Metaphors in the Translation of English Technical Texts in Malay: A Preliminary Study

Sharmini Abdullah, Mark Shuttleworth

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Effective and skilful translation of technical texts is not easy to achieve. A translator of technical texts often has to manage the selection of appropriate equivalents such as words, terms, styles, descriptions, proper exposition, discussion and presentation of the scientific concepts and ideas in the target language. This paper is a preliminary study that investigates the extent to which metaphors are used in the translation of English to Malay technical texts the study highlights particular challenges in translating technical texts from English to Malay with the focus on the use and translation of metaphors. Metaphor is significant as it opens alternatives for both translators and authors to present the required information to be in a manner that is more reader-friendly. The discussion of this paper not only centres on metaphors playing an important role in the explanation of scientific and technical concepts but also investigates the extent to which metaphors are used in the translation of English to Malay technical texts. The discussion will look into the hypothesis on how the usage of metaphors in the ST (source text) compares to that in the TT (target text). The analysis will indicate the main ways in which metaphorical expressions are rendered from English to Malay.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)608-629
    Number of pages22
    JournalJournal of Asian Scientific Research
    Volume3
    Issue number6
    Publication statusPublished - Jun 2013

    User-Defined Keywords

    • Translation
    • Technical translation
    • Technical texts
    • Metaphors

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