从文化翻译观看汉语习语的英译[Abstract]Domestication and foreignization are the terms brought up by an American scholarL.Venuti to describe the two different translation strategies.The former refers to translation inwhich a transparent,fluent style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign textfor target language readers,while the latter designates the type of translation in which a target textdeliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreignness of the source text.Translation,generally speaking,is not only a transition between different languages,but alsotransferring information of culture in the source language to that in the target language.And thenature of translation is cultural communication.Since 1980s,many scholars put forward their ownopinions upon domestication and foreignization under the light of cultural translation.In theiropinion,the fundamental task of translation is to transfer the original contents and culturescompletely into the target language.During translation,translators should consider not onlydifferences between languages but also those between cultures.Therefore,translators should putmore emphasis on foreignization.Take Chinese idioms for example.Since the exchanges amongdifferent countries and regions become more and more frequent,translators should put moreemphasis on foreignization in translating Chinese idioms into English.During translation,translators should facsimile as much as possible the cultural features and connotations of Chineseidioms.In this way,English people can know more and better about China and really contact withthe sophisticated Chinese culture.Meanwhile,to some extent,foreignization can help to spreadunique Chinese cultural message and even help to enhance cultural communication between Chinaand foreign countries.[Key Words]domestication;foreignization;cultural translation theory;Chinese idioms【摘要】归化与异化是两种不同的翻译策略。译界有许多学者对此发表了许多的观点。归化与异化之争由来己久，从古至今，从西方到中国，归化与异化都是学者译者们争论的热门话题之一。翻译基本上是一种语言转换活动但又不是一项纯粹的语言转换活动，它还牵涉到种种非语言因素，特别是牵涉到种种文化因素。翻译不仅是语言层面更是文化层面上的一种活动，其本质是文化交流。自20世纪80年代后，许多学者针对归化与异化提出了应该从文化角度来审视二者的观点。孙致礼在《翻译的异化与归化》中提到：“翻译的根本任务是准确而完整地传达原作的‘思想和‘风味'。在翻译中，译者不仅要考虑语言的差异，还要密切注视文化的差异，力求最大限度地保存原文所蕴涵的异域文化特色。如果不是万不得已，特别不宜归化，而要尽可能真实地传达出来。”“归化主要表现在‘纯语言层面'，在‘文化层面'上则应力求最大限度的异化。”以汉语习语为例，在当今跨文化交流不断发展的趋势下，译者在翻译中应多从文化的角度考虑，适度加以应用“异化”策略及其方法，尽可能重现汉语习语的文化特征及内涵，让西方人更多更好地了解中国，接触中华民族博大精深的文化，同时也有利于传播中国独有的文化气息，进而有利于实现中国与世界各国进一步交流。「关键词]归化：异化：文化翻译观：汉语习语1.On cultural translation theoryCultural translation is discussed in the broad context of culture.It includes an analysis of thesurface and deep structures of culture and language,and the examination of the internal contextbetween culture and translation as well as the objective laws pertaining to their interaction.In late1980s,many scholars began to give their own opinions on translation from the perspective ofculture.Umberto Eco considered that translation equals to culture,that is to say,the translationactivity is a kind of cultural transportation."Lambert and Robyns held that translation should betreated as not only an activity between two languages but also a communicative activity betweentwo cultures.Nida pointed out:for a truly successful translation,bicultural ability is much moreimportant than bilingual ability"[1]p70.Some scholars suggested that culture but not text shouldbe regarded as the translation unit and translators should pay more attention to culture duringtranslation.To some extent,those views became symbols of formation of cultural translationDifferent cultures have different features.Culture indicates a nation,region or a race's feature.And the communication of different cultures needs translation.Translation is the production andintermedium of cultural communication."Translation reflects the features of both cultures whenone language and culture is translated into another.And the aim of translation is to transfer thesource culture into the target culture"[2]p24."Wang Zuoliang pointed out:The differencebetween two cultures is the most difficult thing in translation,so translators should have a goodknowledge of both the foreign culture and the native culture.The more translators understand thecultural information,the more possibly they can master the language and reproduce the originalculture.Han Ziman viewed that the features of culture have an effect on the whole translationactivities and the vise versa is also true"[3]pl16.Therefore,the transference of culturalinformation should play a key role in translation.In the broad context of culture,translation means not only one language being transferred intoanother but also a communication between two cultures.And the purpose of translation is topromote cultural communication.Translation is a kind of cultural activity that translatorsreproduce the original culture in the target text.Cultural information but not language is the objectof translation."During translation,translators should translate the 'form'and 'essence'of theoriginal language into the target language directly and exactly.i.e.,translation should reserve thecultural difference and reproduce the original 'foreignness'as much as possible"[4]p37.Here,"foreignness'means that translation should keep as much as possible the cultural features andinformation of the source text"[5]p136.All in all,in cultural translation,translators should takeculture into consideration and reconstruct the source culture as much as possible into the targetlanguage during translation.2.Domestication and foreignization under the light of cultural translation2.1 The origin and definition of domestication and foreignizationThe pair of terms,domestication and foreignization,was mentioned in The Translator Invisibilitywritten by American famous translator L.Venuti in 1995,which were used to describe two kindsof translation strategies.Their taking out were on the basis of Germany philosopher SchleierMarcher,who viewed that there were two kinds of translation,one was"the translator leaves theauthor in peace as much as possible,and moves the reader toward him."the other was"thetranslator leaves the reader in peace as much as possible,and moves the author toward him."[6]p21.According to Marcher's opinion,the former sentence refers to mean the reader-orientedtranslation while the latter the author-oriented one.The reader-oriented translation refers to thetranslation that translators pay more attention to the target language readers'conventions andunderstandings while the author-oriented one means to the translation that translators take thesource language author's ideas and style into account.However,he never used special terms tosummarize them.It was Schuttleworth and Cowie who defined them.They gave"domestication"a definition as"a term used by Venuti to describe the translation strategy in which a transparent,fluent style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for target languagereaders."[7]p21 Venuti considered that "domestication"contained derogatory meaning,because"it is identified with a polity common in dominant cultures which are 'aggressively monolingual,unreceptive to the foreign',and which he describes as being 'accustomed to fluent translations thatinvisibly inscribe foreign text with [target language]values and provide readers with narcissisticexperience of recognizing their own culture in a cultural other"[8]p21.In other words,accordingto Venuti's opinion,"domestication"used in translation indicates the meaning of the "dominantculture"recombining the language and cultural features of the source text with the purpose ofdominating the“weak culture”.For "foreignization",Schuttleworth and Cowie defined it as "a term used by Venuti todesignate the type of translation in which a target text is produced which deliberately breaks targetconventions be retaining something of the foreignness of the original."Venuti regarded it as achallenging strategy to"domestication"and its effect is to"register the linguistic and culturaldifference of the foreign text,sending the reader abroad."[9]p21 In translation,translators shouldreserve the language and culture features of the source text;therefore,readers of the target text canfeelsome“strangeness'”of other cultures.The definition of domestication and foreignizafion has changed when they are introduced intoChina."And the scope of reference is enlarged .It refers to not only the translation from foreignlanguages to English but also the translation from one language to another,especially fromChinese to other languages"[10]p22.What's more,the elements of cultural inequality never drawpeople's great attention and even are forgotten.From the exploration and discussion mentioned above,now we can sum up domestication andforeignization in this way:they are two different translation strategies used by translatorsaccording to different aspects such as the difference between two languages and culturestranslation purpose,type of text,intention of the author and readers of the target language etc."Domestication"holds that translation should be in accordance with the target language andculture and get rid of the barriers as much as possible so as to meet the target language readersdemands;"foreignization"views that translation should reserve the cultural features of sourcelanguage so as to enrich the target language and culture and meet the target language readersdemand of"strangeness"."Domestication and foreignization is a pair of complementarytranslation strategies that don't reject against each other"11 p68.