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The metaphoric dimension of economic texts.

The translation of economic metaphors

Asist. univ. Carmen Maftei

Prolegomena

When dealing with the specialised language of the field of Economics, one may often be at a loss regarding the translation of certain terms or structures from English into Romanian. Such a task proves even more arduous and demanding in the case of the so-called “economic metaphors”, which require, due to their particular status, the translator`s utmost attention and skills in order to adequately decode, and then render them into the TT. Thus, it would certainly be useful to analyse the structure and various types of economic metaphors, and try to establish strategies for their accurate translation into Romanian. Defined as the transference of some quality from one object to another, or, in psycholinguistic terms, “from one conceptual sphere or cognitive domain to another” (Cornilescu, 1994:126), metaphors seem to be in all cases “departures from a norm” (Sperber and Wilson, 1985:6), the result of the use of words with deviant typicality conditions.

Although seen as the typical rhetorical devices, Peter Newmark states that “metaphors […] help the reader to gain a more accurate insight, both physical and emotional […] and may be added to the technical terminology of a semantic field and therefore contribute to greater accuracy in the use of language” (1985:297). In keeping with the same theory, Lakoff sees metaphor not as a figure of speech, but as a mode of thought defined by a systematic mapping (cf. Lakoff, 1996:210).

The problem of translation acquires a tremendous importance not only in fiction, but also in non-fictional texts, especially those pertaining to newly developed or emerging areas of human activity, such as the domain of Economics. So, stock and original metaphors are prominent in many West-European financial columns, and basically serve the purpose of jiggering up a series of passionless statistics, or ruthless mergers: `Ray got rid of the Board and took over the reins/ the roost/ the head/ the controls`, `Ray a revocat/ dezmembrat Consiliul de conducere si a preluat controlul/ comanda`. It is obvious that in the Romanian translation the metaphorical terms were slightly `cooled down`, preserving more of their function of enlivening the usually plain specialized language rather than their form, which appears as too informal to be suitable in the context.

One reason for this tendency towards strictness and sobriety in translating metaphorical economic terms in the English economic lexicon into Romanian may well be the inequality of development of such a specialized language in the two cases: while English disposes of a soundly established vocabulary in the field, Romanian has just engaged on the path to integrating its economy, and therefore its specialized vocabulary, into the European and global economic system.

Classification of metaphors in the language of Economics. Corpus structure and analysis

Lexicographic research has shown that English, considered as the international language of commerce and economic activities, comprises a multitude of specific metaphoric terms belonging to this particular field, which may well illustrate the various classifications that have been proposed for metaphors in general. The language of Economics contains a large range of metaphoric terms, which can be classified according to different criteria.

According to the classification of metaphors advanced by Ullmann (1962:214), the language of Economics is well-represented in all the categories established by the researcher.

a) anthropomorphic metaphors, i.e. transfers of meaning from the human body and its parts to inanimate objects, e.g. Samurai market (the foreign market in Japan), Yankee market (the foreign market in the U.S.), Matador market (the foreign market in Spain), arm`s length price (the price at which a willing buyer and a willing unrelated seller would freely agree to transact), beggar-thy-neighbour devaluation (a device that is designed to cheapen a nation`s currency and thereby increase its exports at other countries` expense and reduce imports), lifting a leg (closing out one side of a long-short arbitrage before the other is closed), daughter company, sister company, parent company, head office, etc. These terms hold a very important position in the language of Economics owing to the relationship they establish between economic entities and vehicles marked as [+HUMAN]. Therefore, it may be said that a basic formation principle of economic metaphors is the `humanization` of economic entities, so that to facilitate their comprehension and manipulation by human `end-users`.

b) animal metaphors, viz. transfers of meaning from the animal field to other fields, e.g. Bulldog market (the foreign market in the U.K.), bear (an investor who believes a stock or the overall market will decline), buck (slang for one million dollars), fair game (an investment prospect that has a zero risk premium), butterfly shift (a non-parallel shift in the yield curve involving the height of the curve), hurdle rate (the required return in capital budgeting), bull market (a situation in a stock market or currency market where prices are raising and lots of shareholders are buying), shark (a person who lends money at a very high rate of interest), stag (a person who applies for shares with the intention of selling them immediately for profit), strike (a strike called at short notice and without trade union agreement), wildcat (of a project that is very risky financially), cats and dogs (1. Slang for highly speculative, low-priced securities; 2. An odd assortment, especially of goods on sale), etc.

c) metaphors that translate abstract experience into concrete terms, e.g. heavy industry/ industrie grea, light industry/ industrie usoara, to catch a cold/ a face o afacere proasta, to streamline/ a eficientiza, etc. Such terms display a high frequency of occurrence, due to their powerful evocative virtue, as they appeal to the basic human method of cognitive appropriation of abstract concepts, processes and entities, i.e. by means of concrete illustration and particularization.

d) synaesthetic metaphors, i.e. metaphors based upon the transposition from one sense to another, are not so frequent, possibly because of the relatively narrow specialisation of this particular type of discourse, focusing not on humans (and implicitly human senses) but on economic concepts and entities. Such metaphors are however, highly suggestive and expressive: hot industry/ industrie eficienta/ profitabila/ cu activitate intensa/ de interes maxim (transferring the cognitive appreciation occasioned by the sense of sight to the physical sensation pertaining to the human sense of taste, apparently on the ground `similarity of effect`); to cook/ salt the books/ a cosmetiza/ falsifica registrele contabile (obtained by means of the transposition of the information received by the sense of sight to the sense of taste). It is to be remarked that the Romanian equivalent resorts to either a paraphrase of the initial metaphor, or the sense on which the target originally relied.

According to the metaphor`s degree of freshness or moment of creation, metaphorical economic terms fall into the category of dead metaphors, e.g. black economy, hard currency, liquidity, pie chart, price war, to flood the market, pyramid selling, red tape, wage-freeze, etc.; cliche metaphors, consisting of either stereotyped collocations, usually made up of a figurative adjective and a literal noun - blacklist, ballpark figure (an approximate figure), predatory pricing, etc., or vogue words, which exhibit a tendency to overuse, e.g. strategy, profile, crucial, etc. A special mention is due to live metaphors, with a rather rare occurrence in a specialized language, especially those belonging to slang.

Unlike other languages for specific purposes, the language of Economics includes a wide range of familiar terms, which the dictionaries have come to attest as slang terms. They usually display the feature [+JOCULAR] or even [+DIMINISHING], [+DERISIVE], associated either with human referents, such as whizz-kid (a young person who becomes successful very quickly, especially in business), subsuming the case of economic entities with a human-like behaviour, obvious in woody (sexual slang for a market moving slowly upward), or large amounts of money, like buck, yard (slang for one billion dollars), bar (slang for one million dollars), etc. Since slang is the most colourful and also ephemeral linguistic area, its translation proves the most difficult, almost impossible. Peter Newmark opines that due to its evanescence, no translation methodology is available, suggesting the “translation in italics” if there are no TL equivalents and the context allows for the comprehension of the term; sometimes, states the researcher, transcription is preferred in order to preserve the local colour (1985:318-9). In practice, translators usually opt for explanatory paraphrases or neutral terms, sometimes-unless, of course, the text is purely informative-- accompanied by a gloss signalling the specific slang charge of the term.

In point of form, the distinction is drawn between one-word metaphors, or metonyms, e.g. backlog (a number of jobs waiting to be done that were not done at the proper time, resulting in a lot of extra-work), blackleg, to headhunt, racket (a dishonest way of making money), rally (a sudden rise in prices after a period of falling prices or little buying and selling), stag, windfall (an unexpected profit, or receipt of money/ property), etc., and complex metaphors, e.g. to be above/ below the line, across-the-board (affecting all the members of a group), to flood the market, to be in the black/red, scorched earth policy, wear and tear, white/ blue-collar worker, etc.

If the classification is managed according to the criterion of the type of tenor, metaphors in Economics may be subdivided into: conceptual metaphors, seen as basic and universal, an indispensable key to thought processes, centred in universal human activities -- in which commerce is therefore expected to rank very high - as well as in the logical, spatial and temporal dimension, usually literally translatable because of their universality (Newmark, 1985:320) and affective metaphors, viewed as expressive and interpretative, reflecting states of mind (either collective or individual). Being closely linked with organizational or technical jargon, the latter appear as more difficult to translate.

Here follows a list of examples illustrating the conceptualization of some abstract target domains in terms of source domains.

MONEY IS A LIQUID is one of the most widely used conceptual frames, selecting as a source domain one of the fundamental forms of matter existence, appropriated by humans through their senses. It has proved extremely productive, giving rise to various submappings:

CASH IS A LIQUID: liquid assets (bunuri lichide; lichiditate in active) ; currency (see OED) (moneda nationala; unitatea baneasca a unei tari; valuta) ; liquidating assets (active convertibile) ;My money is all dried up (mi s-au dus/ terminat toti banii) ; He's just sponging off of you (absorbing cash) (Pur si simplu te tapeaza/ te scutura de bani) ; He's solvent/ insolvent (E solvabil/ insolvabil)

GAIN/ LOSS OF MONEY IS MOVEMENT OF A LIQUID: cash flow (circulatia lichiditatilor; flux de numerar); influx and outflux of money (infuzie si instrainare de capital); Don't pour your money down the drain (Nu-ti arunca banii pe garla/ apa sambetei); floating capital (capital circulant)

MONEY WHICH CANNOT BE ACCESSED IS FROZEN: frozen assets (bunuri inghetate/ blocate); price freeze (inghetarea preturilor)

CONTROL IN A FINANCIAL SITUATION IS CONTROL IN LIQUID: keep your head above water, financially (a se mentine la suprafata din punct de vedere financiar); get in over your head (a se implica prea mult/ pana peste cap); stay afloat (a se mentine la suprafata/ pe piata); the business went under/sunk (afacerea a dat faliment/ s-a prabusit/ s-a dus de rapa); drowning in debts (coplesit de datorii); to go belly up (a fi pe duca, a se epuiza, a se termina).

INVESTMENTS ARE CONTAINERS FOR MONEY: Put your money in bonds (baga-ti banii in obligatiuni); The bottom of the economy dropped out (economia e pe duca); I'm down to my bottom dollar (am ajuns la fundul sacului); This is an airtight investment (aceasta este o investitie sigura); The business is going to hit the bottom soon (afacerea e pe duca/ pe punctul de a da faliment)

JOINING ANOTHER ON AN INVESTMENT IS MIXING LIQUIDS: We pooled our funds for the venture (ne-am pus banii la comun); to pool (a forma un cartel)

Note: INVESTMENTS ARE CONTAINERS FOR LIQUIDS, which gives "to pour money into bonds" (a-si investi/ baga banii in obligatiuni), "to tap into a source of funds" (a gasi/ capta o sursa de bani), “washed up” (secatuit), and "all tapped out" (lefter).

CONCEIT IS INFLATION applies the conceptual frame belonging to economic thinking IMPORTANT IS LARGE SIZE (thus to seem more important, seem larger): She's got an inflated ego/sense of herself ; He's a stuffed shirt; She was puffed up with pride ; He was becoming quite grandiose when I left. ; She's got a big/swollen head .

However, the most suggestive of such conceptual frames is TIME IS MONEY lexicalized in expressions like: He's wasting time. (a pierde timpul/ vremea); I have to budget my time. (a-si organiza timpul); This will save you time. (a economisi timp); I've invested a lot of time in that. (a investi timp in); He doesn't use his time profitably. (a-si folosi timpul in mod profitabil).

As Johnson and Lakoff put it, this metaphor came into English about the time of the industrial revolution, when people started to be paid for work by the amount of time they worked. Thus, the factory led to the institutional pairing of periods of time with amounts of money, which formed the experiential basis of this metaphor. Since then, the metaphor has been realized in many other ways (The budgeting of time has spread throughout American culture, and then permeated the majority of the languages, including Romanian.

On the other hand, affective metaphors are frequently used to avoid making a plain statement, especially in the financial columns of newspapers. Consider the following example in a recent newspaper story about international economics.

“Britain was deep in recession while Germany was flourishing three years ago. France kept moving ahead steadily long after Germany had fallen into recession. But now France is plunging deeper while the German economy continues to struggle. Britain has been taking small steps toward stimulating its economy by cutting interest rates, and has finally started to emerge from recession.”

It appears that a key reason for using motion words and phrases is that it allows for the deep semantics of causal narratives to be dynamic and arise from a continuous interaction between input and the reader`s capability of applying metaphoric frames to deciphering such abstract contexts. Since knowledge of moving around or manipulating objects is essential for survival, it has to be highly compiled and readily accessible knowledge. Representations meeting these criteria must be context-sensitive and allow changing the input context to dramatically affect the correlation between input and memory and thereby the set of possible expectations, goals and inferences. Speakers are able to felicitously exploit this context-sensitivity of an affective type in specifying important information about abstract notions and plans that take place in complex, uncertain and dynamically changing environments.

It is remarkable that, through a process of metaphorization, countries are seen as human beings, resulting in a correspondingly metaphorical range of verbs of movement: to move ahead, to plunge, to struggle, to take small steps, to emerge. Therefore, it may well be stated that the text acquires an `emotive` dimension, allowing the reader/ interpreter to have access to complex, uncertain, and especially evaluative knowledge about abstract domains such as international economic policies. The result of processing literal information via affective metaphor is the identification and evaluation of the current economic state of the main referents (Britain and Germany) and of their goal (to regain a positive economic status) (Narayanan, 1997).

In Newmark`s opinion, affective metaphors pave the way for using “organizational or technical jargon for the purpose of euphemism” (1985:323), i.e. avoiding the word which carries the actual meaning and convey the meaning by an idiom with a vaguer meaning (in fact, a form of understatement) which limits the impact of the negatively-marked referent. Some cases in point are to catch a cold, where the disquieting phrase to lose money in a deal is replaced by a downtoning one, belonging to the realm of daily experience; to launder (money or to cook/ salt the books (a falsifica registrele, a incarca la socoteala) in which the `mollified` expressions not only shift the focus from the downright illegality of such practices, but also acquire jocular undertones.

Translation strategies for metaphors

It goes without saying that the meaning of such an open-ended, ambiguous and often culturally-determined entity like is extremely difficult to properly assess and therefore it proves a challenge to translators and interpreters.

Of course, metaphors in Economics are usually stable and systematic correspondences, unlike the ones in literary texts, and thus they seem easier to translate. However, taking into account the creative force of, it may well be stated that any translation is in fact a process of transformation, i.e. the creation of new meaning accompanied by the subsequent loss of the original meaning. So, any translation and particularly the translation of metaphoric terms and phrases may prove extremely demanding at the level of the translator`s linguistic, cultural, and literary sensitivity in both the ST and the TT.

Metaphors may be translated according to three prototypical strategies:

a) translating the expressive vehicle (the strategy of LITERAL/ NON-METAPHORIC translation).

b)translating the paraphrase of the initial (the strategy of PARAPHRASIAL translation.

c) translating the expressive content (the METAPHORICITY-PRESERVING translation).

Peter Newmark (1985:304-311) sets up a much more comprehensive list of procedures for translating metaphors, adapted to the type of the metaphor to be translated. Thus, he establishes the following hierarchy:

1.Reproducing the same image in the TL, seen as convenient for one-word metaphors/ metonyms, its success depending on the cultural overlap between the SL and the TT, or on a universal experience: the more universal the sense, the more likely the transfer.

Such examples include metaphors like: liquidity/ lichiditate; frozen assets/ prices/ bunuri/ preturi inghetate; daughter company/ companie fiica; immunization strategy/ strategie de imunizare; ceiling/ plafon (pret maxim), tax haven/ paradis fiscal, etc. Of course, in many situations it can be said that the metaphors have been borrowed and literally translated as the image appears to be suggestive enough and therefore suitable for the transfer into Romanian. There are also a couple of metaphors in which the ST image was slightly changed in order to make it more acceptable in the TT, but the initial image can still be easily recognized. Thus, one can quote the compound parent company/ companie mama, in which the dual noun of the ST determiner was altered to its [+FEMALE] counterpart, probably in keeping with the specific characteristics of the two languages in question or by contamination with other semantically related compounds also marked for the feminine such as daughter/ sister company.

Another example, implying a familiar animal, the bulldog, in bulldog market, bulldog bond, is taken as a metonym for U.K., since the bulldog is the British canine breed par excellence, usually represented in cartoons of John Bull, the typical Englishman. It is interesting to notice the difference in the preferred semantic fields in selecting the target for similar metonyms (designating the foreign market/ bond issues in various countries): Samurai market/ bond for Japan; Yankee market/ bond for the U.S.A.; Matador market/ bond for Spain. Unlike the case of the U.K., such metaphorical compounds make use of culture-specific anthropomorphic referents.

Also, it seems that the economic vocabulary exhibits a preference for two large animals, i.e. the bear and the bull, which have come to be in an antonymic relationship.

Thus, bear (speculant care mizeaza pe scaderea cursului sau a preturilor) is situated at the negative pole, as apparent in the following compounds: bear/ bearish market (piata cu preturile in scadere); bear opposition (tendinta de scadere a preturilor); bear raid (actiune conjugata a unui grup de investitori care isi vand stocurile pentru a determina o scadere a cursului unor actiuni); bear (optiune rezultata in conditii dezavantajoase/ printr-o diferenta de pret dezavantajoasa) or one-word metaphors like bears (vanzari fara acoperire) and the verb to bear (a vinde la termen fara acoperire).

Similarly, bull (speculant la bursa care cumpara titluri in speranta ca pretul lor va creste si ulterior le va putea vinde obtinand un profit) exhibits a positive connotation, as in such zoosemic metaphors like: bull/ bullish market (piata financiara ale carei cursuri sunt in crestere); bull spread (optiune rezultata printr-o diferenta de pret avantajoasa); bullish (pozitia unui investitor care urmareste obtinerea de profit din tranzactii financiare sau cu marfuri, numai in conditiile in care pretul lor pe piata va creste) or to bull (a cumpara fara acoperire). If in the case of bear the ground is quite easy to determine - the ferocity of such a massive wild beast is obviously associated with the disadvantages of the characteristic compounds--, it is not the same with bull. Probably it was selected as a target by contrast with bear, due to its more reassuring value as a domestic animal, with a reference to the conflictive relationship between the two animals in question. Therefore, the two target items share in common the feature [+MASSIVE], being differentiated by the opposing semantic features [+WILD], [+FIERCE] for the negatively marked bear, and [+TAME], [-FIERCE] for the positively marked bull.

It is interesting that the Romanian equivalents of such animal metaphors do not generally apply this method of the transfer of the original image in translating metaphorical terms, but rather they adopt the paraphrasial way, leading to longer, more complex or explanatory renderings, which sound more like definitions than equivalents proper. A notable exception appears in the case of shark (camatar; rechin) where Romanian has preserved the image, especially under the neological influence of the recent period, even extending its meaning so that to signify “greedy, unscrupulous person”. American English has also polarized its meaning to “expert, cunoscator”. However, the derived verbs, i.e. to / a fura, a escroca, or to shark on/ upon sb./ a suge/ stoarce/ jecmani pe cineva revert to paraphrase or conversion to sense of the metaphorical term in the SL. The latter example may be seen as a derivation of the conceptual metaphor MONEY IS A LIQUID, with the corresponding submapping LOSS OF MONEY IS LOSS OF LIQUID (as evoked by the choice of verbs in the TL).

Judging by these instantiations, it seems that the language of Economics in Romanian rather avoids the reproduction of the same ST image, however suggestive it may be, possibly due to the lack of the necessary cultural overlap or of the required formality of inherently associated with a specialized language.

2. Replacing the SL image with a similarly-functioning standard TL image, preferred in the case of most stock metaphors and especially proverbs, which are so “mothy”, so clichified, often so archaic, that a good translator is bound to approach them with scepticism. "There is often a case for converting such metaphors into sense in the translation, whether they exist in the TL or not”, the researcher purports, “simply because they are so stereotyped” (1985:307). Of course, there are cases, especially in informative or explanatory economic texts, in which the translator aims at perfect transparency, clarity and comprehensibility of message in the TT, and consequently prefers to eliminate cliches that might prove opaque to the potential reader.

As a rule, this translation method is used when the ST image somehow clashes with the TL culture, as in the case of metaphors like: black economy/ economie subterana; hard currency/ valuta forte; to pour money down the drain/ a arunca banii pe fereastra/ garla/ apa sambetei; to cook/ salt the books/ a cosmetiza/ aranja/ falsifica registrele contabile.

3. Translation of the metaphor by a simile, retaining the image. Theoretically, such a procedure minimizes the shock of the SL, particularly if the TL text is not emotive in character, as a simile is “more restrained and scientific than a metaphor” (1985:307-308). However, such instances in the field of Economics are sporadic, even in financial newspaper columns. Sometimes, the fashionable coinage workaholic may be translated by a simile: a munci ca un apucat/ pe rupte/ fara ragaz, where much of the original flavour is lost.

4. Translation of the metaphor (or simile) by simile plus sense (Mozart method), seen as the most clarifying of all procedures as it takes not only one, but two safety measures in rendering the ST metaphor in the, having the advantage of “fulfilling Mozart`s classical formula for the piano concerto, pleasing both the connoisseur and the less learned” (1985:309). Once again, the researcher is confronted with a scarcity of instantiations, probably due to the awkwardness of such lengthy and verbose explanatory paraphrases in an Economic text, where the terms dealt with are clearly delineated, unitary concepts or entities. However, the term mentioned previously may be also translated according to this procedure: workaholic/ persoana care munceste fara intrerupere, asa cum un alcoolic bea fara intrerupere. A similar treatment might be applied to metaphorical compounds like: black knight (rival care asteapta momentul favorabil pentru a prelua o companie asa cum cavalerul [in] negru astepta momentul favorabil pentru a-si lovi adversarul in turnir). It is easily noticeable that such lengthy equivalents, although extremely illuminating as far as the ground is concerned, cannot possibly be suitable to Economic texts. Consequently, they are mainly translated according to the next procedure.

5. Conversion of the metaphor to sense. It appears as the most favoured method of translating the bulk of English metaphors into Romanian. Giving up metaphoricity insures the necessary precision when dealing with Economic terms, especially the most specialized or those referring to English realia, and therefore impossible to translate as such. Anyway, this conversion to sense requires the componential analysis of the sense, so that the translator could be certain of preserving the relevant semantic features that are common both to the source and the target, i.e. of accurately establishing the ground. Thus, in deciphering and explicitating the animal metonyms bull or bear, the translator will not select as retainable semantic features [+MASSIVE], [+WITH HORNS], [+MALE], [+ABLE TO REPRODUCE] for the former, or [+FIERCE], [+COVERED WITH THICK FUR], [+MAMMAL] for the latter.

6. Modification of metaphor, used in non-expressive texts when the SL metaphor is too bizarre or flowery. It usually means that the initial metaphor is “downtoned” so that not to sound too pompous or exaggerate. Of course, it is quite a risky procedure, since it compels the translator to become a critic, orienting his/her translation towards exegesis. Anyway, this is extremely rare with Economic texts, which vehiculate mainly used metaphors.

7. Deletion of the metaphor together with its sense component, recommendable in the case of redundant or otiose metaphors. As stated previously, this is rarely the case with Economic texts. Rather, it would seem more appropriate in the case of culture-specific metaphors (for whom most of the target audience is likely to lack the necessary background information), unless, of course, they constitute the focus of the text to be translated.

8. Preserving the same metaphor combined with sense, employed when the translator retains the SL image, but lacking confidence in its evocative power and clarity, chooses to add a gloss, usually in the form of a footnote. By comparison with the previous translation strategy, it seems convenient to the culture-specific metaphors that cannot be subject to deletion because of their important role in the ST. A perfect illustration appears to be the compound the triple witching hour/ “tripla ora vrajita”, glossable as follows:”the four times a year when the S&P futures contract expires at the same time as the S&P 100 index option contract on individual stocks”/ “ultima ora de efectuare a tranzactiilor la bursa, in a treia zi de vineri din lunile martie, iunie, septembrie si decembrie, cand expira indexurile optiunilor de actiuni”, or the metonym twist/ “torsiunea” dobanzilor, to be compulsorily adnotated as “operatie care consta in majorarea dobanzilor la creditele pe termen scurt si totodata reducerea dobanzilor pe termen lung”.

Conclusions

As a result of the comparative analysis that has been applied to the specific lexicalization of economic metaphors in English and Romanian, the following may be stated:

Statistically speaking, the most frequently used translation strategy appears to be the paraphrasial one, or, more specifically, the conversion of metaphor to sense, as such a safe approach ensures the appropriate perception of the ST message, despite the relative discomfort of an occasional exaggerated length of the TL equivalent.

Conceptual metaphors, created on the basis of similar cognitive mechanisms, are generally literally translatable, but on the whole it seems that in Romanian the language of Economics rather avoids the reproduction of the same ST image, however suggestive it may be, possibly due to the lack of the necessary cultural overlap or of the required formality of register inherently associated with a specialized language.

Culture-bound metaphors are usually deleted, if they are marginal in the ST, or transposed into the TT and accompanied by the necessary gloss.

Fresh or revived economic metaphors, especially in journalese, are mainly translatable according to the modification of image strategy, in an attempt at preserving their initial flavour and stylistic value.

The obscurer the ground, the more challenging the task of the translator. Sometimes correspondences seem to have been arbitrarily established, and therefore the translator should necessarily resort to a comprehensive dictionary of economic terms, specialist assistance and, last but not least, contextual clues.

In point of form, the Romanian equivalents of English economic metaphors are more expanded syntactically, displaying more intricate relations among the components, but also achieving a higher degree of clarity, with a subsequent loss of metaphoricity and colour.

The existence of slang in the language of Economics, paradoxical as it may seem, is however explicable by the tremendous development and importance that this specialized language has recently acquired. Statistically, the percentage of metaphors belonging to slang is insignificant, but their mere existence is enough to demonstrate the productivity and viability of this particular language. The extreme difficulty in the translation of such metaphors only evinces the inequality of emergence and ulterior evolution of the language of Economics in Romanian, parallelling the actual economic reality.

english romanian economic metaphor

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