Translating Metaphors in Political Discourse : A contrastive study of translation strategies and rhetorical effects in English - Swedish political texts

Sammanfattning

Metaphors are often idiomatic and culturally embedded, and therefore pose challenges in translation, as shifts in metaphorical expression may affect meaning and rhetorical impact. This study examines how metaphors are translated from English into Swedish in political discourse, focusing on how translation choices affect metaphorical, rhetorical, and ideological meaning, including cases where metaphors are linked to political myths. In this context, political myths refer to recurring ideological narratives that construct threats, leadership, and collective identities. The analysis is based on the present author’s own translation of two American political texts from 2025. A combined quantitative and qualitative approach was adopted. The quantitative analysis involved classification of metaphor types and the distribution of translation strategies, while the qualitative analysis examined the factors motivating translation choices and their effects on meaning and rhetorical impact. The results show that retention is the dominant translation strategy across all metaphor types, followed by paraphrase, while modification is least frequent. Modification is mainly used when no direct equivalent exists, whereas paraphrase is applied to culturally marked or embodied metaphors. Metaphors linked to political myths are generally preserved, but when modified or paraphrased, their rhetorical and ideological force may be affected, even if the underlying myth structure remains.