REFLECTIVE ESSAY 2

During the first Coronavirus outbreak, when all education institutions and establishments were
closed, I was interested in applying for scholarships. One of the main requirements for an application
was a research proposal for the master’s thesis. I had chosen Domestication and Foreignization as
my topic of interest and started searching the internet for articles, journals, research papers, books,
etc. I spent around three months reading in total to come up with a research proposal. I was very
proud of my work because it was the very first time, I went through the steps of Research
Methodology and then wrote a research proposal out of personal will instead of being assigned to
do it at the university. Even though this event happened before we took the Research Methodology
class in the 2nd semester of 4th year, I understood well how to go about it. I also had a lot of help from
the internet and from other experienced people. Thus, when I was tasked with reading and
summarizing five articles for a research topic in the Research Methodology course in 5 th year, I came
with some experience that needs polishing. I chose the five articles from the plethora of articles and
journals I had already read; based on how they captured my vision of the research in the best way.
Furthermore, summarizing them was not at all a difficult task since I already had a good grasp of
them.

The first two articles (Hannu Kemppanen, among others, 2012/Fade Wang, 2014) serve as the
introduction of Domestication and Foreignization as a branch of translation theory that focuses on
the socio-cultural aspects and phenomena of translating a text from a language to another.
Particularly, the point whether we should translate every aspect of a text into the target language to
make it easier for the readers or leave certain culturally specific aspects of the source language intact
and instead describe them to keep a certain exotic and foreign feel. These two strategies are called
Domestication and Foreignization, respectively. They can be viewed as the extension of the debate
on “free translation” and “literal translation”. While the first article arrives at the conclusion that
choosing between foreignization and domestication is not fixed, and that the two methods should
supplement and complement each other. Also, in literature translation, translators should mainly
adopt foreignization, and not hesitate to choose domestication when it is necessary. The second
article, which focuses on the concept of affect, highlights instead the affective aspects of translated
communication, as in the need to return to literary theories, those dealing with aesthetic effect.
Here the writer argues for a heightened awareness of the role of affects in various research
paradigms in translation studies to better understand the role as well as the possibilities of
modulating these affects at all stages of the process.

The next two articles (Safa Elnaili, 2016/Ligita Judickaitė, 2009) are analysis of the usage of both
strategies in the translation of a literary novel and in subtitling a film. Authors have examined
translated texts to measure which strategy was used more than the other as well as showing the
different reasons behind the ratio of usage. The analysis done on the classic Arabic novel, Sinbad of
the Arabian Nights, concludes that translating a cultural text is achieved when both strategies are
used in parallel. “Cultural equivalence”, as the author puts it, is accomplished when a translator
domesticates the form and foreignizes the content in order to have a balanced outcome that is still
very approachable for the average reader.
On the other hand, the analysis on the cartoon film Ratatouille showed domestication as the favored
strategy when translating “culture-specific items”. This fact means that the translator was aiming for
a more comprehensible and simplified translation. For film subtitles, this approach is more popular
since the audience could include children who would have a hard time understanding foreignized
content.

While the previous articles discussed the strategies in fictional texts, the last article I chose ( Carlos G.
Tee, 2015) analyzed authentic material to open a more political and philosophical discourse
regarding the two strategies, citing Lawrence Venuti’s (American translation theorist) and Friedrich
Schleiermacher’s (German Philosopher) opposing criticisms and arguments surrounding the topic. I
quote “Venuti generally views domestication and foreignization as two extreme poles, and never
explains the binarism as a range that could simultaneously apply in relative degrees in translating
any given text. Instead, he writes in absolutist terms in his treatment of the pair. Through a
discussion of how Schleiermacher rejected an overtly foreignizing translation of the Greek classics, it
was established that in actual practice, Schleiermacher took foreignization and domestication not as
mutually exclusive extremes but that they could instead coexist in the same text.” (p.141)

Overall, the five articles helped me come closer to understanding the final form and title of my
research. I can already envision how it will be, with some guidance from my supervisor. I am leaning
more towards doing an analysis of domestication and foreignization in a literary novel to better
understand the similarities and differences between the languages. However, I acknowledge that I
need to read more to come to a final decision.
 REFERENCES

Carlos G. Tee. (2015). In Defense of Schleiermacher: A Critique of Venuti's Foreignization and

Domestication, GITI, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan.

Fade Wang. (2014). An Approach to Domestication and Foreignization from the Angle of Cultural
Factors Translation, Foreign Language College, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, 223003, Jiangsu,
China.

Hannu Kemppanen/ Marja Jänis/Alexandra Belikova/Kaisa Koskinen (eds.). (2012). Domestication

and Foreignization in Translation Studies, Domestication, Foreignization and the Modulation of
Affect, Frank & Timme Publishing house for scientific literature, Germany.

Ligita Judickaitė. (2009). The Notions of Domestication and Foreignization in the translation of the
film Ratatouille, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania.

Safa Elnaili. (2016). Investigating Domestication and Foreignization Strategies in Translating Sinbad
of the Arabian Nights, Department of Modern Languages and Classics, College of Arts & Sciences,
The University of Alabama, USA

Musab Masri Hamid

5th year, Language

Dissertation on Language
Saturday, March 13, 2021