Translator's Choice

Readers and the original text are the two main service objects of translators, and readability and fidelity are the requirements for these two service objects. Due to the inherent trade-off between reader acceptance and cultural preservation, translators need to make choices based on their subjective judgment. Domestication and foreignization are not absolutes, but to wholly affirm or negate either one is an example of "too much of a good thing," which is not worth promoting.

Absolute domestication involves arbitrary additions, changes, and deletions to the original text, approaching a form of creative expression. From the perspective of the original work, excessive domestication often obscures the author's literary craftsmanship, significantly diminishing the charm of the work. When Arthur Waley translated one of China's Four Great Classical Novels, "Journey to the West," he made extensive modifications to reduce reading resistance, even changing the title to "The Monkey." This deliberate pursuit of readability resulted in a significant loss of the original work's cultural essence. From the reader's perspective, some translators excessively domesticate not for readability but merely for showcasing skills or blindly admiring traditional Chinese culture. For instance, translating English texts into classical Chinese is akin to translating one foreign language into another, failing to achieve the fundamental goal of translation—cultural dissemination. Moderate domestication, as described by Wang Zuoliang, is like a sugar coating on bitter medicine, making the translation easier to accept and understand without altering the essence of the original content.

Absolute foreignization refers to literal and rigid translations, blindly pursuing faithfulness to the original text while neglecting the acceptability to readers of the translated text. Lu Xun was a staunch advocate of "literal translation"; sacrificing readability in pursuit of cultural preservation. In my opinion, cultural-specific terms, cultural load words, and other factors can be maximally preserved for the purpose of cultural dissemination. However, there is no need to retain differences in English syntax, sentence structure, etc., as this may hinder the target language readers' understanding of the original text and obscure the core content of the article. Taking Lu Xun's translation of "On Art" as an example, he meticulously followed the original text in terms of vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structures, claiming it was for cultural preservation while actually surrendering the translator's subjectivity.

In conclusion, due to the objective factor of cultural differences, translators must face the choice between readability and fidelity when translating. Given the conflicting relationship between reader acceptance and fidelity to the original text, emphasizing one aspect inevitably comes at the cost of sacrificing the other. In such a dilemma, translators must exercise their subjective agency in finding the right balance between domestication and foreignization. Translation is like dancing in shackles, writing within frameworks, or running on tracks, always characterized by a coexistence of freedom and constraints. Translators have the right to freely choose and subjectively weigh their options, but the basic requirement is not to overstep boundaries. Chinese to English translation.

◀️：Parallel texts in translation

▶️：Differences Between Chinese and Arabic