学科分类号0502

学科分类号

本科学生毕业论文

题目（中文）：

（英文）： Foreignization and Domestication in the

姓名学号

院（系）

专业、年级

指导教师罗振西

2011年 5 月 15 日

Foreignization and Domestication in the English-Chinese Idioms Translation

By Long Jiaohua Supervised By

Associate Professor Luo Zhenxi

Submitted

The Foreign Languages Department In partial fulfillment of the requirements

For the degree of Bachelor of Arts In the subject of

English Language and Literature Hunan University of Science and Engineering

Yong Zhou May 2011

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Contents

摘要………………………………………………………………..…....Ⅰ Abstract……………...………………………………………………....Ⅱ

1 Introduction………………………………...………….……….……..1 2 An Introduction to Foreignization and Domestication…….……….3

2.1 The Strategies of Translation……………………………………...3

2.2 Foreignization and Domestication………………………………...4 3 The Cultural Differences Reflected Between English and Chinese

Idioms………...……………………………………………………..…...8

3.1 The Differences of the Living Environment and Life Experiences… ...……………………………………………………………………….8

3.2 Differences on Customs……………………………………………9

3.3 The Religious Aspects……………………………………………10

3.4 Historical Stories…………………………………………………10 4 Foreignization and Domestication in the Idioms Translation…….12

4.1 Foreignization, to transform the cultural color of the target text....13

4.2 Domestication, to keep the culture of the source text…………….16

4.3 Integration of Foreignization and Domestication………………...20 5 Conclusion….……...…………………………………………………22 Bibliography……..…………………………………………………….23 Acknowledgements

摘要

翻译不仅是语言的转换,更是文化信息的传递.语言的转换只是翻译的表层,而文化信息的传递才是翻译的实质.异化与归化这两种翻译策略是翻译界长久以来争论的热点之一.在翻译过程中,译者是以源语文化为导向,还是以译语文化为导向,是保持原文的异国情调,还是追求译笔的归化地道,这一直是翻译界争论不休的问题.异化翻译策略的代表人物是韦努蒂,而归化翻译策略的忠实捍卫者是奈达. 习语是一个民族的语言精华,更是文化的结晶.由于地理历史宗教信仰生活习惯等方面的差异,英汉习语承载着不同的民族文化特色和文化信息.由习语文化因素差异产生的问题往往是翻译中的难点.本文详细阐述了异化与归化,包括异化,归化的起源和定义,异化,归化的代表人物和他们的主张.然后从生活环境,生活经验,风俗习惯,宗教信仰,历史典故四个方面介绍英汉习语中反映的文化差异.最后,通过举例说明异化与归化在习语翻译中的应用.

关键字:异化 ; 归化 ; 习语翻译 ; 文化差异

Abstract

Translation is not only an inter-lingual activity but also an intercultural activity. Linguistic transference is only the surface of translation while cultural exchange is the essence of translation. There exists a long-lasting controversy in translation field, that is, the debate between the strategy of foreignization and the strategy of domestication. In translation, a translator always faces a choice between adhering to the SL-culture-oriented or to the TL-culture-oriented. Whether a piece of translation work should be SL-culture-oriented or TL-culture-oriented? This remains an unsettled question as well as the center of debate in the translation field. L.Venuti advocates foreignizing translation whereas Eugene A.Nida advocates domesticating translation.

Idioms are the gem of a language and the crystallization of a culture. Due to the differences in geography and history, religious and beliefs, customs and traditions, the English and Chinese idioms carry different cultural information and bring different cultural characteristics with them. The problems arising out of the cultural discrepancies constitute the most serious problems in idioms translation. In this thesis, I expound foreignization strategy and domestication strategy in detail. It includes the origin and definition of foreignization and domestication, and the representative advocate and advocacy of foreignization and domestication. Then, through the differences of the living environment, the differences

on customs, the religious aspects and historical stories to reflect the cultural differences between English and Chinese idioms. At last, discuss foreignization and domestication in the idiom-translation. It includes foreignization which keeps original text cultural color, domestication which orient the target culture and integration of foreignization and domestication.

Key words: Foreignization ；Domestication ；Idioms translation ；Cultural differences

Introduction

The different language transforms must obey the specific cultural request. Translation is not only an inter-lingual activity but also an intercultural activity. Linguistic transference is only the surface of translation while cultural exchange is the essence of translation. Therefore, if wanted to transmit the intrinsic information of the original text more profound and more appropriately, the translator must verify the cultural characteristic and the difference of the English and Chinese, and dock the bilingual cultural connotation suitably, to really reappear the original text.

The thesis researches strategies in translation across idioms. That is foreignization and domestication. The thesis consists three parts in body. The first part expounds foreignization strategy and domestication strategy in detail. It includes the origin and definition of foreignization and domestication, and the representative advocate and advocacy of foreignization and domestication. Then, we discuss foreignization and domestication of idiom-translation.

In part two, it reflects the cultural differences between English and Chinese idioms through the differences of the living environment, the differences on customs, the religious aspects and historical stories.

The third part discusses foreignization and domestication in the idiom-translation. Foreignization are usually used to keeps original text cultural color, domestication are usually adopted to make the translation orient to the target culture. Sometimes an integration of foreignization and domestication are preferred to maintain both form and content of the original language.

An Introduction to Foreignization and Domestication

2.1 The strategies of Translation

Domestication and foreignization are two basic methods in the translation. Strategies of translation involve the basic tasks of choosing the foreign text to be translated and developing a method to translate it. Both of these tasks are determined by various factors: cultural, economic, and political factors. Yet the many different strategies that have emerged since antiquity can perhaps be divided into two large categories. A translation project may conform to values currently dominating the target-language culture, taking a conservative and openly assimilations approach to the foreign text, appropriating it to support domestic canons, publishing trends, and political alignments. Alternatively, a translation project may resist and aim to revise the dominant by drawing on the marginal, restoring foreign texts excluded by domestic canons, recovering residual values such as archaic texts and translation methods, and cultivating emergent ones (for example, new cultural forms). Strategies in producing translations inevitably emerge in response to domestic cultural situations. But some are deliberately domesticating in their handling of the foreign text, while others can be described as foreignizing, motivated by an impulse to preserve linguistic and cultural differences by deviating

from prevailing domestic values.

2.2 Foreignization and Domestication

In the west, domestication and foreignization date back to the ancient Roman Kingdom when Cicero, Horace and St.Jerome raised “the word-for-word translation and sense-for-sense translation”. Dictionary of Translation Studies of1997 states that foreignization and domestication were two terms raised by Lawrence Venuti in his The Translator's Invisibility, in 1995,which originated from the speech of “On the Different Methods of Translation” by German philosopher Schleiermacher on June 24,1913.Schleiermacher held that there are two kinds of translation:

“One is that the translator leaves the author in peace as

much as possible, and moves the reader toward him; and

the other is the translator leaves the reader in peace as

much as possible, and moves the author toward him.”

(Shuttleworth Cowie, 1997:43-44)

But he didn't give specific terms to name these two kinds of translation. It is Lawrence Venuti who differentiates the two translation methods as foreignization and domestication. As for

deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreignness of the original.” Venuti regarded it as a resistance to domestication translation, which

59)Keeping the language and cultural features of the source text makes reads perceive the foreignness and uniqueness of the source culture. Furthermore, translation by way of foreignzation is a means of resisting against the colonization of powerful cultures. This implication is missing in alienation.

Shuttleworth and Cowie defined

Domestication translation has derogatory connotation

because it is identified with a policy common in dominant

cultures, which are aggressively monolingual,

unreceptive to fluent translation that invisibly inscribe

foreign text with target language values and provide

readers with narcissistic experience of recognizing their

own culture. The specific approaches are

selection of texts which lend themselves to being

translated in this manner, the conscious adoption of

affluent, natural sounding TL style, the adoption of TT to

conform to target discourse types, the interpolation of

explanatory material, the remove of SL TEALIA and the

general harmonization of TT with TL preconceptions and

preferences.

(Ibid, 43-44)

According to the interpretation and definition of

In a word, foreignization and domestication mean more than alienation and assimilation with the former pair mirroring cultural in

equality. In the 1990s, translation studies were conducted in the context of social and cultural studies. It is in light of cultural inequality that Venuti puts forward this pair of terms.

The Cultural Differences Between English and Chinese Idioms

3.1 The Differences of Living Environment and Life Experiences

Idioms have closely related to people's work and life. Britain is an island country, which navigation once took the lead in the world in history; however, the land and the agriculture are the core of Chinese people’s life. Therefore, the British say

In the Chinese culture,

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

3.2 Differences on Customs

There are many differences between the English and Chinese customs. The most typical one is the attitude to dogs. In Chinese, dog is a lowly animal. Chinese idioms about dogs are the most derogatory :

conveys an intimate mood，but in western culture,

3.3 The Religious Aspects.

There are also large numbers of idioms on religious faith in English and Chinese language. Most American and European people believe in Christianity. They believe that God created the world, and God arranges everything for man. They hold that everybody is born with sins and he should expiate his sins in order to enter the heaven, which is their belief for their norm of behavior. So there are these kind of idioms in English

3.4 Historical stories

In both English and Chinese Idioms, a lot of them are formed by historical allusions They have simple structure ,far reaching significance ,and is not always understood and translated from literal meaning .such as: “东施效颦”、“名落孙山”、“叶公好龙”、“说曹操，曹操到”、“项庄舞剑，意在沛公”and so on. The English allusion idioms mostly come from the bible and the Greek an Roman mythology, such as:

Achilles’ heel(唯一致命弱点)、meet one’s waterloo（一败涂地）、a Pandora’s box（潘多拉之盒，即灾难、麻烦、祸害的根源）、Penelope’s web（永远完不成的工作）and so on..

Foreignization and Domestication in the Idioms Translation

The scholars who hold the idea of foreignization contend that since the translation is one method of the cultural exchange, translators should let the reader understand the intrinsic foreign culture or the foreign flavor in the original text .The ones who hold the idea of domestication demand that the translated text should take the target language as the fist consideration, and translators' duty is to avoid the cultural conflict so as to realize the culture exchange. Its purpose is to integrate the source text completely into another cultural system, and to the maximum vanish the foreign flavor of the source text.

We hold that neither domestication is easy, nor the foreignization in the cultural translation, because objectively the foreign culture has its

Idiom is the finest part of language, and also the fruit of culture.

While idiom translating, translators face couple of contradictories, that is, the language level and the culture one, and to deal with cultural difference becomes the key whether the idiom translation is successful or not. In the following, we come to analysis the theories of foreignization and domestication to see their concrete application in idiom translation by some examples.

4.1 Foreignization, to transform the culture of target text

The foreignization is able to maintain the information in a way of almost keeping its original appearance so as to serve another culture and its language. And it not only brings the brand-new ingredients for the latter, but also these “massively-inrushing” ingredients will urge the latter to have many polymerization and the fission reaction, thus finally causing its fundamental transformation and furthermore prompting the exchange of different cultures and nations. The idiom translation using the foreignzation is an advantage of the communication and the melting of two different cultures and languages to prompt the combination. Therefore, under the condition of not violating the rules of target text and not causing the wrong association, we can retains the analogy, the image and nation and the local color of the original idioms as possible as we can in translating. Sometimes, because the analogy or the image to the reader may be possibly quite unfamiliar, but it has the obvious nationality place, colors and history in certain context, it should be saved. For example:

1)All roads lead to Rome.条条道路通罗马.

2)The monk may run away ,but the temple can not run with him.跑了和尚跑不了庙.

Here, translator literally translates “Rome” and “temple” into “罗马” and “庙”,and by this way he leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author toward him.

People have many similar feelings to the objective things and the social experience, and then there are a few of same or approximate idioms in the English and Chinese. These idioms have the same or approximate wording significance and the vivid significance, and the concealed significance is also same, in other words, this kind of idioms express the same cultural information in literal significance and the image significance, so they can be translated mutually.

3)Easy come, easy go.来得容易,去得快.

4)丢脸 lose face

Sometimes we may meet some words and phrases with the same way of expression with own mother language, so we easily incline to use the domestication, but in fact so-called similarity between these two kinds of expression does not mean the same meaning. Even if both are mostly the same, they also have their own good points in expression skills. If we use the method of domestication, using the similar one in target language, we will lose the original nationality and the local color. But if using the

method of foreignization, we can provide one more new choice for the target language to express the same meaning.

5) Two heads are better than one.

If it is Translated into the

6) To lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen.

If translated into

Some idioms have the thick national flavor or the literary reference idioms; we can add some explanation into the translation in the foundation of foreignization and under consideration of context so as to express the original intention more clearly.

7)黄鼠狼给鸡拜年,没安好心.

The weasel goes to pay his respects to the hen. ---not with the best of intention.

The translation points out the implied meaning in the foundation of foreignization, and the image were vivid, and have manifested the original sentence style and flavor.

The translation adds expression in the foundation of foreignization

4.2 Domestication, to keep the culture of the source text

Domestication can transform both the content and figurative meanings of an idiom and be flexibly used to transform the figurative meanings by ignoring the original image. The translation is the communication; one of translator's responsibilities is to avoid the cultural conflict to cause the translation by misunderstanding. When the translator transplants one kind of text to another culture, he must carefully measure the ideology connotation in the culture. If the content and form of the

translation were in the scope of the translation reader to the real world understanding, it would be easy for readers to understand.

The English and Chinese idioms belong to the different language and are produced under the different cultural context. If overemphasizing the foreignization, it will aggravate the strange feeling for readers to the translation and increase the difficulty to accept and hindrance different country and nationality's psychology by readers. So according to the idea of the goal language people, it can use domestication to take place foreignization when it cannot express clearly, it also enables readers to appreciate and to grasp the significance of the original work.

9) With determination, with luck, and with the help from lots of good people, I was able to rise from the ashes.

凭着我的决心,我的运气,还有许多善良人们的帮助,我终于得以东山再起.

If the translation constantly emphasized the

10) I have let the cat out of the bag already, Mr.Corthell, and might as well tell the whole thing now. (F.Norris)

我早已把隐秘泄露了出来,科西尔先生,干脆现在就把全部底情透露给你吧.

In the translation, it has discarded the form of consistency to seek the

same meaning with the original text by foreignization.

11) Jigging around like a cricket on a hot grill will not help. Doctors do not run these hospitals. He is the Senator's nephew and there he stays.

(C.Odets)

急得象热锅上的蚂蚁可无济于事.这些医院并不是由大夫们经管的.由于他是参议员的侄子,就把他安插在这儿了.

It has replaced the image in the translation to preserves the special meaning and the rhetoric effect of the original text.

12)他亦未必没有相当成就,但是仅仅十万人口的双桥镇何足以供回旋,比起目前计划来,真是小巫见大巫了!(,第五章)

There, his achievements had not been insignificant; but his scope had been limited by the small population-barely a hundred thousand. His activities in Shaung-chiao Town had been mere child's play compared with this present scheme.

13)我过去受的那些委屈和刺激,比起他来,真是小巫见大巫,算不了什么.(,第一.第四章)

What little pain and adversity I have experienced so far are simply nothing compared to what he has gone through.

Witches(“巫”) in the Chinese saying of

witches. Its figurative meaning can be explained as “something that could not be better than the other one.” In the above two example translation, the translator has used the different expression way; mere child's play compared with and simply nothing compared to all discard the image of the original text, only translates the meaning to reduce the cultural difference.

Two-part allegorical saying is Chinese unique, is one kind of unique structural style, and also has the greatly strengthened national characteristic. Just as the dual barriers of the language form and the culture, sometimes the translator have to discard this unique structural style and the national characteristic of two-part allegorical saying, uses the naturalization to translate the law, only translates the meaning to give up the analogy and explanation.

14)再试纺,顶多一阵子,过了几天还是外甥打灯笼----找舅(照旧)()

And if we are now going to have a check spinning, it will only mean that we will be busier than ever for a spell and then after a few days things will be back to what they were before.

“找舅”(look for one’s mother’s brother) and “照旧” (as usual) are homophonies in Chinese. Therefore, it’s difficult to translate it in both form and content. Thus, only the figurative meaning is maintained.

4.3 Integration of foreignization and domestication

In translation, even if each word in the source text can be translated by using correspondent word, it cannot guarantee the equivalent function of translations and the source text. The reason is that readers always understand the target text based on their own culture conception. In some idioms translation, the primitive culture features are retained by the foreignzation, but the mistakes of grammar make readers to understand the target text more difficultly. However, the source culture will lose when taking full use of domestication, and the readers cannot get the idea of the true meaning of the source text. Therefore we may adopt the integration of the foreignization and domestication, and translate the wording significance and point the concealment significance, not only make the translation to be vivid and manifests the style and the flavor of the original text, but also to be accepted by readers completely.

15)我伯伯也说我没用,他说是

第十章)

My uncle says Iam no good,too,he says,

domestication with foreignization.

Conclusion

International communication is more and more frequent with the development of IT. A series of culture-loaded words such as Cupid , homosexuality, etc, have flooded into our traditional Chinese Culture to take the place of “月老” and “阳袖之好”. Domestication and foreignization well serve the purpose of transmitting culture.

The idiom is the indispensable component of language; it collects various rhetoric gimmicks, and also is enriched

translation process, it is impossibly only abide by one kind of principle or adopt one kind of method. The domestication and foreignization be no contradictious, but to be each other's complemented. We can adopt domestication or foreignization in translation process, and also use the combining of domestication and foreignization at different condition.

Bibliography

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Acknowledgement

I would like to take this opportunity to show my heartfelt gratitude to all the people who have ever helped me in this thesis.

My sincere and hearty thanks and appreciations go firstly to my supervisor, Associate Professor Luo Zhengxi, whose suggestions and encouragement have given me much insight into these translation studies. It has been a great privilege and joy to study under his guidance and supervision. Furthermore, it is my honor to benefit from his personality and diligence, which I will treasure my whole life. My gratitude to him knows no bounds.

I am also extremely grateful to all my friends and classmates who have kindly provided me assistance and companionship in the course of preparing this paper.

In addition, many thanks go to my family for their unfailing love and unwavering support.

Finally, I am really grateful to all those who devote much time to reading this thesis and give me much advice, which will benefit me in my later study and my working affairs in the future.