Lawrence Venuti: Domestication And Foreignization

Lawrence Venuti who is a translation theorist describes the role of translator in comparative literature in his book “The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation” (1995). The two translation strategies are discussed in terms of “domestication” and “foreignization”. Domestication is to reduce the foreignness or the strangeness of the foreign text to be used in target language. When a foreign text is domesticated, the reader of target language easily understands it as if it is a part of their literatures, then they are not defamilarized from the text. As indicated by Venuti, domestication is an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign text to target language cultural values. On the other hand, foreignization is to demonstrate how the …show more content…
He additionally advocates the visibility of the translator through translation. He claims that foreignization involves in choosing a foreign text and developing a translation method along lines which are excluded by dominant cultural values in the target language. Venuti considers translation to be a middle person between the original text and its translation. For instance, when a minor language can preserve its cultural elements, values or beliefs, it does not have to be adsorbed while being translated. He believes that translator creates a community by presenting the values and characteristics of the foreign …show more content…
Due to the fact that the original text has its own life before its translation, when it is translated, it has after life too. Because of the translation, original text never dies. As reported by Benjamin, translation is a kind of recreation and there is a vital connection between the original text and the translated text. Benjamin emphasizes this vital connection by stating that “it is translation which catches fire on the eternal life of the works and the perpetual renewal of language”. He supports the necessity of translation in comparative literature as mentioned that translation makes literary works alive. As long as they are translated, they will be survived. He also says that translation is not for the reader, it is like a work of art by stating “No poem is intended for the reader, no picture for the beholder, and no symphony for the listener”, the translator should not take the reader or the receiver into consideration. While translating a text, the values, beliefs or histories of the target languages should not take into an