Translating Metaphors An Analysis of the Translation of Conceptual Metaphors from English to Swedish in an Academic Text

Abstract: This essay investigates the author’s translation of a non-fiction text about literary theory. The study examines the metaphors found in the original text and how they have been translated from English to Swedish.  The analysis uses Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) description of conceptual metaphors to categorize the metaphors found in the text. Conceptual metaphor theory suggests that the understanding of metaphor is mainly based on cultural experience which complicates the translatability of metaphors. In addition, the investigation draws on Newmark’s (1981) prescriptive framework for translation studies and Schäffner’s (2004) study on micro- and macro-level metaphors.   The findings in this essay suggest that the most common type of conceptual metaphor in the translated text is the ontological metaphor, probably due to the high number of personifications. The findings also indicate that three translation strategies are preferred when translating metaphors, namely to reproduce the same image in the target language, to replace the image in the source language with a standard image in the target language, and to convert metaphor to sense. The results also suggest that changes on the macro-level seem unavoidable unless it is possible to reproduce the same image as in the target language and that changes on the micro-level might occur even if the macro-level is the same in both the source text and target text. However, no certain conclusions are made due to the limited sample of metaphors in the study.