The Boundaries Of Foreignization From The Point Of View Of Skopos Theory

The Italy-American translation theorist Lawrence Venuti firmly supportsforeignizing translation strategy in order to find solutions to intervene the ethnocentricviolence inherent in translating. Venuti names this foreignizing translation as“resistancy” since it avoids fluency of the translated text and challenges receivingculture to make the translator and the translation visible. Venuti’s foreignizing theoryhas raised a hot discussion on the translation strategies, domestication vs foreignization.At present, the study of Venuti’s translation theory in China is still lingering onintroductory stage. Some scholars have studied on it and point out its shortcomings.However, few scholars have put forward the ways to overcome these shortcomings. Onthe basis of previous study, the author carries forward a critical analysis on LawrenceVenuti’s translation theory pointing out its limitations and moreover putting forwardways to overcome these limitations.According to Skopos Theory put forward by German functionalists, translation isa purposeful intercultural activity which is the result of combined effect of severalfactors such as skopos of translation, original author, translator, and target reader; theskopos of translation determine the translation strategies. Skopos Theory has overcomethe limitations of equivalence-oriented translation theory by emphasizing the interactionand ordination of several factors in the process of translation, which provides a dynamicand multi-dimension perspective for translation criticism. Thus the author adoptsSkopos Theory as the theoretical basis for the thesis. In the thesis, the author analysesthe skopos of Venuti’s foreignizing translation and manifestations of overforeignizationwith the conclusion that foreignizing strategy is an effective way to preserve anddisseminate cultural differences on the condition that it is used in certain boundaries: thetolerance of receiving culture; the boundary of readers’ acceptability; and the author’stolerance. The thesis is concluded with an appeal to have a more comprehensiveunderstanding on foreignizing translation strategy so as to promote the translation anddissemination Chinese culture in more effective ways.