姓名：方守义学号：201420270 班级：外应一班On Cultural Differences and Translation Methods Abstract:Language is the carrier of a culture. It contains rich cultural information. Therefore translation is not merely to convert one language into another, and it is also a communication activity which involves converting one type of culture into another. Cultural factors begin to gain more and more attention of translators. we find that cultural differences pose major barriers in translating. A thing which is self-evident in one culture has to be painstakingly explained in another. The most serious mistakes in translating and interpreting are usually not the result of verbal inadequacy, but of wrong cultural assumptions. Hardly can any text be successfully translated without appropriately dealing with the differences between source and target cultures. Therefore in this paper I intend to analyze the differences between Chinese and Western cultures as reflected in translation, then to put forward some translation methods(domestication and foreignization) in dealing with them.Key words: cultural differences; domestication; foreignization1. Cultural Differences1.1 Different GeographyGeographical culture refers to the culture formed by the area, natural condition and circumstances the country lies in. In ancient Greece, the long winding seashore along the islands, which led to Asia Minor. Relations among the people were not so strictly classified. The geographical conditions and features in each country have also played an important role in determining the national characteristics in language expressions. Different nations use different expressions and words for the same phenomena and objects. It is because the different geographical conditions and features in each country reflect different life experiences.1.2 Different Ways of ThinkingThe Chinese people are known to the world by their intuitive, whole and dialectical way of thinking. The westerners have had a frame in their heads before speaking or writing, while the Chinese people usually express their ideas free from any fetters. Different ways of thinking affect the accuracy of translation. The English stress formal logic, and the English syntactic structures emphasize hypostasis .While the Chinese do not stress formal logic as much as the English do, Chinese syntactic structures emphasize parataxis, which causes great difficulty in Chinese-Englishtranslation.1.3 Different Religious BeliefsReligion is an important part of culture. It refers to the culture formed by the religious belief, religious consciousness of a nation. It reflects the cultural differences of different nations in what they believe in and abstain form. As religion once had an immense influence on people in the feudal society, there are still many language expressions remaining, which reflect religious belief at that time. Owing to their different religions, the English and Chinese people use different figures in their own expressions with religious allusions. Christianity is the most popular religion in the world especially in the western countries. Since each culture is deeply influencedby religions, the western culture undoubtedly reflects Christianity nearly in every aspect of the western world. The biblical stories and phrases are used very often in their daily life, on television, on the radio, in newspapers, in magazines and everywhere. It is not surprising when a Chinese reads an English article, that he could not understand some parts if there is something like Jericho(an ancient city of Palestine near the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. A stronghold commanding the valley of the lower Jordan River, it was, according to the Old Testament, captured and destroyed by Joshua) and “a kiss of death”and so on. There is Yudiin Chinese legendary tales of Taoism and the Hades, Kwan-yin and Dragon King in Buddhism. Some of the Chinese proverbs, such as“跑得了和尚跑不了庙”(Even if the monk escapes, his temple will be left)and“当一天和尚撞一天钟”(Being a monk for one day, he has to ring the bell for the day) are both evolved from the Buddhism culture. For some reason, the responsibility of generating and preserving the elements of world view has rested with religious belief. People always felt a need to seek outside themselves the values by which they live their lives and guidance on how to view and explain the world. In a host of ways, religion has provided the people of the world with advice, values, and guidance .It appears that for thousands of years billions of people have agreed with the Latin proverb that tells you which a man devoid of religion is like a horse without a bridle. The study of religion not only helps us in the request for the meaning and purposes to life, but also gives us clues into the social aspects of a culture.Throughout the history, religion had been the richest source of values. The social functions of religion are no less important than the psychological functions .Atraditional religion reinforces group norms, provides moral sanctions for individual conduct.2. Cultural Differences and Translation MethodsMistakes caused by the lack of knowledge about the culture of the target language should not be taken for granted and neglected intranslation. Culturally unaccepted expressions and behavior are worse than linguistic mistakes and tend to create ill feeling between native speakers and Chinese speakers of English. Translation is the most controversial of the humanities in the history of mankind. Different languages bear different ethnic cultures. Translation is a cross-cultural activity which will transplant the works produced in one cultural environment into another cultural environment. Any translation can not be separated from cultural transmission. A communication bridge is built up through the conversion of two languages so that the two cultures can be exchanged and integrated. Translation is a kind of behavior in cultural context influenced by cultural intervention. Specifically speaking, the translator's cultural trend has a direct impact on his translation behavior as the main body of translation. Then how to deal with cultural differences in Chinese-English mutual translation? Domestication and foreignization are two different translation strategies.2.1 DomesticationDomestication is the translation strategy in which a transparent fluent style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for target languages readers. Translation should be aimed at target readers and target language. There is more local flavor in Domesticating translation, which is more fluent and easier for readers to understand and can avoid ambiguity or polysemy. In many cases, we can't find an equivalent in target language to replace the words in source language for cultural differences, so at this time the strategy of domestication is often taken by translators. We can see domestication can make up for linguistic differences. Ninety percent of human languages are related to each other which lays the foundation for domesticating translation. Domestication can deal with the source text freely as an ideological tendency for clear and coherent translation to meet the need of target readers. Domestication is often to seize the pragmatic meaning of source language and select the same expression from the target language to translate. Generally speaking, that is to advocate localization of language, not to introduce new expression.For example, if we translate“煞风景” into “kill the scenery”, we will be confused. But it is accepted if we translate it into “be a wet blanket”. It is more proper to translate“拍马屁”into “lick somebody's boots” than “pack the horse's buttock”. From the above, we can see domestication considers target readers more, starting from target language. Its advantage is that translation can read or sound more coherent and authentic and give target readers a sense of intimacy.2.2 ForeignizationForeignization is the translation strategy in which a target text is produced which deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreignness of the original. Translation should be aimed at original authors and source language. Schleiermacher, a famous German theorist, is the first person that proposed the idea of domestication and foreignization, but it is American translation theorist Venuty who first presented the two terms. His theory is based on Schleiermacher. He remarked that it (anti-translation) is to develop a translation theory and practice in order to resist the guiding role of the culture in target language, which highlights the differences of texts in language and culture. Venuty is more willing to get translation non-fluent deliberately so as to make target readers accept foreign cultures. Foreignization is to accommodate foreign languages and absorb foreign cultures in the process of translation. It is generally believed that foreignization is defined as the process of translation using the original expression so that the translation is full of exoticism. Foreignization translation can reproduce the original expression which not only enriches and improves the expression of translation but also makes people understand foreign cultures better to achieve the essence of translation. Specifically speaking, foreignization is to convey the content of source text, not changing original culture, language, style and other characteristics which makes readers more closer to the author and adapt to the original (source-oriented).3. ConclusionWithout the knowledge and practices of other cultures, a translator's perspectives of the world is tragically restricted. Through some methods such as foreignization or domestication , and etc. We can overcome the influence of culture diffrences on translation to some extent. We can convincingly summarize that both of the two methods may be justified in their own right if we take into consideration the differences in the purpose of translation, the type of texts, the intention of the author,the readership, the translator's attitude towards the source and target language cultures, and etc. Each method has its advantages and limits. It's impossible for one to translate a piece of writing or a book using only one method of translation, because either the advocation of foreignization as the sole method or the advocation of domestication as the sole method is unavoidably one-sided and dangerous. As a matter of fact, foreignization and domestication are indispensable and supplementary to each other and the idea that truly successful translation will depend on the unity of the two methods should be kept as a golden mean in every translator's mind. The standard tends to be shifting between two methods, either source-oriented or receptor- oriented. Keeping a good balance between the two methods might be an ideal for dealing with the cultural difference.References:[1] 王东风.归化与异化：矛与盾的交锋[J].中国翻译,2002(5).[2] 孟志刚.论翻译中“异化”和“归化“的辩证统一[J].西安外国语学院学报,1999(4).[3] 许建平,张荣曦.跨文化翻译中的异化与归化问题[J].中国翻译,2002(5).[4] 郭建中.翻译的文化因素：异化与归化[J].外国语,1998(2).[5] 王平.归化与异化：殊途同归的翻译策略[J].福州大学学报,2004(1).[6] 孙致礼.翻译：理论与实践探讨[M].南京:译林出版社,1999:52.[7] Nida E A. Language, Culture and Translating[M].。