Foreignize or Domesticate?

At the same time, we should also point out that cultural fusion is relative and gradual, while in most places cultural difference is absolute and dominant. Accordingly, cultural differences provide the basis for domesticating translation, for in the places where readers try to understand the text but there is cultural gap hard to overcome, it is advisable to find proper equivalence for source language notion in target language culture.
             Then what makes the translator decide on the domesticating or foreignizing strategy in idiom translation? That is exactly the question I want to answer by first making an analysis of idiom itself.
             The image of an idiom and its cultural roots.
             2.1 The definition and scope of idioms.
             The Webster Collegiate Dictionary (tenth edition) defines idiom as "an expression in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either grammatically or in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements". And according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, "Idiom is a group of words with a meaning of its own that is different from the meanings of each separate word put together: Under the weather' is an idiom meaning ill'". However, these definitions both belong to the narrow sense of idiom, which only includes set phrases. Broadly speaking, apart from set phrases, idioms also include proverbs, sayings, quotations, and maxims. In this paper, I will put more emphasis on set phrases than on other types of idioms to discuss the cultural effects.
             From the above definitions, we can see that idiom is a kind of social agreement on language or culture specific expressions. Both English and Chinese have a long history in their development, so it is quite natural that the two languages are abundant in idioms. These idioms are usually concise, humorous, implicative and vivid, thus making our language more refined. Owing to the diversities in geography, history, religion and custom, different culture features are embedded in English and Chinese idioms, which is an essential part of our languages.