A Study on the English Translation of Metaphors in Political Texts from the Perspective of Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Abstract

Distinct disparities in thinking modes and cultural cognitive schemas between China and Western countries often produce cognitive mapping bias, culturalconnotation loss and high comprehension barriers in translating conceptladen metaphors embedded in Chinese political texts. Previous studies mostly rely on outdated corpora and seldom interpret cognitive motivations behind metaphortranslation strategies, and few research combine politicalequivalent translation requirements with conceptual metaphor cognitive mechanisms. Taking the official Chinese texts and authoritative English translations of Government Work Reports (2023-2025) as a closed corpus, this paper draws on Conceptual Metaphor Theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson. Combined with literature review, corpusbased statistics, comparative analysis as well as inductiondeduction, this study sorts out four highfrequency metaphor categories: journey, construction, war and mechanical metaphors. It further explores applicable contexts, communicative effects and cognitive mechanisms of three major strategies: metaphor retention, metaphor replacement and metaphor omission. Findings show that translators’ strategic choices are conditioned by two core factors: the overlap of sourcetarget cognitive schemas and the principle of political equivalence. Metaphors rooted in shared crosscultural bodily experience tend to be retained, while culturespecific Chinese metaphors prone to misunderstanding are replaced or omitted. This research expands interdisciplinary analytical scope and provides theoretical and practical references for officialdocument translation and the international communication of Chinese governance discourse.