The Application Of Foreignization In Translating Chinese-specific Vocabulary Into English

With the concentration on China strengthened by the whole world, it is necessaryfor us to introduce the Chinese-specific vocabulary to the world. For the sake ofexpressing the meaning and connotation of vocabulary and avoiding the unnecessarymisunderstanding, this paper explores the translation of Chinese-specific vocabularyfurther by employing foreignization. Chinese-specific vocabulary involve threefeatures, which are wide range of contents, strong sense of times and rich culturalconnotation. A large number of versions are the results of eliminating the disparity oflanguage and culture so as to obtain the effectiveness of expressiveness absolutely.Foreignization offers a new perspective to present the culture and language of originaltext into the target language, and the readers can accept and understandChinese-specific vocabulary easily and appreciate the Chinese culture.Foreignization was proposed by Lawrence Venuti in his masterpiece TheTranslator’s Invisibility--A History of Translation. From Venuti’s view, the purposeof translation is not to eliminate the disparity of language and culture, but present thedisparity of language and culture. Foreignization is used to make the version break theroutine of target language, bringing the difference in language and culture of theforeign text into the target language, sending the readers abroad.Having collected500Chinese-specific vocabulary and constructed the corpus,the author has analyzed the relative data, which are about the main translationmethods under the guidance of the foreignization and frequency of each translationmethod, shown in the form of tables and charts, by the means of SPSS program andquantitative analysis. Based on the foreignization, the author obtains the suggestedtranslation methods, which are transliteration, transliteration plus explanation, literaltranslation, literal translation plus explanation, literal translation plus transliteration.Transliteration means to represent, as a word, by the alphabetic characters of anotherlanguage having the same sound. It has been regarded as the most immediate andeffortless method to deal with the translation of Chinese-specific vocabulary in that there are no equivalents which can be found in English. The method of transliterationplus explanation refers to add some kind of explanation on the basis of transliteration.The original meanings of words cannot be expressed fully by means of puretransliteration, at this point, explanation is necessary. Literal translation demands thatthe translation should not only preserve the original content, and to keep the originalform, especially to keep the original metaphor and image, while some kinds ofexplanations have to be added in order to make the meaning of version understoodclearly, which refers to the method of literal translation plus explanation. The methodof literal translation plus transliteration is the combination of literal translation andtransliteration, which takes up a small part in the translation of Chinese-specificvocabulary. The author analyzes each translation method through specific examples indetail so as to make the readers understand clearly. In addition, the standards offoreignization in translating Chinese-specific vocabulary, which are veracity,flexibility and contemporaneity, have been introduced and explained carefully.Veracity demands the correct understanding of original text. Except for the correctunderstanding, the version should be close to the target readers’ habit of thinking,which means the flexibility. Language is a mirror of the society, and theChinese-specific vocabulary is born in the certain social historical period. TheChinese-specific vocabulary reflect the unique characteristics of era, thus the versionshould keep pace with the times, which refers to contemporaneity.Having researched and analyzed the translation methods in the application offoreignization in translating Chinese-specific vocabulary with the aid of SPSS andquantitative research, the author acquires some enlightenments as follows:Foreignization is mainly employed in the translation of Chinese-specific vocabulary,and such translation methods as literal translation, literal translation plus explanation,transliteration, transliteration plus explanation, literal translation plus transliterationshould be adopted primarily. Even though it is no doubt that the most frequently-usedtheory is foreignization. But each coin has two sides and the disadvantages offoreignization cannot be neglected. The dialectical attitude towards foreignization isadvisable. The translators should develop the merits of foreignization and translate the accurate and authentic Chinese-specific vocabulary for the sake of publicizing Chinaand Chinese culture to the world, making the world know China as well.