Domestication And Foreignization In The Context Of Cultural Globalization

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. The debate on domestication and foreignization is the extension of the debate on free translation and literal translation. It shows that the debate turned from the language level to the poetic, cultural and political level. Traditional translation research prefers language analysis and the comparison between source text and target text to the cultural differences.Considering this situation, we should reflect on the translation strategy afresh in the context of cultural globalization. WangNing says: it will fill in a gap in this field and provide some achievements for our discussion with foreign translation researchers. Cultural globalization is the direct consequence of economic globalization. Under this circumstance, it makes a new demand on the cultural communication and exchanges with other countries. In fact, translation becomes cultural communication and interpretation and its function becomes more important than ever with the change of its definition in the context of globalization. As a result of message communication and mass media, the relationship between globalization and culture is getting closer. Accordingly, our translation cannot still stay on the language form. Translators should make a breakthrough in the culture level and reflect on our translation strategies in the context of cultural globalization. And for this purpose, the foreignization will be the primary strategy except untranslatability in the translation of our traditional culture. In the meantime, advertisement translation is not a mere language switch, but an integrative intercultural activity, which can impose direct impact on the customers' minds, beliefs and consumption habits, and have an effect on the market share and sales. As a result, it is also impending for dealing with the commercial advertisement translation in the context of cultural globalization.This thesis probes into how to carry out the translation strategies of commercial advertisement and our traditional literature on the theoretical level in the context of cultural globalization according to the Skopos theory of German functionalism and Venuti's postcolonial translation theory, particularly in Chinese-English translation. This thesis shows that the translators should take some factors into consideration such as author's intention, the type of the text, purpose of translation and reader s' demand even the type of the readers. Translator should employ foreignization primarily when he aims to spread our traditional culture and communicate with others, and adopts domestication primarily when he translates the commercial advertisements for the purpose of commercial interests.