An Application Of Foreignization In Shi’s English Version Of Camel Xiangzi: Analysis And Criticism

There is a fierce struggle between domestication and foreignization in the translationfield, and almost most of the translation studies are discussed around a comparison oftranslating strategies. In the long-term translation practice, the translator mainly gives priorityto domestication and then adopts complementary foreignization in dealing with the linguisticand cultural differences between source language and target language. Domestication hasplaced the dominant position all the time, while foreignization is in a secondary position. Insuch a case, the importance and practicability of foreignization are neglected.However, the emergence and development of skopostheory in the1970s has greatlyinfluenced the translation field. Skopostheory thinks that any action including translationitself is considered as a purposeful action, the usage of translation approaches and translationstrategies should be determined by the translation purpose. Literary translation is no exception.Skopostheory provides a new theoretical perspective for determining the choice of translatingstrategies and making the application of translating strategies meet the requirements of thetranslation purpose. The usage of foreignization conforms to the needs of the purpose ofliterary translation.Based on this, the thesis selects Camel Xiangzi translated by Shi Xiaojing as a case studyaccording to skopostheory, and analyzes the application of foreignization through the methodsof exemplification, deduction and description in the lexical translation and cultural translationinvolving proper nouns, idioms, derogatory words, footnotes, customs, culture-loaded wordsand dialects. The thesis intends to explore the application of foreignization in the lexical and cultural aspects to realize the translation purpose of the translated text under the guidance ofskopostheory. Through the detailed illustration about foreignization, the author gives anobjective criticism on the application of foreignization in the translating process from thepositive influence and negative influence in the thesis. Finally, the thesis summarizes that theskopostheory has profound guiding significance for the choice of foreignization and theapplication of foreignization is also in line with its translation purpose. Namely, from thelexical level, the application of foreignization makes the readers feel the exotic languagestyles and enriches the language connotations of the target language; from the cultural level,the foreignization can better promote inter-cultural transmission and communication. At thesame time, the author also hopes that translators pay more attention to and widely useforeignization through this study, and the study can make a few contributions to thedevelopment of foreignization.