To Foreignize or To Domesticate

abstract1： domesticating translation and foreignizing translation are two

different translation strategies. the former refers to the translation

strategy in which a transparent, fluent style is adopted in order to minimize

the strangeness of the foreign text for target language readers, while

the latter designates the type of translation in which a target text deliberately

breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreigness of the

original. but what is the translation practice like in china? do translators

tend to use foreignizing methods or domesticating ones? what are the factors

that affect their decision making? this paper tries to find answers to

the questions by looking into the translation of english metaphors into

chinese.

key words: domesticating translation; foreignizing translation; metaphor;

target

language reader

1. introduction

"domesticating translation" and "foreignizing translation" are the terms

coined by l. venuti (1995) to describe the two different translation strategies.

the former refers to the translation strategy in which a transparent, fluent

style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text

for target language readers, while the latter designates the type of translation

in which a target text "deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining

something of the foreigness of the original" (shuttleworth &cowie, 1997:59).

the roots of the terms can be traced back to the german philosopher schleiermacher’s

argument that there are only two different methods of translation, " either

the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as possible, and moves

the reader towards him; or he leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible,

and moves the author towards him" (venuti, 1995: 19-20).

the terms "foreignization" and "domestication" may be new to the chinese,

but the concepts they carry have been at least for a century at the heart

of most translation controversies. lu xun (鲁迅) once said that "before

translating, the translator has to make a decision : either to adapt the

original text or to retain as much as possible the foreign flavour 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 word; the personification of an abstraction; the application

of a word or collocation to what it does not literally denote, i.e., to

describe one thing in terms of another. [...] metaphors may be ’single’

-- viz. one-word -- or ’extended’ (a collocation, an idiom, a sentence,

a proverb, an allegory, a complete imaginative text" (1988b:104).

snell-hornby rejects newmark’s concept of the "one-word metaphor" in favour

of weinrich’s definition that "metaphor is text" (1988:56). she believes

that a metaphor is a complex of (at least) three dimensions (object, image

and sense), reflecting the tension between resemblance and

disparity" (1988: 56-57).

this paper will follow the idea that "metaphor is text" which includes

an idiom, a sentence, a proverb and an allegory.

3. what has been said about the translation of metaphor?

"in contrast to the voluminous literature on metaphor in the field of literary

criticism and rhetoric, the translation of metaphor has been largely neglected

by translation theorists" (fung, 1995). in his article "can metaphor be

translatable?", which is regarded as an initial discussion of the subject,

dagut says,

"what determines the translatability of a source language metaphor is not

its ’boldness’ or ’originality’, but rather the extent to which the cultural

experience and semantic

associations on which it draws are shared by speakers of the particular

target language"

(1976).

snell-hornby takes metaphor translation in the light of the integrated

approach. she says that

the sense of the metaphor is frequently culture-specific, [...] whether

a metaphor is

’translatable’ (i.e. whether a literal translation could recreate identical

dimensions), how

difficult it is to translate, how it can be translated and whether it should

be translated at all

cannot be decided by a set of abstract rules, but must depend on the structure

and function of

the particular metaphor within the text concerned ". (1988: 56-9)

van den broeck conceives the treatment of metaphors as a functional relevancy

to the communicative situation (1981). mary fung also considers translating

metaphor as a communicative event which is both interlingual and intercultural

(1995).

different from the semantic, cultural and functional perspectives mentioned

above, newmark holds a more pragmatic approach. drawing on his practical

experience, he proposes several procedures for translating metaphor: (1)

reproducing the same image in the target language; (2)

replacing the sl image with another established tl image; (3) replacing

the metaphor by simile; (4) retaining the metaphor and adding the sense;

(5) converting the metaphor to sense; (6) omitting the metaphor if it is

redundant.

discussions of the subject, especially those written in chinese, are also

pragmatic rather than theoretical. in e-c translation coursebook (1980

) which is the most widely used translation textbook in china, zhang peiji

(张培基) and his co-compilers summarized three popular methods for translating

metaphors: (1) literal translation (similar to newmark’s first procedure);

(2) replacing the sl image with a standard tl image (similar to newmark’s

second procedure); (3) converting the metaphor to sense (same as newmark’s

fifth procedure).

based on the methods suggested by zhang and his colleagues, guo zhuzhang

(郭著章) proposes five in a practical coursebook in translation between

english and chinese (1996, revised edition): (1) literal translation plus

explanation; (2) literal translation plus meaning; (3) adapting the metaphor;

(4) using chinese couplets to render the english metaphor; (5) replacing

the sl image with a tl image.

4. how are metaphors translated?

the above methods, envisaged as guidelines for the translation students

as well as the practical translators, are quite exhaustive of rendering

the metaphor. which of the methods of translation are actually domesticating

and which ones foreignizing? in the following section i will cite some

examples of metaphor translation from two translation textbooks, two dictionaries

and two articles as the source for the analysis.

4.1 examples

examples are cited from: (1) e-c translation coursebook (1980) by zhang

peiji (张培基) et al., (2) a practical coursebook in translation between

english and chinese (1996, revised edition) by guo zhuzhang (郭著章) et

al., (3) the english-chinese dictionary (1993,unabridged) by lu gusun (陆谷孙，chief

editor), (4) longman english-chinese dictionary of english idioms (1995)

by li yinhua (李荫华) et al. (revisers of translation), (5) "free translation,

literal translation and word-for-word translation" (1981) by feng shize

(冯世则), and (6) "pragmatics and translation" (1994) by he ziran (何自然).

example 1

but i hated sakamoto, and i had a feeling he’d surely lead us both to our

ancestors.

但是我恨阪本，并预感到他肯定会领着咱们去见祖先。 (zhang，1980: 12)。

(my back translation: but i ... he’d surely lead us to see our ancestors.)

example 2

hitler was armed to the teeth when he launched the second world war, but

in a few years, he

was completely defeated.

希特勒在发动第二次世界大战时是武装到牙齿的，可是不到几年，就被彻底击败了。

(zhang，1980: 13) (back translation: hitler was armed to the teeth ...)

example 3

he walked at the head of the funeral procession, and every now and then

wiped away his

crocodile tears with a big handkerchief.

他走在送葬队伍的前头，还不时用一条大手绢抹去他那鳄鱼的眼泪。 (feng , 1981)

(back translation: he walked ... his crocodile tears ...)

example 4

among the blind the one-eyed man is king.

山中没老虎，猴子称霸王。(guo & li, 1996: 183)

(my back translation: the monkey reigns in the mountains when there is

no tiger there.)

example 5

talk/speak of the devil (and he will appear).

说到曹操，曹操就到。(lu, 1993: 463)

(my back translation: talk of caocao, and he will appear.)

example 6

peter does annoy me, coming around here all the time. oh, talk of the devil!

that’s probably

him at the door now.

彼得真令我讨厌，老是到这儿来。哦，说鬼鬼到！在门口的可能就是他。(li , 1995:

118)

(my back translation: ... oh, speak of the devil, and he will appear.)

example 7

one boy is a boy, two boys half a boy, three boys no boy.

一个和尚挑水吃，两个和尚抬水吃，三个和尚没水吃。 (zhang, 162)

(my back translation: one buddhist monk carries water for himself, two

monks carry water

together, three monks have no water to drink.)

example 8

every family is said to have at least one skeleton in the cupboard.

据说家家户户至少也有一桩家丑。(feng, 1981)

(my back translation: every family is said to ... family scandal.)

example 9

a skeleton in the cupboard/ closet

衣柜里的骷髅, 见不得人的事儿 (he, 1994)

(my back translation: a skeleton in the closet, something not fit to be

seen)

example 10

to carry coals to newcastle

运煤到纽卡索，多此一举。

注："纽卡索" 是英国的一个产煤中心地，运煤到此是多余的事。 (zhang, 1980:163-4)

(my back translation: to carry coals to newcastle, making an unnecessary

move)

example 11

the teenagers don’t invite bob to their parties because he is a wet blanket.

青少年们不邀请鲍勃参加他们的聚会因为他是一个令人扫兴的人。(zhang, 1980:

162)

(my back translation: the ... because he is a disappointment.)

example 12

she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth; she thinks she can do what

she likes.

她生长在富贵之家，认为凡事都可以随心所欲。 (zhang, 1980: 163)

(my back translation: she was born in a wealthy family....)

example 13

he who keeps company wtih the wolf will learn to howl"

近朱者赤，近墨者黑。 (guo, 1996: 183)

(my back translation: he who touches vermillion will be reddened, and he

who deals with

ink will be blackened.)

example 14

great men are not always wise.

人有失手日，马有失蹄时。(guo, 1996: 182-3)

(my back translation: men will make mistakes, horses all stumble.)

4.2 analysis

the analysis is based on the following five common translation methods:

(1) literal translation (retaining the same image in the target language);

(2) replacing the sl image with a standard tl image; (3) literal translation

plus sense and explanation; (4) converting the metaphor to meaning; (5)

using chinese couplets to replace the english metaphor.

metaphors in examples 1, 2, 3 and 6 are translated literally. the aim of

literal translation is to retain the national or local colour, the original

images as well as the foreign expressions so as to enrich the target language

. (zhang, 1980: 161). "to his ancestors" (example 1) "去见祖先" , is a

euphemism for "to die". this expression is vivid and easy for the ordinary

chinese reader to understand. "armed to the teeth" (example 2) "武装到牙齿"

sounds a 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 a blanket which is soaked with water, and "a silver spoon" is

just a spoon different from a china spoon. they may not be able to understand

the referential meanings these images carry in the metaphors. most probably

for this reason the metaphors are all converted to sense, to more general

expressions, "family scandal" (家丑) , "a disappointment" (令人扫兴的人)

and "a wealthy family"(富贵之家) which are abstract concepts rather than

concrete images. snell hornby is right in saying that "as an abstract concept,

metaphor might be universal; in its concrete realization however, being

closely linked with sensuous perception and culture-bound value judgments,

it is undoubtedly complicated by language-specific idiosyncrasies" (1988:

62-3).

the metaphor in example 9 is the same as that in example 8, but is treated

differently. actually, there has been some arguments about the translation

of this metaphorical phrase. in an article written in 1981, feng shize

says that if the english idiom "skeleton in the cupboard" is translated

literally into "衣柜里的骷髅", the chinese reader might not understand

what it means, so he suggested to render it to sense. in another article

written later in the same year, xu shigu (徐世谷) does not subscribe to

feng’s opinion. he argues that if the first translator of the metaphor

"the crocodile’s tears" thought in the same way as feng, the chinese reader

would not have been able to understand the image, neither could the expression

be able to get into the chinese vocabulary. xu proposed translating it

literally plus meaning or explanation. but it took a long time for people

to accept the "skeleton" image:. in the english-chinese dictionary (unabridged)

, the standard dictionary of this kind in china, the translation of the

metaphor is nearly the same as feng’s. it was not until 1992 had the "the

skeleton" image been directly brought into the chinese culture, although

with a brief interpretation to reveal its implied meaning (see example

9).

the translation of "to carry coals to newcastle" indicates another common

problem. zhang and his colleagues translate this metaphor literally into

"运煤到纽卡?quot; and then add the referential meaning "多此一举" (making

an unnecessary move). still they assume that it can not be understood completely

because the reader may not know what "newcastle" means, so they suggest

making a note to identify this place rich in coal.

in the last two examples, we see that "he who keeps company with the wolf

will learn to howl" is turned into "近朱者赤，近墨者黑" (he who touches

vermilion will be reddened, and he who deals with ink will be blackened);

"great men are not always wise" becomes "人有失手日，马有失蹄时" (men will

make mistakes, horses all stumble). there is a change of image and references

in both translations. antithetical couplets are a special feature in the

chinese culture. when the chinese couplets are used to render the english

proverbs, the translated version often bring in more images than the original

although the philosophy of the proverb remains the same.

5. findings and implications

are sl culture specific expressions replaced purely and simply or are they

more often than not retained in chinese translations? my investigation

shows neither. from the above examples of metaphor translation and analysis,

we can see that methods 1 and 3 ( literal translation; literal translation

plus sense and explanation) are practiced with the concept of foreignization.

the translator "deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something

of the foreigness of the original" (shuttleworth &cowie, 1997:59). the

translator’s choice, in venuti’s words, is an ethno-deviant pressure on

target language values "to register the linguistic and cultural difference

of the foreign text, sending the reader abroad" (1993: 20).

methods 2, 4 and 5 (replacing the sl image with a standard tl image; converting

the metaphor to meaning; using chinese couplets to replace the english

metaphor.) are domesticating strategies, in which "a transparent, fluent

style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text

for target language readers" (shuttleworth &cowie, 1997:59).

then what makes the translator decide on the domesticating or foreignizing

strategy? my research shows that

(1) when the basic metaphorical concepts of sl and tl communities correspond,

as in "to our ancestors" and "armed to teeth", the original image or flavour

is most likely to be retained.

(2) when they come cross sl historical, geographical or folk heritage in

cultural-specific metaphors as such "to carry coals to newcastle" and "a

skeleton in the cupboard/closet", the chinese translator would try very

hard to find suitable solutions for them. the best solution so far is to

retain the original image or cultural -specific features with the support

of interpretations so that the implications of the story generally accepted

by members of the culture eventually get cross to the tl reader.

(3) the tl reader’s response is still a significant criterion and the main

consideration in metaphor translation. when the associations of an image

in the sl is lacking in the tl, for

instance, "to be born with a silver in one’s mouth", "a wet blanket", the

translator tends to adapt the metaphor into idiomatic target language expressions.

(4) when translating the english metaphor, particularly those embedded

in proverbs, such as "he who keeps company with the wolf will learn to

howl" and "great men are not always wise", the chinese translator, more

often than not, seeks for an equivalent expression (e.g. a chinese couplet)

to replace the original, although the equivalence is sometimes far from

accurate.

6. conclusion

on examining the translation of metaphor and the discussion of some of

the problems involved, i have realized that different methods of translation

are changeable rather than fixed, contingent rather than eternal. whether

to use foreignizing or domesticating strategy depends on different factors

such as the importance and the contextual factors of the sl text, the consideration

of referential accuracy, the reader’s acceptability and the "pragmatic

economy" (newmark, 1988b: 110). i believe there are special problems involved

in the translation of metaphor, but the theory of the translation of metaphor

is justifiable within the general theory of translation. to sum up, in

translation practice, there is no foreignization without some degree of

domestication, by the same token, there is no domestication without some

degree of foreignization.

reference

bassnett, s. & a. lefevere. 1998. constructing cultures: essays on literary

translation. clevedon/philadelphia/

toronto/sydney/johannesburg: multilingual matters ltd. 168 pp.

dagut, m.b. 1976. can "metaphor" be translated? babel, vol. 22, no. 1,

pp.21-33.

fung, mary m.y. 1995. translation of metaphor. in an encyclopedia of translation.eds.

chan sin-wai & d.e.

pollard. hong kong: the chinese university press. 658 pp.

------ and k.l. kiu. 1987. metaphor across language and culture. babel,

vol.33, no.2, pp84-106.

he ziren. 1994. pragmatics and translation. in fan yi xin lun. eds. yang

zijian and liu xueyun. wuhan: wubei

jiaoyu chubanshe. 849pp.

lakoff, george & m. johnson. 1980. metaphors we live by. chicago and london:

the university of hicago

press. 243 pp.

newmark, peter.1988a. approaches to translation. london: prentice hall

international (uk) ltd. x + 200 pp.

----- 1988b. a textbook of translation. london: prentice hall international

(uk) ltd. 292 pp.

shuttleworth, m. & m. cowie. 1997. dictionary of translation studies. manchester,

uk: st jerome publishing.

236 pp.

snell-hornby. m. 1988. translation studies - an integrated approach. amsterdam

/philadelphia: john benjamins

publishing company. viii + 172 pp.

van de broech, raymond. 1981.the limits of translatability as exemplified

by metaphor translation. poetics

today, vol.2, no. 4, pp 73-87.

venuti, lawrence. 1995. the translator’s invisibility -- a history of translation.

london and new york:

routledge xii + 353 pp.

许广平，1955，鲁迅与翻译。 《翻译论集》(1984，罗新璋编)。. 北京：商务印书馆。x

+1047 pp.

xu guangping. 1955. lu xun yu fan yi. in fan yi lun ji (1984, luo xinzhang

bian). beijing: shangwu

yinshuguan. x +1047 pp.

张培基等，1980，《英汉翻译教程》。上海：上海外语教育出版社。viii + 330

pp.

zhang peiji. et al. 1980. ying han fan yi jiao cheng. shanghai: shanghai

waiyu jiaoyu chubanshe. viii +

330pp.

冯世则，1981, 意译、直译、逐字译。《翻译通讯》第2 期，第7-8页。

feng shize. 1981. yi yi, zhi yi, zhu zi yi. in translation bulletin no.2,

pp 7-8.

徐世谷，1981，衣柜里究竟藏着什么？-- 从一个译例看直译的可取。《翻译通迅》第6期，第19-20页。

xu shigu. 1981. yi kui li jiujing changzhe shenme? - cong yige yili kan

zhiyi de kequ. in translation

bulletin no.6, pp 19-20.

陆谷孙 (主编)，1993，《英汉大词典》。上海：上海译文出版社。15 + 2308 pp.

lu gusun (ed.). 1993. ying han da ci dian. shanghai: shanghai yi wen chubanshe.

15+2308pp.

李荫华等 (译审)，1995，《朗文英汉双解英语成语辞典》。上海：上海科学技术出版社/朗文出版有限公司。

xxix + 582 pp.

li yinhua (yi shen.). 1995. lang wen ying han shuang jie yingyu chengyu

cidian. shanghai: shanghai kexue

jishu chubanshe / lang wen chuban youxian gongsi. xxix + 582 pp.

郭著章、李庆生，1996. 《英汉互译实用教程》。武昌：武汉大学出版社。519 pp.

guo zhuzhang, li qingsheng. 1996. ying han hu yi shi yong jiao cheng. wuchang:

wuhan daxue chubanshe.

519 pp.