To Foreignize or To Domesticate
p;bit exaggerating but very impressive. The image of a person armed
to the teeth is so picturesque that it is hard for the target language
reader to forget. This literal translation has been widely accepted since
New China was established.
"A more common procedure for translating metaphors is to replace the SL
image with another established TL image, if one exists that is equally
frequent within the register" (Newmark, 1988: 109). The proverbs in examples
4,5, and 7, are all adapted into Chinese versions, replacing the SL images
with TL images which are familiar to the Chinese reader. These Chinese
images are widely different from but similar in sense to the original ones
. Perhaps it is all right to render the proverb in example 4 "among the
blind the one-eyed man is king" literally into "盲人之中单眼汉为王", because
the meaning as well as the image is clear. But the proverb "One boy is
a boy, two boys half a boy, three boys no boy" is a concept rather than
an image, if it is translated literally, it would be wordy and may not
be able to impress the Chinese reader as strongly as the converted version.
There has been some arguments about the translation of the metaphorical
saying "Talking of the devil, and he will appear". Some (Zhang, 1980; Lu,
1993) believe that it is acceptable to convert it into "说到曹操，曹操就到"
because this figurative expression is known to all, while others (Guo,
1996; Li, 1995) think that Caocao is a national figure in the Chinese history
who represents certain features of the Chinese culture. If the original
text is about western culture and western people, it would be inappropriate
to bring CaoCao into the scene. Perhaps that is why Li and his colleagues
decided to translate it literally into "说鬼鬼到" ( Example 6).
The translation method applied to metaphors in examples 8, 11 and 12 is
"free translation" (the usual Chinese term) or in Newmark’s words, converting
the metaphor to sense. To the Chinese reader, the image of "a skeleton
in the cupboard", may mean ugly, horrible and frightening; "a wet blanket"
is merely&n 《To Foreignize or To Domesticate(第7页)》
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to the teeth is so picturesque that it is hard for the target language
reader to forget. This literal translation has been widely accepted since
New China was established.
"A more common procedure for translating metaphors is to replace the SL
image with another established TL image, if one exists that is equally
frequent within the register" (Newmark, 1988: 109). The proverbs in examples
4,5, and 7, are all adapted into Chinese versions, replacing the SL images
with TL images which are familiar to the Chinese reader. These Chinese
images are widely different from but similar in sense to the original ones
. Perhaps it is all right to render the proverb in example 4 "among the
blind the one-eyed man is king" literally into "盲人之中单眼汉为王", because
the meaning as well as the image is clear. But the proverb "One boy is
a boy, two boys half a boy, three boys no boy" is a concept rather than
an image, if it is translated literally, it would be wordy and may not
be able to impress the Chinese reader as strongly as the converted version.
There has been some arguments about the translation of the metaphorical
saying "Talking of the devil, and he will appear". Some (Zhang, 1980; Lu,
1993) believe that it is acceptable to convert it into "说到曹操，曹操就到"
because this figurative expression is known to all, while others (Guo,
1996; Li, 1995) think that Caocao is a national figure in the Chinese history
who represents certain features of the Chinese culture. If the original
text is about western culture and western people, it would be inappropriate
to bring CaoCao into the scene. Perhaps that is why Li and his colleagues
decided to translate it literally into "说鬼鬼到" ( Example 6).
The translation method applied to metaphors in examples 8, 11 and 12 is
"free translation" (the usual Chinese term) or in Newmark’s words, converting
the metaphor to sense. To the Chinese reader, the image of "a skeleton
in the cupboard", may mean ugly, horrible and frightening; "a wet blanket"
is merely&n 《To Foreignize or To Domesticate(第7页)》
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