Multimodal Translation of Conceptual Metaphor

Recent studies on conceptual metaphor translation have concentrated on mono verbal mode but paid scant attention to multimodal mode. This chapter proposes an analytical framework to explore how conceptual metaphors in Zhuangzi , a Chinese Taoist classic, are translated from into an English comic book The Way of Nature . The research results show that the source text and target text are rich in six kinds of conceptual metaphors: orientational, container, structural, substance, personification, and discourse metaphor. The conceptual metaphors are interlingually and intersemiotically translated with six methods, namely, literal translation, paraphrase, addition, substitution, conversion, and omission. Meanwhile, metaphors in the comic demonstrate four types of text–image relations: subordination, independence, parallel, and complementarity. On the whole, most of the discourse, substance, and personification metaphors that best reflect the philosophical ideas of Zhuangzi are translated accurately into the comic by the literal method. The different verbal–visual relations of metaphors in the target text contribute to the faithful and vivid representation of the original ones together with their Taoist ideas from Chinese culture. It is expected that this chapter could provide insights for the practice and research of conceptual metaphor translation in multimodal discourse.