Strategies in Translating Cultural-specific Terms with a case study of the Film -- Mulan_英语毕业论文.docxVIP

Strategies in Translating Cultural-specific Terms with a case study of the Film -- MulanIntroduction An important consensus has already achieved that translation engages in not merely an interlingual transfer, but also a cross-cultural communication (Lian, 2007: 313). As a cultural activity, translation mixes at least two cultures, which implies that inevitably it has to deal with the variability factor created by different cultures, i.e. a series of habits, value judgments, classification systems, etc. in each national-linguistic community (Aixelá, 2007: 52-3). Cultural-specific terms (CSTs), which generally include local institutions, streets, historical figures, place names, personal names, periodicals, works of art, etc., represent one significant epitome of this ‘cultural asymmetry’ between two linguistic communities. How to deal with CSTs provokes heated discussions among academic world of translation. Strategies like domestication and foreignisation from Lawrence Venuti and more specifically conservation and substitution from Javier Franco Aixeláhave made outstanding contributions to constructing frameworks for CSTs translation. The purpose of this paper is initially to present strategies in translating CSTs raised by Venuti and Aixelá. Subsequently a case study will be introduced to illustrate how these strategies are applied to translate Chinese CSTs in the film Mulan. Venuti: Domestication Foreignization Lawrence Venuti’s work, particularly in The Translator’ s Invisibility: a History of Translation (2006), has focused on the dichotomy between what he terms as ‘domesticating’ and ‘foreignizing’ translation. This dichotomy of domestication and foreignization are frequently mentioned in relation to CSTs translation. Domestication implies that the translator’s object is to give readers of the target text (TT) the illusion that it was originally written in the target language (TL), whereas foreignization attempts to offer challenges to the TL readers by confr