Domestication & Foreignization In Literary Translation From The Perspective Of Cultural Transmission

With the furthering of translation studies in recent years, translation is no longer simply regarded as the conversion between different languages, and the interest of translation study has been gradually shifted to the research on culture instead of that on language itself. In correspondence with this tendency, the translation of cultural elements becomes the research subject of many scholars and translation theorists, and the approach to the cultural differences, i.e. either to domesticate or to foreignize, becomes one of the largest concerns of translation study.Domestication and foreignization are two basic translation strategies to approach the cultural differences encountered in the process of translation. Domestication is the target-language-culture-oriented strategy that preaches the employment of conventional expressions of the target language culture so as to make the translated texts intelligible and suitable for the target text readers. Foreignization is the source-language-culture-oriented strategy that strives to preserve the exotic flavor of the original texts and retain the foreignness of the source language culture. Ever since it was proposed by Lawrence Venuti in 1995, the theory of domestication and foreignization has been widely used in guiding the translation of cultural elements. Despite the long heated discussions, however, there have been no universally accepted standard established so far as to which should be applied.This thesis proposes to discuss domestication and foreignization in the translation of literary works from the perspective of cultural transmission. Literature is the miniature of society and the largest carrier of culture. Literary language is known for its rich cultural connotations. Due to the close relationship between literature and culture, literary translation has long been regarded as an important means for cultural transmission, and the promotion of cultural transmission has always been one of the purposes of literary translation. However, the realization of this purpose and function depends in a large measure on the translator's choice of translation strategies in their translation of cultural elements involved. By analyzing the effectiveness of the two translation strategies in promoting cultural transmission, this thesis argues that foreignization should be the dominant strategy in the translation of literary works.To support this argument, the thesis refers to All Men Are Brothers, the English version of Shui Hu Zhuan(《水浒传》)translated by Pearl S. Buck for its case study. As a classical work of social encyclopedia, Shui Hu Zhuan encompasses huge amounts of unique Chinese cultural elements, and its translation has contributed greatly to the comprehension and dissemination of Chinese culture abroad. By analyzing the translation strategies Buck employed in her translation of the cultural elements of the novel and how the foreignizing strategy successfully served her aim to disseminate Chinese culture in the Western world, this thesis concludes that the foreignizing strategy is more effective in promoting cultural transmission and that foreignization should be the dominant strategy in literary translation from the perspective of cultural transmission.