Domestication And Foreignization In Cultural Translation

The communication between languages is in essence the exchange between cultures. Translation, as a bridge between two different languages, plays an indispensable role in the cross-culture communication. However, as different cultures have their own cultural content, it is sometimes difficult to translate certain meanings in one language into another. Therefore, how to deal with cultural differences effectively is one of the research topics among scholars.With a view to better solving this issue, theorists come up with many translation strategies that have aroused heated debates. This thesis sets out to study two translation strategies on cultural translation, i.e. domestication and foreignization, and to clarify their relationship and the scientific choice in translation.By collecting a large amount of culture-loaded words and expressions in the English version of The Scholars, the author gives an in-depth analysis of translation strategies adopted in each specific example. It is found that its translators adopt literal translation to deal with major part of culture-loaded words and expressions without giving much explanation. This method of literal translation conveys faithfully both the denotative and connotative cultural information to English readers. As to words and expressions with non-correspondent meaning relationship in the target language, they adopt paraphrase to realize the transference of connotative culture information with denotative culture information omitted. As to minor words and expressions with non-correspondent meaning relationship in the target language, they use partial omission or full omission to guarantee the transference of the main cultural information. When there is a cultural conflict between the source language and target language, they use images of target language to take the place those of source language to transfer connotative cultural information to target language readers. On the whole, as far as the translation of culture-loaded words and expressions are concerned, the translators adopt the principle of foreignization first and domestication second, and faithfully keep the images of the source language, so as to preserve the core of Chinese culture and effectively convey the essence of Chinese culture.From the analysis, it is concluded that the two translation strategies of domestication and foreignization have their respective features and applicable values. It is lop-sided and unscientific to overemphasize one strategy from a static and absolute viewpoint. We should not only study the advantages and disadvantages of these two translation strategies, but also analyze their respective value of application, so as to reach a balance in the final translated work. It is wrong to regard one translation strategy as absolute or to exclude the other completely. To hold a dialectical view towards translation strategies is beneficial to the prosperity of translation studies.