On The Translation Of Religion-loaded Expressions In Two English Versions Of Xi You Ji From The Perspective Of Domestication And Foreignization

In recent years, with "cultural turn" in translation studies, more and more researchers in China have paid attention to the translation of Chinese classical works. The new interest is motivated by the general aims of conveying the Chinese culture, promoting the cultural exchange and enriching the target-text language and so on.Xi You Ji, which is one of the Four Masterpieces of Chinese Classical novels, occupies a very important position in Chinese literature and in the world. Besides its literary values, this novel contains rich elements of traditional Chinese culture, especially religions. Indeed the three religions, namely, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are all very well presented in Xi You Ji.At present, there are two full translated versions, each having their own distinctive features and advantages. The thesis makes a comparative analysis of the translations of religion-loaded expressions from the perspectives of the practice of self-cultivation and theory in two English versions of Xi You Ji based on the theory of domestication and foreignization. One version is prepared by Jenner and the other is done by Anthony Yu. The author makes a conclusion that Jenner mainly adopted the strategy of domestication as a main strategy with that of foreignization as a supplementary strategy. Jenner's approach can attract the TL (Target Language) readers'interest but it omits the traditional Chinese cultural messages. In Anthony C. Yu's version, he adopted foreignization strategy as a dominant strategy, and domestication strategy as a supplementary strategy.-With lots of endnotes in Yu's translation, it makes the readers easily understand the cultural connotations and facilitates the transmission of Chinese culture to the targeted culture.In conclusion, the thesis holds that foreignization should serve as the dominant strategy and domestication as a supplementary strategy when one translates Chinese classical works filled with explicitly religious and cultural connotations. At the same time, through comparative analysis of the current two English versions of Xi You Ji, the thesis also offers a few suggestions for their improvement.