To Foreignize or To Domesticate
ur 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) defines metaphor
as "a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something
to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance."
While according to BBC English Dictionary, "metaphor is a way of describing
something by saying that it is something else which has the qualities that
you are trying to describe."
Peter Newmark defines metaphor as "any figurative expression: the transferred
sense of a physical wor 《To Foreignize or To Domesticate(第2页)》
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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) defines metaphor
as "a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something
to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance."
While according to BBC English Dictionary, "metaphor is a way of describing
something by saying that it is something else which has the qualities that
you are trying to describe."
Peter Newmark defines metaphor as "any figurative expression: the transferred
sense of a physical wor 《To Foreignize or To Domesticate(第2页)》