To Foreignize or To Domesticate
毕业论文
Abstract1：Domesticatingtranslationandforeignizingtranslationaretwo
differenttranslationstrategies.formerreferstothetranslation
strategyinatransparent,fluentstyleisadoptedinordertominimize
thestrangenessoftheforeigntextfortargetlanguagereaders,while
thelatterdesignatesthetypeoftranslationinwhichatargettextdeliberately
breakstargetconventionsbyretainingsomethingoftheforeignessofthe
original.ButwhatisthetranslationpracticelikeinChina?Dotranslators
tendtouseforeignizingmethodsordomesticatingones?Whatarethefactors
thataffecttheirdecisionmaking?Thispapertriestofindanswersto
thequestionsbylookingintothetranslationofEnglishmetaphorsinto
Chinese.
Keywords:domesticatingtranslation;foreignizingtranslation;metaphor;
target
languagereader
1.Introduction
"Domesticatingtranslation"and"foreignizingtranslation"aretheterms
coinedbyL.Venuti(1995)todescribethetwodifferenttranslationstrategies.
Theformerreferstothetranslationstrategyinwhichatransparent,fluent
styleisadoptedinordertominimizethestrangenessoftheforeigntext
fortargetlanguagereaders,whilethelatterdesignatesthetypeoftranslation
inwhichatargettext"deliberatelybreakstargetconventionsbyretaining
somethingoftheforeignessoftheoriginal"(Shuttleworth&Cowie,1997:59).
TherootsofthetermscanbetracedbacktotheGermanphilosopherSchleiermacher’s
argumentthatthereareonlytwodifferentmethodsoftranslation,"either
thetranslatorleavestheauthorinpeace,asmuchaspossible,andmoves
thereadertowardshim;orheleavesthereaderinpeace,asmuchaspossible,
andmovestheauthortowardshim"(Venuti,1995:19-20).
Theterms"foreignization"and"domestication"maybenewtotheChinese,
buttheconceptstheycarryhavebeenatleastforacenturyattheheart
ofmosttranslationcontroversies.LuXun(鲁迅)oncesaidthat"before
translating,thetranslatorhastomakeadecision:eithertoadaptthe
originaltextortoretainasmuchaspossibletheforeignflavourofthe
originaltext"(Xu,inLuo,1984:315).
ButwhatisthetranslationpracticelikeinChina?RecentlyIhaveread
twoarticleswhichshowcompletelyconflictingviewsonthisquestion.
Inhisarticleentitled"ChineseandWesternThinkingOnTranslation",
A.LefeveremakesageneralizationbasedonhiscomparisonofChineseand
Westernthinkingontranslation,
WhenChinesetranslatestextsproducedbyOthersoutsideitsboundaries,
ittranslatesthesetextsinordertoreplacethem,pureandsimple.The
translations
taketheplaceoftheoriginal.Theyfunctionastheoriginalintheculture
totheextent
thattheoriginaldisappearbehindthetranslations.(Bassnett&Lefevere,
1998:14)
,FungandKiuhavedrawnquitedifferentconclusionsfromtheir
investigationofmetaphortranslationbetweenEnglishandChinese,
OurcomparisonofthetwosetsofdatashowedthatinthecaseoftheEnglish
metaphor
theimageoftenthannotretained,whereaswiththeChinesemetaphors,
substitutionis
frequentlyused.[...]OnereasonperhapsisthattheChineseaudience
aremorefamiliarwith
andreceptivetoWesternculturethantheaverageEnglishreadersisto
Chineseculture.(Fung,1995)
Theaboveconflictingviewsarousedmyinterestinfindingoutwhether
theChinesetendtodomesticateortoforeignizetheytranslatea
foreigntext.InwhatfollowsIshallnotcomparetranslationbyWestern
andChinesetranslators,butratherlookintothetranslationofEnglish
metaphorsintoChinese.
2.WhatisMetaphor?
TheRandomHouseUnabridgedDictionary(secondaddition)definesmetaphor
as"afigureofspeechinwhichatermorphraseisappliedtosomething
towhichitisnotliterallyapplicableinordertosuggestaresemblance."
WhileaccordingtoBBCEnglishDictionary,"metaphorisawayofdescribing
somethingbysayingthatitissomethingelsewhichhasthequalitiesthat
youaretryingtodescribe."
PeterNewmarkdefinesmetaphoras"anyfigurativeexpression:thetransferred
senseofaphysicalword;thepersonifi
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