An Analysis of Figurative Language in the Literary Work Awarded with the Nobel Prize and Translated into Thai: A Case Study on the German Novel Atemschaukel by Herta Müller

Abstract

This research aims to study and analyze strategies for translating the figurative language in the novel ลมหายใจที่ขาดห้วง (2557), which translated from “Atemschaukel” (2009) by the Nobel-Prize awarded author, Herta Müller. The researcher analyzed translation strategies of seven kinds of figurative language: simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, oxymoron and paradox. The research method applied translation concept and strategies suggested by Baker (2011), Newmark (1988) Sanchawee (2550) and Lefevere (1992) as a conceptual framework. Moreover, the concept of hermeneutics is used to explain the decision process in translating and interpreting the figurative language.

The research results found the frequency of translational strategies at the total amount of  1,312, in which ten strategies used as followed; (1) Using a figurative language of similar meaning and form (2) Using a figurative language of similar meaning but dissimilar form (3) Borrowing the figurative language from source text (4) Paraphrase (5) Interpreting a figurative language (6) Using another figurative language with similar meaning (7)  Using a figurative language with explanation (8) Creating a figurative language (9) Omission of a figurative language and (10) Partial omission of a figurative language. The results revealed that using literal translation is mostly founded at 51.98%, followed by the interpreting strategy (12.96%). Literal translation is the most frequently strategy found in almost every kind of figurative language, except for the onomatopoeia. For this, the translator used another figurative language with similar meaning (strategy 6) at the highest frequency of 55.03%, while literal translation is found at only 15.38%. The reason for this lies in the fact that phonemic elements or sounds are deeply involved into the living context of each culture and therefore the literal translation cannot be applied.