To Foreignize or To Domesticate(1)

Abstract1：Domesticatingtranslationandforeignizingtranslationaretwo
differenttranslationstrategies. The formerreferstothetranslation
strategyin which atransparent,fluentstyleisadoptedinordertominimize
thestrangenessoftheforeigntextfortargetlanguagereaders,while
thelatterdesignatesthetypeoftranslationinwhichatargettextdeliberately
breakstargetconventionsbyretainingsomethingoftheforeignessofthe
original.ButwhatisthetranslationpracticelikeinChina?Dotranslators
tendtouseforeignizingmethodsordomesticatingones?Whatarethefactors
thataffecttheirdecisionmaking?Thispapertriestofindanswersto
thequestionsbylookingintothetranslationofEnglishmetaphorsinto
Chinese.

Keywords:domesticatingtranslation;foreignizingtranslation;metaphor;
target

languagereader



1.Introduction

"Domesticatingtranslation"and"foreignizingtranslation"aretheterms
coinedbyL.Venuti(1995)todescribethetwodifferenttranslationstrategies.
Theformerreferstothetranslationstrategyinwhichatransparent,fluent
styleisadoptedinordertominimizethestrangenessoftheforeigntext
fortargetlanguagereaders,whilethelatterdesignatesthetypeoftranslation
inwhichatargettext"deliberatelybreakstargetconventionsbyretaining
somethingoftheforeignessoftheoriginal"(Shuttleworth&Cowie,1997:59).




TherootsofthetermscanbetracedbacktotheGermanphilosopherSchleiermacher’s
argumentthatthereareonlytwodifferentmethodsoftranslation,"either
thetranslatorleavestheauthorinpeace,asmuchaspossible,andmoves
thereadertowardshim;orheleavesthereaderinpeace,asmuchaspossible,
andmovestheauthortowardshim"(Venuti,1995:19-20).



Theterms"foreignization"and"domestication"maybenewtotheChinese,
buttheconceptstheycarryhavebeenatleastforacenturyattheheart
ofmosttranslationcontroversies.LuXun(鲁迅)oncesaidthat"before
translating,thetranslatorhastomakeadecision:eithertoadaptthe
originaltextortoretainasmuchaspossibletheforeignflavourofthe
originaltext"(Xu,inLuo,1984:315).

ButwhatisthetranslationpracticelikeinChina?RecentlyIhaveread
twoarticleswhichshowcompletelyconflictingviewsonthisquestion.

Inhisarticleentitled"ChineseandWesternThinkingOnTranslation",
A.LefeveremakesageneralizationbasedonhiscomparisonofChineseand
Westernthinkingontranslation,



WhenChinesetranslatestextsproducedbyOthersoutsideitsboundaries,
ittranslatesthesetextsinordertoreplacethem,pureandsimple.The
translations

taketheplaceoftheoriginal.Theyfunctionastheoriginalintheculture
totheextent

thattheoriginaldisappearbehindthetranslations.(Bassnett&Lefevere,
1998:14)



However ,FungandKiuhavedrawnquitedifferentconclusionsfromtheir
investigationofmetaphortranslationbetweenEnglishandChinese,



OurcomparisonofthetwosetsofdatashowedthatinthecaseoftheEnglish
metaphor

theimageoftenthannotretained,whereaswiththeChinesemetaphors,
substitutionis

frequentlyused.[...]OnereasonperhapsisthattheChineseaudience
aremorefamiliarwith

andreceptivetoWesternculturethantheaverageEnglishreadersisto
Chineseculture.(Fung,1995)



Theaboveconflictingviewsarousedmyinterestinfindingoutwhether
theChinesetendtodomesticateortoforeignize when theytranslatea
foreigntext.InwhatfollowsIshallnotcomparetranslationbyWestern
andChinesetranslators,butratherlookintothetranslationofEnglish
metaphorsintoChinese.



2.WhatisMetaphor?

TheRandomHouseUnabridgedDictionary(secondaddition)definesmetaphor
as"afigureofspeechinwhichatermorphraseisappliedtosomething
towhichitisnotliterallyapplicableinordertosuggestaresemblance."
WhileaccordingtoBBCEnglishDictionary,"metaphorisawayofdescribing
somethingbysayingthatitissomethingelsewhichhasthequalitiesthat
youaretryingtodescribe."

PeterNewmarkdefinesmetaphoras"anyfigurativeexpression:thetransferred
senseofaphysicalword;thepersonificationofanabstraction;theapplication
ofawordorcollocationtowhatitdoesnotliterallydenote,i.e.,to
describeonethingintermsofanother.[...]Metaphorsmaybe’single’
--viz.one-word--or’extended’(acollocation,anidiom,asentence,
aproverb,anallegory,acompleteimaginativetext"(1988b:104).

Snell-HornbyrejectsNewmark’sconceptofthe"one-wordmetaphor"infavour
ofWeinrich’sdefinitionthat"metaphoristext"(1988:56).Shebelieves

thatametaphorisacomplexof(atleast)threedimensions(object,image
andsense),reflectingthetensionbetweenresemblanceand

disparity"(1988:56-57).

Thispaperwillfollowtheideathat"metaphoristext"whichincludes
anidiom,asentence,aproverbandanallegory.



3.Whathasbeensaidaboutthetranslationofmetaphor?

"Incontrasttothevoluminousliteratureonmetaphorinthefieldofliterary
criticismandrhetoric,thetranslationofmetaphorhasbeenlargelyneglected
bytranslationtheorists"(Fung,1995).Inhisarticle"Canmetaphorbe
translatable?",whichisregardedasaninitialdiscussionofthesubject,
Dagutsays,



"Whatdeterminesthetranslatabilityofasourcelanguagemetaphorisnot
its’boldness’or’originality’,butrathertheextenttowhichthecultural
experienceandsemantic

associationsonwhichitdrawsaresharedbyspeakersoftheparticular
targetlanguage"

(1976).



Snell-Hornbytakesmetaphortranslationinthelightoftheintegrated
approach.Shesaysthat

Thesenseofthemetaphorisfrequentlyculture-specific,[...]Whether
ametaphoris

’translatable’(i.e.whetheraliteraltranslationcouldrecreateidentical
dimensions),how

difficultitistotranslate,howitcanbetranslatedandwhetheritshould
betranslatedatall

cannotbedecidedbyasetofabstractrules,butmustdependonthestructure
andfunctionof

theparticularmetaphorwithinthetextconcerned".(1988:56-9)



vandenBroeckconceivesthetreatmentofmetaphorsasafunctionalrelevancy
tothecommunicativesituation(1981).MaryFungalsoconsiderstranslating
metaphorasacommunicativeeventwhichisbothinterlingualandintercultural
(1995).

Differentfromthesemantic,culturalandfunctionalperspectivesmentioned
above,Newmarkholdsamorepragmaticapproach.Drawingonhispractical
experience,heproposesseveralproceduresfortranslatingmetaphor:(1)
Reproducingthesameimageinthetargetlanguage;(2)

ReplacingtheSLimagewithanotherestablishedTLimage;(3)Replacing
themetaphorbysimile;(4)Retainingthemetaphorandaddingthesense;
(5)Convertingthemetaphortosense;(6)Omittingthemetaphorifitis
redundant.

Discussionsofthesubject,especiallythosewritteninChinese,arealso
pragmaticratherthantheoretical.InE-CTranslationCoursebook(1980

)whichisthemostwidelyusedtranslationtextbookinChina,ZhangPeiji
(张培基)andhisco-compilerssummarizedthreepopularmethodsfortranslating
metaphors:(1)Literaltranslation(similartoNewmark’sfirstprocedure);
(2)ReplacingtheSLimagewithastandardTLimage(similartoNewmark’s
secondprocedure);(3)Convertingthemetaphortosense(SameasNewmark’s
fifthprocedure).

BasedonthemethodssuggestedbyZhangandhiscolleagues,GuoZhuzhang
(郭著章)proposesfiveinAPracticalCoursebookinTranslationBetween
EnglishandChinese(1996,revisededition):(1)Literaltranslationplus
explanation;(2)Literaltranslationplusmeaning;(3)Adaptingthemetaphor;
(4)UsingChinesecoupletstorendertheEnglishmetaphor;(5)Replacing
theSLimagewithaTLimage.