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1、Domestication and Foreignization Zhao Ni (School of Interpretation and Translation, Shandong University at Weihai, Weihai, Shandong,264209) Abstract: In field of translation, there has long been a hot debate over the proper translation strategy chosen for the transmission of cultural contents. The t
2、wo major approaches are domesticationa and foreignization, which have been the focus of debate since their appearance. This thesis aims to analyse the chioce of domestication and foreignization from a new approach, namely, Skopostheorie. Keywords: domesticationa, foreignization, Skopostheorie 1.Defi
3、nitions of Domesticationa and Foreignization 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. Foreignizat
4、ion is a source-culture-oriented 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.Overview of the Debate over Domesticationa and Foreignization The debate on foreignization or domestication can be
5、 viewed as the extension of the debate on “literal translation” and “free 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
6、 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
7、source language for the sake of elegance and intelligibility in the target language. But most scholars hold that literal and free translation are limited on the level of content and form, when two languages are very similar in their structures, the issue of literal versus free translating may not se
8、en to be so acute. 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
9、 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
10、are actually reading a translated text from another culture. However, this does not mean the two pairs are just one. There are some diferences between them. When a translator resorts to either literal translating method or free translating method, he puts his attention mainly to the linguistic facto
11、rs 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 e
12、conomic 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. 3. A New Approach: Skopostheorie Which strategy is more appropriate as far as specific litera
13、ry work is concerned ? Which strategy can make the translated text have a better efect among its target audience, foreignization or domestication? So far no theory can give a definite answer to the question, nor can any theorist completely negate one of them. Personally speaking, I thinks both domes
14、tication and foreignization are just two different strategies of translation and should complement with each other, because in translation practice, both methods have their functions which cannot be substituted. To strictly insist upon one another is just bring the strategy to extremes. Both strateg
15、ies are justified if used in suitable situations from the perspective of the functionalist theory. 3.1 An Overview of the Skopostheorie Translation, as a form of translaitonal action, like any other forms of human action, must be oriented by certain purpose. In translation practice, which strategy s
16、hould be chosen should not be determined by the text itself or the translator himself/herself, but should be mainly decided by the purpose of the translation. This purpose-oriented approach of translation is one of the central idea of functionalist theory. The functionalist theory put forward by some German scholars has made a new perspective for translation studies. The German scholars are referred to as the German school: Katharina Reiss and her functionalis