A cognitive approach to figurative language : Translating conceptual metaphors and hyperboles

Sammanfattning: The present study combines quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate translation strategies applied in a translation of a few chapters in Cat Counsellor, which is a book about cat behaviour. A cognitive approach and translation strategies are the focus of this essay, which arrives at the conclusion that figurative language in general, and conceptual metaphors and hyperboles in particular, are used to manipulate, or rather convince readers of Cat Counsellor of a certain outlook. The translation strategies investigated in this essay are literal translation, transference translation and meaning translation. Of these translation strategies literal translation was applied 70% of the time, which indicates that similar cultures use similar figurative language. It also indicates that the target text and language often benefit from new figurative language rendered in the source language and source text. An important conclusion is that metaphorical language, such as conceptual metaphors and hyperboles may seem easy to translate, while in fact concepts can vary across cultures, which indicate that the translator carefully has to consider his or her translation choices in order to produce an accurate translation.