1. Introduction

In the second half of the 20th century, academic circles no longer confined translation studies to the linguistic level of equivalence but strove to seek balance in the social, cultural, and ideological aspects of the target language and the source language to achieve better translation effects. Lawrence Venuti first introduced the pair of translation concepts, domestication and foreignization, in his book The Translator’s Invisibility [1]. Meanwhile, the continuous development of globalization, while promoting cultural exchange, also intensifies the risk of cultural homogenization. Therefore, the domestication translation strategy serves as an important product for achieving the localization of cultural products in the context of globalization. By studying the domestication translation strategy, it not only helps to deepen the understanding of the essence of translation, striving to achieve the unity of cultural negotiation and power game in language conversion, but also can build a more comprehensive translation evaluation system to better promote cross-disciplinary integration and expand the academic boundaries of translation studies.

However, in the field of translation studies, there is a lack of systematic integration of specific branches under the strategy of domestication. The existing theoretical frameworks are mainly based on the cultural context of Europe and America and mostly come from the mutual translation between languages within the Indo-European language family, such as English, French, Spanish, etc. The depth of research on domestication in the translation between Chinese, Arabic, etc, and Western languages is insufficient. Especially in English-Chinese translation, the practice of domestication often neglects the cultural characteristics and historical evolution behind the Chinese context, and the dynamic handling needs to be strengthened. Therefore, the study of domestication translation can draw on and integrate theoretical achievements from different disciplines, such as cognitive linguistics and communication studies, and effectively utilize technological changes in the digital age, so as to better serve translation theory and practice. Hence, this essay, by drawing on the brief introduction of domestication translation theory in Xiong Bing [2]. Conceptual Confusion in Translation Studies: Taking "Translation Strategies", "Translation Methods" and "Translation Techniques" as Examples, further elaborates on the specific content of the domestication theory and its translation practice in detail.

This essay evaluates and analyzes the readability and cultural transmission effect achieved in the translation of specific culture-related terms under the existing framework of domestication translation theory, aiming to systematically summarize and organize the branches of domestication strategies and their application examples in English-Chinese translation. By introducing domestication translation cases from Harry Potter, it studies the application of domestication strategies in Chinese translation practice.

2. Definition of translation strategies domestication

Domestication, originally proposed by Lawrence Venuti in his book The Translator’s Invisibility [1], refers to a method centered on the cultural habits of target language readers in translation strategies. The core is to eliminate the sense of exoticism of the original text as much as possible, make the translation read like an original work in the target language, and reduce readers' sense of unfamiliarity with foreign cultures. Compared to foreignization, it prioritizes targeted culture language, aiming to facilitate readers’ acceptance. Widely utilized in popular texts, this strategy translates the source language’s cultural concepts, such as customs, allusions, metaphors, and values, into the corresponding expressions in the target language culture.

In English-Chinese translation, several novels embody this idea. For example, in Harry Potter, through creative localization, the translator has reduced the reading comprehension barriers for Chinese readers caused by cultural differences. Here are four categories in Harry Potter using domestication translation [3]. Below is the table that simply analyzes these corresponding relations.

Given above, domestication, as a common approach existing in advertisements, juvenile literature, and novels, is capable of improving readability and enhancing the affinity of translation. Hence, this essay will continue to introduce relevant theories and a more specific classification of domestication.

3. Translation strategies of liberal translation based on domestication

Liberal translation refers to the translation process of not sticking to the words, grammatical structure, or even superficial form of the original text, but in-depth understanding of the deep meaning, intention, style, emotion, and cultural connotation of the original text, and then looking for the most natural and most appropriate expression that can cause the same feelings and reactions in the target readers in the target language. It pursues the similarity in spirit but not in form, emphasizing the accurate transmission of meaning and the reciprocity of communication effect, in contrast to literal translation, which pays more attention to word-by-word correspondence and retention of formal structure.

When encountering culture-specific items, poetry, movies, slang, and advertisements in translation practice, liberal translation is widely applied to gap the barrier of understanding, especially in the translation of puns and internet buzzwords in specific cultural contexts that require the use of paraphrasing to effectively convey the meaning [4]. In the practice of liberal translation, we usually reorganize and reconstruct the cultural images in the original text by retaining the core meaning and discarding the original ones in the translation or make explanatory conversions so as to conform to the expression habits, grammatical rules, and rhetorical uses of the target language, making the translation more idiomatic and fluent.

This technique is clearly reflected in the English-Chinese translation of Harry Potter. For example, the incantation “Expecto Patronum”, the literal meaning of the Latin phrase, is I expect a guardian (我期待一个守护者). However, the translator completely disregarded the literal meaning of the Latin text and captured the essence of this incantation: summon a guardian composed of positive forces. In the ultimate Chinese version, the four words (呼神护卫) are forceful and evocative, rich in visual and dynamic impact, perfectly conveying the effect and emotional power of the spell, far surpassing any literal or phonetic translation in terms of shock value and alignment with the context of Chinese magic.

In conclusion, liberal translation is a strategy that centers on the target language readers and aims for equivalent meaning and effect. It grants the translator the necessary flexibility to adjust the form and adapt to the culture, thus freeing the translation from the constraints of the source language structure and allowing it to take on a new life in the target context to achieve effective communication. However, paraphrasing is by no means arbitrary rewriting [5]; its core lies in a profound understanding of the essence of the original text and creative transformation based on that understanding.

4. Translation strategies of imitation based on domestication

In the strategy of domestication translation, imitation is a special and highly domesticated approach. It goes beyond simple language conversion and aims to create a sense of originality in the target language cultural context, making the translation read as if it were originally written in the target language rather than a translated work [6]. It aims to reproduce the core spirit, artistic effect, or function of the original text in the target language culture, making it conform to the cultural habits, aesthetic expectations, and acceptance capacity of the target language readers. During this process, the translator enjoys a great deal of freedom and can significantly adjust, add, delete, rewrite, or even recreate the content, form, style, cultural imagery, and other elements of the original text. So it can be said that imitation is one of the most extreme manifestations of domestication strategies.

In different versions of Harry Potter in Chinese, imitation has been clearly reflected. In Chinese, it is often avoided to use long compound words to describe things. Translating "you-know-who" as “神秘人” instead of “你知道是谁” fits the Chinese taboo habit. What’s more, in regard to the translation of the incantation “Wingardium Leviosa”, the translation versions of the Taiwan region of China and mainland of China are poles apart. The Taiwanese version adopts a direct transliteration approach, translating it as “温咖癫啦唯啊萨”, while the translation version on the mainland China utilizes the combination of meaning representation and phonetic translation, translating it as “羽加迪姆勒维奥萨”. Among them, the character "羽" is used to imply the floating meaning of the incantation, enabling readers to better understand the specific function of the incantation. This phenomenon also reflects the distinct styles of different translators in their translation practices.

From what has been introduced above, when the cultural background, values, and expression methods of the original text differ greatly from those of the target culture, neither literal translation nor free translation can be accepted or understood; using the strategy of imitation translation can convey the core emotions to the greatest extent. Or, when wordplay in the original text cannot be directly transplanted, it is often necessary to create new jokes or puns in the target language that have a similar effect.

However, some argue that the use of imitation translation strategies may not be faithful enough to the original text, possibly distorting the author's original intention or losing cultural features or details. It may also completely eliminate the heterogeneity of the original text, preventing readers from experiencing the cultural background and unique charm of the original work, which requires us to view and apply this translation strategy holistically.

5. Translation strategies of variation translation based on domestication

Variation translation is the most frequently used, prominent, and sometimes most controversial specific operation method under the domestication translation strategy. It refers to the conscious adjustment, alteration, or even replacement of the content, form, image, and allusions of the source text to adapt to the language habits, cultural norms, aesthetic tastes, or ideologies of the target language [7]. Generally, culture-specific items used in the source language, such as idioms and proverbs, may be completely absent, which makes the context difficult to understand or evokes negative associations in the target language culture. Some details, background information, and secondary plots in the source text may seem lengthy, irrelevant, or hard to understand to the target language readers, or they may involve sensitive cultural, political, or religious topics. Under such circumstance, translators should delete, merge, and simplify the minor content as well as keep the core information unchanged [8]. Hence, variation translation is applied in these situations.

Let’s cite concrete expression in Harry Potter as an example. When dealing with “NEWTs (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests)”, a direct translation of it would be “令人讨厌的,令人疲惫的魔法测试”. However, the translator gave up the pun "Nastily Exhausting" in the original text, as a literal translation would be overly long and lose the formality of the exam's name. And the term “终极” is used to emphasize its high difficulty and significance, while “考试” is used to clarify its nature, coming to a result “终极巫师考试” by using variation translation. Also, the word “N.E.W.T.” itself means “newt”, but this pun is completely lost in the translated name, which is the price of the variation translation.

Variation translation is a method under the domestication strategy, which consciously adjusts, alters, or substitutes the language form, cultural imagery, content details, or pragmatic approach of the source text to achieve naturalness, fluency, and acceptability of the target text in the target culture. It aims to bridge the cultural gap and pursue functional equivalence and similarity in reader response [9]. Its core lies in changing the external form while retaining the core meaning and effect. However, the translator must carefully balance the degree of adaptation, seeking a compromise between eliminating cultural barriers and remaining faithful to the original text, and avoid cultural distortion or meaning distortion caused by excessive domestication.

6. Conclusion

For the specific application of the domestication strategy in translation practice, it is more important to comprehensively apply different translation methods to further optimize the quality of the translation. This essay further elaborates on the branch translation method of domestication strategy, proposing that a clear distinction should be made among these three concepts (liberal translation, imitation and variation translation). It is hoped that this will help to eliminate the confusion among translation enthusiasts regarding these three concepts and better contribute to the development of translation studies.

Although this article has drawn some valuable conclusions in the induction of domestication and foreignization translation strategies, it is necessary to recognize its limitations, which also point out the direction for further in-depth research in the future. One of the main limitations lies in the insufficient selection of cases in the target language, mainly focusing on the English-Chinese translations of Harry Potter, lacking specific analyses of multi-genre texts. This might make it difficult for readers to find effective translation references when conducting domestication translation practices on other texts such as advertisements and movies. Another notable limitation is that due to the limited subject matter in the Harry Potter series, the application of cultural background elements contained in Chinese is not comprehensive. At the same time, the lack of interdisciplinary integration analysis is also a challenge that this study has not fully overcome.

Therefore, future research can focus on overcoming these deficiencies, such as classifying and summarizing the phenomenon of domestication translation practices among different subject matters; conducting in-depth analysis of the domestication theory in translation studies by integrating the latest theoretical frontiers of cognitive linguistics or communication studies, etc. This will be an important goal for the author's future research in translation studies.