Exotic Flavor, Retain Or Reject?

Translation is a matter of choice. Lu Xun once said that "Before translating, the translator has to make a decision: either to adapt the original text or to retain as much as possible the foreign flavor of the original text." (Lu in Luol984:315). In translation, a translator always faces a choice between adhering to the SL-culture-oriented or to the TL-culture-oriented. Whether a piece of translation work should be SL-culture-oriented or TL-culture-oriented? This remains an unsettled question as well as the center of debate in the translation field.The discussion of domestication and foreignizaition has a long history in China and abroad but never has unanimity of opinion been reached yet. Mr. Ke Ping points out that domestication can make a translation more easily understood, more idiomatic and more vivid. He also advocates using words which are culture-conditioned in TL to replace SL words. Mr. Qu Qiubai, an influential figure in Chinese translation circle, argues in favor of using the method of "domestication" by saying: a translation should be rendered with expressions familiar to TT receptors.Concerning the problem of "foreignization", Mr. Lu Xun argues that "it is of great necessity to adopt foreign idioms in order to enrich the source language". A wonderful analogy is used by Lu Xun to illustrate his point. 不过他原是洋鬼子,当然谁也看不惯,为比较顺眼起见,只能换 他的衣裳,却不该削鼻宛J眼,所有的地方,宁可译得不顺口。(Lu in Luo 1984:301)Translation: He is originally a foreign devil, and of course no one can get used to him. In order to make him more pleasing to the eye, we can only change his clothes, but we shouldn't cut down his nose or scoop out his eyes. I don't advocate cutting down his nose or scoop out his eyes. Smoothness is not always preferable in my translation. (by the author of the thesis) In the western translation field of study, Eugene A. Nida advocatesdomesticating translation, whereas L. Venuti advocates foreignizingtranslation.In these discussions, people have trying to answer the question of "which translation strategy is better". However, little attention has been paid to the following questions: 1.Why does a translator choose this translation strategy instead of that one? 2. Which translation strategy should be adopted under certain condition? 3. What is the general rule guiding the use of domestication and foreignization translation strategy in translating process? Without considering these questions, people's attitudes toward the two basic translation strategies are likely to be biased.In fact, both translation strategies are equally justifiable and both have their advantages and disadvantages, for each serves well certain definite purposes of translation, satisfies certain types of text and meets the requirements of certain groups of readers.In this dissertation, the author approaches the issue of translation strategies from another angle. Based on modern translation theories such as polysystem theory, skopostheorie and reception aesthetics theory, the author has made a comprehensive study on the factors that influence a translator's strategy choice on the macro and micro level, a tentative attempt study of the rule guiding the employment of domestication and foreignization is also made.On the basis of the above analysis, the author points out that both strategies have their scopes of suitability. The author hopes to shed some light on the fundamental matters of domestication and foreignization translation strategies and to give some suggestions to the translators on how to choose an appropriate translation strategy.