Journal of East China Normal University (Philosoph ›› 2018, Vol. 50 ›› Issue (1): 73-78.doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2018.01.005

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On the Domestication in the Japanese Translation of LU Xun's Novels: A Case Study of Call to Arms Translated by TAKECHI Yoshimi

FUJII Shozo1,2   

  • Online:2018-01-15 Published:2018-01-26

Abstract: Japanese have kept reading LU Xun for a century. However, Japanese translation does not convey the style and thought of LU Xun well enough. L. Venuti, American theorist of translation, analyzes translation from two aspects of domestication and foreignization. In terms of Japanese translation of LU Xun's literary works, there is a trend to localize LU Xun's works as well as other modern Chinese literary works in Japanese and there is another trend to accept the impact of LU Xun's or Chinese works on Japanese culture. The inclination of domestication in the translation of LU Xun's works is obvious, which can be represented by TAKECHI Yoshimi's translation. Compared with the original work, in TAKECHI's translation, a few times more punctuations are used, so the original long sentences are cut into many short ones. LU Xun's novels are characterized by very long sentences, which show us the labyrinthine traces of his thought. Nevertheless, TAKECHI's segmented sentences change LU Xun's anguish and puzzlement into explicit statements. This paper investigates the inclination of domestication as well as its reason in TAKECHI's translation of LU Xun.

Key words: LU Xun's literary works, Japanese translation, punctuations, TAKECHI Yoshimi, translation of Call to Arms, domestication, localization