structured in the following way:

| Meaning             | exclusion, failure, participation, success ...                   |
|---------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Source domain       | family, health, meteorology, sports, war ...                     |
| Subject field       | companies, European Union, politics, stock exchange ...          |
| Example             |                                                                  |
| Source (of example) |                                                                  |
| Type of text        | comment, editorial, essay, feature, interview . . .              |
| Type of metaphor    | simple, extended                                                 |
| Type of metonymy    | place for function ...                                           |
| Scale               | deadmetaphor stock metaphor revitalizedmetaphor originalmetaphor |
| Associations        |                                                                  |
| Grammar             | noun phrase, verb phrase ...                                     |
| Comments            |                                                                  |

Most of the fields are closed classes: we use only a limited number of words specifying the fields. In the fields Associations and Comments , we are free to write what we want.

## 4.1. Meaning

In  establishing  meaning  categories,  we  have  sought  inspiration  in Roget's International Thesaurus (Chapman 1996) and his Danish and French successors. This thesaurus contains about 325,000 words and phrases arranged in categories by their meanings, and a comprehensive index.  Although  we  have  often  found  Roget's  categories  either  too broad or too detailed for our purposes, this thesaurus has been most useful to us.

In the field Meaning , you will find such concepts as:

acceptance, crisis, failure, problem, progress, rejection, restriction, security, success.

The metaphor in example (10) expresses the idea of progress:

- (10) Til efteråret tager Næstved som den første kommune i Danmark et tigerspring ind i informationssamfundet. (Mandag Morgen 13-05-96 p. 2)

In the next example, it is the idea of remedy, treatment or solution that is expressed:

- (11) Alain Juppé annonce que dès 1997 la Sécu sera bénéficiaire. L'ordonnance est longue. On y trouve pêle-mêle la maî trise des dépenses qui seront votées chaque année par le Parlement pour plus  de  transparence;  des  sanctions  contre  les  médecins  qui multiplieraient les actes et les prescriptions...

(Le Nouvel Observateur 07-11-96 p. 14)

In example (12) the Chechens state that if the Russians bomb their capital Grosnij, they will go to Russia and give them another Chernobyl :

- (12) Og hvad sker der, hvis russerne gør alvor af truslen om tæppebombning af Grosnij? - Hvis de finder på noget i den retning, så tager vi bare til Rusland og giver dem et andet Tjernobyl . Så får vi se hvor længe den krig varer, siger Kokha med henvisning til ulykken på Tjernobylatomkraft-værket i Ukraine i 1986. (Politiken 22-08-96 1. sektion p. 9).

It is clear that the meaning of the metaphor Chernobyl is something like problem or defeat. The metaphor will therefore be registered under the two meanings.

It is sometimes difficult to find an appropriate concept that synthetizes the meaning of a metaphor in one word. How are for instance the metaphors in example (13) to be explained by a concept?

- (13) 'L'entreprise française apparaî t comme le sanctuaire des 25-49 ans: ils ont parqué les jeunes dans les petits boulots et mis les vieux sur les toboggans de sortie ', résume le démographe Hervé Le Bras dans un rapport réalisé pour le Sénat. (Le Nouvel Observateur 07-11-96 p. 6)

The first metaphor ( parqué ) evokes the idea of temporary removal and the second ( mis sur les toboggans de sortie ) that of sudden and final removal. Both metaphors will be registered under the meaning removal and the first under placing too.

You will often find several vehicles in one metaphorical utterance as in:

- (14) Dès le  lendemain,  en  Bourse,  le  titre  dégringole,  de  87  à  77 francs.  En  Basse-Normandie,  où  Moulinex  reste  le  principal employeur, avec près de 8.000 salariés, tout le monde retient son  souffle  (...).  En  effet, le  paquebot  prend  l'eau  de  toutes parts.

(Le Nouvel Observateur 13-06-96 p. 20)

The quote refers to the French company, Moulinex, which is experiencing great difficulty and is compared to a sinking ship. In this example, there are two metaphors:

1. Moulinex est un paquebot
2. Moulinex prend l'eau de toutes parts

Examples like this will be registered twice:

1. paquebot : company
2. prend l'eau de toutes parts : crisis

## 4.2. Source Domain

The different source domains of the metaphors will also be recorded by concepts indicating superordinate categories such as:

animal  kingdom,  body,  family,  health,  meteorology,  natural  force, nature, navigation, sports, war and many more.

These  categories  may  seem  rather  comprehensive.  We  might  in  fact have  chosen  to  split  them  up  into  specific  subdomains,  dividing  the domain sports for instance into football, cycling, rowing etc. But in that case the number of domains would become very large without increasing considerably the utility of the base. If, for translation purposes, you have to find a sports metaphor for the concept of exclusion in the target language, it is not necessarily important whether the source domain is cycling or football.

The  translator  may  find  examples  in  the  two  languages  from  the same domain, for instance the body, but not always from the same part of that domain as in the Danish and Italian examples (15) and (16):

- (15) Men koncernens regnskaber for 1995, der godkendes af bestyrelsen på tirsdag, vil igen vise plusser i alle 4 ben . Især i Aschehoug.

(Børsens Nyhedsmagasin 24-04-96 p. 62)

- (16) '(..)  si  aggiudicava  la  gara  per  la  privatizzazione  dei  supermercati Gs e degli Autogrill della Sme. Sconfiggendo la corazzata Rinascente, braccio distributivo del gruppo Agnelli' (Espansione dicembre 1994 p. 81)

However,  metaphors  often  come  from  different  domains  as  in  the following examples:

- (17) Et overraskende og dramatisk strategi-skift har fundet sted i et af flagskibene i dansk miljøindustri, ingeniørkoncernen Krüger. (Børsens Nyhedsmagasin 12-04-96 p. 28)
- (18) Depuis sa création en mai 1977, Superphénix s'est heurté à une opposition féroce. Ce qui devait être le ' fleuron ' nucléaire français n'a fait que connaî tre problèmes et arrêts depuis son inauguration en 1986: en onze ans, le surgénérateur n'a fonctionné que neuf mois et demi.

(Le Monde 21-06-97 p. 13)

- (19) Questa riflessione porterebbe alla vendita del gioiello francese dell'Ingegnere (...) (Mondo Economico 11-03-96 p. 85)

## 4.3. Meaning and Source Domain

In each record, the meaning of the metaphor will automatically be linked to its source domain. Under the search word problem , you will thus find all registered metaphorical utterances with their source domains. You can search for a metaphor in the fields: Meaning , Source domain and the combination Meaning-Source domain .

As the fields Meaning and Source domain are closed classes, you have to choose a word from an index of concepts. You will have to consult either the meaning index or the source domain index. If you want to see  how  one  source  domain  is  employed  metaphorically,  you  may File Edit View Search Index Betyd.-Kildede MultiTerm '95 - METAFORD.MTW

Help

problem*

Target Ny metafor

search in the field Source domain alone. You can also combine the fields Meaning and Source domain .

problem - helbred

27-10-96 12.25

problem -bygning

problem - fødevarer

arget tem »

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## 4.4. Example

Taking into account that a metaphor only receives its complete meaning in discourse, we have decided to record examples in a large context so as to permit a more grounded interpretation of the metaphor in question for as Ricoeur puts it: 'Le sens figuré n'est pas un sens dévié des mots, mais le sens d'un énoncé entier résultant de l'attribution au sujet privilégié des valeurs connotatives du modificateur. Si donc l'on continue de parler du sens figuré des mots, il ne peut s'agir que de significations entièrement contextuelles, d'une « signification émergente»  qui existe seulement ici et maintenant' (Ricoeur 1975:125).

## 4.5. Associations

We  have  tentatively  decided  to  divide  metaphor  into  two  parts:  the 'raw' meaning just mentioned and the associations. The reason for this is very simple. The meaning of a metaphor cannot always be rendered in  one  word.  While a certain consensus about the raw meaning of a metaphor may be achieved, it is more difficult to grasp the associations that a metaphor evokes as these depend on the addressee. What we can write in this associative field will only be approximations of the sort of associations the receiver might make. It is not always easy to express the associative meaning. Why is this? Perhaps because the metaphor in question is dying out. Perhaps there is no longer any image. Or perhaps it is hard to put your associations into words as will appear from examples (20), (21) and (22).

- (20) Dayton-aftalen ligger  i  respirator .  Økonomisk  udvikling  er nødvendig.  Dayton-aftalen  er indlagt  på  intensivafdelingen. Der er slanger med drop ind i alle fredsaftalens blodårer, der sidder måleplader på alle tilgængelige steder, scannere og computere bipper og blinker med stort set negative meldinger om fredsprocessen i Bosnien.

(Politiken 12-04-96, 1. sektion p. 11)

Associations : the peace process is lying on its deathbed and the 'doctors'  are  doing  their  very  best.  All  that  could  possibly  be  done  was done. Intensity!

- (21) Des millions de pauvres vivent sous la perfusion - chiche - de l'Etat, qui ne les incite pas à se réinsérer dans la vie normale. (Le Nouvel Observateur 08-08-96 p. 35)

Associations : danger, passivity, giving them only what is needed to survive.

The following example with 'les petits Nicolas de Balladur' is a cultural metaphor based on a proper name. A metaphor like this requires that the reader is familiar with French literature.

- (22) Opposés à Philippe Séguin, qui personnifie la passion, à Alain Juppé, qui personnifie la raison, et à Alain Madelin, qui personnifie l'indépendance, les petits Nicolas de Balladur , tout droit sortis d'un album de Sempé, paraissent bien légers. (Le Nouvel Observateur 08-03-95 p. 25)

Associations : unruliness, naughtiness, immaturity.

If  we insist on recording the associations a metaphor evokes, it is because we would like our description to be as precise as possible in order to guide the user of the database in the best way.

## 4.6. Metonymy

Over time, the classification of metonymy has changed a great deal. Some researchers include metonymy in their study of metaphor, others do not. According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980:36), metaphor and metonymy are different kinds of processes: 'Metaphor is principally a way of conceiving of one thing in terms of another, and its primary function is understanding. Metonymy, on the other hand, has primarily a referential function, that is, it allows us to use one entity to stand for another. But  metonymy  is  not  merely  a  referential  device.  It  also  serves  the function of providing understanding'.

We have decided to include metonymy in our database because it is an important phenomenon in economic and political language and because the translator must be aware of the most frequent metonymies in order to be able to render them in the target language. Most metonymies cannot be found in the dictionary.

- (23) L'ancien Premier ministre de François Mitterrand, Edith Cresson, est l'objet de vives critiques au sein du PS, ses propos positifs à l'égard de Jacques Chirac étant jugés indécents: d'après elle,  le  président  réussit  plutôt  bien.  On  la  suspecte, Rue  de Solférino ,  de  travailler  au  renouvellement  de  son  mandat  à Bruxelles.

(Le Nouvel Economiste 26-07-96 p. 6)

- (24) Les operateurs attendent la publication d'indicateurs économiques  aux  Etats-Unis  et  en  Allemagne.  Ils  suivent  également l'évolution des discussions budgétaires entre la Maison Blanche et le Congrès; un échec pourrait affaiblir le billet vert . (Le Monde 03-01-96 p. 9)

## 4.7. Scale

Theoretical works often place the metaphors on a scale from extinct over  dormant  to  active  (Black  1993:25).  Newmark  (1995:106-113) operates with a scale of six levels: dead metaphors, cliché metaphors, stock or standard metaphors, adapted metaphors, recent metaphors and original metaphors. As he does not define his classification very well, it is difficult to apply his differentiated scale. We, for our part, have chosen to use a scale consisting of four levels:

- -dead metaphor (lexicalized)
- -conventional metaphor (frequently used, but not lexicalized)

- -revitalized metaphor (revival of dead or conventional metaphor)
- -original metaphor (metaphorical neologism)

What we consider a revitalized metaphor will become obvious in the following examples where the context (25) or the addition of a modification (26) and (27) activates for a moment the concrete reading:

- (25) Il profondo rosso dei conti sommergerà tutto e la tragedia aziendale sfocerà in tragedia umana. Un bagno di sangue che (...) (Mondo Economico 18-03-96 p.15)
- (26) L'Italie crève de tous ces mystères et mensonges enfouis. Il y a beaucoup de cadavres dans les placards de notre histoire récente . Il faut les faire sortir.
3. (Le Nouvel Observateur 16-05-96 p. 15)
- (27) Mike Dudas, der var finansdirektør i det amerikanske datterselskab i hele perioden, blev fyret, da hemmeligheden slap ud for fjorten dage siden, men spørgsmålet er, om andre kendte til skeletterne i ISS' amerikanske skab.

(Politiken 31-05-96 1. sektion p. 16)

An original source language metaphor should, ideally, be rendered by an original target language metaphor and a conventional metaphor by a conventional metaphor. Our tenacity in trying to classify metaphors in spite  of  the  problems  raised  by  any  classification  rests  in  the  translational focus of our research.

## 5. Conclusion

To summarize, our research project springs from a desire to provide researchers, translators and students with a computerized corpus of metaphorical utterances which will give them a better knowledge of metaphors in economic and political language. Such a database would be of great  help,  we  believe,  when  analyzing  and  translating  metaphors  in economic and political texts.

Let us now return to the translation problem raised at the beginning of this article. Would a database like the one we are establishing provide the translator with an answer to the problem of rendering the Danish metaphor blæksprutte in  example (2) in  French? If  we  search  in  the field Meaning for  a  metaphor  expressing  activity,  we  will,  among others, find the following example:

- (28) Dans le cadre de notre développement, nous recherchons

## RESPONSABLE LOGISTIQUE

Vous prendrez en charge l'organisation et la gestion de tous nos flux de marchandises avec pour triple objectif l'amélioration des coûts, des délais et de la qualité du service dispensé à nos distributeurs.

Vous coordonnez les réceptions, approvisionnements, stockages, expéditions, veillez au bon déroulement de la planification de production, pilotez la mise en place d'un nouveau système de livraison de nos produits.

Véritable homme-orchestre de nos flux, possédant une vision transversale, vous êtes situé au carrefour des différents centres vitaux de notre entreprise et entretenez des relations étroites et concertées avec l'ensemble de nos services.

- (Le Figaro, Economie 08-09-97 p. 97)

When translating examples like the Danish example (2) into French, the translator might use homme-orchestre or 'femme-orchestre' in inverted commas.

## Bibliography

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