Synaesthetic metaphors in translation

Many studies have been devoted to the analysis of synaesthesia within individual lan- guages, and to the description of properties shared by synaesthetic transfers in di erent languages. On the contrary, studies on the translation of synaesthesia from one lan- guage into another seem to be lacking. is article focuses precisely on this issue. e theoretical discussion is supported by the analysis of the translation of Süskind’s novel Das Parfum, which includes many occurrences of synaesthesia, into three languages. rough the analysis of relevant examples, it is shown that the choices made by the translators – ranging from word-by-word reproduction of the synaesthesia to its dele- tion – correlate with the type of synaesthesia to be translated. While for creative syna- esthesia (e.g., rundes Parfum) a word-by-word translation usually works, conventional synaesthesia (e.g., scharf ansehen) can be more challenging, and other strategies have to be found. e behaviour of synaesthesia in translation therefore seems to parallel that of other types of metaphors.