Metaphor and Cultural Models in Translation

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship holding between metaphor and cultural models within the context of interlingual translation. More specifically, the paper seeks to ascertain the extent to which metaphors which are dependent on cultural models are translatable. For this purpose, we draw on the concept of ‘experiential equivalence’ in the case of metaphor translation and on that of cultural models as intersubjective manifestations of culture in the speaker’s mind. By way of elucidation, four Persian poetic texts by Khayyam and their English translations by Fitzgerald are examined in detail. Finally, this paper tries to propose a new definition of metaphor equivalence in translation.