On The Foreignizaion Of Chinese Culture-loaded Terms Under The Perspective Of The Power Discourse Theory

With the acceleration of globalization, the international community today is becoming unprecedentedly harmonious and prosperous. As an irreversible developing trend, globalization is influencing every aspect of social life, and its impact on culture is the most profound and obvious one. With its "peaceful rise", China is experiencing more communication activities with other countries. That is why translators today should study how to improve the cultural identity of Chinese when dealing with the cross-cultural communication.Domestication and foreignization are two frequently-used strategies for cultural translation, and they have created heated discussions at home and aboard. Domestication is a strategy making the translation work closer to the target culture by using smooth and straightforward language; and foreignization is a strategy deliberately keeping the cultural uniqueness of source culture so as to break the linguistic habit of target language. However, the choice between foreignization and domestication is not random but restricted to certain conditions and rules. In this thesis, the author tends to discuss the choice of translation strategy for Chinese culture-loaded term from the perspective of the Power Discourse Theory, and the author believes that foreignization is a more preferable option.The Power Discourse Theory was proposed by the French philosopher Michael Foucault, and it was later applied to many fields. Foucault believed that power is the "resultant force" produced by various social factors, which manipulates the society members; and discourse narrowly means certain language while broadly refers to all aspects of certain culture. Power determines discourse; discourse reacts to power; power and discourse are inseparatable.For the translation of Chinese culture-loaded term, the choice of translation strategy is not only connected with the translation quality, but also related to the perseverance of Chinese culture and the enhancement of China’s power. So in this thesis, the author analyzes the choice between foreignization and domestication from the angle of power and discourse. The author believes that for the translation of Chinese culture-loaded term, foreignization is more optional since it helps converse the cultural uniqueness, improve cultural identity, and consolidate China’s power in the world. What is more, foreignization also provides some advantages for both source language and target language. At the end of this thesis, the author introduces several common methods to realize foreignization by providing examples.