Metaphor in Literary Machine Translation
Aletta G. Dorst · 2023
Using the language pair English–Dutch, this chapter offers a qualitative analysis comparing Machine Translation (MT) and Human Translation (HT) of metaphor in a literary text in order to extrapolate which metaphors proved problematic, when , for whom and why . Central to this analysis is the issue of how HT and MT differ in the degree to which they alter the stylistic coherence, creativity and literariness of the metaphors. Human translators may be inclined to normalise and standardise, a tendency captured by Berman&s;s (2021 [1985]) deforming tendencies, Venuti&s;s (2012) notion of domestication and Toury&s;s (1995) law of growing standardisation. MT is, at least in theory, not governed by such normative behaviour. The comparison thus offers new insights into whether using MT leads to more erroneous or unsuitable metaphor translations, or conversely, shows less interference in terms of the deformation of stylistic patterns or the normalisation of creativity.