Cross-Cultural Transfer In Translation

Language, the "loading object" of culture, is for communication. Translingual communication is not only language transmitting, but cultural transfer. During the past few years, increasing importance has been laid on cultural factors in translation, and it is now customary that scholars tend to study translation from the cultural perspective, especially from the cross-cultural perspective.However, the cultural divergence has posed some difficulties for translation. The conflict between different cultural concepts and cultural backgrounds may hamper or even discontinue communication.Two translation strategies have aroused the scholars' interests in the cross-cultural transfer in the translation field, namely, domestication and foreignization. Whether to adopt domestication, keeping readability and readers' acceptance in mind, or to adopt foreignization, retaining the cultural aspects in ST, is the matter in question.The thesis consists of four chapters.Chapter One is an overview about translation studies. The author first of all refers to various definitions of translation in an effort to impress the readers the essence of translation. Then by recalling the traditional translation theories, the author analyzes the deficiencies of traditional prescriptive translation studies and brings into view the new trend in translation studies: translation studies is undergoing its cultural turn.Chapter Two introduces several key issues of culture such as definitions and classifications. The discrepancies between English culture and Chinese culture, treated with special attention, are exemplified in such aspects as language, mode of thinking, aesthetic preference, ethical tradition, proverbs and allusions and dialects.Chapter Three is devoted to the gist of this thesis: domestication and foreignization. With sufficient examples provided, such aspects are tackled askey views, decisive factors, and practical approaches; and above all, the two strategies are analyzed with intertextuality theory.Chapter Four discusses specifically the translation of metaphor. By providing the five most common procedures for metaphor translation, the author decides the specific occasions for domestication and foreignization translation strategies.It is hoped that this thesis sheds some new light for the readers' further comprehension of the two translation strategies in cross-cultural communication; and a flexible attitude is suggested to the translators in cross-cultural transfer.