As to conveying the exact meanings of Chinese cultural terms, adopting which strategy-- Domestication or Foreignization, cannot be stated clearly. In this thesis, Based on the theories worked out by previous scholar efforts, the author will illustrate the following questions by analyzing some translation cases:What are the relations and differences between Domestication and Foreignization? What are the merits and demerits of Domestication and Foreignization? Which strategy should be chosen as the first principle to translate Chinese cultural terms, Domestication or Foreignization?These three questions will be discussed in the thesis.
1.2 Study Purpose and Significance
“Although the process of cultural integration in the world is very slow, it is eventually the general trend”(Liu Miqing, 1990:32). During the past several decades, learning Chinese has become kind of fashion in some western countries for China has turned into the biggest developing country and one of BRICKs (金砖四国) which is full of opportunities and fortunes. Besides, with the accelerating process of globalization, China has become another enormous target market for foreign manufacturers. The increasing interest about China all over the world has become extremely obvious, and shouldering the responsibility of spreading and maintaining the merits of Chinese traditional culture belongs to us young generation without any doubts. To achieve this goal, getting a good command of translation is of great importance for us to convey the unique Chinese culture to the world, which means, principles of translation should be researched and learned extensively.
A translation is a communicative process of two languages, transferring the information of the original language to target language, with the goal to introduce exotic culture and propagate native culture with least deformation. To be more precise, translation is by definition interlingual and intercultural, it involves both linguistic and cultural transfer; in other words, it is a culture-transcending process (Vermeer, 1992:40). Because of the great affinity between culture and the translation, culture may have an effect on the translation to a large extent. Having a good command of translation strategies can help us to carry forward the ever-lasting Chinese culture, main the diversities of culture and promote the world harmony.
1.3 Organization
The thesis is mainly composed of five chapters. The first chapter demonstrates an overall description of the thesis; the second represents the literature review of this study; the third chapter provides the features of Domestication and Foreignization, and the differences between these two translation theories, besides, typical cases on translation of Chinese cultural terms are also illustrated; the forth chapter and the fifth chapter give the conclusion and bibliography of this paper respectively.
2 Literature Review
Among popular translation theories, Skopos theory takes an undoubtedly predominant place. The core idea of Skopos theory is that, during the process of translation, translators should translate words from the perspective of the intended readers. And, it includes three “Skopos rules” which deliver the core idea of Skopos theory more exactly.
Generally, there are two purposes of translation. One is to express the accuracy of source text, and the other is to cater to target readers and spread the original culture at utmost. The former is called Foreignization, and the latter is Domestication. And these are two major principles which are often used by translators to translate cultural words of other cultures.
In this chapter, a general introduction of Skopos theory, Domestication, Foreignization and Chinese cultural terms will be referred. Some relevant examples about these translation theories will also be discussed herein.
2.1 Skopos Theory and Its Rules
The Skopos theory is a translation theory which was put forward by Hans Vemeer and developed in Germany in the late 1970s and which is later considered not as a process of translation, but as a specific form of human action. 归划或异化从翻译目的论角度看中国文化特有词语的英译(3):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_594.html