Quelle méthode de traduction des métaphores de l’espagnol vers les langues camerounaises en contexte d’apprentissage ?

Abstract

Translating Metaphors from Spanish to Cameroonian Languages: Which Method in a learning context?

Metaphor, in its various forms, poses substantial constraints when one undertakes to translate it, given that it is a model of expression of a culture, a mode of thought, singularised through each language and in permanent construction. After clarifying some conceptual and theoretical points about the process of metaphorisation and the typology of metaphor, this study qualitatively analyses the way in which 29 students from a translation institute in Cameroon translated some forty metaphors from Spanish into Cameroonian languages. Given the difficulty of collecting metaphors in their diverse and unclear typology, the study is limited to the category of fixed metaphors, particularly idioms. It is found that because of the cultural connotations they carry and the acrolectal style they are supposed to convey; metaphors are difficult to translate by translator-learners who have not been introduced to a specific method for doing so. Most students make numerous errors (non- translations, lack of meaning, and loss of meaning) that betray the precariousness of their translation process. Following this observation, this study, which is both descriptive and prescriptive, recommends some specific methodological points that should be taught to translator-learners to enable them to translate metaphors from Spanish into Cameroonian languages effectively. The said methodological points are built on the basis of the work of Barnwell (1990), Misri (1990), Hagström (2002), Jamet (2003), and more around the seven strategies advocated by Newmark (1981) for metaphor transfer, namely reproduction of the same image (literal translation), replacement with a standard image, replacement with a simile that retains the image, replacement with a simile with explanation, conversion of the metaphor into an explanation of its meaning, omission, and reproduction of the original metaphor combined with an explanation. However, the study recommends that such a draft method, in order to be effective and beneficial, should be accompanied by didactic reforms in the teaching of Spanish translation in relation to Cameroonian languages. In this perspective, it would be appropriate for translator-learners to be more exposed to metaphors in Spanish, and that bridges and didactic "pretexts" be created to enable them to rub shoulders with experts in Cameroonian languages and cultures.