“The difference between modernizing the text and keeping it archaic is not the same as the one between foreignizing or domesticating it.” — Umberto Eco, 2001
If one were to translate famous 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West into English he or she would come to the conclusion that the work would need to be both modernized and domesticated, and that is not wrong. Oftentimes translating consists of a fusion of modernization and domestication/foreignization techniques, but that does not necessarily mean that the two ideas are always linked.
Sometimes a text which does not require much classic “linguistic” translation still requires a good deal of domestic rendering. Take for example Harry Potter whose US and UK editions, while both certainly English, had to go through a type of translation, particularly swapping out UK regionalisms with American ones. The Harry Potter Lexicon offers an exhaustive list of these translations1, with the most stark difference being the title of the first book, Philosopher’s Stone vs. Sorcerer’s Stone. These changes do not make the text seem any more modern or archaic to its reader, rather their purpose is to merely preserve the feeling of non-foreignness found in the original. There are also instances when having a text sound foreign is the desired effect, take for example tourist brochures. Imagine traveling Italy and wanting to experience true Italian culture, doubts come to mind if one would feel more authentically Italian if they were visiting “duomi in the major piazze of Italia” or “churches in Italy’s major squares.” One just brings the tourist closer to the experience; notice that the time frame remains untouched by altering the foreign flair. I have some personal experience translating such brochures for Italian companies. Some years ago there was a balsamic vinegar and honey company located in Ferrara, Italy which needed an English version of their information booklet for foreigners wanting to buy their myriad of products. The names of their products were almost all neologisms of Italian words such as “balsamiele” or “balsaglio.” I elected to preserve the name in Italian allowing for the translation loss of the meaning, however crucially gaining the desired foreign, “authentic” feeling that the company had asked me for. This is ultimately a stylistic effect but my translations did not bother to make the text sound any older or newer than the source text.
Freer translations can give a good glimpse as to how it is possible to modernize something yet still can keep it “strategically” foreign. Take most all of Disney’s 90’s movies and the language they used to retell the classical stories. It would be impossible to preserve language analogous to the originals’ and sell these stories in a form children could understand. Some examples include: Mulan, which was originally a poem from 11th or 12th century China; Hercules, which goes back to ancient Greek texts; and Pinocchio from 136 years ago. Given these movies’ success, it is safe to say Disney did a good job of making these stories consumable to modern audiences, yet they kept them rather foreign. Of course there are some elements which have also been domesticated, but the fact that Disney could choose which elements to include, such as characters, places, and cultural concepts (think the familial honor present in ancient China), means that they were not forced to domestically adapt everything when tasked with modernizing the tales.
Therefore, since a translation can be brought closer towards any direction (more modern, old-fashion sounding, familiar, or foreign) and crucially maintain its other qualities found in the ST/SL, these variables must be independent of each other.
1 The Harry Potter Lexicon https://www.hp-lexicon.org/differences-changes-text/