On Obstacles of Metaphor Translation from Perspective of Culture

Abstract

Translating is a complex and fascinating task, as Richards (1965) once claimed that translating is probably the most complex type of event in the history of the cosmos. In the development of modern translation theories, there is a tendency that culture is introduced into this field. Translating becomes more complex for it has been defined as a cross-cultural communication event, and it involves not only two languages but also two cultures. This shift from emphasis on linguistic transfer towards emphasis on cultural transfer naturally exists in the translation of metaphor. Metaphor is not only an important figure of speech, but also a cognitive means of human mind. The people with different means of thinking have different cultures. The metaphorical language used by people must be fully saturated with culture peculiar to it. So because of the influence of cultural factor, the translation of metaphors becomes the most important particular problem. The paper discusses the reasons for the difficulties of metaphor translation, and summarizes several obstacles of it.