CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION

1.1 Research topic

This thesis proposes to give an in-depth analysis of translating metaphors in Englisheconomic news headlines (ENHs) under the guidance of the Adaptation Theory, andtentatively puts forward an Adaptation Theory-based model for translating metaphorsin ENHs. Some practical translation strategies are also provided. It attempts to offersome insights into the field of metaphor translation as well as to broaden theapplicable scope of the theory concerned.

As Lakoff & Johnson (1980: 4) point out, metaphor is pervasive in our daily life.It appears frequently not only in our everyday conversations, but also in various kindsof written texts, with journalism being “notoriously” famous for its use of metaphor to“l(fā)iven up” the texts and to “make them more colorful, dramatic and witty” (Newmark,1981: 84). ENHs are no exception. Many ENHs on some authoritative economicnewspapers and magazines adopt metaphor as a means to make the headlines conciseand attractive. That’s because the impact of headlines on the reader is likely to be allthe stronger as “certain linguistic features of titles make them particularly memorableand effective” (Develotte and Rechniewski, 2001), and metaphor is one of the devicesutilized to seek that impact deliberately. With the fast advancement of China’seconomy and the great influence it exerts on people’s daily life as well as on the worldeconomy, Chinese people are increasingly concerned about the economic, businessand financial events taking place both at home and abroad. News of overseas economic, business and some other related activities has become the daily readings ofmore and more Chinese people. In addition, how foreign media perceive those eventsin China is also a major concern for domestic readers. Against this backdrop, goodtranslations of English economic news headlines are highly important as they exertgreat influence on the quality of reading experience. However, as will be discussedlater, metaphor has long been seen as a problem in the field of translation studies. Andit cannot be denied that many English ENHs containing metaphors are not properlytranslated, which may render the translated text unattractive, or even lead to greateconomic loss for the publishers. Therefore, how to translate English ENHsappropriately is not only of great importance for those who are interested in readingthe news, but also for the stakeholders who pursue greater profits by publishing thesereadings.

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1.2 Rationale and significance

The reasons that the author decides to conduct a research on translating metaphors in English economic news headlines are as follows:

Firstly, overseas economic news has become the focus of attention for anincreasing number of Chinese people. With the acceleration of globalization and theintegration of China into the world at large, China’s economy is increasinglyinterwoven with that of the world. And for that reason, news of overseas economic,financial, business and some other related activities has become the daily readings ofmore and more Chinese people, especially for those who are in one way or anotherfinancially involved in these activities. They are eager to absorb the latest and finestinformation concerning the past, the ongoing, as well as the forthcoming economicevents taking place abroad. In addition, how foreign media perceive those events inChina is also a major concern for domestic readers. Therefore, satisfactorytranslations of English economic news is widely expected in China, especially forthose who depend on translated texts to get informed of the pertinent updates sincetheir limited proficiency in English prevents them from reading the origianl Englishversions.

Secondly, news headlines are an effective device to grab readers’ attention anddeliver important information. In an age of information explosion, news headlinesplay an indispensable role in news writing, that’s because nowadays people have easyaccess to such a wide range of news that they usually tend to glance at the headlinesto sift the news which are of interest to them. As a matter of fact, the headline is thepart of a text that is read first and may be the only part that is read (Mardh, 1980). It istherefore crucial for editors and journalists to spare no effort to develop arresting andintriguing headlines, and for translators to produce high-quality translated headlinesso as to ensure the same or similar effect on the target audience.

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CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Previous studies of news headlines

As mentioned above, headlines are the most prominent feature of news discourse (vanDijk, 1988b: 277). Therefore, it is not surprising that they have been studied quiteextensively not only by journalists but also by linguists. In this part, some previousstudies of news headlines will be expounded from two aspects: relevant studies ofnews headlines outside China and relevant studies of news headlines in China, with asummary presented afterwards.

2.1.1 Relevant studies of news headlines outside China

The literature on newspaper headlines outside China covers a wide range of topics,including both theoretical and empirical, all the way from the grammar of Englishheadlines to the distribution and effects of metaphorical expressions in English newsheadlines. Following is a review on some of those studies.

Mardh, in her book Headlinese: On the grammar of English front page headlines,(1980:183) provides an exhaustive study of the linguistic features of the headlines of awide range of English newspapers. Following are some typical linguistic features ofEnglish newspaper headlines identified in her research: the omission of articles; theomission of verbs and of auxiliaries; nominalizations; the frequent use of complexnoun phrases in subject position; adverbial headlines, with the omission of both verb and subject; the use of short words; the widespread use of puns, word play andalliteration; the importance of word order; and independent “wh” constructions notlinked to a main clause, which is a form not found in standard English.

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2.2 Previous studies of metaphor translation

Since metaphor represents thoughts and words in an implicit way, translation ofmetaphor is a little bit complicated. Indeed, whether metaphor can be translated usedto be the focus of debate several decades ago. Since then, scholars out of China andscholars in China have proposed their own understandings of metaphor translationand given some constructive suggestions.

2.2.1 Relevant studies of metaphor translation outside China

In his paper Can metaphor be translated? Dagut (1976) puts the question oftranslatability of metaphor in the spotlight of translation scholars. He points out thatmetaphor translation relies on translators’ bilingual competence and that they shouldsearch for equivalent expressions in the target language. According to Dagut, whether a translation of metaphor is successful or not depends to a great degree on the extentto which target readers share and resonate with the cultural experiences andsemantically related things of the original metaphor.

van den Broeck (1981) continues to explore the translatability of metaphor in hispaper titled The Limits of Translatability Exemplified by Metaphor Translation. Hedivides metaphors into creative ones and decorative ones according to their functions,and states that in the former kind there is “a deep necessary bond between the ‘tenor’and the ‘vehicle’” (1981:76) whereas the latter in most cases can readily be replacedby other expressions, metaphorical or not, without changing the effect on the recipient.Therefore, translators should take the function of the metaphor and thecommunicative context into consideration when translating as he holds that creativemetaphors are “functionally relevant” while decorative metaphors are “most likely notto be” (Broeck, 1981:78).

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CHAPTEWR THREE ANALYTICAL FRAMENWORK OF THE STUDY.................21

3.1 Overview ofAdaptation Theory...............21

3.2 Using language: a process of making choices.........22

CHAPTER FOUR METAPHORS IN ECONOMIC NEWS HEADLINES...................32

4.1 Definition of metaphor................... 32

4.2 Definition of news headline...............35

CHAPTER FIVE ADAPTATION THEORY-BASED STUDIES ON TRANSLATINGMETAPHORS IN ENGLISH ENHS..................50

5.1Adaptation to the linguistic conventions...............50

5.1.1Adaptation at the lexical level................ 50

5.1.2Adaptation at the sentential level................. 52

CHAPTER FIVEADAPTATION THEORY-BASED STUDIES ON TRANSLATINGMETAPHORS IN ENGLISH ENHS

5.1Adaptation to the linguistic conventions

Due to the linguistic differences between English and Chinese, it is necessary to carryout adaptations at the lexical, sentential and thematic level when translatingmetaphors in English ENHs so as to eliminate the potential barriers between twolanguages and make the translated headlines in line with the linguistic features of thetarget language.

5.1.1Adaptation at the lexical level

In China, four-character idioms or phrases enjoys a high status in both written and spoken language for their economic effect and rhetorical function. In fact, if usedappropriately, one idiom or phrase can express the same amount of information as thatconveyed by several adjectives (Xu, 1997).And that’s true for journalistic language aswell. Therefore, in translating metaphors in English ENHs, four-character idioms orphrases are widely utilized to make the translated headlines both concise and vivid.

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CHAPTER SIXCONCLUSION

6.1 Summary of the study

Since economic news is concerned with multiple disciplines, and metaphor translationhas long been perceived as a problem, translating metaphors in ENHs is not an easytask. After presenting the four typical types of metaphors in both English and ChineseENHs, this thesis attempts to investigate the process of translating metaphors in thisspecific texts based on Verschueren’s Adaptation Theory, which perceives translationas a process of continuous choice-making at both linguistic and extra-linguistic levels.The practical application of the theory enables the author to figure out the relevantaspects that should be adapted to in the process of translation, with four translationstrategies suggested afterwards.

The present thesis provides a detailed analysis on translating metaphor in ENHs onthe strength of the Adaptation Theory. When translating metaphors, the translator iscontinuously making choices so as to produce proper target version of themetaphorical ENHs that adapts to the linguistic conventions of the target language,and the social and mental worlds of the target audience. Generally speaking, thefindings are as follows:

Firstly, there are four typical types of metaphors in both English and Chinese ENHs. They are HUMAN metaphor, WAR metaphor, ANIMAL metaphor, andMACHINE metaphor, with the previous three belonging to the over-arching organicmetaphors. This overlapping of metaphor realizations provides foundations for literaltranslation of certain metaphors in certain occasions. But differences still existbetween the two sets of texts, which means adaptations are necessary in the process oftranslation.

reference(omitted)