Exploring The English–Vietnamese Translation of Metaphors in Economic News Articles

Abstract : The translation of metaphors remains a major challenge in rendering economic information from English into Vietnamese due to the complexity of figurative meaning and cultural connotations. This study investigates metaphorical expressions in English economic news articles and their Vietnamese translations to identify common metaphor types, examine translation approaches, and assess their effectiveness in conveying meaning. A corpus of 331 metaphorical expressions extracted from 30 English economic news articles and their published Vietnamese equivalents was analyzed through discourse analysis. The findings show that structural, orientational, and ontological metaphors were the most frequent types used in economic journalism. Vietnamese translators employed various techniques that prioritize conceptual equivalence and communicative clarity; however, shifts in imagery and rhetorical effect were observed in some cases. The study highlights the need for translators to preserve both semantic accuracy and metaphorical impact to ensure effective communication. Future research is recommended to expand the corpus to other news genres and explore additional translation strategies for metaphor-rich content.