Channels, Fall 2020

Channels • 20 20 • Volume 5 • Number 1 Page 39 distinguishes among three groups of metaphors according to their function and degree of specialization in economic language. The first group is comprised of metaphors that have a purely ornamental function, the second of metaphors of the standard language, and metaphors which portray specific economic problems or expand theories or ideas of the specific discipline belong to the third group. The classification based on Lakoff and Johnson’s criteria (1980) as well as the economically focused differentiation of Henderson (1982), allow for the presentation of areas of agreement between both classifications. The methods of translation which were used for the German and Spanish versions of the corpus provide a further parameter for analysis. Dobrzyńska (1995) describes three pos sible methods for translating metaphors, which were thematized in many studies starting at the end of the 1990’s. The first method is “metaphor through a similar metaphor” (M g M), the second functions on the principle of “metaphor through a different metaphor” (M1 g M2), and the third is “metaphor through circumlocution or paraphrase” (M gP). These three methods were effectively employed very often at the beginning of the 21st century in the translation of metaphors in economic language (Serón 2005; Ramacciotti 2012). The metaphors of the corpus translated into Spanish and German will each be classified according to the utilized translation methods. The question of the classification is, then, to what extent the metaphors can be assigned to one of the three aforementioned translation methods, or if further methods which are not mentioned here can be detected. The software Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), which enables classification of words by semantic field and affective quantitation, will be employed for the identification of the metaphorical expressions in the original English text. Subsequently, a manual search will be conducted to identify the aggregate of the metaphors in the text. These will all be entered into a databank to thoroughly determine the typology of the occurring metaphors as well as the applied translation methods in the corpus. Business Text A: Historically Low Growth in China’s Economy Such a level of growth would be a dream for most countries. For China, it's a disaster. In the past year, the economy grew only 6.1%, the lowest value in almost thirty years. Experts now warn of scaremongering. China’s economy is feeling the effects of the trade war with the USA and a cooling of the worldwide economy. After a growth of 6.6% in 2018, the Middle Kingdom registered a mere 6.1% economic growth last year, according to the newest numbers from the Chinese Statistics Office. However, experts emphasize the appearance of a certain stability in the fourth quarter. Accordingly, GDP grew by 6.0% between October and December, reaching the same value as in the third quarter. Economic growth was registered at 6.4% in the first quarter, and 6.2% in the second. Still on Course These values still place the Chinese economy within its target zone between 6.0% and 6.5%, as specified by the administration. However, they’re also the worst figures in almost thirty years - the last time the economy experienced such weak growth was in 1990. The