A Tentative Study Of Overdomestication And Overforeignization In Literary Translation

Translation is a bridge that facilitates the flow of different kinds of languages and cultures. Domestication and foreignization are two strategies for handling the cultural factors in the process of translation. As the course of globalization is unceasingly picking up speed and the drive of reform and opening up in China is pushed forward, domestication and foreignization become hot topics in the field of translation. People approving of domestication and those in favor of foreignization both stick to their own arguments, listing various advantages of each. As a matter of fact, domestication and foreignization are mutually complementary, neither can be dispensed with. The key to good translation lies in the proper manipulation of domestication and foreignization, that is, neither of the two should go to extremes. However, some translators invariably cling to domestication or foreignization in the process of translation, which inevitably leads to overdomestication and Overforeignization. Overdomestication and Overforeignization not only do harm to the cultural communication between different countries, but make the translated text hard to understand. Nevertheless, these two tendencies fail to draw translators' attention. This thesis is an attempt to probe the problems of overdomestication and Overforeignization by a contrastive study of Chinese and English languages and cultures, as they are primary causes of overdomestication and Overforeignization. Being devoted to discussing the causes and manifestations of overdomestication and Overforeignization, this thesis intends to find strategies to reduce or minimize them and contribute to the cultural exchange between China and the West.The thesis comprises five parts: Introduction; Chapter 1. Domestication and Foreignization in English and in Chinese; Chapter 2. Causes and Manifestations of Overdomestication; Chapter 3. Causes and Manifestations of Overforeignization; Conclusion.The introduction sketches the origin and adverse effects of overdomestication and Overforeignization. It points out that overdomestication and Overforeignization should bring to translators' attention and it would be best if they could be reduced to a minimum.Chapter 1 gives the definitions and characteristics of domestication and foreignization in English and in Chinese as well as those of free translation and literal translation and points out the differences among them.Chapter 2 points out that as translations by domesticating strategy are easy to be accepted by target language (TL) readers, domestication is preferred by translators. However, everything should have a limit. This chapter approaches the manifestations of overdomestication from the aspects of "abused four-Chinese-character idioms and words with strong Chinese characteristics", "misusing the method of abstractness", "using the method of substituting the image indiscriminately", "adding a new image or allusion to the source language without grounds" and "departing from the style of the original text".Chapter 3 states that with the development of intercultural communication in the world, foreignization will become the preferred strategy of literary translation in China in the 21 century. But foreignization also has some limitations, it is not omnipotent. This chapter discusses the causes and unhealthy expressions of Overforeignization from the following aspects: "going beyond the norm of TL culture", "overstepping the reader's acceptance", "losing the style of the original text" and "surpassing the norm of TL sentence structure".To conclude the thesis, the author reaffirms that translators should pay close attention to the problems of overdomestication and Overforeignization and put forward some approaches to reduce them.