Translation strategies for phraseological metaphors in Chinese political discourse into Spanish
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35622/Keywords:
Chinese political discourse, Chinese-Spanish translation, conceptual metaphor, intercultural communication, phraseological unitsAbstract
This study examines translation strategies applied to metaphorical phraseological units in Chinese political discourse, with the aim of identifying effective approaches for their adaptation into Spanish in intercultural contexts. The research is grounded in conceptual metaphor theory and a corpus consisting of political speeches by Chinese President Xi Jinping and their official Spanish translations, and analyzes four predominant techniques: equivalence, transfer, substitution, and omission. The study reveals specific challenges related to preserving symbolic value, cultural resonance, and rhetorical effectiveness in the target language. The results show that functional equivalence and creative adaptation enable more effective metaphorical transfer, particularly in ideologically marked discourse. Moreover, the translator’s subjectivity is highlighted as a mediating agent between divergent cultural codes, with decisions oscillating between interpretative proactivity and normative passivity. The study proposes practical guidelines to optimize translation according to discourse typology and target audience profile, and emphasizes that translating political metaphors requires not only linguistic competence but also intercultural sensitivity and rigorous methodological criteria. This work contributes to the applied study of political-discursive translation between Chinese and Spanish by proposing systematized strategies and evaluative criteria aimed at strengthening intercultural communication and establishing parameters for translation practice in diplomatic and academic contexts.
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