Domestication and Foreignization in the Translation of Cultural Items in Zakaria Tamer’s The Hedgehog

Abstract

In translation studies, there has long been a great interest in whether the translator should adhere to the conventions of the target text (TT) or convey those of the source text (ST) when dealing with cultural items. This can be especially important when the two cultures are completely different. 

The present study deals with the translation of cultural items of an Arabic text, The Hedgehog by Zakaria Tamer, into English. The aim of the study is to investigate whether foreignization or domestication strategies are more appropriate in translating the cultural items in this Arabic literary work.

Context and the pragmatic force of the utterance were taken as a criterion to determine the success of the translation. The study demonstrates that it is hard to adopt only one approach as the cultural dimension in general and the contextual dimension in particular can be a determining factor in following one approach rather than the other.