This study focuses on the use of metaphors in the Thai historical novel Sipaendin and its Chinese translation. To date, there is still a lack of extensive comparative research on metaphorical structures between Chinese and Thai. The literary corpus of both languages was perused, and the target domain in conceptual metaphor mapping and categorized metaphorical constructs unique to Chinese and Thai were identified. Then, a comparative analysis of these conceptual metaphors was made by highlighting both commonalities and distinctions between the two linguistic contexts. The investigation further examined the cognitive processes that underlie the translation of these metaphors between Chinese and Thai, leveraging conceptual blending theory (Fauconnier & Turner, 2003). This study contributes to the wider academic discussion on how metaphors are understood and processed in language. It gives a comprehensive guide for tackling the challenges of metaphor translation, not only between Thai and Chinese but potentially also for other language pairs based on categorizing approaches into metaphor use in the target language, omission, free translation, and figurativeness. Translators can adapt these strategies to different degrees of metaphorical complexity and varying cultural and cognitive overlap levels between languages.
Sirikhun Phanrangsee, Changhai Chi, Kamontip Klaibanmai* (Sat,) studied this question.