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Foreignization in Idiom Translation
Thesis statement: Foreignization, requiring the translator to express the author’s language, can thus better convey the “foreign” taste, can meet the demand of globalization and is the tendency in translation.
1. Introduction
2. Domestication and foreignization
2.1 Definitions of domestication and foreignization
2.2 The essence of foreignization
#2.3 The problem of “translationese”
3. Foreignization tendency in the globalization context
3.1 The globalization effect
intercommunication
3.2 Foreignization tendency in idiom translation
4. The application of foreignization in idiom translation
4.1 Complete-literal Translation
4.2 Literal and paraphrasing translation
#4.3 Literal and annotating translation
5. Conclusion
Abstract: Idioms are fixed expressions or phrases and often carry meanings which can not be deduced from their individual components. In a broad sense, idioms include fixed expressions, slangs, proverbs, allusions, colloquialisms and so on. An idiom, the essence of a language, is deeply embedded in culture, and thus culture-loaded. In idiom translation, how to convey the cultural connotation has always been considered the most difficult part. Generally, there are two strategies adopted to translate idioms; domestication and foreignization. Domestication demands a closeness of the translation to the reader’s language to achieve the goal of smoothness. The “foreignness” in the source text will be weakened or even removed, which is not good for people’s better understanding about another culture. Nowadays communication between different nations becomes much more frequently with advancement of science and technology. Foreignization, requiring the translator to express the author’s idea in a way that is similar to the usage and expression in the author’s language, can thus better convey the “foreign” taste. Therefore, foreignization can meet the demand of globalization and thus is the tendency in translation.
Key words: Idiom translation, foreignization, domestication, foreignization tendency
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Foreignization in Idiom Translation
1. Introduction
Almost all languages have lots of idioms, which is a reflection of the wisdom and various lives of people. As the essence of language, they are peculiar and fixed expressions formed by several words in a language. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word “idiom” as
Any form of expression, grammatical construction, phrases etc., peculiar to a language; a peculiarity of phraseology that is approved by the usage of a language, and often having significance other than grammatical or logical one.(Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary,1979:304)
Idioms are often colorful, expressive and thought-provoking. Thus they have been employed constantly either orally or in written forms. When we depict or describe something, it will be directly to the point if idioms are used. Thus, used properly, idioms will add life as well as vividness to one’s expression or illustration. Onthe contrary, without idioms language may become boring or even lifeless. Idioms carry the native cultures and ideas, so the understanding of idioms can lead people
to a better understanding about a certain culture. Because idioms are short in form,rich in meaning and easy to be memorized, they are popular and used a lot in communication.
Despite the fact that idioms are commonly used in everyday life, their meanings are not always self-evident, for the meaning can’t be deduced from the meaningof their individual constituents. They are sometimes difficult even to native people. What’s more, because idioms are stable in structure, unpredictable in meaning, and rich in cultural factors, they are often major barriers in intercultural communications, and idiom translation may be considered as the most difficult in translation. Some even hold the view that idioms are untranslatable.#
Generally, the most difficult thing in idiom translation centers on dealing with the cultural factors, for quite often one culture doesn’t correspond to another in many aspects. Thus arise various difficulties in idiom translation. There are mainly two ways used in translation, foreignization and domestication. The traditional way of translating idioms is the adoption of the domestication strategy, which has been dominating most of the time in the past one hundred years. For example, from 1920s to 1930s some scholars held that the translation should be smooth rather than faithful. In the 1950s FuLei also raised that the translation should be read as if the original work was written in the target text. Qianzhongshu also advocated a kind of“spiritual resemblance”. They are the representatives of domestication. Domestication has made a great contribution to idiom translation, making the translated script smooth and the meaning easy to be understood by target readers. However, in most cases this strategy may not be appropriate, because the cultural factors, the essence of the idiom, are too often weakened or even removed. This is not good to people’sbetter understanding of another culture.
However, within the last several decades, great changes have taken place. The wave of globalization swept the whole world. People in different nations communicate much more frequently than before with the help of modern science and technology. During this process, translation acts as the bridge connecting people from various culture backgrounds. Since then people in translating filed began to reconsider domestication and foreignization and thus the value of foreignization is discovered. Some scholars predicted that foreignization is the tendency of translating in the 21st century, as it bears the responsibility of keeping and transferring such sense of “foreignness”, bringing freshness to readers with different cultures and languages. Foreignization will be employed more also in idiom translation. With the application of foreignization in idiom translation, one culture can absorb new nutrition from other cultures to rejuvenate and upgrade itself. Needless to say, it is now an era of globalization, and it’s also a time for oreignization.
2. Domestication and Foreignization
2.1 Definitions of Domestication and Foreignization
It is a German philosopher and translation theorist named Schleiermacher who first proposed two approaches of translation in his famous article “On Translation Method”: the translator leads the reader to the author who is kept still or the translator leads the author to the reader who is kept still. But he just described these two kinds of approaches without giving names.
In 1995, an American translation theorist Venuti, in his “The Translator’s Invisibility”, defined these two strategies as foreignization and domestication on the basis of Schleiermacher’s descriptions. That is, foreignization requires the translator to express the author’s idea in a way that is similar to the usage and expression in the author’s language. Domestication, on the contrary, demands a closeness of the translation to the reader’s language. A domesticated translation reads as if the original text was written in the local language. As for which strategy to adopt, to confine the translation to its original work or to translate with more freedom; to keep the “foreignness” or to become domesticated, it is a topic that has been argued for so long.
In
2.2 The Essence of Foreignization
As is said above, foreignization requires the translator to express the author’s idea in a way that is similar to the usage and expression in the author’s language. Thus, the essence of foreignization is to convey the “foreignness” to the the greatest extent.
Translation is an activity transferring a written or spoken message from one language to another. But it isn’t a sheer transfer of language, as it involves many non-linguistic factors, especially cultural factors. Language, as the carrier of culture, often bears cultural colors. Thus, when translating literary works, we must not only consider the difference between languages, but also cultural differences to preserve the exotic cultural trait in the original text. During translation, language can be transferred, or localized; however, the cultural traits should not be changed arbitrarily. It should be conveyed faithfully, as “facsimile of culture” is the basic principle of translation. Translators should be aware that some Chinese-culture-loaded expressions should not used as to avoid the replacement of “foreign taste” by “Chinese taste”.
However, this kind of mistake happens all the time. For example, the description “with fiendish exultation in their faces” in “Uncle Tom’ s Cabin” was translated into “那模样活像阎罗王再世#”. “阎罗王” belongs to the Buddhist culture while in Christianity Satan is the demon. Thus “cultural distortion” rises. Also there are translation like “我这是班门弄斧” in “Tess” by Thomas Hardy. Readers may have the illusion that the book was written in Chinese.
F. Tytler describes the law of translation as follows:
1)that the translation should give a complete transcript of the original work;
2)that the style and manner of writing should be of the same character with that of the original;
3)that the translation should have all the ease of original of composition.(彭长江，2002：15)
In a word, translation should be faithful to the original. Literature is the art of language. Its content and form can’t be separated. A careful translator should not only transfer the content but also keep the original form to assure the integration of the content and the form. As for the form, it includes the style, the structure, the rhetoric and so on. During translating these should also be presented. Through resemblance in language form the spiritual resemblance can be achieved. For example:
Mr. Bennet was among the earliest of those who waited on Mr. Bingley. He had always intended to visit him, though to the last always assuring his wife that he should not go; and till the evening after the visit was paid, she had no knowledge of it. (J.Austen，1994：156)
贝内特先生尽管在自己太太面前自始至终都说不想去拜访宾利先生，事实上一直都# 打算去拜访他，而且还是跟第一批人一起去拜访他的。等他去拜访过以后，当天晚上太太才知道实情。
Analysis: this translation ignores the original reversed sentence order. Actually the reversion in the original is of special meaning. The author intended to reverse the sentence order to show a kind of originality. Thus it should be translated sentence by sentence as follows:
贝内特先生是 最先去拜访宾利先生的人之一。本来他一直打算去拜见他，可在太太面前却始终咬定不 想去；直到拜访后的当天晚上，贝内特太太才知道实情。
When translating, attention should be paid to the abnormality or variation in the original text, as the strangeness may have aesthetical value. If so, the variation should be presented correspondingly in the target language. For example:
With whom?
Sinbad the Sailor and Tinbad the Tailor and Jinbad the Jailer and Whinbad t he Whaler and Ninbad the Nailer and Finbad the Failer and Binbad the Bailer and Pinbad the Railer and Minbad the Mailer and Hinbad the Hailer and Rinbad the Railer and Dinbad the Kailer and Vinbad the Quailer and Linbad the Yailer and Xinbad the Phthailer. (J.Joyce,1994：217)
Translation 1：跟谁?
水手辛伯达、裁缝廷伯达、狱卒金伯达、捕鲸者珲伯达、制钉工人宁伯达、失败者芬 伯达、掏船肚水者宾伯达、捅匠频伯达、邮寄者明伯达、欢呼者欣伯达、咒骂者林伯达# 、食菜主义者丁伯达、畏惧者温伯达、赛马赌徒林伯德、水手兴伯达。
Translation 2：与何人?
水手辛巴德、裁缝钦巴德、监守人简巴德、会捕鲸鱼的惠巴德、拧螺丝的宁巴德、废 物蛋费巴德、秉公保释的宾巴德、拼合木桶的品巴德、天明送信的明巴德、哼唱颂歌的亨巴德、领头嘲笑的林巴德、光吃蔬菜的丁巴德、胆怯退缩的温巴德、啤酒灌饱的蔺巴 德、邻苯二甲酸的柯辛巴德。
Analysis: This is an excerpt from Ulysses by J. Joyce, a representative of the style of stream of consciousness. In this excerpt, a lot of variation can be found. First, the names listed after “Sinbad the Sailor’” are all meaningless but phonetic coinage of Sinbad the Sailor, which is a character in “Arabian nights”. Second, there is no punctuation except a full stop at the end. Third, where comma should be used are replaced by “and”. The author composes these variations to create the uniformity in rhythm, monotony in rhyme and inanition in content, which lead readers to a feeling of drowsiness and a state of unconsciousness through constant repetition. This writing technique is called “stream of consciousness”. It is usually the portrayal of an apparently unorganized free flow of thought. Some translators offered a version which is close to the original text phonetically, grammatically, and semantically:
跟谁?
行海船的辛伯达和当裁缝的当伯达和看牢子的看伯达和捕鲸鱼的捕伯达和打铁钉的打 伯达和不中用的不伯达和舀舱水的舀伯达和做木桶的做伯达和跑邮差的跑伯达和唱颂歌 的唱伯达和说脏话的说伯达和吃蔬菜的丁伯达和怕惹事的文伯达和酗啤酒的叶伯达和行什么船的行伯达。
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2.3 The Problem of “Translationese”
Although foreignization is advocated nowadays and it is believed that the translation in the21st century gives priority to foreignization, it still can’t be carried out rashly. Foreignization is not word-for-word translation while translationese is. The application of foreignization is of limits. The limitation mainly lies in two aspects: one is set by the Chinese or English language; the other is the readers’ acceptance. When we employ the foreignization strategy, we must be careful; otherwise “translationese” may appear. We should be careful when we borrow new expressions. If these newly borrowed expressions fail to conform to the criterion of the local language, they will lead to unsmoothness. Here a little story explains it: There is a sentence “I’m a selfish Pig” said by a lady in an English novel. A translator translates it into “我是头自私自 利的猪”. Refuted by others, the translator defends himself by saying that he adopted the foreignization strategy. Actually it is more of translationese rather than foreignization. In English, “pig” not only means pig, it also has the connotation of a person who is dirty, greedy and selfish. So, in this case it’d better be translated into “我是个自私鬼 through domestication. Therefore, the translation should not blindly stick to the original; otherwise the translated script would be wordy and unnatural.
3. Foreignization Tendency in the Globalization Context
Taking a review of the translating history in nearly one hundred years, one will discover that domestication strategy has been dominating most of the time. For example, from 1920s to 1930s some scholars held that the translation should be smooth rather than faithful. In the 1950s FuLei also raised that the translation should be read as if the original work was written in the target text. Qianzhongshu also advocated a kind of “spiritual resemblance”. They are the representatives of domestication. This gave rise to the understanding of regarding translating as an act of creating and rewriting rather than that of transferring. It was not until the last several decades of the 20th century that the situation began to change. As globalization tide has swept the whole world, People in translating field began to reconsider domestication and foreignization and began to discover the value of foreignization: keeping the “taste” of the original work, bringing freshness to readers, leading readers to a better understanding about other cultures, promoting the communication between different cultures, enriching the source language, facilitating a language to absorb nutrient from another and so on. Thus foreignization began to regain its ground.
3.1 The Globalization Effect
# Before the information age, the exchange of cultures and information between nations are difficult due to the geographical barriers. We have suffered from lack of communication. From the late 20th century, with the advancement of science and technology, human society has developed exponentially in economy, transportation and cultures. The universalization of computer network tech, or the Internet, in particular, has largely shortened the geographical distance between countries, bringing a great increase in communication between each other. A free flow of information is now secured by internet. And nowadays we have the feeling that the world is becoming “smaller” and that we are now living in the “global village”. People’s lives are inevitably affected by globalization. Our cultures also face the impact of globalization. We are bombarded by
In the 21st century, economical globalization is inevitable, as more people, corporations, or even counties are involved in cross-border business and TNCs (trans-national corporations) spread all over the world. To meet the need of this globalization, the information industry advances rapidly. Nowadays internet is accessible to every household. Whether or not one can get the latest information becomes the key to his success in the tough market competition. To gain advantage in the competition, to secure a lucrative profit, to perform with skill and ease in diplomacy, we must know foreign cultures, including their customs, their way of living and thinking. Therefore, this new era is dubbed “the information age” ,“time of knowledge-oriented economy”or “globalization time”.
Globalization in economy and information will undoubtedly accelerate cultural development. As different cultures meet, collide and penetrate, they will gradually be understood and accepted by all nations. Thus the cultural globalization is becoming a tendency. Being a tool of intercultural communication, translation will play a more important role than ever. A domesticated translation erases the nationality of a certain language and culture, depriving readers of any taste of “foreignness”. Foreignization, on the opposite, keeps the “taste” of the original work, giving readers the feeling like “travell abroad”. In a foreignization translation, traditions, customs, conventions, religion, and geography in another culture can be seen everywhere. For example:
It is as significant as a game of cricket.
Domestication:
这事和吃饭一样重要。
# Foreignization
这事如板球赛一般重要。
We can see from above examples that foreignization not only conveys the
meaning but also the message that a cricket game is important to British people and that packed sardines are what they usually eat. Therefore, foreignization is a necessity for the globalization era.
Cultural globalization means more chances for equal cultural exchanges, cultural confluence and complement. It is just like a cultural garden in which all kinds of cultures will thrive and prosper. Some scholars have already pointed out that cultural globalization doesn’t mean cultural simplification or homogeneity. It is just the opposite. Different cultures will enrich and develop themselves during cultural conflicts and communication. In the end the target culture will be more diversified. Translation, as the basic tool for inter-cultural communication, should bear the responsibility of promoting the national culture as well as international cultural diversification. Foreignization works better in achieving this goal than domestication. When a kind of “foreignness” is transplanted to the target language through foreignization, the target language and culture is invigorated because new elements are borrowed. As far as translation is concerned, it is safe to say that cultural diversification can’t do without foreignization. Imagine if it wasn’t for foreignization, there would be only “猫哭老鼠”，but not“鳄鱼的眼泪”in Chinese. More example: blue print（蓝图）, to break the record（打破纪录）, sour grapes（酸葡萄）#, black humor（黑色幽默）, ivory tower（象牙塔）,…Also there wouldn’t be “kow tow, paper tiger, taiji, long time no see and to lose face” in English. These would be a great loss to the enrichment of both Chinese and English.
Cultural difference is what makes human society colorful. It is the soul of cultural innovation. Under the background of globalization, acknowledgement of cultural differences is prerequisite to ensure a good communication between different cultures. “Seek common points while reserving difference” is always what we emphasize. Translation, as the bridge connecting different cultures, is responsible to introduce such “difference” and promote mutual understanding. For a translator, he must acknowledge the diversities among various cultures and manage to introduce these diversities rather than removing the differences between the source language and target language. For example; in translating “亚洲四小龙” (four Asian countries that have an upsurge in economy)，translators domesticated it into “Four Asian Tigers” instead of “ Four Asian Dragons”. This is because dragon is a devil monster in the eyes of westerners. This domestication or the change of image from dragon to tiger may be familiar to westerners and can be easily understood by them. However, it has effaced the national features of the Chinese language. Western people may never get to know the unique status of dragon in Chinese culture, in which the Chinese view it as a symbol of imperial power and nobleness. They may also never understand why Chinese people like to call themselves “the descendants of the dragon”. Some scholars insist that “亚洲四小龙” be foreignized into “Four Asian Dragons”. Some scholars even go so far as to suggest that “龙” should be foreignized into “Loong”.
Domestication makes a translated text so localized that it reads like being written by a native writer. The foreignness no longer exists. Foreignization just maintains such “foreignness” to the greatest extent. Take the translation of “A Dream of Red Mansions” for example. We have a foreignization version “A Dream of Red Mansions” and a domestication version “The Story of the Stone” by a British professor named David Hawks. In the domestication version, Hawks domesticated“怡红公子”into “green boy”, neglecting the association that “red” in China has something to do with luck, happiness and love. Also when he translated the idiom“#谋事在人，成事在天”in the sentence “谋事在人,成事在天。咱们谋到了菩萨的保佑,有些机会也未可知” into “Man proposes, God disposes”, Grammy Liu, who said it , will be misunderstood that she is a Christian. So some scholars accuse this translation of overlooking different religious background and have already suggested that “God” should be replaced by “heaven” to stress Chinese Buddhist culture tradition. Thus if a foreigner want to get a glimpse of the sophisticated Chinese culture, he should try “A Dream of Red Mansions” instead of “The Story of the Stone”. Also the foreignization of British Romantic poet Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” into 《西风颂》has proved to be a good attempt. It helps Chinese reader to know that in British culture west wind brings warmness while to Chinese people west wind arouses a feeling of coldness due to the different geographical location of British and
Needless to say, Globalization will give rise to a craze of learning a second language. On the one hand, more talented people who master one or more foreign languages will be demanded. On the other hand, the mastery of several languages is a testimony of one’s ability. In our country, CET-4 is a must-have certificate for an undergraduate. For a beginner of a second language, it is undoubtedly beneficial for him to read some foreignized translation. A foreignized translation keeps the taste of the original work to the highest degree, which will facilitate the learner’s acquisition of a foreign language.
3.2 Foreignization Tendency in Idiom Translation
#Although idiom translation is often considered to be the most difficult part in all fields of translating, and domestication is employed more in idiom translation than foreignization, nowadays, as foreignization is the tendency, foreignization in idiom translation is of no exception and is applied on more and more occasions. It provides a good opportunity to introduce native culture to people from other cultures as well as bring other foreign cultures to the native. Here is the example:
打破铁饭碗：to break the iron “rice bowl”
Analysis: “铁饭碗” is a Chinese idiom. As the most basic need for human beings is food, the rice bowl is thus compared to an occupation in Chinese. An iron rice bowl means a stable job or occupation. This idiom carries a strong Chinese feature, so a foreignization translation not only maintains the original image but also introduces Chinese cultures to western readers.
Although traditionally domestication are used more in idiom translation, now some idioms which have already been translated according to domestication strategy are retranslated using the foreignization way. Thus a comparison can be made between the two strategies.
For example:
(1)下海：
Domestication: to turn professional
Foreignization: to jump into the sea of business
Analysis: It is obviously that the foreignization way is more vivid lively.
(2) Among the blind the one-eyed man is king.
Domestication: 山中无老虎,猴子称霸王
Foreignization: 盲人之中单眼汉为王
Analysis: The idiom is domesticated to a Chinese version, replacing images “blind man” and “one-eyed man” with images “monkey” and “tiger” which are familiar to the Chinese readers. Though the two idioms are similar in sense, the target images are quite different from the original ones. After domestication, images don’t correspond to each other, but through foreignization the meaning as well as the image is retained. Some idioms which are borrowed from English have already been accepted and became an integral part of the Chinese language as time goes by. They have enriched the Chinese language. For these idioms, complete-literal translation is widely accepted.#
For example:
(3)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
(4)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.
4. The Application of Foreignization in Idiom Translation
Stable in structure, unpredictable in meaning, and rich in cultural factors, idioms are the major barriers in translation. In fact, idiom translation may be considered as the most difficult in translation. Some even hold the view that idioms are untranslatable.
The most difficult part in idiom translation lies in the confrontation between the literal form and the connotation. That’s to say, how to keep the real meaning of an idiom without abandoning its original form.
Generally there are three ways of translating idioms: free translation, literal translation and a combination of both. Since free translation belongs to the domestication category, it will not be discussed here. Literal translation belongs to foreignization strategy and thus is what this thesis advocate, for it maintains the foreignness and freshness. Literal translation falls into three ways: complete-literal translation, literal and paraphrasing translation and literal and annotating translation, which will be illustrated in this chapter.
4.1 Complete-literal Translation
This is the way that carries the “original taste” to the highest degree for keep the original form and foreign flavor of the source language. Human beings do share some similar life experience or have some kind of knowledge in common whatever races and nations they belong to. So there are some idioms that are the same or similar in Chinese and English. When the image in one language corresponds to that of the other, and the meaning also conforms to each other, then the complete-literal translation works just right. Examples are as follows:
(5)如今听见周瑞家的捆了他亲家，越发火上烧油。#
The news now that Chou Jui’s wife had had a relative of hers tied up added fuel to the fire of her indignation.
(6)You pretended that you were helping them out of their difficulty, but actually you were pouring oil on the fire and making matters worse.
你自称帮助他们摆脱困境，实际上你是火上浇油，把事情搞得更糟。
However, English and Chinese, after all, belong to different language families with English belonging to Teutonic and Chinese Sino-Tibetan. Images and connotations in one language don’t always correspond to the other. Some idioms in a language don’t have corresponding ones in the other language. On such occasions, literal translation can still be used as long as the images can be understood by the readers of the target language. In this way the “foreignness” is transferred. Examples are as follows:
(7)国内废除科举制度，兴学校，好像雨后春笋，努力学习西方。
At home, the imperial examinations were abolished and modern schools sprang up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain; every effort was made to learn from the west.
(8) “搬起石头打自己的脚”，这是中国人形容某些蠢人的行为的一句俗语
“Lifting a rock only to drop it on one’s feet” is a Chinese folk saying to describe the behavior of certain fools.
4.2 Literal and Paraphrasing Translation
Some idioms are beyond people who are not natives, because they have a strong national feature or relate to a myth or allusion. Under such circumstances, the method of literal and paraphrasing translation can be adopted. After an explanation is added to such an idiom, the meaning will be clear and readers will get a better comprehension about the language as well as the culture.
As for English, there are lots of idioms that come from the Greek and Roman fairy stories and the Bible. Adding an explanation can make the meaning clear and leave an impression on the reader.
For example:
(9)....that the female Bounbym instead of being the Gorgon he had expected, was young, and remarkably pretty. (Dickens, 1994:186)
#出乎他的意料,那位女的波贝,并非一个看一眼就会把人变成石头的面目丑陋的女妖高根,而是一位年轻貌美的女性.
(10)“三个臭皮匠,合成一个诸葛亮”, 这就是说,群众有伟大的创造力.
The old saying, “Three cobblers with their wits combined would equal Chukehliang, the master mind,” simply means that the masses have great creative power.
4.3 Literal and Annotating Translation
Sometimes there are some idioms in one language whose image can’t be found in the other language, such as “太岁” in“太岁爷头上动土”and “Solomon” in “as wise as Solomon”. Or some idioms in one language have completely differently connotations from the other, such as “羊头”and “狗肉” in “挂羊头买狗肉#” and “skeleton” in “to have a skeleton in the cupboard”. If translated literally, their meanings can’t be grasped by foreign readers, then literal and annotation translation is a good way to achieve the goal. Examples are as follows:
(11) 韩信将兵，多多益善。
The more the better, as Han Xin said about the number of troops he could command. (Han Xin was a leading general under Liu Bang, first emperor of the Han Dynasty. According to the Historical Records, Lui Bang once asked Han Xin how many troops he could command. “The more the better,” he answered.)
(12)司马昭之心,路人皆知
This Sima Zhao trick is obvious to every man in the street. (Sima Zhao was a prime minister of Wei who nursed a secret ambition to usurp the throne. The emperor once remarked, “ Sima Zhao’s intention is obvious to every man in the street”. )
Adding an explanation may be troublesome and inconvenient. However, after constant exposure to such idioms with a strong foreign culture, readers will become familiar with them and finally these idioms will be assimilated into the target culture.
Ⅴ Conclusion
Idioms are deeply embedded in culture and thus rich in cultural factors. However, idioms in a certain culture can hardly correspond to idioms in another culture, as cultural difference always exists. Thus arise the difficulties in translating idioms. Traditionally there’re two strategies adopted in idiom translating, foreignization and domestication. Foreignization requires the translator to express the author’s idea in a way that is similar to the usage and expression in the author’s language. Domestication, on the contrary, demands a closeness of the translation to the reader’s language.
Throughout the translating history domestication has been dominant most of the time, because the domesticated translation reads as if the original text was written in the local language and thus can be easily understood by target readers. However, the translation is made smooth at the cost of weakening or removing the cultural factors. Foreignization, aiming at conveying the foreignness in the original text to the greatest extent, is a good way to translate idioms. It is also said to benefit the development of the target language and the facilitate communications between various cultures. #
Nowadays the globalization tide is sweeping the whole world, making the communication between nations more frequent and indispensable. Translation just serves as the tool of intercultural communication. As people are no longer satisfied with those domesticated version, they demand the taste the “foreignness” and freshness. With the advancement of the society and the process of globalization, foreignization will be applied more and more, which also will be reflected in idiom translation.
Generally speaking, there are three ways of translating idioms: free translation, literal translation and a combination of both. Free translation belongs to the domestication category. Literal translation belongs to foreignization strategy, which maintains the foreignness and freshness. Literal translation falls into three ways: complete-literal translation,literal and paraphrasing translation and literal and annotating translation. Complete-literal translation is the way that carries the “original taste” to the highest degree for keeping the original form and foreign flavor of the source language. Paraphrasing translation is adopted to express meaning in other words. After the explanation is added to idioms, the meaning will be clear. Annotation translation is a good way to make foreign readers to grasp the meanings of some idioms in one language whose image cannot be found in the other language, and above the passage, we have discussed the application of foreignization as complete-literal translation, paraphrasing translation and annotating translation.
Though foreignization strategy in idiom translation is regaining its ground, it doesn’t mean that the domestication can be ignored. In fact, domestication has made great contribution to translating idioms. There are many examples of successful domesticating practice. Translation needs the combined use of domestication and foreignization, as they are complementary. So when one doesn’t work so well, we can resort to the other. Only a flexible management of these two strategies can make an ideal translation.
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