摘 要

尽管英文歌曲在中国广受欢迎己久，不少优秀的歌曲被译成中文，有关英语歌曲的汉译也有相关研究，但迄今为止有关歌词中隐喻翻译的研究论著非常有限。本文结合目的论较为全面地从歌词隐喻翻译进行了分析总结，旨在对歌词隐喻翻译提供可供借鉴的方法。

由于人类某些共有的认知基础的相似性，英汉语具有一些相类似的隐喻,隐喻翻译便有其存在价值以及所要达成的目的。英语歌词的汉译是为了使歌词便于吟唱并被广大受众所接受。然而由于歌词的特殊性，在歌词的隐喻翻译中需要兼顾节奏、押韵、风格、句法等歌词特征，同时还要考虑中英歌词特征的不同之处。基于此，译者需要视具体情况进行一些必要的妥协。如果英文歌词与中文译词语义相近，可采用直译，以取得与原文歌词类似效果。对于已丧失了形象性的比喻或文化差异太大，直译造成误解或根本不易于读者所了解或不便于演唱，可以进行形象转换，视具体情况采用意译、活译、增补等翻译方法，以传达意义，便于演唱为主。

论文最后指出歌词中的隐喻翻译的意义并为进一步的研究提出了一些建议。

关键词: 隐喻; 英文歌词翻译; 目的论

Abstract

Although English songs have been receiving popularity among the Chinese, many excellent songs have been translated into Chinese, and English-Chinese translation on English songs also have related research. Research findings concerning metaphor translation of songs are very limited. In this paper, the thesis applies Skopos theory to make a analysis and abstract in metaphor translation of English lyrics, aiming at offering available methods for reference on metaphor translation of lyrics.

Owing to the similarity in cognitive linguistics, there are some similar metaphors in both Chinese and English, and metaphor translation has its existence value and the purpose to achieve. The translation of English lyrics is to let the lyrics be convenient to sing and be accepted by a large audience. However, the metaphor translation is confined largely by the characteristics of song lyrics, such as rhyme, rhythm, syntax, Chinese tones, and so on. Also, the different characteristics between English and Chinese song lyrics should be considered. So on the premise that both the SL metaphor and TL metaphor are of little national colors and convey the same semantic meanings, the translator can presence images so as to arouse similar aesthetic effect on the target readers. If the metaphors have lost their imagery due to overuse or the cultural gap is a very distant one, the translators may choose the methods of paraphrasing, adaptation, contextual amplification, since a literal translation might be misleading, unintelligible or unfit for singing to the target readers.

Finally, it points out the implications derived from the research findings and makes some suggestions for further studies.

Keywords: metaphor; translation of English lyrics; Skopos theory

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Analysis of metaphors in English lyrics 2

2.1 Introduction to metaphors 2

2.2 Similarities and differences between English and Chinese metaphors 2

2.3 Metaphors in English lyrics 3

2.4 Translation of metaphors 6

3 Skopos theory and translation of English metaphors 7

3.1 Skopos rule in English-Chinese metaphor translation 7

3.2 Loyalty rule in English-Chinese metaphor translation 7

3.3 Coherence rule in English-Chinese metaphor translation 8

4 Methods for metaphor translation in English lyrics 9

4.1 Literal translation 9

4.2 Paraphrasing 10

4.3 Adaptation 12

5 Conclusion 14

References 15

Acknowledgements 16

A Study on the Translation of the Metaphors in English Lyrics

1 Introduction

Metaphor in the lyrics is obviously extensive, and the different types of metaphor play different roles in the lyrics. Metaphor can make the superposition of two concepts, and it also can regard people’s emotion and thinking as a specific physical entity. Whether the English lyrics can be successfully translated greatly determines the expressing effect of the song.

Metaphor and metaphor translation have been a lot of scholars’ interest in recent years, but the studies of metaphor translation generally focus on literary works and news. For example, Peter Newmark (1988) elaborated the relationship between philosophy and metaphor in his explanation of metaphor. Nida (1964) demonstrated their discovery of the significance of metaphor in applied linguistics. Research on metaphor has become one of the fastest-growing and most important areas of language research, and metaphor is now recognized as central to language use.

The interest in metaphor and the study of its structure, mechanism, function, and effect have grown rapidly. As Fillmore (1985) noticed, no matter how we define it, metaphor seems to be taking over not only the world of humanists but the world of the social and natural sciences as well. Lakoff (1993) called his new theory of metaphor as “ the contemporary theory of metaphor”, which claims that metaphor, in his broad sense, is pervasive and essential in language and thought. Metaphorical mappings vary in universality: some seem to be universal, others are widespread, and some seem to be culture-specific. Skopos theory argues that all translation activities follow the most important principle : the principle of purpose, which means the translation should be in agreement with the translation purpose, on the basis of the target language receiver’ s anticipated way. Translation actions to achieve the purpose decide the process of the whole translation behavior, and it means the result decides the method.

And the study of the translation of metaphors in lyrics is less. The study of lyrics translation generally focuses on Skopos theory, the compensation principle, the theory of equivalence and the rhetoric. The paper is intended to incorporate the Skopos theory with translation of metaphor in English song lyrics. A great proportion of discussion of metaphors and their translation in English song lyrics will unify the lyrics characteristics.

2 Analysis of metaphors in English lyrics

2.1 Introduction to metaphors

Metaphor is distinguished from simile by stating that the relationship between the topic(本体）and vehicle（喻体）in a metaphor is more close than that in a simile, which may use words like similar. In the eyes of translators, metaphor is primarily a matter of language, or a figure of speech. But it is important to understand the psychological and cultural marks embodied in metaphors because it is essential for a sufficient comprehension and translation of metaphors from the source language to the target language. Especially, English lyrics have their special characteristics.