浅析文学作品中同化与异化的联系及区别

Abstract Since the 1970s, strategic options of domestication and foreignization in the translation have gone through widespread debates and discussions in the world translation field. In the recent years' practice, the adjustments of foreignizing and domesticating the text in translation predicate the occurrence of hybridization, which has caught people's great attention. Both domestication and foreignization have their advantages. The translator should appropriately apply the respective merits of the two translation strategies in translation practice so as to promote the target reader to understand the related foreign culture. This thesis makes a contrastive study on the sentences involving cultural elements in three great works which translated in hybridization strategy and further discusses the close relation between domestication and foreignization, to ensure the possibility of the overwhelming tendency of hybridization in the near future. This study, of some degree, benefits to better comprehension of domestication and foreignization in an all-round way, and brings about a better understanding of the use of hybridization in literary translation. Also, this study will exert certain theoretical and practical significance to the translation between English and Chinese and the cross-cultural communication between English and Chinese people. Key words: translation strategies; hybridization; domestication; foreignization. 摘 要 从20世纪70年代，翻译中如何选择翻译策略渐成为翻译界广泛争论和探讨的问题。在翻译的反复实践中，归化和异化相互融合，没有界限，杂合化现象渐渐普遍出现，引起了各大翻译学者的关注。归化和异化各有千秋，在翻译实践中应该合理协调合作，发挥各自优点，促进目标读者对异国文化的理解。 本论文通过分析研究《浮生六记》，《飘》以及《名利场》等文学译本中具有突出杂合化翻译特色的句子，肯定了归异结合的翻译方式，及归化、异化、杂合化三者相辅相成的原则。同时从范例和分析中也发现了杂合化趋势的必然性。本研究有助于全面认识归化和异化，有助于英汉民族语言文化交流，对英汉语翻译和英汉跨文化交际具有一定的理论意义和实践意义。 关键词:翻译策略；杂合化；归化；异化 Contents Abstract in English    i Abstract in Chinese    ii 1. Introduction    - 1 - 2.Analysis of Vanity Fair    - 4 - 2.1Brief Introduction of the Work    - 4 - 2.2Application of Domestication and Foreignization in Vanity Fair    - 5 - 2.2.1Analysis from Material Culture    - 5 - 2.2.2 Analysis from Cultural Implication    - 6 - 2.2.3 Analysis from Religious Culture    - 7 - 2.2.4 Analysis from Social Culture    - 8 - 2.2.5 Analysis from Ecological Culture    - 9 - 3.Analysis of Gone with the Wind    - 11 - 3.1Brief Introduction of the Work    - 11 - 3.2 Application of Domestication and Foreignization in Gone with the Wind    - 12 - 3.2.1Analysis from Purpose of Translation    - 12 - 3.2.2Analysis from Text Type    - 13 - 3.2.3Analysis from Reception of Reader    - 15 - 3.2.4Analysis from Translation Intention    - 16 - 4. Analysis of Six Chapters of Floating Life    - 18 - 4.1Brief Introduction of the Work    - 18 - 4.2Some Examples of the Use of Hybridization    - 19 - 5. Conclusion    - 20 - Acknowledgements    - 21 - Works Cited    - 21 - 1. Introduction Seeing from the previous researches of translation, Nida had ever said: As yet there is no theory of translation in the technical sense of ‘a coherent set of general propositions used as principles to explain a class of phenomena,’ but there are quite a few ‘theories’ in the broad sense of ‘a set of principles which are helpful in understanding the nature of translating or in establishing criteria for evaluating a translated text.’ In general, however, these principles are stated in terms of how to produce an acceptable translation. (The Theory and Practice of Translation, 114) In recent years, the core of the attempts in translation strategies has been brought into focus on two prominent strategic options that whether domestication or foreignization is much more suitable in the translation of culture, especially in literary translation. Seeing through the practice in decades of years, we may safely find that the sole application of either of them, sometimes can not transfer the exact meaning of the origin text. Whereas, the combined part of the two ways used in translation miraculously interpret the resource language much better. And in the translation field, we call this kind of strategy hybridization - a brand new method discovered by Bhabha in the late 1980s, twentieth century. Domestication, to be specific, takes the source language as the guidance, and, to a certain extent, retains the foreign and strange elements of the original text; foreignization, on the other hand, takes the goal language as the guidance, and makes every effort to provide the target reader with an easy interpretation of the original text. In the West, domestication has always occupied a dominant position, which can be traced back to the 17th century. Nida is an initiator of domestication, who takes the communicative function of translation seriously, and proposes “functional equivalence”. American Italian scholar Venuti believes that the translation purpose is not to eliminate the linguistic and cultural differences between countries, but to manifest and retain them. In China, professor Sun zhili showed his prospective in his work Chinas Literary Translation: from Domestication to Foreignization “In the21st century, China literary translation changes from domestication to foreignization and foreignization will be in the dominant position.”(Sun 43) In the West and the East, when translation develops up to a certain scale, disputes on domestication and foreignization appear. Contradiction and non-reconcilability between the two strategies is stressed, but mutual transformation and compatibility of domestication and foreignization is paid slight attention to. Hybridization, the common place of the two strategies, first appeared as a translation method in Venuti’s famous work The Scandals of Translation. It skillfully avoids application extremes and joints the advantages together to reach a better translated result. Putting hybridization in translating area is a brand new branch of research in translation area. No one can deny that it is a new angle which is more advanced than the old viewpoints of the traditional translation theories. It is a kind of cultural phenomenon relevant to the conversion both on language and in-depth social culture. In translation practice, domestication and foreignization are in fact not mutually exclusive but mutually supplementary. In accordance with the situation, hybridization can be sure to help us go through much deeper in the exact meaning of the original text. Meanwhile, it will cast light upon some mistakes on cognition in the process of translating. This study is, to some degree, beneficial to the complete comprehension of domestication and foreignization, and gives out a better understanding of the translation of cultural elements in the literary works I cited in the body part. Also, this study will exert certain theoretical and practical significance to the cross-cultural communication between English and Chinese people as well as the approach of how to combine domestication, foreignization and hybridization together. This thesis will truly make some contribution to the further development of translation. In the paper, it is divided into several parts. Apart from the introduction at the very beginning, I have taken the translations of three famous works as examples. In chapter one, a contrastive study on the translation of cultural elements in Thackeray’ s novel Vanity Fair translated by Yang Bi is discussed according to the factors, such as the translation goal, text type, target readers or other factors, which may restrict or affect the translator’s choice of translation strategies. And I analyze the differences in three versions of the translation works of Gone with the Wind from four perspectives in chapter 2. Then, the translation strategies used by Lin Yutang’s Six Chapters of a Floating Life is quoted to prove the possibility of the coexistence of the two translation strategies. At the end of this thesis, I also make a brief summary of the whole paper. 2.Analysis of Vanity Fair In translation practice, we can discover that domestication and foreignization are in fact not mutually exclusive but mutually supplementary translation strategies. A translator shall not overall copy the source language or culture in a translated text, but shall make reasonable adjustments so as to meet the need of the target reader. Whatever translation strategy a translator adopts, the translated text which serves the translation purpose and satisfies the target reader is a successful one. One of the reasons why Yang Bi’s translated edition Vanity Fair enjoys the popularity is that she skillfully utilizes domestication and foreignization and correctly grasps the fusion level of the two translating strategies though it can be clearly seen that her translated book is concentrated on domestication. 2.1Brief Introduction of the Work Vanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero, satirizing Britain society in the early nineteenth century, is the masterpiece of William Makepeace Thackeray, a British critic realism novelist, first published in 1847–1848. The title of this book comes from John Bunyan's allegorical story The Pilgrim’s Progress, which was firstly published in 1678 and still widely read at Thackeray's time. Vanity Fair refers to a stop along the pilgrim’s progress: a never-ending fair held in a town called Vanity, which is meant to represent man’s sinful attachment to worldly things. In the eyes of people, Vanity Fair is regarded as a literary treasure, and also it has inspired several film adaptations. There is no hero in this novel for the story is not surrounded one hero and the figures in the book have no heroic characteristics but plain persons. And the subtitle ‘A Novel Without a Hero’ is the original title of the book. (Yang bi, Vanity Fair) 2.2Application of Domestication and Foreignization in Vanity Fair Yang's translated version of Vanity Fair is an excellent work. In the process of dealing with the translation, indeed, she paid some attention to foreignization to retain the strangeness and exotic features in the source text. However, her use of domestication is more prominent, especially on such aspects, first, using some local words, "godfather" to "干爹", "godson" to "干儿子"; second, she destructed the sentences in the original one and eliminated some ideas for brevity and fluency of the translated version which may contribute to the lack of meaning to some extent. (姜艳萍. 从文化角度论杨必《名利场》译本中归化和异化的融合). But this translated work attains great acceptability among the translators and readers in that it is properly adjusted between the two translating methods, and through the work, we can get knowledge of how hybridization is used for translating. Nida holds an idea that there are five kinds of culture: material culture, social culture, religious culture, language culture and ecological culture. Because of the different geographical, historical, political, economical and religious environments, some unique cultural elements are definitely created in countries. (Nida, Language, Culture and Translating) The contrastive study of domestication and foreignization in Vanity Fair will focus on cultural elements in the original and translated books in the five aspects. 2.2.1Analysis from Material Culture Without any doubts, material culture is related with food, clothes, instruments, housing and some other daily needs, etc. Differences of the material crated and used among countries are inevitable because of different society situation, culture, climate, religion. For these reasons, unique words representing the objects are coined. Example 1 “……Roman-nosed head (on the top of which figured a large and solemn turban)” “她的鼻子是罗马式的，头上还包着一大块缠头布，看上去着实令人敬畏……” “Roman-nosed” is an adjective word referring to a kind of nose that is salient straight near the top part, which is typical in Romans. So it is translated into “罗马式的”. “chuantoubu”(缠头布) is kind of scarf only popularly used by the Chinese traditional housewife to around her head. Example 2 “‘No more has a certain person for holy water,’ his lordship replied with a bow and a grin and a great jarring laugh afterwards.” “勋爵嬉皮扯脸的对她一鞠躬，回答道：“犹之乎魔鬼不喜欢圣水。” “Holy water” means the water blessed by a priest in the west religiously. Obviously, foreignization is utilized here to show the dispute between Rebecca and her sister-in-law. 2.2.2 Analysis from Cultural Implication A language itself contains rich cultural implications, such as idioms, old sayings, etc. By using words or sentences like this, the inner meaning can be expressed completely and vividly. Here are some examples: Example 3 “……George came home to his mother with a black eye, and bragged prodigiously to his parent and his delighted old grandfather about his valor in the fight…..” “……眼睛都打青了。他对母亲和外公信口开河，把自己的勇气大吹一通，外公听了十分得意。” “信口开河” means say something depending no truth. Example 4 “On the contrary, the fury of the old spinster was beyond bounds, when she found what Rebecca’s situation was, and how audaciously she had made use of Miss Crawley’s name, to get an entree into Parisian society.” “老小姐听说利蓓加已经怀孕，又知道她利用自己的名字混进巴黎上流社会大胆招摇撞骗，勃然大怒。” “招摇撞骗” shows the behavior of trick, and ”勃然大怒” express someone is very angry. Example 5 “when Madame, the Duchess of Angouleme, the august daughter and companion of kings……” “有一回，昂古莱姆公爵夫人（她是帝王的后裔，往来相与的也都是金枝玉叶）” “金枝玉叶” is the call of princess in ancient China. In the examples 3-5 exist Chinese special idioms, namely “talk through one’s hat”(信口开河), “swindle through false pretences” (招摇撞骗), “get into a temper”(勃然大怒), “descendents of royal families or families with a high social status”（金枝玉叶）, all of these are the representations of domestication. 2.2.3 Analysis from Religious Culture Religion throws great importance on culture changes and developments. As we know Christianity is in the dominant position in the west, while in China, Buddhism is the most welcomed. Religion enlarges the different point of the west and the east. Example 6 “He took Rebecca to task once or twice about the propriety of playing at backgammon with Sir Pitt, saying that it was a godless amusement……” “有一两回，他看见利蓓加陪着毕脱爵士玩双陆，就去责备她，说是不敬上帝的人才喜欢玩着玩意儿……” Example 7 “Heaven help us!” “求老天爷发慈悲！” Example 8 “……who IS a good Christian, a good parent, child, wife, or husband……” “真的是虔诚的教徒，慈爱的父母，孝顺的儿女，尽职的丈夫，贤良的妻子……” Example 9 “If you had told Sycorax that her son Caliban was as handsome as Apollo, she would have been pleased, witch as she was.” “沙哀科兰克斯虽然是个女巫，如果听见人家说儿子开立本跟太阳神阿波罗一般漂亮，准觉得得意。” Example 10 “In Which Captain Dobbin Acts as the Messenger of Hymen” “杜宾上尉做月老” In example 6-7, “上帝”, “老天爷” are separately translated in foreignization and domestication. In example 8-9, “教徒”,”女巫” both come from the west. ”太阳神阿波罗” is a well-known god in Greece myth. “月老”, on the other hand, is the representation of east Cupid. Example 11 “Revenge may be wicked, but it’s natural,” answered Miss Rebecca. “I’m no angel.” And, to say the truth, she certainly was not.” “利蓓加小姐回答道：“爱报复的心思也许毒，可是也是自然。我可不是天使。” 说句老实话，她的确不是天使。” In this example, we should know that “angel” is a spirit who is believed to be a messenger or servant of God in western countries. Angels are often shown dressed in white with wings. Rebecca’s strong hatred for the old principle is vividly depicted in the foreignizing translation of “angel” into “天使”. 2.2.4 Analysis from Social Culture Social culture has a broad sense, including social customs, allusion, ideology, etc. For the sake of fulfilling the needs of social communication, lots of new words have been created and carried into usage. Meanwhile, some other words are also borrowed from other countries. Words like “snooker” (斯诺克台球), “Lord Chancellor”（(英国上议院的)大法官）, “migrant workers”(民工)imply aspects of social culture. Example 12 “…….as my respected friends Hulker and Bullock will vouch, who were the correspondents of your late lamented father.” “……令尊生前商业上的朋友，赫尔格和白洛克，也是我的朋友，我一向很尊敬他们；对于我的为人，这两位可以保证的。” “lingzun”(令尊) is a respectful address to another person’s father in China. Example 13 “……for every shilling of which, and a great deal more, little Tom Eaves, who knows everybody’s affairs , is ready to account.” “汤姆﹒伊芙斯是个包打听，下面的款子里面每一个先令的去向他全知道，另外搜寻了一肚子掌故，都愿意说给你听……” “Baodating”(包打听) is a nickname for a person in China who is good at inquiring about information or who knows a lot of information. Example 14 “In Miss Jemima’s eyes an autograph letter of her sister, Miss Pinkerton, was an object of as deep veneration as would have been a letter from a sovereign.” “在吉米玛小姐看起来，她姐姐亲笔签字的信和皇帝的上谕一般神圣。” In the feudal China, “a letter from a sovereign” presents the command or the direction of the emperor or empress, and known as “圣谕” or “上谕”. 2.2.5 Analysis from Ecological Culture Ecological culture includes the habits of living things, especially their relation with the environment, such as “igloo” (冰屋), “sirocco” (西罗科风), “dog days” (三伏)and “three nine-day periods after the winter solstice” (三九). Natural conditions and geographical and ecological environment play roles in the formation of ecological culture. The same phenomena or things in different nations are expressed in different language forms. Example 15 “......that the Servants’ Hall was almost as charmed with her as the Drawing Room.” “因此不但上房的主人疼她，连下房的佣人也爱她。” In the past, Chinese rooms were divided into two kinds to show family status, namely “shangfang”(上房) and “xiafang”(下房). “shangfang” is a room or rooms located in the south facing the north for masters or respectful guests to live in, while “xiafang” is a place for servants or guests with a low social status to stay in. Yang uses the domesticating method to translate the two phrases. “shangfang” and “xiafang” vividly present serious hierarchical inequality in England in the nineteenth century. Example 16 “If he had been a Prince Royal he could not have been better brought up to think well of himself.” “如果他做了东宫太子，受的教育也不能叫他更加目中无人。” A crown prince was always arranged to live in “donggong”(东宫) in a feudal dynasty. Yang’s domestication reflects the young gentleman, who has every comfort and luxury that his wealthy and lavish old grandfather provides, shows no respect for his beloved relatives. 3.Analysis of Gone with the Wind In this part, a comparative study is made on the hybridization applied in three Chinese Versions of Gone with the Wind based on the research of the strategic application of domestication and foreignization. Depending on Nida’s theory, the translation process should consider five aspects, namely the reality of the text itself, the manner in which the translated text is to be used, the intended audience, the discourse type and the purpose for which the translation has been made.(Nida, Language and Culture: Contexts in Translating, 87) In order to explore the possibility of the coexistence of the two translating approaches, the author processes the third segment on such specific factors as purpose of translation, text type, reception of readers, translator intention. Though they both have respective characteristics and values in choice, the preference to either one from a static and absolute perspective is unreasonable and superficial. 3.1Brief Introduction of the Work Margaret spent ten years in finishing the world’s bestselling book, which was published in June 1936. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her sweeping novel in May 1937. The novel was made into an equally famous motion picture starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable with an achievement that won ten Academy Awards in1939. By late 1965, Gone with the Wind had sold more than 10,000,000 copies and had been translated into more than forty languages so far. The impact Gone with the Wind made and still makes on the world is immeasurable. Therefore, the popularity of the novel together with the appeal of the film contributes to many translation versions’ merging in China in different ages. (欧阳铨, 新世纪外国语言文学研究, 286) 3.2 Application of Domestication and Foreignization in Gone with the Wind Three Chinese versions of Gone with the Wind were used to make a comparative study on domestication and foreignization, the oldest one by Fu Donghua in 1940, a later version by Li Yeguang in 1990 and the latest one by Chen Liangting in 2002. According to the changes of translation strategies we talked above, it may be understood that the first one should be domesticated and the last two versions should be foreignized. That is almost the fact. The last version actually is a mix of domestication and foreignization. 3.2.1Analysis from Purpose of Translation Nida once pointed out that the particular purposes of translators are important in dictating the types of translation. Different purpose pursued different translation strategies. After the picture work of Gone with the Wind was on show in the 1940s, Chinese were got to know this famous novel. Later, the great need of its translated versions urged translators’ action. Fu Donghua was the prominent one among them. In his preface he said, I’d rather clothe names of people and places in Chinese style merely in order to make it readable: the dialogues are also translated in the way expressed in Chinese and the proverbs are replaced by our own; some lengthy description and psychological analysis are deleted. Besides, many humorous, sarcastic and obscene idioms are replaced with our own courteous ones. My goal is to pursue the faithfulness to the flavor and soul of the original but not to minor details. In this, we can easily get the idea that he holds a preference of domestication. Guided by his purpose of translation, he translated the names of people and places generally take on a Chinese look, for example “郝思嘉”,”白瑞德”,”卫希礼”,”韩媚兰”,”钟氏坡”,”曹氏屯”, etc. These names may well encourage a sense of familiarity from the readers while the strangeness of the foreign elements was eliminated. As for Li Yeguang, he declared that we should be strictly faithful to the original so in his translation, he just continued to use the first names of the four leading roles in Fu’s work but other names had been largely changed to their foreignized forms. When it comes to Chen Liangting’s version, the name of the same person or place sounds like the one of different person of place compared with Fu’s translation. Chen translated the English names in accordance with the pronunciation and diverted the order of the family name and the first name such as “斯佳丽奥哈拉”, “瑞特巴特勒”, “阿希礼韦尔克斯”, “玫兰妮汉密顿” and so on. 3.2.2Analysis from Text Type The text type of the original may also affect the choice of translation strategies. According to Newmark, before deciding on his translation method, the translator may assign his text to three general categories: expressive texts, informative texts and vocative texts, each of which is dominated by a particular function of language. But the fact that there are different functions and purposes of one source text has proved the fuzzy nature of the correspondence between text types and their functions. A single method to translate a text is far from enough. When determine the translation strategies, the translator should refer to the function or set of functions that the target text is to achieve in the target culture. Therefore, there is no wonder that in the circle of literary translation, a literary work has two or more translation versions with different translating strategies. When translating Gone with the Wind, Fu Donghua once said, “Translating this novel is different from translating classics. It must be boring if every word is exactly translated”. After the showing of the movie, the translated version is supposed to act a role of supplement for further fun and continue the craze for the detailed love story. In Fu’s mind, the target text may be more of informative type with expressive function. In other words, he has used more domestication than foreignization while Li Yeguang and Chen Liangting dealt with their versions another way around since the “popular” novel is considered to gain its ground among “masterpieces”. Example 1: You’ll get a dollar a pound when elephants roost in trees! Fu’s version:你等雄鸡生蛋的时候才去卖一块钱一磅罢！ Li’s version:等到大象在树林里做窝时，你就可以卖一美元一磅了！ Chen’s version:卖一块钱一磅？ 除非西天出太阳！ This is a satire from Scarlett on Rhett when he proudly tells her that he’s forestalling cotton and expects it to be sold a dollar a pound in the future. Fu and Chen respectively use “雄鸡生蛋” and “西天出太阳” to show the impossibility of the high price which has been figuratively implied by “elephants roost in trees” in the original. In China, people rarely signify their strong suspicion of odds in that way. So when reading Li’s translation, the target readers probably sense a little abrupt at the beginning but may later realize that it is perhaps the naughty and lively way of Scarlett to convey her incredulity. From the prospective of equivalence, Fu’s version surely effects the direct and time – saving understanding from the readers without any sense of strangeness. Chen, however, uses a convenient expression with which Chinese people can’t be more familiar. As far as I’m concerned, the fluency of his version has flooded the spice of Scarlett’s comment