Culture-bound elements, such as proper names, food items, and idioms not only place the story of a book in a specific culture and period of time, but also imply certain values. These elements also have an effect on how the reader identifies with the story and characters. So, it is important to find the most appropriate strategy to translate such elements.
The objective of this paper is to find out what the most frequently used strategy in translation of culture-specific items in children’s literature is. To this end, Venuti’s (1995) model of domestication and foreignization strategies was adopted as the framework. The culture-bound terms were classified based on Toponyms, Anthroponyms, Means of transportation, Date, Food and Drink, Idioms, Measuring system, Scholastic reference. In the process of tracking down the culture-specific items the model proposed by Pedersen (2005) has been used.
To collect and analyze the data, first, the researcher compared ten successive pages, selected randomly, of each of the selected English children’s stories (Daddy long legs by Jean Webster, Anne- of- Green-Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, the Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, and The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain) with their Persian translation to identify culture-specific items. Next, the strategies used by the translator were identified and their frequency was calculated. The results, then, were presented in some tables.
According to the obtained results, although both domesticating and foreignizing strategies have been used, foreignization has been the most dominant cultural translation strategy in children’s literature.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Statement of the problem
Research question
Hypothesis
Key words
Limitations
Delimitations
Review of the related literature
a. Children’s literature
b. Domestication and Fareignization
c. Culture specific items
Methodology
a. Theoretical Model for Analysis
b. Sampling
c. Procedures
d. Data Analysis and Results
Conclusion
Suggestions for further research
Research Objectives and Themes
The primary objective of this study is to identify the most frequently employed translation strategy when dealing with culture-specific items in English-to-Persian children's literature, specifically examining whether translators favor domestication or foreignization.
- Analysis of Lawrence Venuti’s domestication and foreignization theoretical framework.
- Comparative examination of four selected English children's stories and their Persian translations.
- Classification of culture-specific items into categories such as toponyms, anthroponyms, and food/drink.
- Evaluation of translation shifts and the frequency of strategy adoption by Persian translators.
Excerpt from the Book
b. Domestication and Fareignization
Since the time of Cicero and St Jerome there has been an argument over ‘word-for-word’ translation and ‘sense-for-sense’ translation strategies. This division has been expressed in many different ways through history, from Nida’s ‘formal’ and ‘dynamic’ equivalence, Newmark’s ‘semantic’ and ‘communicative’translation, House’s ‘overt’ and ‘covert’ translation, and so on.
All of these oppositions relate to the degree to which strategies involve manipulating a source text in its translation to a target text, with extent of this manipulation being determined by the relationship of target text receivers to the source culture.
Summary of Chapters
Introduction: This section outlines the importance of translating culture-bound elements in children's literature and establishes the study's focus on Venuti's model.
Statement of the problem: It defines the core conflict for translators regarding the prioritization of the source culture versus the target culture.
Research question: It presents the specific inquiries regarding the treatment of culture-specific items in four selected novels.
Hypothesis: The authors predict that domestication will be the dominant strategy utilized by the translators.
Limitations: This section details the challenges faced in sourcing specific books and finding existing Persian translations.
Delimitations: It defines the scope of the study, specifically the selection of ten successive pages from each book for analysis.
Review of the related literature: This chapter covers theoretical perspectives on children's literature, the evolution of domestication vs. foreignization, and the classification of culture-specific items.
Methodology: It describes the theoretical framework, the sampling process, the specific procedures for data collection, and the plan for analyzing the results.
Conclusion: This final section summarizes the findings, revealing that foreignization occurred more frequently than domestication, contrary to the initial prediction.
Suggestions for further research: It proposes exploring different genres and age groups for future studies in the field.
Keywords
children’s literature, culture-specific items, culture bound elements, domestication, foreignization, translation strategies, Venuti, Persian translation, toponyms, anthroponyms, idiomatic expressions, cultural gap, literary translation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research paper?
The paper investigates the translation strategies—specifically domestication and foreignization—applied to culture-specific items in English children's literature translated into Persian.
What are the central themes discussed in the study?
The central themes include the manipulation of source texts for target audiences, the cultural impact of literary translation, and the classification of culture-bound elements like anthroponyms and food.
What is the primary objective of this research?
The objective is to determine which strategy (domestication or foreignization) is used more frequently by Persian translators when dealing with culture-specific items.
Which scientific methodology is employed?
The study uses a descriptive methodology, involving a sentence-by-sentence comparison of ten randomly selected pages from four English children's books and their Persian translations.
What topics are covered in the main body?
The main body covers the theoretical framework by Venuti, literature reviews on cultural translation, methodological approaches, and a statistical analysis of translation strategies.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Key terms include children's literature, domestication, foreignization, culture-specific items, and translation strategies.
What was the author's initial prediction regarding the outcome?
The researcher predicted that domestication would be the dominant strategy used by the translators of the selected children's stories.
What was the final result of the empirical analysis?
Contrary to the hypothesis, the study concluded that foreignization was the dominant strategy, with 108 instances compared to 85 instances of domestication.
- Quote paper
- Mohammad Reza Shah Ahmadi (Author), Fatemeh Nosrati (Author), 2014, Domestication and Foreignization Strategies in Translation of Culture-Specific Items, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/276244
