When doing translation, translators usually have two options:
domestication and foreignization. They are two basic translation strategies. These
two strategies were termed by American translation theorist Lawrence Venuti in
1995. Today I am going to explain these two concepts and how they are
connected with us not only in the linguistic aspect but also in the cultural
aspect.
According to Venuti, domestication
means that a translator tries to make the foreign text look like a text from
the target culture, instead of the foreign culture. In other words, the
translator domesticates the foreign text and also the culture behind it. In the
case of translating from English to Chinese, here is an example. This is the
first sentence in “The Westminster Abbey,” written by Washington Irving in 1820.
“On one of those sober and rather
melancholy days, in the latter part of Autumn, when the shadows of morning and
evening almost mingle together, and throw a gloom over the decline of the year,
I passed several hours in rambling about Westminster Abbey.”
Let’s see how it was
translated by 夏濟安.
時方晚秋，氣象肅穆，略帶憂鬱，早晨的陰影和黃昏的陰影，幾乎連接在一起，不可分別，歲雲將暮，終日昏暗，我就在這麼一天，到西敏大寺去信步走了幾個鐘頭。
As you can see, the
Chinese translation is so fluently and beautifully written that you can hardly
know it’s a translation.
On
the other hand, foreignization means that a translator tries to make the
foreign text look exactly like a text from the
foreign culture. In other words, the translator reserves the foreigness of the
text and sometimes even exaggerates it. In the case of translating from
Japanese to Chinese, here is an example. This is a quote from 終於悲哀的外國語, written by Murakami Haruki (村上春樹), and translated by 賴明珠.
如果沒有這種小確幸， 人生只不過像乾巴巴的沙漠而已。
As you can see, 終於悲哀的外國語 is a very foreign-styled
sentence. And the so called 小確幸 is actually termed by the
translator 賴明珠. Miss Lai tried to keep the Japanese style in her Chinese
translation, which is not written in fluent Chinese but in a very exotic
mixture of Japanese and Chinese styles.
Let me give you another
example. In the cartoon 小英的故事, this girl’s name is 小英, and her dog’s name is 小黃. But this cartoon was
translated from the Japanese version. In the Japanese version, actually the
girl’s name is ペリーヌ, translated from Perrine, the original French name. And the dog’s
name in the Japanese version is バロン, translated from Baron. So please tell me,
from ペリーヌ to 小英, this is
domestication or foreignization? From バロン to 小黃, this is domestication or foreignization? From
Perrine to ペリーヌ, this is domestication or foreignization? From Baron to バロン, this is
domestication or foreignization?
These two strategies
have different effects, and a professional translator knows how to use them
properly. But domestication and foreignization are not only connected to
translations. Actually, they are connected to our every-day culture. Let’s take
MacDonald as an example. The MacDonald offers various meals of fast food. They
domesticate their products in different countries. The MacDonald in India sells
the burgers of curry flavors. In Germany, they sell beer. In Argentina, they
even sell red wine. These are examples of domestication.
There are also many
examples of foreignization in our culture. A popular song by 伍佰 is titled 挪威的森林. A coffee shop is titled 挪威的森林. Even a real estate project is titled as挪威de森林. They are all trying to
foreignize their products and give them an exotic flavor with the title of the
book 挪威的森林, written by Murakami Haruki (村上春樹) again.
So, we can say that domestication
and foreignization are not just two translation strategies. Actually, they are
two attitudes to our life. Sometimes, we domesticate foreign culture, trying to
make it more familiar to us so we can accept it easily. Other times, we
foreignize our own culture to make us feel like enjoying the coffee in another
country. But no matter we like domestication or foreignization, we are happy to
see the interaction of cultures and we are also very glad that we’re living in
a global village, that we can enjoy our life in a cross-cultural way.
