人有失手日，马有失蹄时。(Guo, 1996: 182-3) 

(My back translation: Men will make mistakes, horses all stumble.) 

4.2 Analysis 

The analysis is based on the following five common translation methods: 
(1) Literal translation (retaining the same image in the target language); 
(2) Replacing the SL image with a standard TL image; (3) Literal translation 
plus sense and explanation; (4) Converting the metaphor to meaning; (5) 
Using Chinese couplets to replace the English metaphor. 

Metaphors in examples 1, 2, 3 and 6 are translated literally. The aim of 
literal translation is to retain the national or local colour, the original 
images as well as the foreign expressions so as to enrich the target language 
. (Zhang, 1980: 161). "To his ancestors" (Example 1) "去见祖先" , is a 
euphemism for "to die". This expression is vivid and easy for the ordinary 
Chinese reader to understand. "Armed to the teeth" (Example 2) "武装到牙齿" 
sounds a bit exaggerating but very impressive. The image of a person armed 
to the teeth is so picturesque that it is hard for the target language 
reader to forget. This literal translation has been widely accepted since 
New China was established.  

"A more common procedure for translating metaphors is to replace the SL 
image with another established TL image, if one exists that is equally 
frequent within the register" (Newmark, 1988: 109). The proverbs in examples 
4,5, and 7, are all adapted into Chinese versions, replacing the SL images 
with TL images which are familiar to the Chinese reader. These Chinese 
images are widely different from but similar in sense to the original ones 
. Perhaps it is all right to render the proverb in example 4 "among the 
blind the one-eyed man is king" literally into "盲人之中单眼汉为王", because 
the meaning as well as the image is clear. But the proverb "One boy is 
a boy, two boys half a boy, three boys no boy" is a concept rather than 
an image, if it is translated literally, it would be wordy and may not 
be able to impress the Chinese reader as strongly as the converted version. 

There has been some arguments about the translation of the metaphorical 
saying "Talking of the devil, and he will appear". Some (Zhang, 1980; Lu, 
1993) believe that it is acceptable to convert it into "说到曹操，曹操就到" 
because this figurative expression is known to all, while others (Guo, 
1996; Li, 1995) think that Caocao is a national figure in the Chinese history 
who represents certain features of the Chinese culture. If the original 
text is about western culture and western people, it would be inappropriate 
to bring CaoCao into the scene. Perhaps that is why Li and his colleagues 
decided to translate it literally into "说鬼鬼到" ( Example 6).  

The translation method applied to metaphors in examples 8, 11 and 12 is 
"free translation" (the usual Chinese term) or in Newmark’s words, converting 
the metaphor to sense. To the Chinese reader, the image of "a skeleton 
in the cupboard", may mean ugly, horrible and frightening; "a wet blanket" 
is merely a blanket which is soaked with water, and "a silver spoon" is 
just a spoon different from a china spoon. They may not be able to understand 
the referential meanings these images carry in the metaphors. Most probably 
for this reason the metaphors are all converted to sense, to more general 
expressions, "family scandal" (家丑) , "a disappointment" (令人扫兴的人) 
and "a wealthy family"(富贵之家) which are abstract concepts rather than 
concrete images. Snell Hornby is right in saying that "as an abstract concept, 
metaphor might be universal; in its concrete realization however, being 
closely linked with sensuous perception and culture-bound value judgments, 
it is undoubtedly complicated by language-specific idiosyncrasies" (1988: 
62-3). 

The metaphor in Example 9 is the same as that in Example 8, but is treated 
differently. Actually, there has been some arguments about the translation 
of this metaphorical phrase. In an article written in 1981, Feng Shize 
says that if the English idiom "skeleton in the cupboard" is translated 
literally into "衣柜里的骷髅", the Chinese reader might not understand 
what it means, so he suggested to render it to sense. In another article 
written later in the same year, Xu Shigu (徐世谷) does not subscribe to 
Feng’s opinion. He argues that if the first translator of the metaphor 
"the crocodile’s tears" thought in the same way as Feng, the Chinese reader 

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