归化与异化英文论文

Domestication and Foreignization:

A Case Study Of Selected Modern Chinese Essays Rendered

by Zhang Peiji

Abstract

Domestication and foreignization are widely applied as two major translation

strategies. Also, as an academic issue, they are discussed with ardent interest by

scholars at home and abroad. As scholars hold different opinions about

theirapplication, the author believes that the two strategies are worth studying further.

The author concludes that domestication is much more frequently employed and

foreignization functions as a complementary strategy in Zhang ’s translated works,

and that domestication can be reasonably applied as the dominating translation

strategy , and foreignization may be effectively used to translate cultural elements,

which is especially true of translation of Chinese essays into English. It is sincerely

hoped that this thesis will enlighten translators and help them flexibly utilize

translation strategies so that they may do better in translation.

Key words: translation strategies, domestication, foreignization, a case study

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Necessity and Significance of This Study

Since translation appeared, research on translation strategies has never ceased. As

two translation strategies, domestication and foreignization have aroused intense

discussions since they were put forward by Lawrence V enuti. Many researchers have

raised their opinions on domestication and foreignization.

But there are still problems. This thesis not only presents a relatively

comprehensive study of domestication and foreignization, but also provides a case

study of Selected Modern Chinese Essays translated into English by Professor Zhang

Peiji so as to show how domestication and foreignization are flexibly employed in

translation practice and to prove which is the dominating translation strategy and

which is the supplementary one.

1.2 Research Methodology

The major methods used in this thesis are as follows: (1) the descriptive approach;

(2) the comparative-study approach; (3) the case-study method; (4) the

qualitative-analysis method; (5) the quantitative-analysis method. All the examples

have been carefully selected from the two volumes of Selected Modern Chinese

Essays Rendered Into English by Zhang Peiji.

1.3 Organization of the Thesis

This thesis is composed of four parts,

Chapter One first explains the necessity and significance of this research, then it

states the research methodology and the organization of this thesis.Chapter Two

presents a brief review of major studies on domestication and foreignization at home

and abroad. Chapter Three carries out a case study of Professor Zhang’s two volumes

of Selected Modern Chinese Essays Rendered Into English to show how

domestication and foreignization are employed in translation practice.Chapter Four

serves as the conclusion. This chapter summarizes the main points.

Chapter Two Literature Review

This chapter first reviews major studies on foreignization and domestication

abroad, then it overviews main studies of the two translation strategies in China.

2.1 Studies on Foreignization and Domestication Abroad

Initial studies on domestication and foreignization in the West can be traced back to

Friedrich Schleiermacher, a German theologician and philosopher. In 1813 in his

essay entitled“On the Different Methods of Translation”, Schleiermacheremphasized

that there were two paths in translation.

Eugene Nida is an influential advocator of domestication, who focuses on the

communicative function of translation. He put forward dynamic equivalence, which

means that the receptors of the message in the receptor language respond to it in the

same manner as the receptors in the source language (Nida, 1964:166).

2.2 Studies on Foreignization and Domestication in China

With the introduction of domestication and foreignization into China, many

researchers raised their opinions on the two translation strategies.In 1987, an

academic paper entitled “Domestication: The Wrong Track in Translation” by Liu

Yingkai aroused the first round of dispute on domestication and foreignization.

In 1995, Weihui Reading Weekly and Foreign Languages School of Nanjing

University organized a survey of readers ’ responses to different versions of the

French novel Scarlet and Black, which gave rise to a debate on many translation

issues, including domestication and foreignization.

Chapter Three

A Case Study of Selected Modern Chinese Essays Rendered Into

English by Zhang Peiji from the Perspective of Domestication

and Foreignization

As Chinese and English are two different languages, different words are always

employed to express the same meaning. For example, “红茶” in Chinese has the

same meaning as “black tea” in English. Even the same word or expression may

have different meanings. For example, “龙” is a positive word in Chinese while the

word “dragon ” is often connected with evils and considered as negative in Western

culture.In translation, we should consider such lexical differences and choose

different translation strategies accordingly. Take “亚洲四小龙”, a Chinese phrase, as

anexample. “亚洲四小龙” refers to the four regions with a booming economy –

–Hongkong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Korea. The translation of “亚洲四小龙” into

“four tigers in Asia ”, an equivalent phrase in English, may be considered as an

instance handled by means of domestication.

Chinese does show a linguistic phenomenon that four-character phrases are often

employed. Obviously , frequent use of domestication helps to express their meaning,

and enables target readers to understand the corresponding versions better, and thus

Chinese essays can be introduced into Western countries more easily. But as we know,

everything is divided into two. Frequent use of domestication affects the spread of

Chinese characteristics. When Western readers read English versions of four-character

expressions, they may not realize their ubiquitous existence in Chinese. However, as

numerous Westerners have learned or are learning Chinese, this particular Chinese

feature has become known or will be familiar to more and more Westerners.

Chapter Four Conclusion

Domestication and foreignization serve as two major translation strategies. The two

terms originated from German theologician and philosopher, Friedrich

Schleiermacher ’s lecture. Later on, Venuti (1995) explained the two terms. According

to V enuti, domestication is the dominating translation strategy in Anglo-American

culture. Employment of domestication brings the original text and author to the target

text readers, erasing the linguistic and cultural differences and making the original

text conform to the current dominant linguistic characteristics and values in the

target-language culture. Foreignization was coined by V enuti to resist domestication.

Application of foreignization brings the target language readers to the original author

and the original text, keeping the original linguistic and cultural differences and even

attempting to find differences. We may realize foreignization by using non-standard

discourse or choosing to translate a text that challenges the contemporary canon.

Bibliography

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Education Press, 2004.

[2] Bassnett, Susan & Andre Lefevere. Constructing Cultures: Essays on Literary

Translation[C]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2001.

[3] Beaugrander, D. & Wolfgang U. Dressler. Introduction to Text Linguistics[M], New York: Longman Inc, 1981.

[4] Cuddon, J. A. A Dictionary of Literary Terms[Z]. Chatham: W&J Mackay Limited,

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[5] Gentzler, Edwin. Contemporary Translation Theories[M]. Shanghai: Shanghai

Foreign Language Education Press, 2004.

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