汉英翻译中的归化与异化分析

《译者的隐身》

一文中提出了

归化和异化的观点，

使人们对翻译的认识有了一个很大的进步。

然而对同一作品各个译家

翻译也不同，正如那句话说的：一千个人眼里 有一千个哈姆雷特。在各种版本的译文中，

细心研读我们总可以发现细微不同。

归化和异化是处理语言风格与文化差异的两种不同的翻译策略，

本文用实例展示了两

者在翻译过程中相辅相成、

并用互补与共存的辩证统一的关系，

着重从两种不同的翻译方

法在中英双语互译时的不同体现描述，探讨异同以促进翻译事业的进步。

关键词：异化；

归化；异同；影响；体现

Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction

..... .................................................. .........................................

1

Chapter 2 Debate on Domestication and Foreignization

.

.................................. .........

3

2.1

Definition of Domestication and Foreignization................................ .............................. 3

2.2

Debate on Domestication and Foreignization

........................ .......................................... 4

Chapter 3 Relations between Domestication and Foreignization and the Influences 6

3.1

Relations

.

...... .................................................. .................................................. ................ 6

3.2

Influences ............................ .................................................. ........................................... 6

Chapter

4

Analysis

of

Domestication

and

Foreignization

Based

on

Some

Masterpieces .......................... .................................................. ...................................

8

4.1 Chinese

–

English

.

............................................. .................................................. ................ 8

4.1.1

A Dream of Red Mansions

.... .................................................. ............................... 8

4.1.2

A Tale of Peach Blossom Spring

................................ ............................................ 9

4.1.3

East Gate

.

........... .................................................. ................................................ 10

4.2 English

–

Chinese

.

................... .................................................. ........................................ 11

4.2.1

Hamlet

.......... .................................................. .................................................. .... 11

4.2.2

Of Study

.

.......... .................................................. .................................................. . 12

Chapter 5 Conclusion ............. .................................................. ................................

1

3

Notes ........ .................................................. .................................................. .............

1

4

Bibliography .......................... .................................................. .................................

1

5

Acknowledgements

.

................................................. .................................................

1

6

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 1 Introduction

The communication among the countries has become much more important than ever along

with the economic development of the globe. Translation, especially between cross- language

translation, has been playing a crucial role in promoting the cooperation and cultural exchange

as a way to communication. The relation of domestication and foreignization, as a strategy and

means, once puzzled many translators. It has been discussed in articles issued on the domestic

and foreign language journals or magazines, those articles are dedicated into the discussion that

the two strategies shall be applied into the translation and the practice. Some of them operate

from

a

strategically

advantageous

position,

making

a

summary

from

the

respect

of

literal

translation and free translation, no matter in what respect they have made great contribution to

broaden the study of domestication and foreignization.

And

yet,

there

still

exist

some

misunderstandings

in

the

discussion

among

translators.

Schleiermacher

believes

that

translation

can

be

divided

into

two

methods:

one

is

leave

the

author in peace, as much as possible, and move the reader toward the author; another is leave

the

reader

in

peace,

as

much

as

possible,

move

the

author

toward

the

reader.

In

China,

the

principle

–

faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance - proposed by Yan Fu has a great influence

on

Chinese

translators.

While

in

1987,

Liu

Kaiying

published

the

article

–

Domestication

–

Translator

’

s Astray

in

Modern Foreign Language

, pointing that domestication is an astray when

translating,

thus

he

energetically

advocated

the

foreignizing

translation.

On

the

contrary,

Cai

Ping

held

different

idea

that

domestication

should

mainly

be

the

strategy

to

translation,

believing

that

the

purpose

of

translation

is

communication

in

order

to

make

the

readers

understand

the

original

meaning,

thus

domesticating

translation

can

be

determined

by

the

essence and purpose of the translation.

Besides,

some

hold

the

idea

that

domestication

and

foreignization

are

equal

to

literal

translation

and

free

translation,

wrongly

realized

that

the

relations

of

literature

strategy

&

cultural ideology and language strategy & translation skill, which may impede the research of

domestication and foreignization.

The paper can be divided into five parts. The first part is the introduction which presents

the background and the purpose of the study. In the second part, some relevant issues on the

definition of translation, domestication and foreignization are discussed.

In the third part, the

1

Chapter 1 Introduction

relations

between

domestication

and

foreignization

and

their

influences

on

translation

undertakings

are

represented.

In

the

fourth

part,

domestication

and

foreignization

are

exemplified based on some classic masterpieces. The last part is the conclusion.

2

Chapter 2 Debate on Domestication and Foreignization

Chapter 2 Debate on Domestication and Foreignization

The western translation theory has been much developed and varied since the beginning of

Cicero

and

Horatius,

meanwhile,

the

translation

theory

of

China

can

be

traced

back

to

Zhou

dynasty, and it has been more than 2000 years since the appearance of the first translation of the

poem

–

The Song of Yue People.

However, the definition is various in different ages and among

distinct schools, thus a question can never be ignored and avoided is what translation is.

It is defined in such a way in

Cihai

(a

dictionary on Chinese language): Translation is that

convey a word or language by using the meaning of another one.

In

Concise Oxford English Dictionary

, translation is

defined:

a. the act

of an instance of

translating. b. a written or spoken expression of the meaning of a word, speech, book, etc. in

another language.

Eugene

Nida

believes:

Translation

is

to

use

the

most

appropriate,

natural

and

equivalent

language to

reproduce the source language message from

the semantic

to

the stylistic. Susan

Bassnet holds the opinion that translation is of course a rewriting of an original text.

In

China,

the

widely

accepted

translation

theory

is

the

one

proposed

by

Mr.

Yan

Fu

–

faithfulness,

expressiveness

and

elegance.

While

in

western

countries,

Lawrence

Venuti

made

great

contribution

to

make

people

better

understand

the

work

of

translation

by

putting

forward

–< /p>

domestication and foreigniztion.

2.1 Definition of Domestication and Foreignization

Lawrence

Venuti,

a

famous

American

translator,

was

the

first

person

to

introduce

domestication

and

foreignization

in

his

book

-

The

Translator's

Invisibility:

A

History

of

Translation

. He said that

peace as much as possible, and moves the reader towards him

the translator

him

[1]

in the book. By developing these two terms, Venuti meant to argue against the tendency

of the transparent

translation and invisibility of

the translator. Thus, it can be concluded that

domestication refers to the target-culture-oriented translation in

which unusual expressions to

the target culture are exploited and turned into some familiar ones so as to make the translated

text intelligible and easy for the target readers, while foreignization is a source-culture-oriented

3

Chapter 2 Debate on Domestication and Foreignization

translation which strives to preserve the foreign flavor as much as possible in order to transfer

the source language and culture into the target one.

2.2 Debate on Domestication and Foreignization

The debate on foreignization or domestication can be viewed as the extension of the debate

on

translation

A

literal

translation is

a

translation that follows

closely

not

only

the

content

but

also

the

form

of

the

source

language.

It

is

also

known

as

word-for-word translation, and translators engaged in literalism have been willing to sacrifice

the formal elements of the target language and even the intelligibility of the target language text

for the sake of preserving what they regard as the integrity of the source text. While those who

favor free translation have quite often chosen to sacrifice the form of the source language for

the sake of elegance and intelligibility in the target language.

The two pairs of strategies share some similarities. literal translation and foreignization put

emphasis on the linguistic and stylistic features of the source text, and the target text translated

in these ways may not be very smooth in language and the content may not be familiar to the

target readers, so they may feel foreign when reading the translation, while free translation and

domestication pay more attention to the target audience, because of the smooth sentences, the

familiar expressions and cultural phenomena, sometimes the target readers may not realize that

they are actually reading a translated text from another culture. However, this does not mean the

two pairs are just one. There are some differences between them. When a translator resorts to

either literal translating method or free translating method, he puts his attention mainly to the

linguistic

factors

of

the

source

text

and

tries

his

utmost

to

keep

the

original

meaning

in

the

target

text.

But

with

the

development

of

the

translation

studies,

plenty

of

translators

and

theorists have realized that translation is a far more complicated activity with various cultural,

poetic,

political

as

well

as

economic

factors

related

to

it.

Therefore,

foreignization

and

domestication are a pair of new translation strategies

which are more complex and extensive

than literal translation and free translation method.

Domestication

and

foreignization,

on

a

certain

degree,

are

complementary

to

each

other

and

a

dialectical

unity.

Some

scholars

bear

the

idea

in

heart

that

we

can

not

use

them

both

together for they being diverse. If one strategy is used in the beginning, one must finish it with

the method he adopts. But we may be unable to work it out so pure in the daily and pragmatic

4

Chapter 2 Debate on Domestication and Foreignization

translation.

To

achieve

a

good

work,

on

one

hand,

we

shall

faithfully

reproduce

the

original

thoughts

and

styles

which

may

be

involved

with

something

exotic

and

unique

in

the

source

language; on the other hand, we shall take the reader

’

s opinion and the fluency of the work into

consideration. So it is quite hard, unwise and unrealistic only to adopt one method in some way.

All the work we do is to translate good work no matter which approach we use.

5

Chapter 3 Relations between Domestication and Foreignization and the Influences

Chapter 3

Relations between Domestication and Foreignization and

the Influences

3.1 Relations

Some scholars consider that domestication and foreignization can not be mixed to use in one

work, one must be held on straight to the end if you have to choose one. However, we can never

absolutely

guarantee

the

pureness

in

the

actual

translations.

On

one

side,

we

shall

faithfully

keep

the

original

style

and

idea

which

have

strong

exoticism

in

the

original

works,

hence

foreignizing translation may be inevitable; on the other hand, we shall take the expressiveness,

elegance and the target culture, religion, politics, etc. into the consideration, thus domesticating

translation

can

also

be

necessarily

adopted.

It

is

unwise

and

unreal

to

choose

one

strategy

without

absorbing

the

advantages

of

another

one,

because

they

both

have

the

merits

and

demerits.

Meanwhile, we are faced with the choice from the beginning to the end, what we need to

do is to seek for a

simultaneously the translation shall be faithful to the original work.

And yet, the

the

unalterable

we

shall

always

bear

the

principle

into

mind

that

we

can

never

deviate too much no matter what strategy we have chosen. The fluency and the elegance should

not be omitted from when foreignization method is adopted; while the exotic style should not

be

excluded

when

the

domestication

method

is

taken.

Thus

the

best

way

to

create

a

good

translation version is to draw the strong points from one of the two strategy to offset another

one

’

s

weakness.

In

the

actual

translation,

we

shall

pay

additional

attention

to

the

complementary and dialectical relations.

3.2 Influences

Translation

is

not

only

a

linguistic

activity,

but

also

a

process

of

thinking.

Due

to

the

different culture, nation and the unique thinking or language, domestication and foreignization

as the two diverse strategies and methods will play a guiding role in translation.

From

a

technical

perspective,

foreignizing

translation

will

be

conductive

to

the

national

culture

construction.

It

can

enrich

the

local

culture

and

language

by

absorbing

the

new

expressions.

Translation

can

overcome

the

inherent

specifications,

which

can

refigure

a

new

6