Inferential Patterns in the Translation of Financial Metaphors 109translation may not mirror – in the target language – exactly the same
cognitive stimuli that were activated in the source one, while, at the same
time, they should try to make this difference unnoticeable (Neubert 1997).
In addition to this, while in typical monolingual settings, addressors and
addressees live in mutual cognitive environments where the intentions of
the former are normally expressed in a way understandable for the latter,
this ideal cognitive and communicative context does not normally concur
in the different linguistic and social contexts translators try to associate.
Cognitive, linguistic and cultural translation stages
In this and in the subsequent sections, I shall illustrate the theoretical
issues reviewed above with some English financial metaphors translated
into Spanish, for which I will provide literal translations in English.^7 In
this regard, although Fraile Vicente (2007: 69) claims – taking Charteris-
Black and Ennis’s (2001) study into account – that English and Spanish
tend to “reflect similar conceptual metaphors with minor linguistic
differences”, in my opinion, the use of financial metaphors is not only
more frequent in English, but also their linguistic and pragmatic coverage
is incomparably larger in English than in Spanish.
I shall now insist on three basic stages that conform to the financial
metaphor translation process: the cognitive, the cultural and the linguistic.
The cognitive stage refers to the understanding of the conceptual nature of
the metaphor concerned, and applies the mental strategies necessary to
infer the correct meanings prior to its translation. This understanding
phase requires the application of specific mental and instructional
strategies, such as the previous knowledge we may have on the issue, our
mastery of the source language, or our experience as translators, among
others. In this stage, translators may ask themselves questions like: What
do the author’s intentions seem to be? How are they expressed in the text?
(^7) The original metaphor examples selected in my analysis are typically addressed
to semi-expert and lay recipients whose financial knowledge is not very expert,
and who need some extra illustration. In this respect, Fuertes Olivera (1998) notes
that translations into Spanish are often mediocre and difficult to understand by
Spanish target readers. In the same guise, Serón Ordóñez (2005) writes that in 70%
of the cases Spanish uses the same metaphors as English does, while in the rest of
the cases a different metaphor (20%) or a paraphrase (10%) is used. Consequently,
I will insist on the paradox that although the conceptual simplifications of many
financial metaphors in English are intended to make their meaning transparent to
English-language users, their literal translation into Spanish may pose major
interpreting difficulties for the prospective recipients.