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Introduction To Lawrence Venuti

The document provides an overview of Lawrence Venuti's translation theory and concepts. It discusses his views on invisibility in translation and how fluent translations can construct ideology-stamped identities for foreign cultures. It then covers Venuti's promotion of foreignizing translations to disrupt target language conventions and send readers abroad. The document also outlines the influences on Venuti's theory from German and French thinkers and describes his later concepts around translation communities, utopia, remainders, and inscription.

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227 views16 pages

Introduction To Lawrence Venuti

The document provides an overview of Lawrence Venuti's translation theory and concepts. It discusses his views on invisibility in translation and how fluent translations can construct ideology-stamped identities for foreign cultures. It then covers Venuti's promotion of foreignizing translations to disrupt target language conventions and send readers abroad. The document also outlines the influences on Venuti's theory from German and French thinkers and describes his later concepts around translation communities, utopia, remainders, and inscription.

Uploaded by

Lalann
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LAWRENCE

VENUTI
CONTENTS

I. Introduction
II. Invisibility
III. Foreignizing
IV.Later development of his theory
V. Comments
1
Introduction
Introduction to Lawrence Venuti (1953-)
 an American translation theorist, translation historian, and a translator
 graduated from Temple University and completed his PhD in English at
Columbia University
 one of the most critically minded figures in modern translation theory.
 Main works
• Translation works
Finite Intuition: Selected Poetry and Prose by Milo De Angelis (1995)
• Books
Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation (1995)
The Scandals of Translation: Towards an Ethics of Difference (1998)
2
Invisibility
Background

• Anglo-American culture has long been dominated by


domesticating theories that recommend fluent translating.

• Under such circumstances, translation can be called a


cultural political practice, constructing ideology-stamped
identities for foreign cultures, which could be seen as a kind
of “cultural colonialism”. （把外国文化打上目的语文化意识形
态的烙印）
Invisibility

Definition:
• “Invisibility” is the term Lawrence Venuti uses to describe the translator’s situation and
activity in contemporary Anglo-American culture.

• It refers to two mutually determining phenomena:


 one is an illusionistic effect of discourse;
 the other is the practice of reading and evaluating translations that has long
prevailed in the United Kingdom and the United States.

The translator’s invisibility is symptomatic of a complacency in Anglo-American


relations with cultural others, which can be described as imperialistic abroad （对
外帝国主义） and xenophobic at home （对内排外主义） .
Invisibility

Reasons:
• Translators themselves tend to translate fluently into English.
• A translated text is judged acceptable by most publishers, reviewers, and readers
when it reads fluently.

Example:
“ 这倒不然。谋事在人成事在天。咱们谋到了，看菩萨的保佑，有些机会，
也未可知……”
"I wouldn't say that Man proposes, God disposes. It's up to us to think of
something. We must leave it to the good Lord to decide whether He'll help us or
not..."(Hawkes 1973)
3
Foreignizing
Sources of Venuti’s Theory
1. A foreignizing method formulated first in German culture
(leading figure: the German theologian and philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher. )
德国重异化思想，以施莱尔马赫为代表
2. A French cultural scene, known as “poststructuralism”.
(leading figure: Derrida) 后结构主义，以德里达为代表（原文表达的意义不唯一）

Venuti’s definition of translation:


• Translation is a process by which the chain of signifiers that constitutes the
source-language text is replaced by a chain of signifiers in the target language
which the translator provides on the strength of an interpretation.
F or ei g ni zi ng & D om es ti c a ti n g

Schleiermacher: there are only two (methods of translation).


the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as possible, and moves the
foreignizing
reader towards him;
A term used by Venuti (1995) to designate the type of translation in which a TT is
produced which deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of
the foreignness of the original. (Dictionary of translation studies)
the translator leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves
the author towards him. domesticating
A term used by Venuti (1995) to describe the translation strategy in which a
transparent, fluent style is adopted in order to minimize the strange-ness of the
foreign text for TL readers.(Dictionary of translation studies)
Foreignizing vs. Domesticating

Foreignizing Domesticating
politics is an ethnodeviant ( 去本族中心的 ) is an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign
pressure on those values to register the text to target language cultural values,
linguistic and cultural difference of the bring the author back home.
foreign text, sending the reader abroad.

culture manifests a culture other( 文化他者 ) and removes difference


signifies the difference of the foreign text.

poetics disrupts the cultural codes that prevail in seeks fluency and transparency and makes
the target language. the translation intelligible to target
language readers.
Venuti vs. Nida

• Venuti questions the possibility of eliciting a “similar” response.

• For Nida, accuracy in translation depends on generating an equivalent effect


in the target-language culture: "the receptors of a translation should
comprehend the translated text to such an extent that they can understand how
the original receptors must have understood the original text“.

• For Venuti, meaning is a plural and contingent relation, not an unchanging


unified essence, and therefore a translation cannot be judged according to
mathematics-based concepts of semantic equivalence or one-to-one
correspondence.
Two Ways of Achieving Foreignizing
1. Choose to translate a foreign text excluded by domestic literary canons

E.g. Irene Ash’s English version of Bonjour Tristesse (1955) by Francoise Sagan 《你好，忧愁》

Its amorality( 不道德 ) theme: a 17-year-old girl plans to prevent her widowed father from remarrying, so

that he can continue to engage in a succession of affairs.

Chicago Tribune: I admired the craftsmanship, but I was repelled by the carnality.

2. Use a marginal discourse to translate it (examples)


4
Later development
of his theory
Other Important Concepts
• Translation, Community and Utopia: Venuti advocates that translators should build a
community in the process of translation and make it a bridge between language and culture.
And perfect translation is similar to utopian fantasy.
• Venuti first elevates the translation strategy to ethics, and then sublimates ethics to the height of
utopia.

• Remainder （ 语 言 剩 余 ） : Venuti introduced the concept of "remainder" of the French


theorist Lecercle. Remainder is the variables of language, including dialect, jargon, imitation
words and so on. Translation is releasing remainder to allow the development of the dominant
language.

• Inscription （铭写） : Inscription is to inscribe on the translation the language and cultural
values of the target language.

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