Foreignization-vs-Domestication

ISSN1798-4769JournalofLanguageTeachingandResearch,Vol.1,No.1,pp.77-80,January2010©2010ACADEMYPUBLISHERManufacturedinFinland.doi:10.4304/jltr.1.1.77-80©2010ACADEMYPUBLISHERBriefStudyonDomesticationandForeignizationinTranslationWenfenYangSchoolofForeignLanguages,QingdaoUniversityofScienceandTechnology,Qingdao,ChinaEmail:[e-mail]—ThisessaygivesabriefstudyofDomesticationandForeignizationandthedisputesoverthesetwobasictranslationstrategieswhichprovidebothlinguisticandculturalguidance.Domesticationdesignatesthetypeoftranslationinwhichatransparent,fluentstyleisadoptedtominimizethestrangenessoftheforeigntextfortargetlanguagereaders;whileforeignizationmeansatargettextisproducedwhichdeliberatelybreakstargetconventionsbyretainingsomethingoftheforeignnessoftheoriginal.Inthecontemporaryinternationaltranslationfield,EugeneNidaisregardedastherepresentativeofthosewhofavourdomesticatingtranslation,whereastheItalianscholarLawrenceVenutiisregardedtobethespokesmanforthosewhofavourforeignizingtranslation,whohasalsoledthedebatetoawhite-hotstate.IndexTerms—domestication,foreignization,translationstrategiesI.OVERVIEWOFDOMESTICATIONANDFOREIGNIZATIONDomesticationandforeignizationaretwobasictranslationstrategieswhichprovidebothlinguisticandculturalguidance.TheyaretermedbyAmericantranslationtheoristL.Venuti(qtd.inSchaffner1995:4).AccordingtoVenuti,theformerrefersto―anethnocentricreductionoftheforeigntexttotarget-languageculturalvalues,bringtheauthorbackhome,‖whilethelatteris―anethnodeviantpressureonthose(cultural)valuestoregisterthelinguisticandculturaldifferenceoftheforeigntext,sendingthereaderabroad.‖(Venuti1995:20)Generallyspeaking,domesticationdesignatesthetypeoftranslationinwhichatransparent,fluentstyleisadoptedtominimizethestrangenessoftheforeigntextfortargetlanguagereaders,whileforeignizationmeansatargettextisproducedwhichdeliberatelybreakstargetconventionsbyretainingsomethingoftheforeignnessoftheoriginal(Shuttleworth&Cowie1997:59).Disputesoverdomesticationandforeignizationhaveexistedforalongtime.However,till1950sand1960s,whenthemoresystematic,andmostlylinguistic-oriented,approachtothestudyoftranslationbegantoemerge(Jeremy2001:9),thefocushadbeenonthelinguisticlevel.Sincetheculturalturnappearedin1970s,thedisputehasbeenviewedfromabrandnewperspective––social,culturalandhistorical.Theconflictbetweendomesticationandforeignizationasoppositetranslationstrategiescanberegardedastheculturalandpoliticalratherthanlinguisticextensionofthetime-worncontroversyoverfreetranslationandliteraltranslation(WangDongfeng2002：24).Seenfromthis,liberaltranslationandliteraltranslationarenotsynonymoustodomesticationandforeignization,buttheymayoverlapsometimes.Foreignnessinlanguageorculturecanserveasastandardtojudgewhetheratranslationisdomesticatedorforeignized.Literalandliberaltranslationsaretechniquestotacklethelinguisticformandtheyaretwowaystotranscodelanguage.Domesticationandforeignization,however,areconcernedwiththetwocultures,theformermeaningreplacingthesourceculturewiththetargetcultureandthelatterpreservingthedifferencesofthesourceculture.Onlywhentherearedifferencesinbothlinguisticpresentationandculturalconnotation,domesticationandforeignizationexist.Nida(2001:82)pointsoutthat―Fortrulysuccessfultranslation,biculturalismisevenmoreimportantthanbilingualism,sincewordsonlyhavemeaningsintermsoftheculturesinwhichtheyfunction.‖Culturalgapsbetweenthesourcelanguageandthetargetlanguagehavealwaysturnedtobeahardnutfortranslatorstocrack.Christiane.Nord(2001:34)holdsthat―translatingmeanscomparingcultures.‖Abriefretrospectmayfacilitatedeeperunderstandingaboutthequestionunderdiscussion.Forthesakeofconvenience,theauthoressherefollowstwoclues,namely,studiesabroadandstudiesathome.II.STUDIESABROADManyoftranslationtheoriesfromCicero(106-43B.C.)tothetwentiethcenturycentredontherecurringandsteriledebateastowhethertranslationshouldbeliteral(word-for-word)orfree(sense-for-sense),adyadthatisfamouslydiscussedbyStJeromeinhistranslationoftheBibleintoLatin.ControversyoverthetranslationoftheBibleandotherreligioustextswascentraltotranslationtheoryforoverathousandyears(Jeremy2001:33).However,accordingtoRoutledgeEncyclopediaofTranslationStudies(Baker1998:242),thedomesticationstrategyhasbeenimplementedatleastsinceancientRome,when,asNiethzsheremarked,―translationwasaformofconquest‖andLatinpoetslikeHoraceandPropertiustranslatedGreektextintotheRomanpresent.AforeignizingstrategywasfirstformulatedinGermancultureduringtheclassicalandRomanticperiods,perhapsmostdecisivelybythephilosopherandtheologianJOURNALOFLANGUAGETEACHINGANDRESEARCH©2010ACADEMYPUBLISHER78FriedrichSchleiermacher.InhisfamouslectureOntheDifferentWaysofTranslation,FriedrichSchleiermacherdemandedthattranslationsfromdifferentlanguagesintoGermanshouldreadandsounddifferent:thereadershouldbeabletoguesstheSpanishbehindatranslationfromSpanish,andtheGreekbehindatranslationfromGreek.Hearguedthatifalltranslationsreadandsoundalike,theidentityofthesourcetextwouldbelost,levelledinthetargetculture.Inthecontemporaryinternation