To Foreignize or To Domesticate

Abstract1： Domesticating translation and foreignizing translation are two different translation strategies. The former refers to the translation strategy in which a transparent, fluent style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for target language readers, while the latter designates the type of translation in which a target text deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreigness of the original. But what is the translation practice like in China? Do translators tend to use foreignizing methods or domesticating ones? What are the factors that affect their decision making? This paper tries to find answers to the questions by looking into the translation of English metaphors into Chinese. Key words: domesticating translation; foreignizing translation; metaphor; target language reader 1. Introduction "Domesticating translation" and "foreignizing translation" are the terms coined by L. Venuti (1995) to describe the two different translation strategies. The former refers to the translation strategy in which a transparent, fluent style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for target language readers, while the latter designates the type of translation in which a target text "deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreigness of the original" (Shuttleworth &Cowie, 1997:59). The roots of the terms can be traced back to the German philosopher Schleiermacher’s argument that there are only two different methods of translation, " either the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as possible, and moves the reader towards him; or he leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author towards him" (Venuti, 1995: 19-20). The terms "foreignization" and "domestication" may be new to the Chinese, but the concepts they carry have been at least for a century at the heart of most translation controversies. Lu Xun (鲁迅) once said that "before translating, the translator has to make a decision : either to adapt the original text or to retain as much as possible the foreign flavour of the original text" (Xu, in Luo, 1984: 315). But what is the translation practice like in China? Recently I have read two articles which show completely conflicting views on this question. In his article entitled "Chinese and Western Thinking On Translation", A. Lefevere makes a generalization based on his comparison of Chinese and Western thinking on translation, When Chinese translates texts produced by Others outside its boundaries, it translates these texts in order to replace them, pure and simple. The translations take the place of the original. They function as the original in the culture to the extent that the original disappear behind the translations. (Bassnett & Lefevere, 1998:14) However, Fung and Kiu have drawn quite different conclusions from their investigation of metaphor translation between English and Chinese, Our comparison of the two sets of data showed that in the case of the English metaphor the image often than not retained, whereas with the Chinese metaphors, substitution is frequently used. [...] One reason perhaps is that the Chinese audience are more familiar with and receptive to Western culture than the average English readers is to Chinese culture. (Fung, 1995) The above conflicting views aroused my interest in finding out whether the Chinese tend to domesticate or to foreignize when they translate a foreign text. In what follows I shall not compare translation by Western and Chinese translators, but rather look into the translation of English metaphors into Chinese. 2. What is Metaphor? The Random House Unabridged Dictionary (second addition) d