Domestication-and-Foreignization

DomesticationandForeignizationZhaoNi(SchoolofInterpretationandTranslation,ShandongUniversityatWeihai,Weihai,Shandong,264209)Abstract:Infieldoftranslation,therehaslongbeenahotdebateoverthepropertranslationstrategychosenforthetransmissionofculturalcontents.Thetwomajorapproachesaredomesticationaandforeignization,whichhavebeenthefocusofdebatesincetheirappearance.Thisthesisaimstoanalysethechioceofdomesticationandforeignizationfromanewapproach,namely,Skopostheorie.Keywords:domesticationa,foreignization,Skopostheorie1.DefinitionsofDomesticationaandForeignizationDomesticationreferstothetarget-culture-orientedtranslationinwhichunusualexpressionstothetargetcultureareexploitedandturnedintosomefamiliaronessoastomakethetranslatedtextintelligibleandeasyforthetargetreaders.Foreignizationisasource-culture-orientedtranslationwhichstrivestopreservetheforeignflavorasmuchaspossibleinordertotransferthesourcelanguageandcultureintothetargetone.2.OverviewoftheDebateoverDomesticationaandForeignizationThedebateonforeignizationordomesticationcanbeviewedastheextensionofthedebateon“literaltranslation”and“freetranslation”.Aliteraltranslationisatranslationthatfollowscloselynotonlythecontentbutalsotheformofthesourcelanguage,itisalsoknownasword-for-wordtranslation.Andtranslatorsengagedinliteralismhavebeenwillingtosacrificetheformalelementsofthetargetlanguageandeventheintelligibilityofthetargetlanguagetextforthesakeofpreservingwhattheyregardastheintegrityofthesourcetext.Whilethosewhofavorfreetranslationhavequiteoftenchosentosacrificetheformofthesourcelanguageforthesakeofeleganceandintelligibilityinthetargetlanguage.Butmostscholarsholdthatliteralandfreetranslationarelimitedonthelevelofcontentandform,whentwolanguagesareverysimilarintheirstructures,theissueofliteralversusfreetranslatingmaynotseentobesoacute.Thetwopairsofstrategiessharesomesimilarities:literaltranslationandforeignizationputemphasisonthelinguisticandstylisticfeaturesofthesourcetext,andthetargettexttranslatedinthesewaysmaynotbeverysmoothinlanguageandthecontentmaynotbefamiliartothetargetreaders,sotheymayfeelforeignwhenreadingthetranslation,whilefreetranslationanddomesticationpaymoreattentiontothetargetaudience,becauseofthesmoothsentences,thefamiliarexpressionsandculturalphenomena,sometimesthetargetreadersmaynotrealizethattheyareactuallyreadingatranslatedtextfromanotherculture.However,thisdoesnotmeanthetwopairsarejustone.Therearesomediferencesbetweenthem.Whenatranslatorresortstoeitherliteraltranslatingmethodorfreetranslatingmethod,heputshisattentionmainlytothelinguisticfactorsofthesourcetextandtrieshisutmosttokeeptheoriginalmeaninginthetargettext.Butwiththedevelopmentofthetranslationstudies,plentyoftranslatorsandtheoristshaverealizedthattranslationisafarmorecomplicatedactivitywithvariouscultural,poetic,politicalaswellaseconomicfactorsrelatedtoit.Therefore,foreignizationanddomesticationareapairofnewtranslationstrategieswhicharemorecomplexandextensivethanliteraltranslationandfreetranslationmethod.3.ANewApproach:SkopostheorieWhichstrategyismoreappropriateasfarasspecificliteraryworkisconcerned?Whichstrategycanmakethetranslatedtexthaveabetterefectamongitstargetaudience,foreignizationordomestication?Sofarnotheorycangiveadefiniteanswertothequestion,norcananytheoristcompletelynegateoneofthem.Personallyspeaking,Ithinksbothdomesticationandforeignizationarejusttwodifferentstrategiesoftranslationandshouldcomplementwitheachother,becauseintranslationpractice,bothmethodshavetheirfunctionswhichcannotbesubstituted.Tostrictlyinsistupononeanotherisjustbringthestrategytoextremes.Bothstrategiesarejustifiedifusedinsuitablesituationsfromtheperspectiveofthefunctionalisttheory.3.1AnOverviewoftheSkopostheorieTranslation,asaformoftranslaitonalaction,likeanyotherformsofhumanaction,mustbeorientedbycertainpurpose.Intranslationpractice,whichstrategyshouldbechosenshouldnotbedeterminedbythetextitselforthetranslatorhimself/herself,butshouldbemainlydecidedbythepurposeofthetranslation.Thispurpose-orientedapproachoftranslationisoneofthecentralideaoffunctionalisttheory.ThefunctionalisttheoryputforwardbysomeGermanscholarshasmadeanewperspectivefortranslationstudies.TheGermanscholarsarereferredtoastheGermanschool:KatharinaReissandherfunctionalisttranslationcriticism,Hans.J.Vermeer'sSkopostheorieanditsextensions,JustaHolz-Manttari'stheoryoftranslationalactionandChristianeNord'sloyaltyplusSkopos.(Nord2001:4)Funcitionalistsfocusonthefunctionorfunctionsoftextsandtranslations,orinGermanlanguagetheskoposofthetranslation.Accordingtofunctionalistapproachestotranslation,i.e.theskopotheorieaspresentedbyVermeer,therearethreemajorrulesintheskopotheorie,namely,theskoposrule,coherenceruleandfidelityrule.Inthefunctionalisttheory,thetop-rankingruleforanytranslationisthe“Skoposrule”,whichsaysthatatranslationalactionisdeterminedbyitsSkopos;thatis,theendjustifiesthemeans(ReissandVermeer1984:101).VermeerexplainstheSkoposruleasfollows:Translate/interpret/speak/writeinawaythatenablesyourtext/translationtofunctioninthesituationin