A cognitive approach to translating English health and illness business metaphors into Arabic

One of the main aims of this work is to compare and analyse the translation of metaphors in subtitles as performed by human translators and by machine translation, and conduct MT evaluation. The work considers two YouTube videos of a Cyberpunk 2077 (2020) videogame walkthrough. The first video is in the original language (English) with English subtitles and the second one is an officially translated video in Russian, with Russian subtitles. Both videos have the same content, but in different languages. Metaphors were extracted manually from selected audiovisual material in English by the usage of MIPVU (Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit). In order to achieve our aims, first the translation of these metaphors in the official Russian subtitles were analysed; secondly, their automatic translation into Russian as it appears on YouTube by Google Translate were analysed as well; after that the results were compared to find the similarities and the differences between the automatically translated version of the metaphors on YouTube and the translated metaphors in the official subtitling. Another aim is to perform Machine Translation (MT) evaluation using the BLEU (Bilingual Evaluation Understudy) algorithm and to determine the errors made by MT while translating metaphors in the analysed subtitles. Three examples, which were taken from the videos, are presented in the format of cases. The cases show different metaphors and the situations they were used in and analyse why these metaphors were used in that particular situation, how metaphors were identified there, how they were translated and why they were translated exactly in this way. Furthermore, the machine translation of the same metaphors is analysed and a comparison between them is made. The topic of the speech recognition process and the metaphor identification procedure is also touched upon. The results demonstrate that although machine translation is able to translate frequently used, popular metaphors, or metaphors, the literal translation of which retains the meaning, it is still difficult for the machine to recognise original author’s metaphors or to translate using the context of the situation. The results could encourage training the machine to recognize metaphors and to create a larger database of metaphors to identify them.

This paper aims at analyzing two Arabic translations of the novella The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 1952. One of the translations is by Dar Al-Bihar, Beirut, and the other is by Ziad Zakaria. The purpose of this study is to investigate problems and strategies of literary translation into Arabic and to suggest guidelines for better practices in the field of Arabic literary translation. This study is important because Arabic literary translation problems and strategies have been rarely tackled by researchers. Analysis of the translations is based on Baker's theory of equivalence. Two levels of equivalence are taken into consideration in this paper: equivalence at word level and equivalence at collocation level. The last part of the paper is devoted to investigate the cultural implications of Qur'anic expressions used in Zakaria's translation. The qualitative method has been used in compiling, analyzing and discussing data. Data has been collected, classified, and scrutinized in light of the theoretical background of the research. The findings show that the best translation should consider both contextual factors and cultural factors in SL and TL. Besides, naturalness and readability of the target text is crucial in literary translation. Untranslatable cultural specific items can be tackled in various ways such as paraphrasing, rewording, lexicalizing new concepts, and adapting them culturally as Zakaria has demonstrated in adding Quranic expressions in his translation of Hemingway. The researcher encourages creativity in literary translation provided that translators have literary competence and refined taste for style.

This study examines the challenges and solutions for translating English metaphors into Arabic in Winston Churchill's diaries. In Churchill's writing, metaphors are important rhetorical devices that elicit metaphoricity and help to communicate difficult concepts. However, due to the fact that Arabic and English have different linguistic standards, cultural contexts, and linguistic structures, translating these metaphorical terms poses special challenges. This study investigates the different translation procedures used by translators to convey meaning and effect of metaphors while maintaining their rhetorical impact in the target language by drawing on theories of metaphor translation and cross-cultural communication. This study examines the common problems encountered in translating metaphors and investigates the efficacy of various translation techniques in capturing the subtleties of meaning and cultural connotations inherent in metaphorical expressions. © THIS IS AN OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE UNDER THE CC BY LICENSE. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ To achieve this, a qualitative analysis of eight passages taken from Churchill's diary and their Arabic translations is conducted. The results provide insights on how to translate Churchill's unique writing style into Arabic while preserving the rhetorical and expressive elements of the source text, illuminating the intricate relationship between language, culture, and metaphor in translation. This study contributes to the understanding of metaphor translation and emphasizes the value of linguistic innovation and cultural sensitivity in overcoming source and target language gaps in literary translation.

Literal translation is often used to maintain fidelity to the source text when translating into the target language. This study focuses on the application of the concept of natural equivalence in the context of literal translation in the bilingual magazine LINGO. The main objective of this study is to explore the extent to which literal translation is used in LINGO and how natural equivalence can be achieved to improve the quality of translation. The research method involves an in-depth analysis of the original and translated texts of LINGO magazine to assess the use of literal equivalents and their impact on the naturalness of the target language. The study also aims to identify areas where natural equivalence could be better used, and to suggest strategies for overcoming the problems associated with overly literal translation. The implication of these findings is the importance of using natural equivalence in translation to improve the readability and naturalness of the text. Since 53% of translation methods employed are based on literal translation, it is expected that this study provides valuable insights into the application of the concept of natural equivalence in literal translation, and a basis for further research to improve translation practices in bilingual publications.

As an essential part of news, English news headlines are especially important. This paper makes an analysis of metaphor translation from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. Combining cognitive metaphor theory, the author deals with cognitive features that characterized by the people’s life experience and cognitive perception. Then, the translatability of metaphor is discussed in English news headlines in order to demonstrate that metaphorical translation is complicated for the cultural differences. Sometimes a faithful translation may be at the cost of losing metaphorical meaning. Then, effective metaphor translation methods are offered. They are literal translation, free translation and the change of vehicles, all of which involves the interpretation of similarity and/or difference of two languages. By using these methods appropriately, translators will be saved out of awkward translation adversity. With all the work above done, it will be easier for English news translators to translate more appropriately and for people to have a better understanding of the English used in this field. Accurate translation will definitely promote the spread of news and strengthen its timeliness.

The modern stage of the world development can be characterized by a significant increase in the role of science and technology, in connection with which the problem of translating scientific and technical texts is becoming more and more urgent. That is why, among the important problems of modern translation studies, the development of such a field as the translation of scientific and technical texts occupies an important place, since the flow of scientific information, the exchange of experience between specialists of various fields, and the organization of international symposia and conferences require the active work of qualified translators. An essential feature of the language of scientific and technical texts, which distinguishes them from colloquial language or the language of fiction, is the use of certain lexical, grammatical and stylistic techniques. Translation of literature in this direction requires special skills and abilities, as it is necessary to convey the accuracy and brevity of the expression of thought, on the one hand, and preserve strict logical consistency and completeness of expression on the other. Among the factors that make scientific and technical translation from English into Ukrainian difficult, it is necessary to include differences in the grammatical systems of languages, which necessitates mastering certain translation transformations, orienting oneself in ways and methods of translating unique constructions. Difficulties in translation include the presence of ambiguous terms, grammatical homonymy in the original language, preservation of genre and style features during translation, which vary depending on the type of text (a monograph, an article from a special magazine, a technical description, a patent, a technical reference book). Such researchers as V. I. Karaban and I. V. Korunets were engaged in studying the peculiarities and problems of translation of scientific and technical literature. But, unfortunately, the degree of study of the proposed topic is insufficient, since the techniques and methods of translation of the accompanying technical documentation have not been fully explored [5], [7]. The relevance of our research is due to the interest of scientists and translators in the problem of scientific and technical translation, increasing the significance of the translation of scientific and technical literature as a way of exchanging and spreading information in the world. In addition, the study of the main issues of translation of scientific and technical literature makes it possible to master the techniques, means and methods necessary to achieve an adequate, equivalent translation.

Omission has a multifaceted nature with regards to literary translation.It functions as a cohesive device represented in ellipsis, as a literary device, and as a translation strategy.Ellipsis, as both a cohesive device and a literary device in a text, poses a challenge for the literary translator who is to render faithfully the author's style and the identity of the text.On the other hand, literary translators may resort to omission as a translation strategy to overcome specific translation problems.This paper aims at investigating this multifaceted nature of omission and foregrounding its role as both a problem and a solution in literary translation.The corpus of the study is taken from Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants and Joyce's The Sisters which are known with their frequent use of ellipsis.Categorization of ellipsis in this study is based on Halliday and Hasan (1976), Quirk et al. (1985), and Biber et al. (1999).The paper also studies the translation strategies used to overcome omission as a problem, and at the same time, analyzes the use of omission to overcome other translation problems.The results show that literary translators mostly resort to four translation strategies when translating omission.Such strategies should be cautiously used; otherwise they may have adverse effects.The same rule applies to the use of omission as a translation strategy.

Pragmatic markers, either primary or secondary, contribute to the specificity of languages and are sensitive on being translated. This study traces the use of well, the commonest pragmatic marker in the English discourse, in a corpus of translated Arabic novels. The study, too, addresses the influence of the translators’ phonological awareness on their word choices, in the same corpus. Adjacent consonants, consonant-starting and quarter-syllabic words are studied in four groups: free writing of native authors as a control group (G1), literary translations by native English translators (G2), literary English translations by Arabic translators (G3) as well as literary English translations by joint effort (native-speaking and non-native-speaking translators) [G4]. The findings are statistically compared using one-way ANOVA test. Results show a statistically significant difference in the use of the pragmatic marker well and in the use of the three phonological patterns among the four groups. The findings are interpreted and implications are offered for the pragmatic gap and linguistic competence between native-speaking and non-native-speaking translators.

This study examines the Arabic translation of Charles Dickens's "Oliver Twist," focusing on the literary equivalence issues in Maneer Baalabky's translation and the strategies employed by the translator, as well as the challenges faced during the translation process. By comparing and evaluating the Arabic translation, the research aims to identify effective translation practices that enhance the reader's understanding and engagement with the text. A detailed analysis of 15 selected excerpts reveals the use of various translation strategies, including dynamic equivalence, literal translation, metaphorical interpretation, and cultural adaptation. Each strategy serves a specific purpose, highlighting the complexities involved in conveying meaning across different languages and cultures. The findings indicate that while the translator successfully captures the main ideas and emotional nuances of the original text, instances of mistranslation underscore the difficulties of navigating cultural differences and the subtleties of Dickens's writing. This study emphasizes the importance of employing diverse translation strategies to achieve a faithful and engaging rendition of literary works. It also offers several recommendations: training translators on cultural nuances, collaborating with cultural experts, and understanding idioms to prevent mistranslations.

This paper defines metaphor translation in literary texts translated into Korean. Specifically, it presents concepts related to metaphor translation such as ‘text types’ and ‘semantic/ communicative translation’ necessary for discovering how the issues of culture and metaphor are defined. Then it introduces a method of data analysis and seeks out an appropriate metaphor translation technique. The results of the analysis of five Korean translations of a short story by Poe show that the main feature of the metaphor translation into Korean in the data is the priority on the transfer of meaning rather than that of form. As for desirable translation of metaphor in high literature, a suitable method is to reproduce the image in the TT as closely as possible. Therefore, it is important for a metaphor to be retained in the translation. However a metaphor translation cannot be always identical to its ST. When the semantic translation cannot help TT readers understand the metaphor, the translator should try to find equivalence rather than identity. In other words, if metaphors cannot be translated by using metaphors, it can be done by focusing on communicative rendering and/or cross-cultural translation.

Metaphors are frequently used in Chinese political discourses to express complex meanings and specify abstract ideas for better public perception. Therefore, strategies used in translating these metaphors can directly affect western readers' understanding of Chinese political thoughts and ideas. Xi Jinping: Governance of China collected speeches, and talks scripts of Xi Jinping since 2012. It epitomizes Chinese political discourses and offers a wide range of metaphors in Chinese political settings. This study aims to explore translation strategies used in metaphors in Xi Jinping: Governance of China under the perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory. After identifying the major metaphors with the method of MIP (Pragglejaz Group, 2007) based on the SISU online bilingual corpus, the author classifies these metaphors as journey metaphors, engineering metaphors, war metaphors, plant metaphors, illness metaphors, etc. Then, the author analyzes translation strategies used within and discusses how translation guided by these strategies helps readers of the target language achieve a similar or even the same response as the reader of the source text. In the end, three translation strategies are proposed: translating into the same metaphor in the target language, replacing metaphor in the source text with metaphor in the target text, and Translating metaphors into non-metaphorical expression.

Translation is a frequently misunderstood process. Monolingual readers tend to believe that the literary translation they are reading offers a transparent reproduction of the meaning, style and effects of the original. However, those of us who are translators know that this is not so. This thesis highlights the agency of the translator, showing how different translation strategies colour the readers’ reception of the work, creating remarkably different impressions. I take up the case of Japanese-English literary translation and focus on the translation of metaphor, since metaphor is a key literary device and its translation poses particular challenges – including the need to switch between different cultural, conceptual and linguistic frames of reference. Research into metaphor translation strategies has only a short history and focuses mainly on European languages. The much larger linguistic and cultural divide between Japanese and English may require a different mix of strategies to effectively convey the author’s style and imagery. Through a comparative evaluation of the strategies adopted by translators in multiple translations of two well-known short stories: Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s 刺青 (“Shisei”) and Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s 羅生門 (“Rashōmon”), I explore the effectiveness of a range of strategies for translating metaphorical expressions. I show that in many cases, domesticating strategies are adopted by translators, such as replacing the source language metaphor with a target language metaphor of a similar sense; paraphrasing by removing the metaphor and translating only its sense; replacing a metaphor with a simile; or deleting the expression altogether. However, although the resulting translation may be smooth and readable, such strategies frequently soften the emotive force of the metaphorical expressions. I argue that the most successful approaches are those that recreate the effect of the original metaphor, often by using more foreignizing strategies that retain the Japanese imagery. My case studies also highlight the need for translators to decipher the intratextual and intertextual network of metaphors and attempt to maintain these sub-texts in their translation. This demonstrates the importance of interpretation in literary translation. I then use the insights gained from these case studies, including the importance of analysing the effect of metaphor and its communicative function in the context of the text as a whole, to develop an optimal translation approach. I apply this approach to the translation of two chapters from a contemporary Japanese novel (容疑者の夜行列車; Yōgisha no Yakōressha by Tawada Yōko to illustrate its potential. My overall conclusions are that the interpretive process requires an in-depth reading and analysis of the source text. This is necessary in order to determine the functions and effects of metaphorical expressions and prioritise those which should be retained. Translation strategies for each source text metaphor should be sensitive to the category of metaphor, its novelty, conceptual basis and cultural connotations. The translation strategy best able to recreate the most important effects should be adopted. This requires the translator to be flexible and willing to make use of compensatory strategies where necessary. Above all, the translator needs to exercise creativity to explore the target language possibilities, formulate innovative solutions and resist the easy option of domestication. To use a metaphor, the translator should be a traveller – crossing from one textual landscape to another and exploring the linguistic opportunities that would enable the effects of the original to be experienced in a new environment.

The main role of metaphor in economic discourse is essential in facilitating our understanding of some business situations or concepts. This article offers a comprehensive analysis of English business war metaphors in their immediate context of use and their Arabic equivalents as they naturally occur in authentic business texts. The data of the study are drawn from business articles on BBC, CNN, Financial Times and Project Syndicate websites. The study departs from the traditional view of metaphor as a linguistic expression that has only an aesthetic value in the text and it examines how metaphors shape our perception of the business world as they express business ideas. The study reveals that Arabic and English business metaphorical expressions share both similar and different cognition modes and hence four strategies of translating English war metaphors into Arabic are discussed: SL war metaphor is rendered into its comparable metaphor in Arabic using literal translation; SL war source domain is shifted into another TL source domain; an English metaphor is toned down into an Arabic non-metaphor and finally an English non-metaphor is shifted into an Arabic metaphor.

This paper investigates the various problems of Arabic diglossia vis-à-vis translators. In the case of Arabic, translational duality is manifested through Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and numerous regional dialects and translators who work between Arabic and other languages. Drawing on theoretical approaches, linguistic insights, and case studies, this study explores the degree to which the Arab diglossic situation influences the process of translation in literature, media, science, and the internet. The paper highlights central methods to bridge the gap from MSA to the dialects. That includes code-switching attitudes, contextual adaptation and IT solutions. Combining ongoing research and translation practices, it aims to provide insights into Arabic diglossia for an understanding of this complex phenomenon, along with practical strategies for handling it in professional translation. The implications of these findings suggest that translators should enhance their diglossic consciousness and adopt a strategy of adaptation to effectively shift from one Arabic variety to the other, maintaining their own cultural and linguistic identities.

This research paper examined the ways how translators translated metaphors in the dubbing of animation songs and measured the degree of loss occurred in rendering metaphors from English into Arabic; these two languages are culturally and linguistically distinct languages. This study employed descriptive qualitative methods. The data used in this research were metaphors of songs from three animated musical movies: Beauty and the Beast, Tangled, and Pocahontas. This paper analyzed the translation of metaphors depending on the cognitive theory proposed by Mandelblit (1995). The results proved that even though translating metaphors in animation songs was a laborious process, they did not always cause a problem of untranslatability; on the contrary, translators can render metaphors from English onto Arabic without a significant loss in terms of meaning and sound patterns. Compensation in kind and compensation in place helped to achieve the translatability of metaphors in cartoon films’ songs. The analysis of source and target metaphors revealed that there were three translation procedures used to translate metaphors in animation songs, namely: replacing the source metaphor with a target metaphor (substitution), translating the metaphor into sense (paraphrasing), and using literal translation.