Cultural Factors In Domestification And Foreignization In Translation

The study of domestification and foreignization is a common topic in the translation field. It is generally believed that domestification and foreignization are the two main strategies of dealing with cultural factors in translation. But which should be adopted, domestification or foreignization in the practice? Should the two be combined? And how? These are still long-unsettled arguments.The loudest speaker for domestification is Eugene Nida, while Lawrence Venuti is the representative of those who favor foreignization. Nida puts forward the"functional equivalence"and believes that a successful translation should satisfy the needs of the target readers. The readers'reception and acceptability is the ultimate test standard for translation. So he firmly advocates domestification. Lawrence Venuti strongly accuses domestification. He puts forward"resistant translation"to advocate the development of foreignization.The disputes existing in translation history show that both sides take absolute and one-sided attitude towards the two translation strategies and they just overemphasize one of them. Thus many translators feel puzzled at what strategy to choose, and which standards should be based on according to different situations. And they also get no idea of how to take full advantage of the features of the two strategies according to different situations. Because of the differences between the SL culture and the TL culture, a translator is bound to face a choice. So it is inevitable to have the inclination of domestification or foreignization for a translation.This thesis discusses domestification and foreignization from a cultural perspective and analyzes the factors that may influence the translator's choice of the two strategies. By probing into different factors influencing the choice of translation strategies in translating process, the thesis arrives at a conclusion that foreignization and domestification are indispensable and mutually complementary with the former functioning as the primary mainly on the cultural level and the latter as the secondary mostly on the linguistic level, for the nature of translation is cultural communication. Social and political environments, the purpose of the translator, the readership and so on are decisive in the choice of the two strategies in translation.