英语相关论文TO FOREIGNIZE OR TO DOMESTICATE.doc

to foreignize or to domesticate 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). therootsofthetermscanbetracedbacktothegermanphilosopherschleiermachers 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;thepersonifi3456 cationofanabstraction;theapplication ofawordorcollocationtowhatitdoesnotliterallydenote,i.e.,to describeonethingintermsofanother.metaphorsmaybesingle -viz.one-word-orextended(acollocation,anidiom,asentence, aproverb,anallegory,acompleteimaginativetext”(1988b:104). snell-hornbyrejectsnewmarksconceptofthe”one-wordmetaphor”infavour ofweinrichsdefinitionthat”metaphoristext”(1988:56).shebelieves thatametaphorisacomplexof(atleast)threedimensions(object,image andsense),reflectingthetensionbetweenresemblanceand disparity”(1988:56-57). thispaperwillfollowtheideathat”metaphoristext”whichincludes anidiom,asentence,aproverbandanallegory. 3.whathasbeensaidaboutthetranslationofmetaphor? “incontrasttothevoluminousliteratureonmetaphorinthefieldofliterary criticismandrhetoric,thetranslationofmetaphorhasbeenlargelyneglected bytranslationtheorists”(fung,1995).inhisarticle”canmetaphorbe translatable?”,whichisregardedasaninitialdiscussionofthesubject, dagutsays, “whatdeterminesthetranslatabilityofasourcelanguagemetaphorisnot itsboldnessororiginality,butrathertheextenttowhichthecultural experienceandsemantic associationsonwhichitdrawsaresharedbyspeakersoftheparticular targetlanguage” (1976). snell-hornbytakesmetaphortranslationinthelightoftheintegrated approach.shesaysthat thesenseofthemetaphorisfrequentlyculture-specific,.whether ametaphoris translatable(i.e.whetheraliteraltranslationcouldrecreateidentical dimensions),how difficultitistotranslate,howitcanbetranslatedandwhetheritshould betranslatedatall cannotbedecidedbyasetofabstractrules,butmustdependonthestructure andfunctionof theparticularmetaphorwithinthetextconcerned”.(1988:56-9) vandenbroeckconceivesthetreatmentofmetaphorsasafunctionalrelevancy tothecommunicativesituation(1981).maryfungalsoconsiderstranslating metaphorasacommunicativeeventwhichisbothinterlingualandintercultural (1995). differentfromthesemantic,culturalandfunctionalperspectivesmentioned above,newmarkholdsamorepragmaticapproach.drawingonhispractical experience,heproposesseveralproceduresfortranslatingmetaphor:(1) reproducingthesameimageinthetargetlanguage;(2) replacingtheslimagewithanotherestablishedtlimage;(3)replacing themetaphorbysimile;(4)retainingthemetaphorandaddingthesense; (5)convertingthemetaphortosense;(6)omittingthemetaphorifitis redundant. discussionsofthesubject,especiallythosewritteninchinese,arealso pragmaticratherthantheoretical.ine-ctranslationcoursebook(1980 )whichisthemostwidelyusedtranslationtextbookinchina,zhangpeiji (张培基)andhisco-compilerssummarizedthreepopularmethodsfortranslating metaphors:(1)literaltranslation(similartonewmarksfirstprocedure); (2)replacingtheslimagewithastandardtlimage(similartonewmarks secondprocedure);(3)convertingthemetaphortosense(sameasnewmarks fifthprocedure). basedonthemethodssuggestedbyzhangandhiscolleagues,guozhuzhang (郭著章)proposesfiveinapracticalcoursebookintranslationbetween englishandchinese(1996,revi