Foreignization And Domestication In The Translation Of Idioms In Hong Lou Meng

Since 1970s cultural studies have become more and more popular in the field of translation study. This cultural turn has led to the argument between foreignization and domestication, which requires our special attention from contextual, conventional perspectives. Also in idiom translation, people have different ideas on adopting foreignization and domestication. Idioms are a group of words whose meanings are different from the meanings of the individual words. Most idioms are of figurative language and their images are usually vivid and culture-specific. Idioms are the quintessence of a language. The treatment of the cultural factors embedded in the idioms also brings difficulties to a translator.Hong Lou Meng embodies the core cultures of Chinese society and it is rich in the use of idioms and idiomatic languages. Therefore, in translation practice, it is of criticalconcern to transfer to the English readers the Chinese cultural idiosyncrasies deposited in the idioms in Hong Lou Meng.This thesis focuses on the idiom translation in Hong Lou Meng.Chapter I reviews the dispute over domestication and foreignization. the theoretical bases for domestication and foreignization are stated in this part. The present conflicts on this subject in China are also presented in this chapter.Chapter II mainly probes into the skopos theory. Skopos theory offers a viable solutionof conflict between domestication and foreignization. In translating Hong Lou Meng,different purposes of Yang Shien-yi and David Hawkes lead to their different tendency in choosing translation strategies.Chapter III analyzes the features of Chinese idioms in Hong Lou Meng The (?)nures are discussed in four aspects: semantic, rhetoric, linguistic, and cultural. Also the author reviews the principle and methods used in C-E idiom translation. Literal (?)anslatien. free translation, literal plus notes, substitution, etc. can generally falls into the two m(?)n trends.domestication and liouigni/ationChapter IV makes a detailed â– discussion about the specific translation ieehniques Yang and ILiwkcs employed in dealing with idioms. Through analysis for lots of examples, this ihesis shows that there are differences in choosing translation strategies and seasons are given to those differences.She present aim in this thesis is to investigate foreignizaiion and domestication strategies that have been employed in the English versions of the Chinese classical novel Hong Lou Meng by Yang Hsien-yi & Gladys Yang and Hawkes. How did they employ the foreignization and domestication methods, thai is, do they have great difference in choosing foreignization or domestication? What are the factors that affect their choices? What effects do their translation stiategies have on the source and target texts'* This thesis tries to make a tentative and contrastive analysis of domestication and foreignization based on a case study of the translation of idioms in the fonner 80 chapters in Hong Lou Meng. I hope it can make some contribution to idiom translation work.