A Case Study： The Strategy of Translating Metaphor and Alliteration

HUANG Min-li

【Abstract】Through the study of translation work of an extract of novel Tinkers， undertook by the author herself， the author looks into the various strategies adopted to deal with two specific translating problems in literary translation， the translation of metaphor and alliteration.

【Key words】translating strategy； metaphor； alliteration； Tinkers； literary translation

【作者簡介】HUANG Min-li， Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.

1. Introduction

The source text is from Paul Hardings first novel Tinkers， which is the winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The unconventional plot of this short novel is that the leading character， George Crosby， a New England clock repairer and restorer， is living out the final days of his life in a hospital bed， recalling his life-long memories. The plot of deathbed meditation takes readers to scenes of Crosbys earlier times and even to events in his fathers life. Except for the unconventional plot， the novel also features a distinctive writing style including the random narration of the third person and extensive usage of rhetorical techniques. As a translator， by virtue of professional training in the literary translation， the priority of this task is to reproduce the stylistic particularities of the author to fulfill commissions expectation of a similarly finely-crafted Chinese version.

The extract is chosen from the first chapter of the novel， depicting fragments of George Crosbys memory about himself being a tinker and his father Howard Crosby who is an itinerant tinker and an epileptic. The following parts of the commentary will elucidate two challenges arising during the translation process， namely， the translation of metaphor and alliteration.

2. Translation of Metaphor

Translating metaphors from one language to another has frequently been the concern of translation scholars. From the traditional linguistic perspective， metaphor is viewed as a figure of speech functioned as a tool of stylistic embellishment. （Sch?ffner 2004： 2） The translation of metaphor poses difficulties to translators largely due to the cultural difference between the SL and TL. As what Dagut （1976： 28） says， ‘what determines the translatability of a SL metaphor is not its ‘boldness or ‘originality， but rather the extent to which the cultural experience and semantic associations on which it draws are shared by speakers of the particular TL. Therefore， while translating metaphor， taking cultural context into consideration is of paramount significance.

While translating metaphors in the chosen extract， largely drawing on the alternative solutions illustrated by van den Broeck （1981： 77）， strategies adopted were retention and substitution. Given that the translators goal is to reproduce the stylistic features， as a frequently-used rhetorical technique， the deletion of metaphors in the source text is obviously not an option. According to van den Broeck， if it is the case that the image （conventional referent）， object （actual unconventional referent） and the tenor （similarities involved） of a metaphor are all meaningful in the target language， then the strategy of retention can be applied. For example， all of the elements of the metaphor in the following metaphor ‘Such a crooked and flimsy device could only keep the fantastic hours of unruly ghosts have been retained in target language. In this case， the author compares time to ‘unruly ghost， which is also reasonable in Chinese culture. Apart from this， a substitution strategy adopted when the image or the object of a metaphor in the SL cannot achieve the same effect in the TL. For example， the metaphor in the following sentence ‘This was his aura， a cold halo of chemical electricity that encircled him immediately before he was struck by a full seizure is that the physical coldness of Howard Crosby is compared to ‘a cold halo of chemical electricity. By virtue of this vivid metaphor， the author aims to underline Howards sufferings of epileptic. Retaining the tenor or the similarities in this metaphor， which is a cold circle thing in this case， I substituted the original object ‘a cold halo of chemical electricity with ‘一個寒冷的牢笼（a cold cage）to make it more reasonable to the Chinese readership.

3. Translation of Alliteration

Alliteration， one of the oldest figures of speech in English， is often applied in various genres of literature， such as news， poetry and novels. According to the Oxford American College Dictionary （2005： 32）， alliteration is ‘the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. Except for its special musical effect， alliteration can also be functioned as a cohesive instrument， as Wales （1989： 18） states： ‘Phonology alone is a source of cohesion in a text， as with alliteration， assonance， and rhyme， all of which involve textual patterning created by repetition of same or similar sounds. Even though it is hardly to come up with an equivalent alliteration in TL due to differences between languages or the ‘linguistic untranslability （Bassnet 1980： 34）， there are still strategies tackling with the issue.

The involved alliteration in the chosen extract is ‘Tinker， tinker. Tin， tin， tin. Tintinnabulation. While translating this sentence， strategy of compensation has been applied. Harvey （1995： 66） defines compensation as ‘a technique for making up for the loss of a source text effect by recreating a similar effect in the target text through means that are specific to the target language and/or the target text. To compensate the effect of the alliteration in the source text， instead of maintaining the alliteration， the translator chose to adopt the technique of assonance in this case. Therefore， the translation turns out to be ‘聽，叮…叮…叮…叮铃 （Listening， tin…tin…tin…tinnabulation.） Taking the context of the source text into consideration， since the following text revolves around the sound in Howards ears at the edge of epileptic， the meaning of “Tinker， tinker” is of little amount compared to its actual sound effect. Therefore， the translator chose to sacrifice the exact meaning of the word to create assonance in the target text and thus achieving a similar effect of alliteration.

4. Conclusion

From the analysis of this translation work， while translating literary works involving the use of rhetorical devices， translators may take cultural differences into consideration and admit the existence of language untranslability， making compromise as long as target text reproduces the essence of source text.

References：

[1]Bassnett，Susan（1980）Translation Studies，London：Methuen.

[2]Dagut，Menachem（1976）‘Can Metaphor be Translated？，Babel：International Journal of Translation，XXII（1）：21-33.

[3]Harvey，Keith（1995）‘A Descriptive Framework for Compensation， The Translator 1（1）：65-86.

[4]Sch?ffner，Christina（2004）‘Metaphor and Translation：Some implications of a cognitive approach，Journal of Pragmatics 36： 1253-1269.

[5]The Oxford American College Dictioary（2002）Oxford：Oxford University Press.

[6]van den Broeck，Raymond（1981）‘The Limits of Translatability Exemplified by Metaphor Translation，Poetics Today 2：73-87.

[7]Wales，Katie（1989）A Dictionary of Stylistics，London：Longman Group.