Mechanisms of foreignisation and domestication in translations of science fiction literature

http://starwars.pl/users/miagi/MA_starwars.pdf

The focus of the present thesis is to explore the notions of foreignisation and domestication and their application through different procedures to translations of contemporary literature. In order to estimate the possible dominance of one of the above strategies over the other, a study will be made on a body of contemporary, science fiction literature. George Lucas’s Star Wars series was selected as the genre’s representative, due to its popularity among science fiction (SF) readers and critics today.
The notions of foreignisation and domestication, though formulated and defined only recently, have dominated the discipline of translation since its very beginnings. They are respectively connected with the “word-for-word” and “sense-for-sense” strategies of translation, which have been in use since the times of ancient Rome. The former term was regarded as means of transferring the source text literally into the target text, thus preserving the original style and introducing ‘alien’ vocabulary. Sense-for-sense renditions, on the other hand, aim at a fluent and intelligible target text, even at the expense of terminological precision. As a result, the original passages were transformed into the target version rather than translated, often through the deletion or substitution of elements typical for the source culture.
The domesticating sense-for-sense strategy was the dominant approach in translation until only recently. The 19th century saw a tendency towards the foreign, expressed mainly through the theories put forward by Friedrich Schleiermacher, who stated that the audience was to have “the feeling that they are in the presence of the foreign” (Fawcett 1997: 116). His views were later
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revised by Venuti, who regarded foreignisation as a means of combating the dominant, assimilative position of the English-language culture.
The results of the main research will allow, first and foremost, to identify the dominant translation strategy in Polish renditions of popular literature. They will also make it possible to measure the degree of tolerance, or resistance, to the foreign element in Polish SF.
The present thesis is comprised of three chapters. Chapter 1 introduces relevant theoretical background, essential for further study of the subject matter. It explores the notions of foreignisation and domestication, provides their definitions of them and presents them in a historical context, along with contemporary approaches to the problem. Since the study is to be conducted on proper names, the chapter will also provide their established definitions and classifications. The chapter will conclude with the presentation of popular classifications of translation procedures.
Chapter 2 aims at a concise but informative presentation of the science fiction genre. After providing its established definitions, the chapter will present key terminology concerned with SF, as well as its brief historical outline. It will then move on to Star Wars, defining and enumerating its influences and setting it against a general background of the SF genre. Finally, the Chapter will conclude with a brief look on the Polish SF tradition in order to present the rich heritage of Polish SF literature.
Chapter 3 will present a detailed account of the materials on which the main study is conducted. It will also provide details concerning the methodology of the study and projected results, based on theories presented in Chapter 2. Following the summary of results of the main study, the chapter will provide details and outcome of the research conducted among a group of SF readers. A comparison of the results of the two studies will conclude the chapter.