Translation Peculiarities Of Economic Metaphors From Vietnamese Into Russian

Literal translation, in which the figurativeness of the primary metaphor is kept

Common metaphors coincide in frame-type composition if they fall into both Russian and Vietnamese as borrowings. To translate these metaphors, a translator uses the “literal translation” method, keeping the metaphorical image with the original metaphor. We put this method in the first place since a translator's primary task is to convey the metaphor in its original form.

In the Vietnamese newspapers, the expression đáy – thebottom is often found to denote the lowest level of some state in the economy. To this Vietnamese expression đáy corresponds to the Russian metaphor bottom ; Bottom – a metaphor for an economic downturn, often used to refer to a crisis or worsening an economic situation. This metaphor allows translators to keep the style of a text and the true meaning existing in the target language. “Giá dầu lao dốc, trượt xuống đáy 5 tháng.” (Vneconomy 06/06/19) – The price of oil is falling down, it will reach bottom within 5 months.

Consider the expressions often used in the Vietnamese newspapers, for example: chiến tranh lạnh – cold war ; làn song đầu tư – investment wave ; cơn sóng toàn cầu hóa – wave of globalization : phao cứu sinh – rescue circle ; chìa khóa – the key to something ; mở cửa- door opening ; con dao hai lưỡi – double-edged sword ... These metaphors are very strong, they mean the collapse of the ideology, the phenomenon that is very familiar to Russian culture, therefore a translator without errors keeps the metaphor in the source language when translating. Let us give a few examples:

"Căng thẳng Mỹ – Trung: “Chiến tranh lạnh” kiểu mới?” (Vneconomy 05/06/19) -“ Tension between the US and China: the new “ cold war” ? ”

“Việt Nam đón nhận làn sóng đầu tư không ngừng từ Châu Á” (Vneconomy 02/26/19) – “Vietnam receives an uninterrupted "investment wave" from Asia.”

“ “ Giảm thuế nhập khẩu thép có thể là con dao hai lưỡi ” (Vneconomy 19/10/18) – “Reducing import duties on steel can be a double-edged sword”.

“Số vốn này được coi là một “phao cứu sinh” cho Venezuela, đất nước đang cạn kiệt ngoại tệ.” (Vneconomy 20/03/15) – “ This capital is considered a "lifeboat" for Venezuela ”.

“ Chìa khóa để kinh tế tư nhân thực sự lớn mạnh ” (Vneconomy 10/05/19) – “ Key to the effective development of the private economy”.

Replacing the Vietnamese metaphor with the equivalent metaphor in Russian

The second method of translating a metaphor is used when there is no similar metaphor in the target language or it has a different meaning in the source language. The problem is that such metaphors cannot always be translated verbatim, because some of the images on which the metaphor in the source language is based may not coincide with the metaphors in the target language. In this case, a translator must find the expression in the target language, which will have the corresponding image with the metaphor in the source language. In other words, this method is called – replacement with the equivalent metaphor or the translation based on the similar image. For example,

Metaphor nợ ngập đầu – diving headlong in the Vietnamese economic newspapers means a state of redundancy for something, in this case, it is debts. This expression in the Vietnamese language corresponds to the Russian metaphor in debt as in silk or to sink into debts : “ Nợ ngập đầu, nhiều doanh nghiệp khó tìm người mua cổ phần?” (Vietnamnet 02/23/18) – “ Plunging into debts , many enterprises find it difficult to find buyers of their shares "

There are many figurative metaphors used to describe the growth and decline in prices in the economic market. For example, the expression bốc hơi – evaporate is often used in the economic newspapers to indicate a decrease in commodity prices. Therefore, translators can replace the metaphor to evaporate with the common expression the price has fallen in Russian: “ Giá dầu“ bốc hơi ”4 %” (Vneconomy 13/06/19) – “ The price of oil fallen by 4 %.” Metaphor bão giá – the price storm in the Vietnamese economic newspapers refers to the situation at the market when the price rises constantly without warning. When translating, we can use the approximate expressive Russian phrase " surge in the price for .." : “ Ngành dệt may ứng phó với“ bão giá ” nguyên liệu nhập khẩu ” (Vneconomy 4/05/18) – “ The clothing industry will withstand “surge in prices” for imported raw materials.

We also found popular metaphorical models in Vietnamese with the image dốc – slope (trượt dốc – fall from the slope, > <leo dốc – climb up the slope ), which represent the change on goods and denote only negative situations in the economy. Thus, a price increase or inflation is mainly associated with an upward movement, and when pointing out negative trends in cases of falling prices, a metaphorical model is associated with a downward movement. When implementing this Vietnamese expression in the Russian language, some metaphorical expressions are used: " fall , roll down, take off" : “ Chứng khoán châu Á lao dốc (fall from the slope) trầm trọng sau khi xuất hiện thông tin lễ ký kết tuyên bố chung Mỹ-Triều bị hủy bỏ. (Vtcnews 02/28/19) – The Asian stocks strongly roll down (or fall ) after the ceremony of signing the agreement between the United States and the Chinese Democratic People’s Republic was canceled."

Another example : "Giá vàng hôm nay 7/12: Vàng leo dốc (climbs up the slope) , USD đổ đèo ( falls from pass )(Dantri.vn 07/12/18) – Gold price today on December 7: gold will go up (or grows ) , the dollar rolls down" ;

Translation of a metaphor with a neutral, non-metaphorical expression

You should be aware of the big challenge in translating metaphors dealing with the process of creating images, as a result of which a completely different image may arise. In such cases, metaphors should be translated as neutral, non-metaphorical, often descriptive expressions. The problem is that the metaphorical images diverge in two cultures and it is not possible to provide the equivalent-based translation, even with substitutions. One of the four methods proposed by Komissarov and Koralova (1990) – translation with a non-metaphorical explanation. Consider the following practices: “ USD bật tăng , vàng trong nước trầm lắng ” , the literal translation into Russian is – “ US dollar jumps rebound , gold is protected. ”

Consider the metaphors: bật tăng – jump rebound and tr29m lắng – protect. The meaning of the first metaphor is that in the market the price for goods or the exchange rate suddenly and rapidly increases. The second expression is trầm lắng – to protect means stability of something, in this case, the price for gold. These metaphors do not exist in Russian. This sentence can be translated into Russian with a non-metaphorical explanation: " The dollar is rapidly rising , and the price for gold remains stable ".

The following metaphor is considered to be an individual one, within the author's style of writing: “ Lãi suất ngân hàng lại“ nhảy múa ” ” (Vneconomy 03/06/19), the literal translation into Russian sounds like this: “ Bank interest rate dances ” . Here we are talking about the unstable change in the interest rate offered by banks. When translating into Russian, the Vietnamese expression nhảy múa should be used neutral fluctuates.

Other Examples: " Daimler và BMW" bắt tay " phát triển công nghệ ôtô tự lái " (Vneconomy 03/03/19). Bắt tay literally is translated as shake hands . In this sentence, a translator changes the metaphor with a non-metaphorical expression, keeping only the meaning of the metaphor: " Daimler and BMW collaborate in the development of automated driving technologies."

Transmission of a metaphor through comparison, keeping the image in the source language. Translation of the metaphors with cultural elements

Metaphors used in the economic discourse are also culturally colored. Some metaphors in Vietnamese contain elements representing cultural realities. The translation of such metaphors can provide some difficulties for a translator. In Vietnamese culture, the images ao làng – village pond, con đê – dam or trái ngọt – sweet fruit they are all the agricultural symbols of the country.

In some cases, a translator can translate metaphors through comparison. This method was proposed by English professor Newmark (as cited in Shikalov, 2010). We call this translation procedure – the translation of a metaphor through comparison, keeping the image in the source language. With this method, sometimes you have to change the syntactic structure of a sentence when translating. During translation, “repeating the structure of the original sentence in its translation does not always allow to keep accuracy and expressiveness of the source language” (Perfilieva & Galankina, 2015, p. 175).

For example, the image con đê – dam represents protection against something: “ Сon đê ” lễ hội dân gian ngăn chặn xu hướng văn hóa phương Tây hóa ”, the literal translation into Russian will sound incorrect -“ The dam of folk festivals slows down the process of westernization of society ”. In this sentence, the translator changes the structure of the sentence by using the union "as", keeping the image in the translation: “Folk festivals as the“ dam , ”which slows down the process of westernizing society.”

The Vietnamese expression mỏ vàng – gold mine in the economic newspapers is often used to indicate some investment potential: “ Khách Ấn Độ, “ mỏ vàng ”mới của du lịch Thái Lan ” (vneconomy 8.7.19). If translated into Russian, it turns out to be: " Indian tourists as a gold mine for the tourism industry of Thailand" instead of "a gold mine of Indian tourists ".

We use the second method for the next example: “Từ cuối năm 1980 đến nay, cá tra, basa Việt Nam đã từ ao làng vươn ra thị trường thế giới cá ba tra” (Vneconomy 28/04/19) – “From the late 1980s to the present time the Vietnamese pangasius came out from a rural pond to the world market. ” Metaphor rural pond personifies the familiar internal environment in which low standards are accepted. People or things belonging to this environment are usually conservative and low competitive. This metaphor is absent in the Russian language while translating one also has to use a neutral, non-metaphorical expression domestic market . Metaphor sân nhà – home yard means: “ Doanh nghiệp bán lẻ Việt Nam và“cuộc chiến”thị phần ngay trên sân nhà ” – “Vietnamese retailers face the war at the domestic market ” .

We also use this method to translate the expression trái ngọt – sweet fruit , which is used to indicate that you get good results after a long working: " Trái ngọt 'đầu đời' trong tiến trình hòa bình Syria " (Dantri.vn 26/04/19). The translation is as follows – " The first successful steps in establishing peace in Syria ." Another example: “ Trái ngọt trong hợp tác đầu tư Việt Nam – Lào – Campuchia ” (vietnamnet 25/2/19) – “ Success achieved in investment cooperation between Vietnam – Laos – Cambodia ".

Considering the metaphors that contain cultural elements, one cannot but mention proverbs, adages, and phraseological units that are based on metaphors. Example One. " Nguồn vốn như muối bỏ bể " (Vneconomy 30/5/19), the verbatim translation into Russian will be: " Capital resources – dumped salt into the sea ." The phraseology unit " dump salt in the sea " is built on a metaphorical comparison, which expresses a very small amount of something in comparison with something else. In the Russian language, there is an expression " a drop in the sea ", which is similar to the Vietnamese phraseology unit in terms of a form and a sense. Here we use the second method – translation by replacing the equivalent metaphor: " Capital resources like a drop in the sea ".

As the following example, we cite the Prime Minister of Vietnam when he was speaking about the export issues in the country: “Thủ tướng: Chống lại những con sâu làm rầu nồi canh trong xuất khẩu ” (Vneconomy 04/23/18) -“ the Prime Minister : Fighting with worms spoiling a pot of soup "in export." Here we are talking about existing problems that slow down the development of Vietnam's export industry. This phraseological unit is built on a metaphorical image; it can be translated as follows into Russian: “ Struggle with the situation "one bad sheep spoils the whole herd ””.

Besides, there are expressions in the Vietnamese language that are formed by using metaphors, but when they are translated into Russian, they will become non-metaphorical expressions, for example, “bỏ túi” – “put into a pocket”, “rót tiền” – “pour money”.