Integrated Adoption of Domestication and Foreignization: A Study on the English Translation of Prelude to the Melody of Water by Su Shi

Abstract

This paper is grounded in the context of poetry translation and probes into the English translation of Prelude to the Melody of Water by Su Shi, with translation strategies of foreignization and domestication as the theoretical framework. Despite the fact that it involves some numbers, it is qualitative in nature and adopts the method of textual analysis. It delves into multifaceted challenges encountered by the translator, encompassing cultural and linguistic perspectives inherent in the poetic work. Concerning the cultural perspective, it respectively investigates the translation of culturally-loaded terms and ideorealm, advocating for the application of foreignization in translating them to preserve the exotic flavor of the source culture and encourage target-culture readers to explore the cultural differences in the translated poetry. Regarding the linguistic perspective, it separately explores the adaption to grammatical completeness and rhyme of the English language, upholding the application of domestication in translating them to ensure the readability and musicality of the translated poetry. Through a close examination of four challenges within the two perspectives, this paper finds that the integrated adoption of foreignization and domestication facilitates the cross-cultural and cross-linguistic transmission of poetry, transcending the traditional dichotomy of viewing these two translation strategies as binaries.