To Foreignize or To Domesticate Abstract1：Domesticatingtranslationandforeignizingtranslationaretwo differenttranslationstrategies.formerreferstothetranslation strategyinatransparent,fluentstyleisadoptedinordertominimize thestrangenessoftheforeigntextfortargetlanguagereaders,while thelatterdesignatesthetypeoftranslationinwhichatargettextdeliberately breakstargetconventionsbyretainingsomethingoftheforeignessofthe original.ButwhatisthetranslationpracticelikeinChina?Dotranslators tendtouseforeignizingmethodsordomesticatingones?Whatarethefactors thataffecttheirdecisionmaking?Thispapertriestofindanswersto thequestionsbylookingintothetranslationofEnglishmetaphorsinto Chinese. Keywords:domesticatingtranslation;foreignizingtranslation;metaphor; target languagereader 1.Introduction “Domesticatingtranslation”and”foreignizingtranslation”aretheterms coinedbyL.Venuti(1995)todescribethetwodifferenttranslationstrategies. Theformerreferstothetranslationstrategyinwhichatransparent,fluent styleisadoptedinordertominimizethestrangenessoftheforeigntext fortargetlanguagereaders,whilethelatterdesignatesthetypeoftranslation inwhichatargettext”deliberatelybreakstargetconventionsbyretaining somethingoftheforeignessoftheoriginal”(ShuttleworthCowie,1997:59). TherootsofthetermscanbetracedbacktotheGermanphilosopherSchleiermachers argumentthatthereareonlytwodifferentmethodsoftranslation,”either thetranslatorleavestheauthorinpeace,asmuchaspossible,andmoves thereadertowardshim;orheleavesthereaderinpeace,asmuchaspossible, andmovestheauthortowardshim”(Venuti,1995:19-20). Theterms”foreignization”and”domestication”maybenewtotheChinese, buttheconceptstheycarryhavebeenatleastforacenturyattheheart ofmosttranslationcontroversies.LuXun(鲁迅)oncesaidthat”before translating,thetranslatorhastomakeadecision:eithertoadaptthe originaltextortoretainasmuchaspossibletheforeignflavourofthe originaltext”(Xu,inLuo,1984:315). ButwhatisthetranslationpracticelikeinChina?RecentlyIhaveread twoarticleswhichshowcompletelyconflictingviewsonthisquestion. Inhisarticleentitled”ChineseandWesternThinkingOnTranslation”, A.LefeveremakesageneralizationbasedonhiscomparisonofChineseand Westernthinkingontranslation, WhenChinesetranslatestextsproducedbyOthersoutsideitsboundaries, ittranslatesthesetextsinordertoreplacethem,pureandsimple.The translations taketheplaceoftheoriginal.Theyfunctionastheoriginalintheculture totheextent thattheoriginaldisappearbehindthetranslations.(BassnettLefevere, 1998:14) ,FungandKiuhavedrawnquitedifferentconclusionsfromtheir investigationofmetaphortranslationbetweenEnglishandChinese, OurcomparisonofthetwosetsofdatashowedthatinthecaseoftheEnglish metaphor theimageoftenthannotretained,whereaswiththeChinesemetaphors, substitutionis frequentlyused.OnereasonperhapsisthattheChineseaudience aremorefamiliarwith andreceptivetoWesternculturethantheaverageEnglishreadersisto Chineseculture.(Fung,1995) Theaboveconflictingviewsarousedmyinterestinfindingoutwhether theChinesetendtodomesticateortoforeignizetheytranslatea foreigntext.InwhatfollowsIshallnotcomparetranslationbyWestern andChinesetranslators,butratherlookintothetranslationofEnglish metaphorsintoChinese. 2.WhatisMetaphor? TheRandomHouseUnabridgedDictionary(secondaddition)definesmetaphor as”afigureofspeechinwhichatermorphraseisappliedtosomething towhichitisnotliterallyapplicableinordertosuggestaresemblance.” WhileaccordingtoBBCEnglishDictionary,”metaphorisawayofdescribing somethingbysayingthatitissomethingelsewhichhasthequalitiesthat youaretryingtodescribe.” PeterNewmarkdefinesmetaphoras”anyfigurativeexpression:thetransferred senseofaphysicalword;thepersonifi3456 cationofanabstraction;theapplication ofawordorcollocationtowhatitdoesnotliterallydenote,i.e.,to describeonethingintermsofanother.Metaphorsmaybesingle -viz.one-word-orextended(acollocation,anidiom,asentence, aproverb,anallegory,acompleteimaginativetext”(1988b:104). Snell-HornbyrejectsNewmarksconceptofthe”one-wordmetaphor”infavour ofWeinrichsdefinitionthat”metaphoristext”(1988:56).Shebelieves thatametaphorisacomplexof(atleast)threedimensions(object,image andsense),reflectingthetensionbetweenresemblanceand disparity”(1988:56-57). Thispaperwillfollowtheideathat”metaphoristext”whichincludes anidiom,asentence,aproverbandanallegory. 3.Whathasbeensaidaboutthetranslationofmetaphor? “Incontrasttothevoluminousliteratureonmetaphorinthefieldofliterary criticismandrhetoric,thetranslationofmetaphorhasbeenlargelyneglected bytranslationtheorists”(Fung,1995).Inhisarticle”Canmetaphorbe translatable?”,whichisregardedasaninitialdiscussionofthesubject, Dagutsays, “Whatdeterminesthetranslatabilityofasourcelanguagemetaphorisnot itsboldnessororiginality,butrathertheextenttowhichthecultural experienceandsemantic associationsonwhichitdrawsaresharedbyspeakersoftheparticular targetlanguage” (1976). Snell-Hornbytakesmetaphortranslationinthelightoftheintegrated approach.Shesaysthat Thesenseofthemetaphorisfrequentlyculture-specific,.Whether ametapho