Metaphor as an Instrument for Understanding of Translation Process

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The authors deal with the problem of metaphoric character of translation activity. The metaphorical model translation is an activity identified by the authors, is in the center of researchers attention. It is based on the following theoretical and methodological foundations: theory of cognitive metaphor, theory of metatext, frame theory, synergetic conception of translation space. The research aims to substantiate the heuristic potential of metaphor, being an intellectual tool to understand both the translation process and the professional activity of the translator's linguistic/speech personality. Metaphorical modeling of translation is viewed as one of the leading principles to study the concept of "translation" to reveal its core features. The conceptual analysis is based on the frame slot method. The metaphorical understanding of translation, reflected in the model translation is an activity, is interpreted as a kind of metatext created in a scientific text as a component of translation discourse. Theoretical provisions are illustrated by the views cited by domestic scientists about translation and translation activities, i.e. metatexts about translation. The authors conclude that the cognitive translation modeling for specialists in the field of theory, practice, criticism, and didactics of translation keeps its effectiveness, and creates a special metaphorical landscape of translation discourse. On the one hand, the metatext about translation process, metaphorically generated, performs an explicative function, it explains in a figurative and accessible way the authors intentions, and on the other hand, it is a cognitive instrument to help the reader (for example, a novice translator) to understand the original idea.