Metaphor translation in informative essays. The case of the translation from Spanish into German of the work of psychiatrist Enrique Rojas, Love: the great opportunity

Abstract

This article further explores an aspect addressed in a prior publication on the translation of the work of Enrique Rojas, Love: the great opportunity from Spanish to German (Martí Marco & Hernández Verdú 2021: 286-298). More specifically, it examines the translation of metaphors in an informative essay of psychiatry. The abundant use of metaphors in the work prompted the need for a specific analysis of the interlinguistic transfer process. The methodology followed in the present study was largely based on an empirical and descriptive study of metaphor translation in scientific publications (Shuttleworth 2011). That previous case, however, involved the translation of metaphors from articles originally written in English into five European languages (which did not include Spanish). A critical application of the methodology, via a qualitative and quantitative analysis, led to the conclusion that metaphors tended to be maintained in the translations. It was also found that associations between the concept of "love" and concepts that belong to the "outside world" were used preferentially over others of a more personal or introspective nature.