A Further Study On Domestication And Foreignization

Translation is a complicated and challenging activity and in its process the translator might be puzzled by various contradictions and placed in a dilemma at any time. Among them the key one is how to deal with the relationship between domestication and foreignization, two basic translation strategies adopted to treat the linguistic and cultural differences between two languages. The choice between domestication and foreignization has long been the focus of discussion in Chinese translation circle. In recent years, it recurs and becomes the focus of debates again. But different from the former discussions, in this one the scholars always quote Lawrence Venuti's definitions of domestication and foreignization and tend to follow his advocacy of privileging foreignization over domestication without deep analysis. The understanding of Venuti's theory is superficial and the advocacy of foreignization is blind, resulting in the serious discrepancy between our understanding of these two strategies and the postcolonial understanding prevailing in America. In this sense, this thesis seeks to reconsider the topic of domestication and foreignization in translation within the framework of a comparative translation study. Besides the introduction and the conclusion this thesis consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, after a quick retrospection to the current debates upon domestication and foreignization both in China and in the West, the author points out the problems in Chinese debate and the necessity of making a comparative study between them. The second chapter is devoted to the detailed analysis of similarities and differences between Chinese discussion about these two strategies and Venuti's one. Due to their similarities in the essence of discussion before the cultural turn, the dominant place of domestication in the history and the scope of application,many scholars confuse them as the same one. In fact, they are different in theoretical basis, perspective of study and foreignizing translation. First, Venuti's theory is based on deconstruction theory, while there is no obvious theoretical basis in Chinese discussions. Second, Venuti's research is made from the perspective of postcolonial theory, belonging to the external study, in which domestication is a way for the dominant culture to exert cultural hegemony over the dominated one and foreignization is an effective resistance against the ethnocentrism and cultural colonization of the dominant culture. But the Chinese discussion belongs to the internal study, supplying the concrete skills and methods for translation practice. Third, Venuti's foreignzing translation is different from the Chinese one in foreignizing methods, motives, effects and focuses in application. The reasons for the above differences can be found mainly in the following three aspects: the first one is the different understanding of translation theory between China and the West; the second one is their different traditions of translation research; the third one is their different linguistic conventions. In the third chapter, on the basis of summarizing the criticisms of Venuti's theory and his contribution to translation studies, the author points out its enlightenment to Chinese discussion: the power differentials concealed in translation strategies. Keeping this concept in mind, the author first discusses domestication and foreignization in the dominant culture and the dominated culture respectively. Then after a careful analysis of the disadvantageous position of Chinese culture in the present world, a new concept "hybridity"is introduced to revalue the issue. Then from the above analysis, the author draws a conclusion: the binary oppositions between domestication and foreignization should be broken and a third space "hybridity"is available where the two cultures involved can converse with each other on an equal basis, thus promoting exchange and communication between them. Getting implications from the discussion about domestication and foreignization, the author points out upon conclusion that when a new foreign translation theory is introduced into China, a comprehensive understanding is indispensable to the further research no it. Copying the foreign theories mechanically in disregard of specific conditions is harmful to translation studies. What's more, the translators and translation theoreticians should have an open mind to different approaches in...