|
Featured Papers from Direct Essays
|
|
|
|
|
|
This is a preview of a paper to view the full text you need to signup and login.
|
To Domesticate or to Foreignize?
|
|
|
Introduction In recent years, there has been an increasing tendency in translation practice to regard translation as a kind of intercultural communication. Translation is no longer looked on as only transformation of language signals, but also of culture. Language is closely related to culture, for language is the carrier of cultural information, and language only has meanings with its cultural backgrounds. Since translation first involves meaning, and a word only has meanings when it is related to culture, translators are required to be cultural well-informed when doing translation. But how can translators manage to be well cultural well-informed to do a perfect job of translation? And what kind of influence does culture have on translation process? In this paper, I will look into these problems by focusing on the translation of English idioms into Chinese, which is always a typical and controversial topic among translators. Ⅰ. Two most influential translation theories and their cultural correlations 1.1 Two general translation strategies: domesticating and foreignizing Approaches to cultures involved in translation may be divided into two categories: domesticating translation and foreignizing translation. These are the two terms coined by L. Venuti (1995) to describe the two different translation strategies. The former refers to the translation strategy in which a transparent, fluent style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for target language readers, while the latter designates the type of translation in which a target text “deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreignness of the original”(Shuttleworth & Cowie, 1997:59). The roots of the terms can be traced back to the German philosopher Schleiemacher’s argument that there are only two different methods of translation, “Either the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as possible, and moves the reader towards him; or he leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author towards him”(Venuti, 1995: 19-20). The famous Chinese writer Lu Xun (鲁迅) also said that “Before translation, the translator has to make a decision: either to adapt the original text or to retain as much as possible the foreign flavour of the original text” (Xu, in Luo, 1984: 315). Venuti proposed the concept of “relevant translation” to justify foreignizing translation. He said, “The relevant translation presents itself as the transfer of an intact signified through the inconsequential vehicle of any signifier whatsoever. The goal was a translation that seemed strange, removed from current target language usage, yet recognizable and very readable.” This is a kind of translation strategy that tends to deliberately break the dominance of target language culture and give prominence to the alienation of the source language text in style, culture and other aspects. American translation theorist Eugene A. Nida is the representative figure of domesticating translation. According to him, judging the validity of a translation cannot stop with a comparison of corresponding lexical meanings, grammatical classes and rhetorical devices. What is important is the extent to which receptors correctly understand and appreciate the translated text. He put forward the notion of functional equivalence, a maximal, ideal definition of which could be stated as “The readers of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did”. This definition implies a high degree of language-culture correspondence between the source and target languages and a usually effective translation so as to produce in receptors the capacity for a response very close to what the original readers experienced. 1.2 Cultural factors in the two translation strategies The differences between domesticating translation and foreignizing translation are ultimately a matter of culture, namely whether to be conservative or to be open to foreign cultures. Domesticating translation is target language oriented. In domesticating translation, the alien constituent in source language is changed for the contents that target language readers are more familiar with, with no regard to the wording and image, but only the pragmatic correspondence. Strictly speaking, domesticating translation goes no further than the domestic culture itself, for it reduces the difficulties in understanding translated texts at the price of sacrificing much cultural information embedded in the foreign texts, thus depriving readers of the opportunity of appreciating foreign cultures. As a result, the distance between two languages and two cultures is more likely to be extended instead of being shortened. For example, if we translate English idiom “go to law for a sheep, you lose a cow” into Chinese idiom “捡了芝麻，丢了西瓜”, the cultural connotation embedded therein cannot be fully expressed, for apart from the metaphorical meaning that “what one lose is more precious than what one get”, this English idiom also indicates that in Britain lawyers take advantage of lawsuit to gather money as much as possible from plaintiffs and defendants. Thus ,we had better translate the idiom into “为一只羊打官司，却损失了一头牛” to show that Westerners are used to settling disputes through legal channels. On the contrary, foreignizing translation is source language oriented. Foreignizing translation works in such a way that the cultural information is delivered from source language to target language in its original looks. It furnishes target language with new expressions from other cultures, so the mutual communication and permeation between different cultures are promoted. For example, it would be better to translate American politician and scientist Franklin’s well-known saying “Time is money” literally into “时间就是金钱”, which is more appropriate and more expressive than “一寸光阴一寸金”. Culture is defined by American translation theorist Eugene A. Nida as “the totality of beliefs and practices of a society”. For geographical, historical, custom and religious reasons, different societies may have completely diversified cultures, which are reflected in both the form and connotation of languages. Most of the difficulties in translation stem from culturally idiosyncratic meanings. A text which only reflects the many concepts and literary canons of a particular isolated culture often includes information which is extremely difficult to understand and to translate in another distinct culture. For example, willingness to drink poison in order to prove one’s innocence may seem preposterous to Americans. But for many Africans it is equally absurd for people to fast when food is available. On the other hand, culture is an open system.
|
|
|
To link to this page, copy the following code to your site:
|
|
Paper Information
|
|
|
Title: To Domesticate or to Foreignize?
Words: 5081
Rating: None
Pages: 20.3
submitted by: christmoserose
If you think this paper shouldn't be here then
|
|
|
|
|
Signup & Login
|
|
|
If you don't currently have a login then Signup here
|
|
|
|
|
Pre-Written Papers
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Custom Papers
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
