What can Metaphor Tell us about the Language of Translation?

This paper illustrates an exploratory study aimed at devising a methodology for the analysis of the language of translations through a comparison of metaphor use in original and translated texts. It uses a pilot monolingual comparable corpus of corporate sustainability reports made up of 2 sections: a subcorpus of Spanish originals and a subcorpus of translations from English into Spanish. VERB-NOUN metaphors are analyzed to compare collocation variety, typical collocations and degree of metaphorical conventionality of the VERB-NOUN pairs in original and translated texts. Results suggest that metaphors in translated texts show both a tendency to normalization and a preference for unconventional uses arising from original text expressions “shining through” in the translations.