On Foreignization Tendency In Idiom Translation

Translation is a cross-cultural communication event, which concerns not only the transfer between two languages, but also the transfer between two cultures. It is also a matter of choice between two translation strategies—foreignization and domestication. In translation, every translator always faces a choice between adhering to the SL-culture-oriented or TL-culture -oriented. Whether leaving the auther in peace or leaving the reader in peace becomes the first problem we must solve.The controversy between foreignization and domestication has lasted for a long time both at home and abroad. In the Western translation field of study, Eugene A. Nida advocates domesticating translation, whereas Lawrence Venuti advocates foreignization. In China, Mr.Qian Zhongshu insisted that the highest standard of translation be "sublimation", whereas Mr. LuXun held firmly that "He is originally a foreigner 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."In the past, domestication played a major role, while foreignization was just in a subordinate status. Nowadays, with the increasing developments of political and economic cooperation between different nations, with increasing communication between different cultures, and with the popularity of Internet and mass communication around the world, the development of information technology and globalization has laid a good foundation not only for the readers to understand each other's culture but also for the possibility of the wide application offoreignization in translation. Foreignization is becoming a tendency in translation as well as in idiom translation. That's why some famous works of literature and philosophy need to be retranslated. Generally speaking, the degrees of foreignization increase in pace with every retranslation.As the most important constituent of language, idioms are linguistic symbols which are most heavily bound up with cultures. They often have vivid images, concise expressions and strong cultural characteristics. As English and Chinese idioms come from two different cultures with different national flavors and culture coloring, idiom translation is not an easy job.The first choice to maintain the cultural elements in idioms is the foreignization strategy. Foreignization translation in idioms aims primarily at producing the "foreignness" and cultural features in the original as much as possible. In recent years, the idioms which were translated with the strategy of domestication have gradually been replaced by the foregnization translation. The application of foreignization in idiom translation can be realized through three methods, literal translation, literal plus paraphrasing translation and literal plus annotating translation. In this thesis, we regard literal plus paraphrasing translation as a better way toward cultural communication in idiom translation.