The Main Factors Influencing The Choice Of Translation Strategies

Translation is a complicated social activity, the process of which is a one characterized by constant choices. Of all these choices, the choice of translation strategies is regarded by some people as the most important and the most meaningful topic in translation practice. In the words of the translation world, the translator has to face the choice of either foreignization or domestication while doing translation. These two translation strategies are the commonly-employed ones which are believed to be extended forms of literal translation and liberation translation in the translation history. How to choose them in translation practice has been a heated debate in the translation world, for each of the translators and translation theorists often shows his or her preference different from that of the other according to his of her principles or criterion or from different standpoints. As a result, such a heated debate has failed to supply a definite and satisfactory answer to the puzzle. The reason for this disappointing result is debaters' lack of the perspectives of dialectical and historical materialism in general and negligence of the influences of many subjective and objective factors in the process of choosing translation strategies in particular.This dissertation endeavors to explore the main factors influencing the choice of translation strategies, the factors which are classified in the paper into two types: subjective factors and objective factors. It first briefly introduces both the development of the conceptual terms of translation strategies and the significance of studying them, discusses such easily confused terms as translation principle, translation criterion, translation strategy and translation techniques or methods, and makes clear the main reasons mentioned above for starting the endless disputes over the choice of foreignization and domestication in the translation world. Then it emphasizes the importance of choosing translation strategies, gives a detailed account for all kinds of subjective and objective factors which exert influence upon the choice of translation strategies and argues that the translation principle should be the guidance in translation practice, which should be common and general; and the translation criterion is specific because of different types of texts and influence of subjective and objective factors when employed to assess the quality of translation. It also argues that texts in differenthistorical periods should be evaluated according to different criteria and translation strategies should be adopted in harmony with specific translation techniques and in accordance with the acceptable translation criterion when overcoming cultural barriers in translation practice. Following this discussion, the dissertation shifts to the review of the views of translation theorists both at home and abroad on translation strategies, offering a description and discussion of the historical development of foreignization and domestication and analyzing various kinds of factors which influence the translator's choice of translation strategies in translation practice. It argues that the main factors influencing the translator's choice of translation strategies are both subjective and objective, which include such as types of texts, translation aim, receptors, ideology, culture of the source language, the position of the target language, the translator's ways of thinking, value and aesthetics orientation and the cognition of the two cultures involved in translation. All these factors join their hands together exerting influence upon the choice of translation strategies.Finally the dissertation attempts to illustrate the influence of many factors upon the translator's choice of translation strategies through a comparative study between different versions produced by different translators in different periods or in the same period in general and the two English versions produced separately by Yang Hsian-yi and David Hawkes and their translation strategies in particular. It is pointed out in the dissertation that all the factors are closely interrelated with each other and interacted, exerting influence on the translator's choice of translation strategies. It is also argued in the dissertation that any translator, as a member of the society, has to be influenced by such factors while choosing his or her translation strategies. Therefore, we must take a dialectical and historical look at foreignization and domestication and avoid a point of view which is static and which goes to extreme, for translation practice proves that no translator only employs one translation strategy throughout all his or her translation practice. It is justifiable that both foreignization and domestication are complementary with each other, playing an equal important role in translation practice and that a good translation is certainly the one which is the result of a good integration of both foreignization and domestication.