模因与翻译探微(英文)

3  The importance of meme in translation strategies
-----with domestication and foreignization as research cases
Domestication and foreignization are two different strategies used in translation activity. Each of them has its own characters but the debate about them has never stopped. From the perspective of meme, this problem can be much clearer and be easy to get a conclusion.
As genes, meme’s nature is managing to copy itself in spreading period. The way in Coding 1 is the most ideal copy with the precondition that it can be spread in practice. That also tallies with translation’s highest level: not only the target language text is requested to effect readers as the original text does, but also it needs convey the original text in the aspects of language, culture and style. Such copy is the goal of foreignization translation. However, the meme complex is a vector that to be translated is language, instead of music, picture or food that can be shared by all human beings. Every language and every culture behind the language is unique, so any two languages are impossible to be totally the same. So, foreignization translation often can not reach the expected goal. Italian literature master Dante pointed out literary works’ untranslatability in 14th century; German linguistics WilliamBao also referred to “language’s uniqueness makes it hardly to copy between languages.” [13]
Although language is unique, cultures’ similarity makes relative copy become true. Some kind of way for expressing in one language sometimes is surprisingly similar to that in another language, as a result, they have the same effect on readers. A meme is often corresponding to another meme in another culture and the two memes infect readers in a similar way. There are examples in both Chinese and English. “When there is a smoke, there is fire” in English and “无风不起浪” in Chinese have the same deep connotation, “Love me, love my dog” in English and “爱屋及乌” in Chinese also have similar meaning. Therefore, many translators adopt the way of Decoding 2, finding similar memes in native language, in order to cause the same effect to readers as the original works does. Then, the core memes in meme complex of original text has been transmitted faithfully. That is the way adopted in domestication.
3. 1 Two translation strategies: domestication and foreignization
Domestication and foreignization are the concept expansion of free translation and   literal translation, but not completely equivalent to them. As the outcome of cultural transformation, domestication and foreignization certainly content deep connotation of culture, literature and politics. If free translation and literal translation are only discussed on language level, then domestication and foreignization are graded to the level of culture, poem and politics. That is to say, the aim of literal translation and free translation is concerned with the gain and loss of meaning and forms, while the aim of domestication and foreignization is concerned with the gain and loss of cultural identity, literature nature, even utterance right which are involved in the gain and loss whirlpool of meaning and forms.转贴于 酷文网-论文下载中心 http://www.coolwen.net