## Astrid Jensen*

## Coping with Metaphor A cognitive approach to translating metaphor

## Abstract

The present article focuses on the translation of metaphor by expert translators, young professional translators and  non-professional translators.  The  approach  adopted here  treats  translation  of  metaphor  as  a  conceptual  rather  than  a  purely  linguistic phenomenon, based on the framework sometimes referred to as conceptual metaphor theory (CMT),  which  is  based  on  Lakoff  &  Johnson  (1980)  and  Lakoff  &  Turner (1989). The basic assumption behind this study is that translating metaphor requires translator competence, which among other things entails an awareness of the duality of the metaphor as both a mental concept and linguistic expressions. It is further assumed that  translation  competence  is  developed  through  extensive  training  and  translation experience. The study starts with a qualitative analysis of the metaphorical expressions and  translation  strategies  in  the  sample  texts,  followed  by  a  quantitative  analysis whereby the frequencies of metaphor transference across languages and across groups are counted.

## 1. Introduction

The purpose of this study is to look at metaphor as a problem for translators, and to identify how professional translators and non-pro  fes  sion  al trans  lators cope with that problem. I distinguish between pro  fessional trans  lators at expert level, defi  ned as more than 10 years of experience, pro  fessional translators with 2 years of experience and non-pro  fessional trans  lators, with a degree in engineering (Jensen 2001).

In this article, metaphor is approached from a cognitive perspective, which treats metaphor as a conceptual rather than a purely linguistic phe  no  menon, based on the framework sometimes referred to as con-

* Astrid Jensen Syddansk Universitet Institut for Sprog og Kommunikation Campusvej 55 DK-5230  Odense M. astrid@language.sdu.dk

183

cept  ual metaphor theory (CMT) (Lakoff & Johnson 1980; Lakoff & Turner 1989).

This study is based on the assumption that translating metaphor is like  ly  to  require  a  specifi  c  translation  competence,  which  includes  a great deal of cross-cultural knowledge, but from a translator's per  spective it also requires an awareness of the function of metaphor as well as an understanding of the duality of metaphor as both a mental concept and linguistic expressions (Andersen 2000).

The classic approach to metaphor translation merely sees metaphor as a characteristic of language. The focus is on linguistic differences between the source language and the target language and has led to numerous discussions about the translatability of metaphorical expres  sions, which again has led to the development of a number of pre  scriptive trans  lation procedures. One of these translation procedures was devel  oped by Newmark (1982), who distinguished between fi  ve types of metaphors: dead, cliché, stock, recent and original, and he list  ed seven main pro  cedures for their translation (Newmark 1982: 85-91):

- 1: Reproducing the same image in the TL
- 2: Replace the image in the SL with a standard TL image
- 3: Translating metaphor by simile, retaining the image
- 4: Translation of metaphor (or simile) by simile plus sense
- 5: Conversion of metaphor to sense
- 6: Deletion
- 7: Same metaphor combined with sense

One major difference between the cognitive perspective and the classic one is that in cognitive linguistics, metaphor is not merely a linguistic style of expression; rather it is seen as a basic resource for thought processes. Such a perspective offers a different answer to the question of the translatability of metaphors, and even though it is not always possible to preserve an exactly equivalent metaphor when translating, the cognitive view of metaphor enables us to interpret metaphor in a more holistic way. Translatability is no longer a question of the individ  ual metaphorical  expression,  but  it  becomes  linked  to  the  level  of  concept  ual  systems  in  source  and  target  culture  (Schäffner  2004).  In terms of translation, Schäffner found that 'a conceptual metaphor can be identical in the source text and the target text at the macro-level, with  out  each  individual  manifestation  having  been  accounted  for  at the  micro  level'  (Schäffner  2004:  1267).  Schäffner's  example  is  the trans  lation  of  the  German  'Dach'  (roof)  into  the  English  'umbrella', which in both cases  could  be  seen  as  metaphorical  expressions  of  a more general conceptual metaphor BEING PROTECTED IS BEING UNDER A COVER. According to Lakoff and Johnson (1999), the same metaphorical map  ping applied to different cultural images will give rise to different lin  guistic  expressions  of  those  metaphorical  mappings,  which  also entails that different linguistic representations can be sanctioned by the underlying conceptual metaphor (Schäffner 2004).

Dealing with metaphor translation from a cognitive perspective is still rather unexplored, and has only recently been adopted in Translation Research (Andersen 2000; Schäffner 2004; Tirkkonen-Condit 2001).

## 2. Some basic concepts

This section starts by briefl  y examining the concept of metaphor, which can be used for a range of fi  gurative  language  including  metonymy, metaphorical idioms and mental imagery (which also includes simile). This broad perspective will be followed here. Metaphor theory will be supplemented with the concept of frames (Fillmore 1985) and profi  ling (Langacker 1987), and fi  nally placed in the context of translation.

## 2.1.  Metaphor theory, frames and profi  ling

## 2.1.1.  Metaphor

The  most  important  development  in  metaphor  theory  in  the  past  20 years has been the empirical work in cognitive science showing that metaphor is not merely a linguistic, rhetorical fi  gure, but constitutes a fundamental part of people's ordinary thought, reason and imagination (Lakoff & Johnson 1980, Lakoff 1987; Lakoff 1993; Lakoff & Turner 1989; Gibbs 2004).

From a cognitive point of view, the crucial aspect of metaphor is its role in the structuring of an entire cognitive domain. Metaphors are a means of understanding one domain (target domain) in terms of another (a source domain), which cognitive linguistics refers to as metaphorical mapping across  conceptual  domains. The  source  domain  is  mapped onto the target domain. According to Lakoff & Johnson (1980) it is impor  tant to realise that we do not just exploit the conceptual metaphor 'TIME IS MONEY' linguistically, but we actually think of, or conceptualise, the  so-called target category  TIME  in  terms  of  the source category MONEY, i.e. a valuable commodity and limited resource, when saying 'You are wasting my time'.

Cognitive metaphor theory claims to describe central processes and structures of human thought. The basic assumption behind the writ  ing of Lakoff, Johnson and Turner is that, although metaphor is a con  ceptual phenomenon, we have access to the metaphors that structure our way of thinking through the language we use.

People rely on models of the concrete world to conceptualise ab  stract phenomena. Metaphor makes the abstract concrete. Our conceptuali  sation  of  models  of  abstract  categories  is grounded in  our  experience with people, everyday objects, actions and events.

Based  on  Joe  Grady's  theory  of primary  metaphor , Lakoff  and Johnson  (1998)  have  identifi  ed  a  number  of  primary  metaphors  that arise out of our embodied experiences of the world (Lakoff and Johnson 1998: 360-361):

```
INTIMACY IS CLOSENESS (We've been close for years) DIFFICULTIES ARE BURDENS (She's weighed down by responsibilities) IMPORTANCE IS SIZE (Tomorrow is a big day) KNOWING IS SEEING (I see what you mean) UNDERSTANDING IS GRASPING (I've never been able to grasp transfinite numbers) STATES  ARE  LOCATIONS  (being  in  a  state:  I'm  close  to  being  in  a depression) ACTIONS ARE SELF-PROPELLED MOTIONS/CHANGE IS MOTION (I'm moving along in the project)
```

PURPOSES ARE DESTINATIONS (He'll be successful, but he isn't here yet)

In each case the primary metaphorical mapping comes from the body's sensory-motor system. Complex everyday metaphors are built out of primary  metaphors  plus  forms  of  commonplace  knowledge:  cultural mo  dels, folk theories, or simply knowledge or beliefs that are widely accept  ed in a culture (Lakoff and Johnson, 1998).

Many linguistic metaphors are idioms: spinning one's wheels, off the track, on the rocks, which are motivated by the metaphorical map  ping in certain conventional mental images. In the expression 'we are spin- ning our wheels', used about a love relationship, the LOVE IS A JOURNEY metaphor maps conventional knowledge about cars, spinning wheels, the  car  being  stuck,  the  traveller  wishing  the  car  to  move,  etc.  onto knowledge about the love relationship. Lakoff & Johnson (1999) refer to such idioms as metaphorical idioms . The words evoke an image, the  image  comes  with  knowledge,  and  conventional  metaphors  map appro  priate parts of that knowledge onto the target domain. The result is  the  meaning  of  the  idiom.  Thus,  a  metaphorical  idiom  is  not  just a linguistic expression of a metaphorical mapping. It is the linguistic expression  of  an  image  plus  knowledge  about  the  image  (Lakoff  & Johnson 1999: 373).

## 2.1.2.  Metonymy

Like metaphor, metonymy is grounded in our experience, and it allows us to use one entity to stand for another. The difference between metaphor and metonymy is usually defi  ned in terms of conceptual domains. In metaphor,  there  are  two  conceptual  domains,  and  one  is  understood in terms of the other. Metonymy on the other hand involves only one con  ceptual domain. Metonymy has primarily a referential function, but it  also  serves  the  function  of  providing  understanding.  For  example, in the case of the metonymy THE PART FOR WHOLE there are many parts that can stand for the whole. Which part we pick out determines which aspect  of  the  whole  we  are  focusing  on.  Often  we  fi  nd  that  a  place may stand for an institution located at that place (Downing Street is not just an address in London, but stands for the British Government). Metonymies allow us to focus more specifi  cally on certain aspects of what is being referred to (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980:36-37). Metonymic mapping usually involves a direct physical or causal association, which makes  it  particularly  context-dependent  and  culture  specifi  c,  and  as a  writer  usually  writes  for  people,  who  share  a  certain  amount  of cultural background information with him/her, a substantial amount of information is left implicit in most texts. It is therefore important for the translator to take the whole context into consideration before inferring the potential meaning of a metonymy.

## 2.1.3.  Frames and profi  ling

As mentioned above, understanding metaphor and metonymic expressions requires knowledge of relevant domains. In order to under  stand a target domain in terms of a source domain, we must have know  ledge of the source domain as well as an understanding of the target domain. Particular elements of the source and target domains are selected, and our  knowledge  of  these  domains  -  presumably  stored  as frames in long-term  memory  -  tells  us  how  elements  in  the  two  domains  are struc  tured against each other (Lakoff & Turner 1989: 60-61). Fillmore (1985) defi  ned frames as 'specifi  c unifi  ed frameworks of knowledge or coherent schematisations of experience' (1985: 223). Our understanding of the LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor uses our knowledge frame about journeys.  For  instance,  all  journeys  involve  travellers,  places  where  we start, places where we have been. This knowledge has a framework that en  ables us to distinguish journeys from other kinds of activities (Lakoff & Turner 1989: 60-61).

The concept frame is also closely associated with the notion of profi  l  ing . Profi  ling is a term used by Langacker (1987), and it essen  tial  ly refers  to  the  process  of  foregrounding  or  highlighting  some  element (or  elements)  within  a  frame. Any  lexical  item  or  grammatical  form can be thought as foregrounding some aspect of our cognitive or social experience. Thus, the function of the word weekend is precisely to focus on two particular days of the week, demarcated from other days by our pat  terns of social behaviour. In this case, the profi  led element and the frame stand in a part-whole relationship to each other. Weekend profi  les a  part  of  the  concept  'seven-day  week'  in  much  the  same  way  that knuckle profi  les a specifi  c part of the fi  nger, or uncle profi  les a specifi  c part of the kinship network (Langacker 1987).

## 2.2.  Metaphor and Translation

We are usually capable of understanding the meaning of metaphorical utter  ances  effortlessly  in  our  native  language,  and  in  most  cases  we do  not  even  have  to  consciously  process  the  underlying  metaphor; the surface form seems to be translated into meaning almost instantly (Saygin 2001). A number of cross-linguistic studies have investigated the  possibility  that  metaphors  are  not  language-specifi  c  (Deignan  et al. 2004; Gibbs 2004). Gibbs (2004) examined metaphor used to talk about desire in English and Portuguese, and he suggests that people's under  standings  of  metaphorical  expressions  about  human desires are motivat  ed  by  their  embodied  experiences  related  to  feeling  hunger (DESIRE IS HUNGER). Examples that refl  ect this metaphor are He hungers for  recognition and He  was  thirsty  for  power (Gibbs  2004:  1199). His fi  ndings showed that experiences of hunger appeared to structure sig  ni  fi  cant  aspects  of  the  understandings  of  desire  in  both American English and Brazilian Portuguese. His basic claim is that 'a signifi  cant as  pect of metaphoric language is motivated by embodied experience' (Gibbs 2004: 1200). Further, Gibbs argues that complex metaphors, or lin  guistic  expressions  that  are  not  closely  connected  to  metaphorical con  cepts grounded in our embodied experience, are likely to be diffi  cult to translate (Gibbs 2004: 1208), and as these metaphors usually come with a conventional mental image and commonplace knowledge, we may fi  nd considerable cultural problems when translating metaphorical expressions.

On the translation of metaphors, Dobrzynska (1995) says: 'metaphor is  an  interpretative  problem,  and  is  strongly  culturally  conditioned; an  other  language  means  another  cultural  background,  and  another con  cept  ual  system  of  the  target  readers'  (1995:  597).  Consequently, trans  lating metaphor and metonymic expressions requires knowledge of source domains and target domains of two cultures. But translating meta  phor also requires a thorough understanding of the function of the meta  phor in the text. The translator needs to be aware of the cohesive force of metaphors, as well as the fact that metaphoric language adds an element of ambiguity and a possibility, or even a necessity, of different inter  pretations to the text. Lakoff and Johnson (1989: 64) refer to the 'sources of power of metaphor', one of which is the power of options . Meta  phorical  mapping  offers  a  number  of  optional  components,  as schemas are very general and 'the components of a schema are slots that can be fi  lled in by more specifi  c information' (Lakoff and Johnson 1988: 64). Therefore, when paraphrasing a metaphor the translator, and not  the  target  reader,  disambiguates  the  text  by  selecting  one  'right' inter  pretation  of  the  metaphor.  If  the  translator  infers  a  meaning  not in  tended by the source text writer, the text as a whole may create a different meaning and effect in the target text than in the source text.

## 3. Translation competence

A number of experiments comparing professional translators and student translators using think-aloud protocol data have shown that translator competence is built up over time as expertise develops (Gerloff, 1996; Jääskeläinen, 1999; Lörscher, 1991, 1996; Jensen 2001). This view is also supported by Shreve (1997: 133), who on the expert-novice issue writes:  'Empirical  differences  indicate  qualitative  differences  in  the knowledge organizational structure associated with doing translation'. In this Shreve refers to a mapping ability, which has to be learnt by experience gained during the process of translating.

In  my  PhD-study  (Jensen  2001)  three  groups  of  translators  were stud  i  ed:  A  pair  of  professional  translators  at  expert  level,  defi  ned  as more  than  10  years  of  translation  experience,  a  pair  of  professional trans  lators with 2 years of experience in professional translation, and a pair of non-professional translators. The two non-professional translators had M.Sc. degrees in engineering and used English in their daily work, and the two groups of professional translators all held university degrees in translation. The focus of that study was the effect of time on cognitive processes and strategies in translation, and it covered a range of activities conducted during the translation process, using TAPbas  ed (Think-Aloud Protocol data) research combined with Translog -com  puter logging. Translog is a computer program that logs keyboard behaviour in real time (Jakobsen and Schou 1999) and makes it possible to analyse the translation process as it develops, as well as analysing the fi  nish  ed translations.

The fi  ndings were related to Bereiter and Scardamalia's (1987) two models of text composition. One model, dealing with writing as a complex,  problem-solving  task,  is  called  the Knowledge Transforming model, the other model, dealing with writing as a natural, unproblematic task  which  makes  use  of  existing  cognitive  structures,  is  called  the Know  ledge  Telling model  (Bereiter  and  Scardamalia  1987:6).  The Know  ledge Telling model has often been associated with terms such as 'novice' and 'immature' processing and the Knowledge Transforming mo  del with a more sophisticated problem-solving behaviour. However, the study showed that the Knowledge Telling model, though originally intended to account for the cognitive processes of immature writers, also proved to be a useful strategy for routine processing, and thereby also able to account for expert translation processes. In the study, the models proved to be able to distinguish between the processing pattern of  young  professional  translators,  who  exhibited  a  problem-solving behaviour  similar  to  that  predicted  by  the  Knowledge  Transforming model, and expert translators,  who  seemed to  exhibit  behaviour  that could be accounted for by the Knowledge Telling model. It was argued that as translators become more profi  cient, Knowledge Transforming skills gradually become replaced by Knowledge Telling skills relying on  stored  knowledge  structures  available  from  memory.  But  as  the non-professional translators also exhibited behaviour as predicted by the  Knowledge  Telling  model,  it  became  necessary  to  fi  nd  ways  to differentiate suffi  ciently between the experts and the non-professional translators. Therefore, the observable characteristics of the Knowledge Telling and the Knowledge Transforming models were supplemented with an adapted version of Gile's (1995) taxonomy of coping tactics 1 in interpretation. The analysis of coping tactics showed that faced with a problem, non-professional translators favoured coping strategies that required less cognitive effort than those selected by professional translators, which had strong similarities with Knowledge Telling strategies, where  as professional translators (experts and young professionals alike) applied Knowledge Transforming strategies in response to problems. The expert translators' use of Knowledge Telling strategies in routine situations were seen as a way of reducing the general cognitive load and allowing resources to be allocated to problem-solving when needed.

The experiments were conducted in 1997 and 1998 and were not spe  ci  fi  c  al  ly designed to test hypotheses on metaphor translation. But in order to obtain a clearer picture of possible differences between nonprofessional translators and professional translators, I now decided to take a closer look at one of the problem areas of the source texts: Metaphor.

1 The coping tactics  selected  were:  Borrowing,  transcoding,  omitting  information, reconstructing the segment with the help of context. Knowledge Telling Strategies were here identifi  ed as borrowing, transcoding and omitting, which was based on their similarity with Kasper and Færch's ' Reduction strategies' (1986). Knowledge Transforming Strategies were identifi  ed as reconstructing the segment with the help of context (see Jensen 2001: 168).

## 4. Purpose of study

The purpose of this study is to identify how professional translators and non-professional translators cope with the translation of metaphor.

It  is  assumed  that  translating  metaphorical  expressions  requires a  specifi  c  competence,  which  includes  cross-cultural  knowledge,  an under  standing of the duality of metaphor as both a mental concept and lin  guistic expression, as well as an awareness of the textual function of me  ta  phors. Further, it is assumed that translation competence develops through the experience of translating.

## 5. Research design

The present study starts with a qualitative analysis aimed at exploring the metaphorical expressions in the source texts, and to identify strategies  related  to  the  translation  of  metaphorical  expressions.  Out  of the 27 metaphorical expressions identifi  ed in the source texts, I have selected  7  that  will  be  analysed  here  as  examples.  The  qualitative analysis will be followed by a quantitative analysis in which the frequencies of different metaphorical strategies across the three groups of trans  lators are counted.

## 5.1.  The source texts

The analysis is based on the three texts (Appendix 1) used in the original data corpus (Jensen 2001), and I identifi  ed a total of 27 metaphorical and metonymic expressions in the texts. The identifi  cation of metaphors and metonymies was based on my own intuition, and even though it would be possible to fi  nd other metaphorical expressions than the ones I have identifi  ed, I expect to have included the most important ones.

## 5.2.  The data

The texts  were  translated  from  English  into  Danish,  the  latter  being the  mother  tongue  of  all  six  informants.  The  informants  were  told to translate the articles as if they were going to appear in Berlingske Tidende, a well-known Danish quality newspaper with a national circul  ation. All informants were allowed to use dictionaries of their own choice,  and  in  order  to  obtain  as  authentic  translation  situations  as possible, the experiments took place in the informants' own offi  ces, or in their homes, without intervention from the researcher.

The  informants  had  been  chosen  to  represent  different  levels  of pro  fi  ciency in translation. Of the six persons who volunteered to take part in the experiment, two were professional translators with 10 years of experience, two were professional translators with 2 years of ex  peri  ence, and the remaining two informants were not professional translators. The analysis is based on the above three source texts trans  lated by the above six translators, i.e. 18 printouts from Translog, sup  plement  ed  with  comments  from  18  transcribed  Think-Aloud  protocols. The transcriptions of the Think-Aloud protocols were not the primary ma  terial for my analysis and were only included when relevant.

## 5.3.  Coding translation strategies

In order to identify how the translators transfer metaphors I identifi  ed a number of strategies, based on Andersen (2000), and adopted for the pre  sent purpose.

- 1:  Use an equivalent of the original metaphor, which would express a similar conceptual mapping (M → M)
- 2 : Replace a metaphor of the original with a metaphor based on a different conceptual metaphor (M → D)
- 3:  Replace a metaphor with a paraphrase (M → P)
- 4:  Deletion  -  a  complete  deletion  of  the  metaphorical  expression (Del)

## 6. Qualitative analysis

The  purpose  of  the  qualitative  analysis  is  to  identify  metaphorical expressions in the texts and to categorise different translation strategies. I identifi  ed 27 metaphorical expressions, but I will limit myself to present  seven  randomly  selected  examples  here.  When  relevant,  I  have supported  the  analysis  with  comments  from  the  Think-Aloud  pro  tocols.

## 6.1.  Identifying metaphor

In the following analysis I have marked translator groups as (E) = Expert, (Y) = young professional (NP) = Non-professional.

## Example 1:

```
Source text segment: Unit trust advertising: Wrapped in weasel words Examples from Translog: (NP) Deleted (NP)   Deleted (Y) Deleted (Y) Som uld i mund (M → D) [TR: Talking woolly] (E) Tom og tvetydig terminology (M → D) [TR: empty and ambiguous terminology] (E) Fulde af tvetydigheder (M → D) [TR: Full of ambiguities]
```

Only three out of the six informants translated the metaphorical expression (the two expert translators and one of the young professionals), three of the informants deleted the metaphor.

Weasel words is a metaphorical idiom, based on an image metaphor popularised by Theodore Roosevelt in 1916, and explained as follows: 'When a weasel sucks an egg, the meat is sucked out of the egg, and it leaves the shell' (Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable). The metaphor is conceptual, and maps certain features or activities that relate to an image.

As mentioned in chapter 2.2 we may fi  nd important cultural differ  ences  when  translating  metaphorical  idioms,  as  they  are  based  on men  tal images that can be highly culture specifi  c. This seemed to be the  problem  with  this  metaphor,  and  it  obviously  challenged  all  the infor  mants. Mostly because the phrase weasel words was unknown to them all, which could be seen from the protocols (the intensive use of dic  tion  aries, corrections during processing, and the fact that three out of six informants chose to delete the entire sentence). The expression as a whole is used metaphorically to mean something like, w rapped in words without meaning , (indsvøbt i tom retorik) and from a conceptual per  spective, we can say that rendering Wrapped in weasel words with Tom  og  tvetydig  terminology (empty  and  ambiguous  terminology), Fulde af tvetydigheder (full of ambiguities), could be sanctioned by the conceptual metaphor WORDS ARE OBJECTS, and WORDS ARE CONTAINERS OF MEANING, (empty words are empty containers). The translation Som uld i mund (talking wooly) could be conceptualised as WORDS ARE OBJECTS, and whether words can be understood or not depend on their degree of solidity (hard evidence, woolly ideas). However, as it was impossible to transfer the weasel image into Danish, and no one did, I categorised all three translations as metaphorical expressions based on a different con  ceptual metaphor (M → D).

The  following  comment  from  a Think-aloud  protocol  shows  how one of the translations developed from a process of creative image associations:

## Think-aloud protocol:

Weasel words, jeg ved ikke lige hvad det betyder. Jeg slår det lige op i Vinterberg, weasel er sådan et krybdyr - et væsel - her : en tvetydig be  mærk  ning. - Men det er jo et billede, måske kunne man fi  nde på noget andet - noget for sjov. Uld i mund - ja det er det der ligger i det - som uld i mund.

[TR: Weasel words, I don't know what is meant by weasel word. I just have to look it up in Vinterberg (a dictionary). . a weasel is some kind of a reptile - a weasel - in the dictionary it says:' en tvetydig bemærkning' (double talk). - But it is an image, maybe I could fi  nd something else - for fun. Woolly - yes that's what it is - talking woolly ].

## Example 2:

## Source text segment:

'It is possible that no document on earth has committed as many sins against clear language.

## Examples from Translog:

- (NP) Intet dokument her på denne jord har syndet så meget (M → M) [TR: no document here on this earth has committed as many sins ]
- (NP) Intet dokument på jorden har begået så mange synder (M → M) [TR: no document on earth has committed as many sins ]
- (Y) Ikke noget andet dokument i verden har begået så mange synder (M → M)

TR: no document in the world has committed as many sins]

- (Y) Det er umuligt at nogen anden tekst har forbrudt sig så eftertrykkeligt (M → M)

[TR: it is impossible that any other text has sinned so thoroughly]

- (E) Intet dokument i verden der i den grad har syndet (M → M) [TR:  no  document  in  the  world  has  committed  sins  to  this extent]
- (E) Der er ikke noget andet dokument i verden der i den grad har forbrudt sig (M → M)

[TR: there is no other document in this world that has committed sins to this extent]

PERSONIFICATION:  The  metaphorical  mapping  TEXTS  ARE  HUMAN,  enables us to place the document in agent position, which allows us to com  prehend a wide variety of experiences with non-human entities in terms of human motivation, characteristics and activities. Texts can perform the same actions as humans. The phrase commit a sin evokes a RELIGIOUS frame profiling the element COMMITTING A SIN, which enables us metaphorically to map the documents (as human beings) to commit sins against the rules of clear language (humans commit sins against the laws of God).

The metaphor is conceptualised and lexicalised in the same way in Danish, and all six informants made this metaphorical mapping.

## Example 3:

## Source text segment:

'It is possible that no document on earth has committed as many sins against clear language.

## Examples from Translog:

- (NP)   Intet dokument på jorden har begået så mange synder imod klar tale (M → M)

[TR: clear speech]

- (NP)   Intet  dokument  her  på  jorden  har  syndet  så  meget  mod  et forståeligt sprog (M → P)

[TR: understandable langauge]

- (Y) Ikke  noget  andet  dokument  i  verden  har  begået  så  mange synder mod klart sprog (M → M)

[TR: clear langauge]

- (Y) Det er umuligt at nogen anden tekst har forbrudt sig så efter  trykke  ligt mod kravet om tydelig tale (M → M) [TR: distinct speech]
- (E) Der er ikke noget andet dokument i verden der i den grad har for  brudt sig mod kravet om et klart sprog (M → M)
- [TR: clear language]
- Intet dokument i verden har i den grad syndet mod idealet om
- (E) et tydeligt sprog (M → M) [TR: distinct language]

ABSTRACT IS CONCRETE: Language can be communicated or expressed in various ways, and whether it can be grasped or seen will depend on the degree of clarity; a clear object (language) is something that is easily seen/understood.

The metaphor is conceptualised and can be lexicalised in the same way in Danish and English. However, one of the informants (NP) chose to neutralise the metaphorical expression 'clear' by paraphrasing it to for  ståeligt sprog (understandable language) . Five of the six informants kept the metaphor.

## Example 4:

## Source text segment:

The prose trips off the tongue like peanut butter

## Examples from Translog:

- (NP) Poetisk sprogbrug (M → P) [TR: Poetic language]
- (NP)   Ordene glider på tungen som nøddesmør (M → D) [TR: The words slip on the tongue as nut butter]
- (Y) Sproget fl  yder som smør (M → D)

[TR: The language fl  ows like butter]

- (Y) Ordene klistrer fast i munden som peanut butter (M → M)

[TR: The words are glued to the mouth like peanut butter]

- (E) Formuleringerne er som syltet ind i peanut butter (M → D) [TR: The expressions are like jamed into peanut butter]
- (E) Det hænger ved tungen som jordnøddesmør (M → M) [TR: It sticks to the tongue as peanut butter]

METONYMIC INTERACTION WITH METAPHOR: The metaphor is composed by a metonymic expression combined with an image metaphor. Tongue is often used metonymically to stand for speech, and the expression as a whole is used metaphorically to mean something like: the words get stuck in the mouth.

Metaphoric image mapping works in the same way as other metaphor  ic mappings. The example is different from the other metaphors in that it contains a comparison (simile). In this case, we do not map an ex  pres  sion from one domain onto another domain; we compare objects from two domains.

In the example, peanut butter is used metaphorically for 'glue', the mean  ing being that 'the prose gets glued to the tongue'. The words, how  ever, do not tell us which qualities of peanut butter should be profi  led, and looking at the translations it is obvious that we are dealing with cul  tural  problems  of  profi  ling  the  relevant  qualities  of  peanut  butter, as peanut butter is a very popular food product in America, but not in Denmark. Further, the sentence seemed to contain an element of contra  diction, as trips off seemed to be contradicted by peanut butter . The dic  tionary  description  for  peanut  butter  is:  a  soft  substance  made  of crushed peanuts. But is it soft? Sticky? Or slippery? This led to some con  fusion about the relevant qualities of peanut butter, and even though the meaning of the whole cannot be a simple function of the meanings of the parts, fi  ve of the informants processed the metaphor by processing its individual parts, and they insisted on keeping the peanut butter/ or butter image, which may create a different effect for the Danish reader com  pared to American source text reader.

From the above examples we see that the translators profi  le the qualities  of  peanut  butter  in  very  different  ways,  and  from  the  following tran  script from two of the think-aloud protocols, we see again how the trans  lation of the metaphorical expressions developed from a process of image associations and knowledge activation:

## Think-aloud protocol comments of one of the young profes  sionals :

The prose trips - jeg bliver nødt til at læse denne her sætning virkelig grun  digt. The prose trips off - trips off the tongue like peanut butter - trips off, det vil sige det falder - med peanut butter, det klistrer så man næsten ikke kan synke, så det må være, at det jeg bliver nødt til at sige noget med at det klistrer på tungen. Jeg slår trips off op i den store eng-da ordbog. Jo, det er sådan noget med at snuble, falde. Trips off.

Ordene, ordene hænger fast - det der billede. Det der billede - jeg skal prøve at fi  nde et billede - ordene kan næsten ikke komme videre fra tun  gen ligesom peanut butter - ordene sætter sig fast.- 'Ordene klistrer fast i munden som peanut butter'.

[TR: The prose trips - I have to read this sentence really carefully. The prose trips off - trips off the tongue like peanut butter - trips off, it means something like falling off - with peanut butter, it is so sticky that you can hardly sink, so it must be.. that I have to say some  thing like it is glued to the tongue. I will look up trips off in the big dic  tionary Eng-Da. Yes, it something like stumbling, falling. Trips off. The words, the words stick - that image. That image - I am trying to fi  nd an image - the words cannot get past the tongue, like peanut butter - 'Ordene klistrer fast i munden som peanut butter' ]

## Think-aloud protocol comments of another young professional:

Sproget fl  yder - kunne man sige - det lyder også godt sammen med peanut butter - fl  yder, glider, fl  yder som ja, peanut butter - skal jeg skrive peanut butter [keep it in English] eller skal man skrive jordnøddesmør [translate it into Danish], som smør bare.

[TR: The language fl  ows - one could say - yes, that works nicely together with peanut butter - fl  ow, fl  ow like, yes, peanut butter - should I  write peanut butter or should I write jordnøddesmør, 'like butter ' only]

## Example 5:

## Source text segment:

He condemned the 'Shroud of jargon and arcane language' of documents..

## Examples from Translog:

- (NP) Deleted
- (NP)   Deleted
- (Y) Han  fordømte  dette  gammeldags  og  uigennemsigtige  sprog (M → P)

[TR: He condemned this old fashioned and opaque language]

- (Y) .. og sagde at teksterne var fyldt med koder, og meget mystiske (M → P)

[TR: and said that the texts were fi  lled with codes, and very mysterious]

- (E) Han fordømte det dække af jargon og forblommet sprog (M → M)

[TR:  He  condemned  the  cover  of  jargon  and  equivocal  language]

- (E) Han fordømte det tågeslør af jargon og indforstået snak (M → M)

[TR:  He  condemned  the  veil  of  misty  jargon  and  informed talk]

UNDERSTANDING IS SEEING: Something that is easy to understand is clear or transparent. Knowledge/understanding that is unavailable is obscured, hazy, clouded, veiled. The metaphor is conceptualised in the same way in Danish and English. Only the two expert translators kept the metaphor, but with different linguistic  manifestations, dække (cover) and tågeslør (veil  of  mist),  the  young  professionals  paraphrased  the metaphor, and the non-professionals deleted it.

## Example 6:

## Source text segment:

…the huge infl  ux of new investors moving from US deposit accounts into share-based funds

## Examples from Translog:

- (NP) Deleted
- (NP) Deleted
- (Y) Nye investorer fl  ytter deres opsparinger fra almindelige bankkonti til aktie investeringer (M → M)
- [TR: …investors are moving their savings from ordinary bank accounts to share-based ….]
- (Y) Nye investorer i de seneste år har fl  yttet deres almindelige opsparinger til aktiebaserede inv. (M → M)
- [TR: …investors have moved their ordinary savings to share-based investments]
- (E) Nye investorer, der I de senere år er gået fra amerikanske indlåns  konti til investeringsforeninger (M → M)
- [TR: …investors have gone from American deposit accounts to unit trusts]

```
(E ) Nye investorer,  der  er  gået  fra  indlånskonti  til  aktiebaserede fonde I løbet af de sidste par år. (M → M) [TR:  …investors  have  gone  from  deposit  accounts  to  share-based fonds]
```

Four of the informants translated the metaphor by the same metaphor ( M → M), whereas the two non-professional translators deleted the entire metaphorical expression. In the following, the conceptual metaphors ACTIONS ARE MOTIONS and THE ECONOMY IS A PLACE account for monetary transactions  as  in:  'investors  moving  from  US  accounts  into  sharebased funds'.

We  can  conceptualise  monetary  processes,  deposit  accounts  and funds in terms of actions and places. Accounts and funds are physical ob  jects with an inside and an outside (Richardt 2003). We activate our know  ledge frame of buildings and rooms, and investors can move from one building/room into another building/room - or metaphorically from one form of investment into another.

From a conceptual perspective, we can say that rendering ' from US deposit accounts into share based funds' with 'gået fra amerikanske indlåns  konti til investeringsforeninger' is sanctioned by the metaphor: ACTIONS ARE MOTIONS AND ECONOMY IS A PLACE, and places can have boundaries, which may develop into the BUILDING metaphor in the context of economy.

## Example 7:

```
Source text segment: …in the pocket of John Major…. Examples from Translog: (NP)   Deleted (NP) .. i lommen på John Major (M→M) [TR: in the pocket of John Major] (Y)… er John Majors forlængede arm (M→D) [TR: John Major's extended arm] (Y) .. i lommen på John Major (M→M) [TR: in the pocket of John Major] (E). .. i lommen på John Major (M→M) [TR: in the pocket of John Major]
```

```
(E). .. i lommen på John Major (M→M)
```

[TR: in the pocket of John Major]

This metaphorical idiom is conceptualised and lexicalised in the same way in Danish and English. Five out of the six translators kept the same conceptual metaphor and the same metaphorical expression. One of the young translators decided to change her fi  rst impulse, and write 'John Majors forlængede arm' [TR: extended arm] instead.

## 7. Quantitative analysis

The qualitative analysis enabled me to identify metaphorical expressions in the texts and to categorise different translation strategies. Based on the qualitative analysis and the assumption that translating metaphor  ical expressions requires a specifi  c competence developed through experience, the following hypothesis was generated.

Hypothesised effect of translator experience

It  is  hypothesised that professional translators will aim at a metaphor  ical solution (M→M+M→D) when possible, whereas non-profession  al translators will aim at non-metaphorical solutions (M→P + Deletion).

## 7.1.  Findings

The following is a quantitative analysis of the strategies applied by the different  groups  of  translators  when  translating  the  27  metaphorical expressions.

Table 7.1 Analysis of the metaphorical solution vs. non-metaphorical solution

| Informants   |   Metaphorical solution M → M+M → D % |   Non-metaphorical solutionM → P +Deletion % |
|--------------|---------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------|
| Non-prof     |                                    50 |                                           50 |
| Young prof   |                                    65 |                                           35 |
| Experts      |                                    87 |                                           13 |

From table 7.1 we see that the hypothesised is partly confi  rmed. We observe  a  tendency  towards  metaphorical  solution  in  both  translator groups, young professionals (65%) and experts (87%) alike, whereas the group of non-translators applied both solutions equally often (50% metaphorical solution and 50% non-metaphorical solution).

To obtain a closer look at the distribution across all four strategies, I analysed to what extent the informants chose to translate metaphors with the  same  metaphor or a different  metaphor,  and  to  what  extent deletion or paraphrasing strategies were selected.

Table 7.2 Analysis of the translation of metaphor

| Informants   |   M → M % |   M → D % |   M → P % |   Deletion % |
|--------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------------|
| Non-prof     |        43 |         7 |         9 |           41 |
| Young prof   |        37 |        28 |        22 |           13 |
| Experts      |        59 |        28 |        13 |            0 |

From table 7.2 we see that the non-professional translators mainly applied two solutions. They either translated the source text metaphor by the same metaphor (M → M, 43%), or they simply deleted the metaphor (De  letion,  41%).  They  rarely  attempted  to  fi  nd  a  different  metaphor (M → D, 7%), or paraphrase (M → P, 9%) the metaphor.

Comparing  the  use  of  deletion  strategies  of  the  non-professional trans  lators with the two groups of professional translators, we fi  nd that the young professional translators only deleted 13% of the metaphorical expres  sions, and the experts did not delete any of them (0%).

The young professional translators translated 37% of the metaphors by the same metaphor (M → M), which is actually less than the non-profes  sionals, who translated 43% of the metaphors by the same metaphor. Fur  ther, the young professional translators paraphrased more than any of the other groups (M → P, 22%).

The expert translators on the other hand clearly preferred to translate metaphors  by  metaphors.  59%  of  all  metaphorical  expressions  were trans  lated by metaphors with similar metaphorical mapping (M → M).

The  fi  ndings  could  be  interpreted  follows:  The  non-professional trans  lators seem to process metaphors at the surface level; metaphors were translated by metaphors when an immediate match could be found in the target language, but faced with metaphorical translation problems this group used a reduction strategy and deleted the entire metaphor. The young professionals experienced more problems with metaphorical trans  fer than the expert group did, and one way of coping with that problem was by relying on associative processing, which entailed para  phrasing or an attempt of fi  nding a different metaphor. This could be seen as a way of gradually developing the metaphorical competence we fi  nd with the expert group.

## 8. Conclusion

In this study it was assumed that translating metaphorical expressions re  quires  competence  developed  through  experience,  and  this  com  petence  would  include  cross-cultural  knowledge,  an  awareness  of  the prag  matic, semantic and textual function of the metaphor, as well as an under  standing of the duality of metaphors as both mental concepts and lin  guistic expressions.

One  important  feature  of  metaphoric  language  is  that  it  adds  an ele  ment  of  ambiguity  and  possible  interpretations  to  the  text,  which means  that  any  choice  of  metaphor  or  paraphrase  of  metaphorical expressions may have far-reaching semantic, pragmatic and cognitive con  sequences ; if  the  translator  infers  a  meaning  not  intended  by  the source text writer, the text may create a different meaning and effect in the target text than in the source text.

The purpose of this study was to identify how three groups of translators with different levels of experience coped with the translation of meta  phors. It was hypothesised that professional translators would aim at metaphorical solution when possible, whereas the non-professional trans  lators would apply non-metaphorical solutions.

The study was a combined qualitative and quantitative study, and the hypothesis was partly confi  rmed by the fi  ndings. Differences between the non-professional translators and the professional translators could be observed; but also differences between the young professionals and the expert translators were found in my data.

The non-professional translators deleted 41% of the metaphors, which was interpreted  as  surface-level  processing;  faced  with  metaphorical prob  lems  the  non-professional  translators  cope  with  that  problem  by ap  plying  a  problem-solving  strategy  with  minimum  cognitive  effort: Dele  tion. The analysis, however, also pointed at differences between expert translators and young professionals. The expert translators translated source text metaphors with the same metaphorical mapping to a much higher degree than the young professional translators did. The young professionals had more problems than the experts had, and they para  phrased more, which I interpreted as a way of actively coping with metaphors while developing expert metaphorical competence. The expert  translators  on  the  other  hand  seemed  convincing  in  their  ability to access conceptual metaphorical mapping across the language pairs in question, as well as an awareness of the function of the metaphor, which  could  be  seen  by  their  notable  use  of  metaphorical  solutions (87%) when translating.

## References

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## Appendix 1 Source:  The Financial Times, March 15, 1997 No. of words: 118

Unit trust advertising: Wrapped in weasel words

'It  is  possible  that  no  document on earth has committed as many  sins  against  clear  language.  The  prose  trips  off  the tongue like peanut butter,' Arthur Levitt, chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, did not mince words when, as chief regulator, he condemned the 'shroud of jargon and arcane language' of documents used to sell mutual funds, the local equivalent of UK unit trusts. 'Poetry seems to be reserved for claims about performance, and conciseness for discussions about fees,' he noted.

The SEC's concern over obfuscation has been heightened by the huge infl  ux of new investors moving from US deposit accounts into share-based funds over the past few years.

## Source:  The Observer, 1996

## No. of words: 121

Selective evidence of 'schools spin doctor'

His  name  is  Chris  Woodhead;  he  is  the  chief  inspector  of schools, waging war against weak and sloppy teachers. Or, as his critics prefer, he is a spin-doctor in the pocket of John Major  and  the  anti-comprehensive  zealots  of  the  Downing Street Policy Unit.

On Tuesday, Mr Woodhead will present a report on reading standards  in  the  three  inner-London  boroughs  of  Islington, Tower  Hamlets  and  Southwark.  It  makes  sorry  reading: almost 80 per cent of seven-year olds below standard; teaching unsatisfactory in one in three lessons; weak headteachers. The report, which draws a grim scenario for working-class pupils, is  classic  Woodhead.  And  the  culprit?  The  'progressive' teaching  ideology  developed  in  the  Sixties  by  left-leaning educationists.

## Source:  The Economist, April 5, 1997 No. of words: 122

Splitting the brand

The scene: Saturday night in a fl  ickering party tent beneath the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. In front of it are 80 tonnes of snow, heaped into a snowboard ramp on which Europe's coolest swerve and fl  ip. This is 'Urban High', an event where 20,000  clubbers  dance  to  music  provided  by  the  Chemical Brothers. And  what  is  the  chemical  that  helps  them  climb higher? Er … Scotch on the rocks. Urban High is sponsored by  Ballantine's,  the  leading  brand  of  Allied  Domecq,  the world's  second-largest  producer  of  Scotch  whisky.  Allied is  not  alone in trying to shed bagpipes and tartan in favour of drum machines and spandex. Guinness has tried to jump aboard the current craze in Britain for 'alcopops'.

210