Translating Metaphor from English to Persian: A Case Study of Richard David Bach’s Book

Metaphors are taken to be the most fundamental form of figurative language, carrying the assumption that terms literally connected with one object can be transferred to another object. A writer/speaker uses metaphor more often than not with the intentions of introducing a new object/concept, offering a more precise meaning, or simply presenting a more poetic effect to his text/speech. The main focus of this study is image metaphors of Richard David Bach’s “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”. This book was translated into Persian by two translators: Fatemeh Mohammadi, and Ghazaal Ramezani.The English book will be analyzed with the two Persian translations of it in this regard. The framework of the study was Newmark s (1988a) seven suggested procedures for translating metaphors. In addition to determining which of these procedures have been applied in the two translations, the study also aimed at discovering whether any new procedures might have been applied. The study also attempted to find out whether any exclusive patterns were observed in each translator s rendering of the discussed items. The study concluded that out of the seven procedures proposed by Newmark for translating metaphors, each translator used some of the procedures more than others and no new procedure was observed in their translations.