Invisibility But Existence: The Measurement In The Translation

Language is the most significant part of culture; it is the expressive modality as well as the explicit token of the culture. The communication between the languages is indeed the one between the cultures of two nations. Their communication not only depends on the language, but also depends on the understanding of the culture behind the language. Consequently, the process of translation should be the translation in the culture context.The issue of"domestication"and"foreignization"in the cultural translation has never stopped."Domestication"made the version easy to be understood, while"foreignization"can expand the commonness between the two different languages, in addition to enlarging the vocabulary of the target language. Whereas, during the process of translation, it is impossible for the translators to use only one strategy, so the combination of various methods is very necessary. The reservation of the original language features is always limited, and the contradiction of the thought and concept are quite difficult for the target language readers to accept. If the version takes too much consideration of the readers'acceptability, there will be the loss of the specific connotation of the original text. From the aspect of intercommunication, too much domestication or too much foreignization goes against the aim. Indeed, the using of domestication or foreignization is not a question of"which", but a question of"measurement"."Measurement"is a term from the philosophy, everything in this world should be kept into a certain category ------"measurement". On one hand,"measurement"is absolute; on the other hand,"measurement"is relative. The introduction of"measurement"into the cultural translation is significant to the debate of domestication and foreignization as well as providing theoretic support for it.Most of people neglect the"measurement"in the version because it is difficult to see, but it does exist. In the cultural translation, it seems that the translator is holding a scale; the fulcrum leaning to which side of the scale much depends on the reflection and the awareness of the translator. Although the"measurement"of cultural translation can be held by the translators unconsciously, the measurement can be found in the version, which can be used as the guidance of the other translation work. However, there are still many other factors which have influence on the grasping of"measurement". Consequently the term of"measurement"is not static, but dynamic. This paper is a study of the"measurement"in the cultural translation, under the corpus analysis from the version of"Dream of Red Mansion". The"measurement"found in the certain work cannot be used as the criterion for the work in different social backgrounds, economic conditions and various historical periods, which is the limitation of the"measurement".