Abstract

• This research focuses on the comparative study of the translations by Win Pe (Mya Zin) and Ah May Thar of metaphorical expressions in Zawgyi’s ‘Being Brave’ (Ye Khet The Pa), the sixth of the forty-one poems under the title ‘Hyacinth's Way’ (Beda Lan). The entire poem is regarded as a highly metaphorical poetic piece by many scholars and critics. The translator, Win Pe, is a prolific author, poet and scholar. He has translated many classical as well as modern Myanmar poems into English. By permission of the original poet, Zawgyi, his translations of the series of ‘Hyacinth Way’ poems appeared in the ‘Working People’s Daily’ at different times from 1989 to 1990. On the other hand, Ah May Thar is also a well-experienced poetic translator who has translated many Myanmar poems into English. In this paper, the translation procedures the translators use in rendering the metaphorical expressions in the poem were studied comparatively, based on the theories proposed by Newmark (1988). The study revealed that in translating metaphorical expressions in the poem, Win Pe used the metaphorical translation procedures of 'reproducing the same image in the target language', and ‘conversion of metaphor to sense’, and Ah May Thar used the procedures of 'reproducing the same image in the target language', ‘conversion of metaphor to sense’, ‘deletion’, and 'producing the same metaphor combined with sense’ are used and the procedure of 'reproducing the same image in the target language' is most common in the translations.