论述商务英语中的隐喻及其翻译

1、精选优质文档-倾情为你奉上Metaphors in Business English and the Translation论述商务英语中的隐喻及其翻译Abstract: Traditional studies limit metaphor as rhetorical and lexical means, with little consideration to grammatical metaphor. But grammatical metaphor is used extensively in various written genres of English and hence bec

2、omes an important concept of Systemic-Functional Grammar. The application of grammatical metaphor is one of the important stylistic features of business English contracts. This paper aims to analyze the functions of grammatical metaphor in business English contracts in the light of the Systemic-Func

3、tional Grammar and presents different ways of translation systematically.Key words: grammatical metaphor; business English contracts; transferenceContents1. Introduction42. Metaphors in business English and the translation42.1 Grammatical metaphor42.1.1 Definition of Grammatical metaphor52.1.2 Commo

4、n forms of metaphor62.1.2.1 Metaphors are consisted of tenors and vehicles.62.1.2.2 Metaphors with vehicles only62.2 Metaphors in business English72.2.1 Nouns of metaphor in business English72.2.2 Verbs of metaphor in business English82.3 Translation of metaphor in business English and its cases102.

5、3.1 The understanding and recognition of the metaphor112.3.2 The translation of metaphors122.3.3 Application and translation of grammatical metaphor in the business English contract142.3.3.1 The passive voice in contract English152.3.3.2 Modal verbs in contract English172.3.3.3 Nominalization struct

6、ure in contract English182.3.3.4 Translation of nominalization structure in business English contracts203. Conclusion21References22Abstract(Chinese)221. IntroductionMetaphor is mainly intended to refer to a rhetorical means that based on psychological associations and expressed by using A to replace

7、 B or compare A to B. The American psychologist R. W. Gibbs points out that the cognitive process is using a familiar concept to understand the incomprehensible, complex, abstract or less certain concepts. In the 1980s, people studied on metaphor from the perspective of cognitive psychology, and poi

8、nted out that metaphor is not just a rhetoric means. People believe that “Metaphorical language is a reflection of metaphorical thinking and the human understanding of the world in an ontological way of thinking, which is metaphorical conceptual system of human cognition, thinking, language and even

9、 the base of the behavior.” (Lakoff, G&Johnson, M.1980). Metaphor makes people recognize, acquire and know new knowledge through the concept systems theyre familiar with, which is simple and vivid. Metaphor has a feature of “to know new things through old things”, so the metaphor is established

10、on the basis of similarity between things. Metaphor is one of the most common languages in business English.2. Metaphors in business English and their translation2.1 Grammatical metaphorGrammatical metaphor is an important means for people to understand the world. It can convert events, activities,

11、emotions into entity. Grammatical metaphor is an important part of the systemic-functional grammar. It was founded on the “Natural grammatical View”. In English, the metaphor is a common rhetorical device, it comes from the Greek word “metapherein”, and this word can be explained as “Carrying from o

12、ne place to another”. Noun or noun phrase, verb or verb phrase, prepositional phrases and sentences can be used metaphors. Subject, predicate and predicative, attributive, appositive, object, and adverbial, can be used as the body of metaphor. Halliday Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday (often M.A.

13、K. Halliday) (born 13 April 1925, , Yorkshire, England) is a British . and Matthiessen Peter Matthiessen (born May 22, 1927, in ) is a three-time -winning novelist and non-fiction writer. regarded language as a system composed of semantics, vocabulary, grammar and voice, which reflect with each othe

14、r from the top to the bottom. Halliday also insist that the relationship between the meaning and wording is not arbitrary; there is a natural connection between the form of syntax and the meaning of their codes, which means that different grammatical forms make different expressions. Halliday distin

15、guished the two reflect relationships. One of them is the congruent realization, which means that the language structure is a direct reflection of the real world; another one is in congruent realization, in which way the language shows a distorted relationship instead of in a direct way. This incons

16、istency relationship is the procedure that the metaphor of language formed, which is also the transference of the language units in different grammatical domains. M.A.K.Halliday called this inconsistency metaphorical “Grammatical metaphor”.2.1.1 Definition of Grammatical metaphorThe way our language

17、 express everything can be involved into three parts: the procedure of an event, participants and the environment. The procedure is often be expressed by a verb phrase, participants by a noun phrase and the environments by an adverb or prepositional phrase. But the relationship of reflects between t

18、hem can be inconsistent. The speakers choose a inconsistent language form during their speaking, and this always convey a metaphorical meaning which is different from the consistent style. This deviation in vocabulary syntax makes the “Grammatical metaphor”. In China, “metaphor” was firstly founded

19、in The Book of Songs as the Chinese word “譬”. The saints Mohist first give the definition of metaphor, that is, the metaphor is describe A through B, to make a clearer understanding of A by the means of analogy. Scholars of Qin Dynasty even researched on how to apply the metaphor to persuade and com

20、municate. Since the 1990s, the Chinese scholars research on the metaphor has gone to a deeper field. The achievements went out one after another. 2.1.2 Common forms of metaphor2.1.2.1 Metaphors consisted of tenors and vehicles. In some sentences there are tenors only, while others have both tenors a

21、nd vehicles.a: Chairman Mao is like the Sun. (毛主席像太阳。)b: John Smith has a heart of stone.(约翰史密斯铁石心肠。)In the first sentence, the phase “Chairman Mao” works as the tenor, “the Sun” as the vehicle. In the second sentence, “heart” works as a tenor while “stone” as a vehicle. There are both tenor and veh

22、icle in these two sentences.2.1.2.2 Metaphors with vehicles only In some sentences of metaphor, there are vehicles only. The examples are as follows: (1). Noun or noun phrase for the metaphorNoun or noun phrases are widely used in metaphors, such as:eg: Wherefore, Bees of England, forge.Many a weapo

23、n, Chain and scourge. That these stingless drones may spoil.That forced produce of your tail? Song to the Men of England, by Percy Bysshe Shelley.(为什么，英国的工蜂呵，要熔锻，那么多武器，锁链和钢鞭，因而使无刺的雄蜂便于劫夺，你们被迫的劳动而得的收获？)In English, people who works all the day is called the “bee”, while people who enjoy life without d

24、oing anything like parasites, was called the “drone”. It is a common linguistic phenomenon to describe person or something else. In this sentence, the word “bee” works as a vocative expression, and “drone” works as a noun. (2). Verb or verb phrase for the metaphorVerb and verb phrase are also used i

25、n metaphors:a: Trenchwhat's the use of putting your back up at every trifle?( 特兰奇，你何必每件小事都冒火?)In this sentence, “put (get, raise set) sb's back up” means to offend someone. The verb phrase is used as an object here, for a cat will bow its back when it is angry. This metaphor is humorous and

26、vivid. b: She immediately throw cold water on the proposition. (她立即给这个建议泼冷水。)The phrase “throw (or pour) cold water on sb or sth” shares the same meaning with the Chinese phrase “泼冷水”. This phrase works as a predicate in the sentence.(3). Prepositional phrases for the metaphorSometimes, prepositiona

27、l phrase can be used in metaphor, heres an example:“I gather from Mrs. Bergfeld that you are on the rocks" "Fest", said the shaking lips. (“从佰格菲尔德太太处，我得知你现在手头拮据”，“十分拮据。”佰格菲尔德抖着双唇说。)The prepositional phrase “on the rocks” has the meaning of “run aground”, in this sentence, it means pen

28、niless.(4). Sentences for the metaphorUsually, sentences in metaphor can be found in sayings and slang:“You can't force an ox to bend its head to drink.” (牛不喝水强按头。)This sentence means force one person to do something unwillingly.2.2 Metaphors in business EnglishCompared with the daily language,

29、business English is the media and carrier that ensure the economic life to carry on smoothly. Now people usually use daily use language to discuss and describe the events or concepts. So it is meaningful to have an understanding on the metaphor. Since metaphors in business English usually appear by

30、the way of nouns and verbs, now were going to focus on the main features of the metaphor in the nouns and verbs in business English.2.2.1 Metaphor in the nouns Metaphors make it easier for people to infer the meaning of new things or complex things through the things that people already known.Nouns

31、are often used metaphorically to make people understand new things. For example:a: The electricity failure caused the train services paralysis.( 断电使得火车运输瘫痪了。)“Paralysis” means the loss of the ability to move a body partloss of the ability to move a body part, in this sentence it describes the state

32、of being completely unable to move.b: Most central bankers are hostile to the idea of puncture bubbles. (大多数央行人员对挤出经济中的泡沫持反对态度。)The word “bubble” originally refers to the blister, bubble of water, and here refers to the foam of the economic operation-the macroeconomic state, that is the value of the

33、 assets exceeds the real economy and can easily capabilities of sustainable development. This sentence used the common phenomenon in everyday life to describe the economic concepts that we are unfamiliar with. The bubbles have the beautiful and fragile property, people use this property to describe

34、the economic operation, which is prosperity on the surface but will eventually burst. In this way, the obscure economic concepts become easier to understand for most people.c: After the sale, they began to solicit comment. The consumers feedback was generally favorable. (售后他们开始寻求大家的评价，大体上消费者的反映是良好的。

35、)“Feedback” is a specialized terminology of the field of automation, in this sentence; it was used to express the consumers reaction.d: The political fallout from the gasoline short age was spreading in America at that time. (那时，由于汽油短缺所导致的政治上的灾难性后果正在美国蔓延。) “Fallout” refers to the particles stay in t

36、he air after the bombing of the atomic bomb, which is of great harm to the human body. In this sentence, it was expanded into “the disastrous consequences” through the way of metaphor and expressed the impact of the gasoline shortage to the United States vividly. 2.2.2 Metaphor in the verbsThe metap

37、horical verb is mostly through the concrete image of the action to describe and explain the trends that is abstract and difficult to understand in behavior. For example:a: In the past , trade documents needed to be ploughed one by one , now the EDI could deal with the whole lot at once. (过去，贸易单证需要一张

38、张处理，现在，电子数据交换EDI可以一次处理许多张。)In this case, the farming activity which is familiar with people is used to describe the trouble of processing the trade documents, and highlighting the advantages of the EDI: compared with EDI, the manual handling documents are backward and cumbersome just like in the agr

39、arian age. There is a similar example: “Many employers dont have the time to plough through a long resume.” b: In an age that showers new commodities upon us daily , how can we pick out those we really need ? (在一个新商品层出不穷的年代, 我们怎样才能找出我们真正需要的呢?)Usually, “shower” means to take a bath. The new products

40、appear to us like the rain throw on ones face, described the new products comes out one after another in the modern society.c: We re now drowning in information. (我们畅游在信息的海洋里。)In this sentence, information is compared to ocean through the word “drown”. As is known to everyone, the ocean is wide, bro

41、ad and endless; it is an appropriate metaphor to compare the large number of information in todays society to the ocean, which gives us a clear understanding on how much the information is. d: When one is in the middle of an ever changing business world , one has two choices : to follow yesterdays m

42、ap or quickly chart a new course and grab the opportunities that we find. (当人们处在不断变化的商业世界中时有两种选择：要么沿用以往的做法，要么迅速寻找新的途径去把握机遇。)“Follow yesterdays map” and “chart a new course” refer to the two choices that people make. The former one means to follow the beaten track, while the latter one means to be ag

43、gressive, pioneering and innovative.e: During the 80s , despite continuing anxiety in the Crown Colony about its future after the reassertion of Chinese sovereignty in 1997 , Hong Kong surpassed the U. S as the biggest outside investor on the mainland; in1992 it injected a record of 39.6 billion int

44、o the Chinese economy. (80年代，尽管香港人对1997年中国恢复对香港行使主权后的前途依然感到担忧，但香港却已超过美国成为大陆最大的外来投资商。1992年，资金已达396亿，这是前所未有的。) In this sentence, the medical terminology “inject” is used to refer to the investment behavior, making the sentence more vivid.f: Right now, a lot of companies are kicking the tires and tryin

45、g to determine how ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) can improve their network s operation. (现在很多公司正在加紧研究，试图弄清异步传输模式是怎样改进他们的网络运行的。)The phrase “kick the tires” means the accelerate of a car, in this sentence, its meaning has been extended to speed up the research. 2.3 Translation of metaphor in busine

46、ss English Metaphor in business English translation is not only a form of language conversion, but also the positive thinking-cognitive activities of the translators. Xie zhijun summarized the process of translation into two processes, namely the understanding of the original language and the expres

47、sion of the target language. Understanding means to restore the object to be expressed (Includes the meaning and emotional significance) through the verbal symbols of the original language. Through the analysis of the cognitive process of metaphor, we can see that in the process of translation, the

48、subject or the translator must face the primitive symbols firstly, which has a particular context environment and the cognitive object must confirm this. The process of confirmation is also the process of understanding. The understanding the original language of metaphor is the reverse to restore it

49、s characterization of the object through the words of the primitive symbol. While expression refers to the related information and referential meaning the cognitive subject gained during the procession of understanding the thought, namely the meaning of the language being translated built by the tra

50、nslator in another language. “Translate from one language into another itself is a procession of metaphor.” (Verbrugge, 1980) This procession includes the features that the translator chooses from the many features of the original language, and which the target language areas are responded. When it

51、comes to business English, the metaphors are different from the literary work. Economic terms are strict, thorough, and concise in language, the use of metaphors is to express the economic information vivid and plain. Therefore we should pay attention to the clear and unambiguous of the information.

52、 The understanding of English needs the association with the context, while the understanding of the context needs to be familiar with the professional knowledge in the running of business. Only familiar with the terms commonly used in business activities, can we positioning and translation accurate

53、ly. 2.3.1 The understanding and recognition of the metaphorGenerally speaking, metaphor comprehension can be divided into two basic steps; the first step is the identification of metaphor, which means the identification of the metaphorical semantic of pragmatic speech signals, or signs of the metaph

54、or. You can refer to the following program for specific method: “Confirm the literal meaning of the wordsevaluate the practicability and the authenticity of the literal meaning through the contrast with the context of wordsinfer a non-literal meaning of the words that is in line with the context of

55、words and the principles of cooperation.” Zhenqian Liu, Xiaoying Shi. 2002 For example: “The auditing methods, once the lame ducks of American accounting agencies , have been transformed thanks to the company s cooperation with Pricewaterhouse.”(审计方法曾一度是美国会计师事务所的软肋 ,如今它有了明显的改变 ,这得归功于该公司与普华永道的合作。) Th

56、e translators must have a fully understanding of the background of the target language to identify the signal of metaphorical discourse. In this sentence, the translators must understand the phrase “lame ducks”. Literally, this phrase refers to a duck that inconvenient to move. But in this sentence,

57、 it is not appropriate to translate it into its literal meaning. This is the cognitive process the translator identify the metaphor. The second step is the inferences the translators have on the metaphorical meaning. The process of understanding the meaning of metaphor is also the process that the t

58、ranslators transfer the vehicles of the metaphors into the body of the metaphors and then re-understanding the body of the metaphors. According to the metaphorical concept system, the meaning of metaphor depends fundamentally on the meaning and structural characteristics of the original field. Once

59、you have confirmed to understand a sentence from the perspective of metaphor, the listeners should have a whole set of principles of deducing the possible value of R. One of them can be expressed as: in a sentence of metaphor, P is substituted by S, if you want to know the possible value of P, you can seek the similar p