From "control" To "surrender.

Models of translation ethics are modes or methods to carry out translation activities or perform translation tasks proposed from an ethical point of view. To put it in a simple way, they are proposals of "how to translate" from an ethical point of view. Chesterman (2001) summarizes four current models of translation ethics (ethics of representation, ethics of service, ethics of communication, and norm-based ethics), and points out the problems with all these models before making his own proposal:an ethics of commitment, which is a proposal to professional translators for a universal Hieronymic Oath. In this thesis, the writer first classifies models of translation ethics into theory of surrender and theory of manipulation, pointing out that the latter being the dominant and powerful discourse in contemporary translation studies, then proposes that the leading model of translation ethics should change from "manipulation" to "surrender", and finally proves the validity and reasonableness of the ethics of surrender."Manipulation", a practice of translation, in which the source text (ST) is re-written and exploited as one pleases, that is, treated as means or instruments, to achieve one’s own ends and purposes, has become the main trend, which almost no one could escape and has even characterized the translator’s existence."Surrender", an opposite method to manipulation upheld by the author of the thesis, is a translation practice in which manipulation is renounced so that the ST exists for its own purposes and its own value is respected."Respect for difference and reverence for civilization" should become a fundamental ethical principle in trans-cultural communication against the background of globalization.The fact that the significance of translation and life does not consists in self-reinforcement or self-seeking but in overcoming or transcending the self is not recognized or accepted by the Western mainstream philosophy or the modern people who regard possession of material things as their goal of life. Emmanuel Levin as, one of the most important contemporary philosophers criticizes traditional Western philosophy which adopts an egocentric attitude toward the other as "egology" or "digestive philosophy". In the horrifying "light of solitude" of the knowing subject, endless darkness, together with all its infinite richness, is veiled and forgotten. Knowledge and understanding thus acquired via logocentrism will lead nowhere but to conflict and mutual denial. The hope of the future—if there is any—consists in adhering to a principle of peace, which, as the highest principle, is self-forgetting for the benefit of the life of the other and love for the uniqueness and singularity of the other. Linked with the highest principle of "peace" is a primordial relationship, which Levinas supposes exists in all human relations:"the other’s mastery and destituteness" versus "my obedience and abundance". Both the peace principle as self-forgetting and the other’s life and the relationship between the self as obedience and abundance and the other as mastery and destituteness are beliefs in human beings’overcoming and transcending their limits and limitations and coming together as one. What they advocate is in fact an "impossible" principle of otherness to take the place of the principle of subjectivity.Different from the principle of self-seeking and self-reinforcement, which stays within its own world with its ends and needs, caring nothing about the differences and varieties of the ST or the outside world as a whole, the principle of otherness adopted by the ethics of surrender does not seek to build the self up into a strong fortress or just to preserve the life of the self like a hangdog. Instead, it gives the self out and lets it exposed in front of the ST, obeying the authority of the ST and taking an absolute responsibility for the particularity of the ST as life and soul. Only in this way will a true encounter with the ST be possible and the richness and variety of the ST unfold and develop on its own. Surrender is liberation for the ST and the translator as well, as these two kinds of liberation belong to the same process.Thus proposal of the ethics of surrender in translation carries with it such connotations:to stop achieving one’s own goals, purposes, functions, plans or expectations by manipulating the ST with one’s own ideology or values; instead, to translate in such a way so that the ST unfolds or develops on its own and is open to all kinds of possibilities, so that the readership will have a direct dialogue with the ST, so that people with different opinions and from different cultures can participate on equal status in discussions about the truth of the ST. This is the only effective way to reach a faithful translation and the only correct attitude toward creative arts and things that pass down from generation to generation. As every man is limited and cannot grasp the truth of the ST at one attempt or once for all; that is, all of his understanding or sense-making is of a temporary nature and he needs others for supplement and complement; therefore, it is good living as well as good translating to give up one’s arrogant elitist position, that is, to give up one’s own aim, purposes, plans, expectation, etc. so that the ST or anything in the world is not veiled or restricted by one’s selfishness or limitations but unfolds and develops on its own.It is true that anyone lives with his or her own ideology and values, which is what Gadamer means when he says that prejudices are conditions that make understanding possible; however, the aim and significance of understanding or translation do not consist in keeping, maintaining or strengthening but in overcoming and transcending one’s prejudices or limitations so that one’s vision gets broadened. The so-called "giving up" or "surrender" does not mean the existence of a soul free of any prejudices or an easy access to the truth of a text or the thing itself, but the necessity of knowledge or self-consciousness of one’s prejudices and limitations, which would make one believe that the text has something beyond one’s own expectations and help one become open-hearted and sensitive to different opinions or readings about the text. This is not only a translation method or an attitude the translator should have toward the ST but also a world view or an attitude one should have toward life. If prejudice is our destination as human beings, then overcoming and transcending it throughout our lives is our holy mission.