Domestication and Foreignization in Key Cultural Text Translation: A Case Study of the English Translation of Lost in the Crowd

Abstract

Translation of key cultural texts is a challenging area since these texts not only present intricacies of cultures but also distinguish them from each other. In spite of it, investigating the translation of key cultural texts is one of the neglected areas in the field of translation studies. In the light of Venuti’s (2008) concepts of domestication and foreignization strategies, this research examines translation of Islamic religious cultural terms in Lost in the Crowd by Al-e Ahmad from Persian into English. It also investigates possible relationship between the accuracy of translation and the choice of strategy. The findings of the study reveal that domestication was the dominant strategy opted for by translators in the translation process. Moreover, the findings show that majority of the Islamic Persian terms were rendered into English adequately but the rate of adequate translation using a domesticating strategy was much higher than foreignizing.