Domestication And Foreignization

In translation, domestication means removing all strangeness and foreignness of the source text and making the translation read like the original. Domestication is oriented towards the target language. Foreignization is the opposite approach and by applying this method the foreignness of the source language will be kept to the greatest possible extent and the translation will certainly read like a translation. There is a long-standing controversy over the two approaches and unanimity is still out of reach. But it is obvious that there is a trend in both translation practice and theory that foreignization is gradually taking advantage over domestication. The trend is an inexorable consequence of the cultural globalization and it will further advance the process of cultural globalization while maintaining the cultural variety in the world. In this thesis, the English translation of the novel Fortress Besieged will be studied to investigate the application of the domesticating and foreignizing methods in the English translation of this novel. The discussion will focus on the translators' application of the two approaches and the main problems that result in mistranslation. The purpose of this case study is first to demonstrate that foreignization should be applied as the dominant approach in translation while domestication as the supplementary one only when foreignization is impossible because of the existence of the unbridgeable cultural barrier. And the second purpose is to find out how to bridge the cultural gaps existing between the source language and the target language and make the translation still understandable and enjoyable when foreignness and strangeness are kept to the maximum.