Peculiarities and Difficulties of Translating Metaphors in the Framework of Kazakhstani Political Discourse

Abstract

Metaphor in political discourse is an effective means by which the speaker's speech becomes more eloquent and expressive. Since metaphors are used to attract the attention of the audience, convey a complex idea or information in an accessible, concise form, enhance the emotional coloring of the statement, convey expressiveness and create a certain political image. Therefore, the main task of the translator when translating metaphors in political discourse and when faced with these difficulties is to convey the expression and direct translation, similar to the original text. A full-fledged translation of a metaphor requires not only the adaptation of the translation to the norms of the translating language, but also the transfer of a unique style. After all, the translation of metaphors in political discourse involves a mental burden on the translator. The translation of metaphors in political discourse remains a topical issue in linguistics. This is a creative thought process that requires an individual approach. The question of the translatability of metaphors has been considered for a long time, since languages abound in metaphors. But one of the most important features of translation and interpretation is a careful approach to choosing the equivalence of metaphors that will match both the context and the expressiveness of the political image. Because the wrong translation of a brightly colored metaphor will lead to misunderstandings in political communication. Despite the large number of works written on the topic of metaphor translation, this topic is not fully studied. In particular, the topic of translating metaphors in political texts, including all three languages spoken in Kazakhstan, has not been studied. This study identifies, describes, and examines the difficulties and features of the translation of metaphors in the domestic policy of Kazakhstan, in particular the metaphors used in the Messages of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan from 1991 to 2020, presented on the official website of Akorda. Examples from the messages show how relevant the topic of metaphor translation remains for Kazakhstan. Moreover, the study identifies and analyzes translation strategies( transformations), conceptual and cultural difficulties, and features of the translation of metaphors in the domestic policy of Kazakhstan. For this study, a trilingual corpus was created for subsequent analysis. As the material for the study, we used Addresses to the nation, speeches of politicians, available in three languages from the official website of Akorda. An additional unique feature of this study is that it examined political speeches that use metaphors in three languages (English, Russian, and Kazakh).