归化异化在习语翻译中的应用.pdf

Foreignization and Domestication in Proverb TranslationForeignization and Domestication in Proverb TranslationSchool of Foreign Language, Honghe UniversityLuo XuanAbstractProverbs are culture-loaded linguistic symbols. The E-C/C-E proverbtranslation involves not only the transfer of language but also the transmission ofculture. Through analyzing the necessity of employing foreigniztion instead ofdomestication in proverb translation, the author holds that foreignization should bemainly employed so as to achieve better conveyance of the cultural peculiarities ofboth English and Chinese proverbs and wherever necessary domestication should beemployed in order to facilitate natural and fluent expression, but domestication shouldnot distort the cultural flavor of the original.Key wordsproverb, culture, domestication, foreignization1.A Brief Introduction to Proverbs1.A Brief Introduction to ProverbsAn English proverb says, “Proverbs are the daughters of daily experi ence.”Proverbs,existing distinctively and numerously in almost every language, are the panoramicpictures of linguistic and cultural traits of a community. They are an importantintegrated part of a language and widely recognized as the essence and crystallizationof a nation. In content, proverbs are closely connected with history, religion and livingcondition of a nation.In form, Proverbs are presented by sentences that cannot be substituted randomly. Asa gem of a language and a mirror of linguistic and cultural concepts of a nation,proverbs have been handed down from generation to generation. Without proverbs, alanguage will lack vitality, vividness and expres siveness. A proverb is defined as“Ashort well-known saying that states a general truth or gives advices”by OxfordAdvanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary (2002). The famous Chinese辞海(2000) explains tha“t 谚语是流传于民间的简练通俗而富于意义的语句。 ”2.Definitions of Domestication and Foreignization2.Definitions of Domestication and ForeignizationDomestication and foreignization are two fundamental translation strategies whichhave been catching peoples attention in recent years. Their meanings are richerthan“literal translation”and“free translation”.“The conflict between domestication andforeignization as opposite translation strategies can be regarded as the poetic, culturaland political rather than linguistic extension of the time-worn controversy over freetranslation and literal translation”(Wang, Dongfeng, 2002: 24). Domestication refersto the translation strategy in which a transparent, fluent style is adopted in order tominimize the strangeness of the foreign text for target language readers, whileforeignization designates the type of translation in which a target text“deliberatelybreaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreignness of theoriginal”(Shuttleworth&Cowie,1997:59).Domesticationistarget-language-culture-oriented, while foreignization is source-language-culture-oriented. Venuti, an Italian American translation theorist, defines foreignization as“anethnodeviant pressure on those values to register the linguistic and cultural differenceof the foreign text, sending the readers abroad”, and domestication as“an ethnocentricreduction of the foreign text to target-language cultural values, bringing the author ofthe source language into the target language culture.”( Venuti, 1995:20)3.Application of Foreignization and Domestication in Proverb3.Application of Foreignization and Domestication in ProverbTranslationTranslation3.1 Foreignization: the major strategy for proverb translationAmong all the English and Chinese proverbs, proverbs expressing the same or similarconnotative meaning and proverbs indicating unique cultural phenomena only occupya relative small proportion. Proverbs that express the same or similar connotativemeaning with different cultural terms cover a much larger proportion. It is thetranslation of the last two kinds of proverbs that have aroused heated discussion in thefield of translation at home and abroad. Translators usually become hesitant to decidewhether he should try to avoid the cultural difference so as to achieve fluentcommunication or he should strive to admit and accept the cultural disparities in orderto retain the foreignness of the alien culture. The author of the present thesis is infavor of taking foreignization as the dominating strategy in the E-C/C-E proverbtranslation.Thefollowingdiscussionwillbefocusedonthenecessityofforeignization and the limitations of domestication in proverb translation.Necessity of foreignization in translating proverbsNecessity of foreignization in translating proverbs：As culture-loaded linguistic symbols, proverbs usually reflect almost every part of theculture of a nation. Proverbs of a nation present to receptors of another nation aunique appeal which, to a large extent, is dependent on their peculiar ways ofexpressing. Translating proverbs from one language to another, therefore, needs toachieve the effects of conveying the exotic flavors of the source language culture.Foreignization, in the authors opinion, serves better to the conveyance of aliencultures in translating proverbs. Therefore, there is a much greater necessity ofemploying foreignization than domestication in translating proverbs from Chineseinto English or vise versa. This necessity stems from the following three aspects:faithfulness of translation, promotion of cultural exchanges and reader acceptance.3.1.1 Faithfulness of translation3.1.1 Faithfulness of translation“Faithfulness”does not only refer to being faithful in conveying the communicativeinformation of the original but also being faithful in the transference of the specificstyle and manner of the original. In translating proverbs loaded with culturalconnotations, a good version should not only be faithful in the conveyance of thesemantic meaning but also be faithful in the transference of the original cultural flavorof the source text. A simple and casual replacement or adaptation of the cultural termsmay confront the possibility of cultural loss or cultural misinterpretation, whichresults in unfaithful translation eventually. Therefore, in the translation of culturalterms, foreignization is more faithful to the original. For example, there are twopossible versions for the English proverb“go to law for a sheep, lose a cow”:(1)捡了芝麻，丢了西瓜。(2)打官司想要回一只羊，却损失了一头牛的钱。Version (1)is an adaptation of original with a Chinese proverb that means one fails toget something more valuable in order to get the less valuable thing. Since the Englishproverb also has the meaning that one loses more than what he gains, Version (1)canbe regarded as faithful to the English proverb at the first sight. However, as far as theimplication of the proverb in two languages is concerned, the problem is not so simple.While the Chinese proverb implies that the person who is trying to get the sesamefails to get the watermelon and thus is not wise, the English proverb only conveys themeaning that what he gains is less than what he loses with no implication as towhether he is wise or not. Meanwhile, the original proverb also reflects a westerncustom that people are used to going to law for a solution to the problem they meetwith in their everyday life. It is not a matter of being wise or unwise, but a matter ofcustom. It is clear that Version (1)fails to carry the same cultural implication as thatcontained in the original proverb, and therefore it is not faithful translation. Version (2)manages to be faithful not only in meaning butalso in style and manner because itpays more attention to the cultural differences and succeeds in transmitting thecultural implication of the English proverb.3.1.2 Promotion of cultural exchangesLoaded with cultural connotations of a nation, proverbs serve as a mirror of theculture of a nation. Almost every aspect of the culture of a nation can find itsreflection in this mirror. Beliefs, values, customs and aesthetic perspectives, which areimportant components of a culture, are reflected in proverbs. For example,“ Thatnever ends ill which begins in Gods name.” (奉上帝之名开始的事决不会有坏结果)reflects a religious belief in Christianity. “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”(情人眼里出美人)conveys a universal aesthetic perspective.“A rainbow in the morning isthe shepherds warning; a rainbow at night is the shepherds delight ”(早晨出彩虹,羊倌心事重 ;傍晚出彩虹 ,羊倌露笑容 )displays peoples knowledge of nature andreflects their life experience. As we know, translation is not only an interlingualactivity but also an intercultural activity. The essence of translation lies more in itsintercultural communication, and the ultimate target of translation is to promotecross-cultural exchanges between different nations. Therefore, in translating theculture-loaded proverbs, it is necessary to take the cultural elements of proverbs intoconsideration. Culture is an open and developing system and has a great capacity ofcontaining and accepting alien cultures. A large proportion of English proverbsoriginated from other languages. For example, (1) Man is a bubble. (from Greece) 人生就象一个肥皂泡. (2) One sin opens the door for another.(from Germany)一次做恶, 下次难停. (3) Do not climb a tree to look for a fish. (from China)勿缘木求鱼.Likewise, Chinese proverbs also enjoy a variety of sources“.救人一命，胜造七级浮屠”(from Sanskrit)“,以牙还牙，以眼还眼”(from English), and 条条大路通罗马(from Italian) are just a few examples. Since domesticated translation of proverbstends to“adapt”or“substitute”the cultural terms of the source text, it runs the risk ofhiding or distorting the cultural connotations of the source text. When the sourcelanguage culture contained in proverbs is lost, translation will fail in its mission ofpromoting cross-cultural exchanges. Therefore it can be inferred that foreignization inproverb translation is not only necessary but also possible.3.1.3 Reader acceptance3.1.3 Reader acceptanceAs time goes on, cross-cultural exchanges are getting more and more frequent andpeople from different nations are more often exposed to different cultures. Theadvanced modern media keep on transmitting alien culture information to people allover the world. One cannot even avoid getting in touch with foreign cultures. Allthese factors have already contributed to helping to foster among people in the globalvillage a more open perspective of alien cultures. Reader acceptance of alien cultureshas been greatly raised. Chen Bosong(陈伯松，1992) listed more than eighty Chinesewords that are transliterated from English, such a“s 模特儿”(model)“,幽默”(hu-mor) “,麦当劳” (Mcdonald) “,伊妹儿” (email), etc. Likewise, even though the Englishculture tends to be self-sustained and somewhat closed to the cultures off the OldWorld, quite a few Chinese cultural terms have become part of English language.Some of the common ones are “qigong” (气功)， “taiji,(太极)， kunfu” (功夫)， “tofu”(豆腐),“litchi”(荔枝), etc. Therefore, whatever the capability of accepting andassimilating the alien elements, it is universal for all nations to consciously orunconsciously adopt something from other cultures. As far as translation is concerned,the TL reader is willing to accept the SL cultural terms.3.2 Dialectic relation between domestication and foreignization in3.2 Dialectic relation between domestication and foreignization intranslating proverbstranslating proverbsGenerally speaking, it is worthwhile to employ foreignization in the translation ofproverbs into Chinese or vise versa. Lawrence Venuti is very much in favor of theforeignizing method since it promises a great openness to cultural differences,whether they are located abroad orat home they may thus well be worth the risks.(Venuti, 1995) Of course, going to an extreme in adopting foreignization in theprocess of translating proverbs is not a wise idea. After All, English and Chinese aretwo very different languages. There exist some cultural disparities between the twolanguages that are hardly comprehensible if they are not treated domestically.Domestication, therefore, is a necessity in the translation of proverbs from Englishinto Chinese or vise versa. In order to make TL reader understand the knowledge theyare unfamiliar, translator can manage to help the TL reader to achieve an immediateunderstanding of the source text and thus to promote the communication between twocultures. Some proverbs contain some certain cultural terms with strong culturalconnotations and these connotations can hardly be understood if the translator tries toretain the alien cultural terms in the translated version. In this case, if the translatorinsists on foreignization, it will not only fail to transmit the SL culture to the TL butalso fail to achieve the communication effects. Therefore, a wise translator, in thiscase,shouldconsidersacrificingsomeculturalimagesandfocusonthecommunication of the connotative meaningof a proverb.The English proverb“Betterbe the head of a dog than the tail of a lion”.“Dog”represents the humblest lifeand“lion”the noblest. The connotative meaning of the proverb is that its better to stayon a higher position in a lower class than stay on a lower position in an upper class.The Chinese proverb “宁为鸡头， 勿为凤尾” , means the same as the English one. Theimages in English proverb are“head of a dog”and“tail of a lion”, while in Chinesethey have become“head of a cock”and“tail of a phenix”. The choices of the images intwo cultures clearly reflect their preferences to certain expressions. However, peoplein the two different cultures can share a common understanding of the implicature inthe different images because of their universal cultural context. In another word, it is auniversalacknowledgementthat“lion”and“phenix”represent“nobleness”or“highersocial position”and“dog”and“cock”indicate“humbleness”or“lower social position”.However, domestication should not be used as the dominant cultural strategy for thetranslation of proverbs, because the similarities between nations are after all muchgreater in number than the differences. There are some more examples.“Talk of deviland he will appear”is not an equivalent of “说曹操，曹操到”because the Englishproverb has a derogatory sense while the Chinese one does not. Thus a bettertranslated version of the Chinese proverb may be“Talk of Cao Cao and he willappear” with a brief annotation to introduce the historical figure Cao Ca o.“A leopardcannot change its spots”cannot be replaced by“狗改不了吃屎”because the Chineseproverb contains a very strong derogatory sense while the English one does not. Theversion“A dog returns to his vomits”is a more faithful translation with its accurateinterpretation of both the semantic meaning and the cultural connotations of theoriginal proverb. It is obvious that foreignization is a better strategy for proverbs ofthis kind. There are some proverbs that contain certain historical or literary allusionsand these allusions are of rich cultural connotations of a nation and they are hard forthe TL readers to understand if they are translated literally. A combination offoreigniza