The Subjectivity Of The Translator From The Perspective Of Cultural Context

Culture is one of the distinctive characteristics that one nation distinguishes from the other. The culture of each nation has its general and specific characteristics. One nation is always developing its own culture in the process of absorbing other cultures. A translator is always in a given social and cultural atmosphere, and takes the responsibility of spreading cultures between two nations. In selection for translation, the translator is inevitably influenced and restricted by the current cultural context; in interpretation of text, his understanding is going on in a particular cultural context. This dissertation explores, from the perspective of cross-culture, the relationship between the cultural context and the subjectivity of the translator, and interprets the characteristics of text selection under the care of the cultural context and the presentation of his subjectivity.Chapter one is an introduction. As the trend of "cultural turn" appeared in the west in the 1970s, the term of translation got rewritten and redefined. On the base of an analysis of the perspectives on the subjectivity of the translator that some papers have taken, a new perspective is presented. Chapter two is on cultural context. First of all, the author begins with the relationship between language and culture, then dwells on the importance of culture to the translator, and finally two categories are divided into: broad cultural context and narrow cultural context and their relationship was fully discussed. Chapter three explores the definition of the subjectivity of the translator. Under the circumstances that there has been no unanimous agreement on the definition of the subjectivity of the translator in translation studies, the author gives a tentative one: it refers to a complicated network system that the translator consciously makes a decision in the levels of tendencies towards ideology, culture and aesthetics and conception of translation. Chapter four is devoted to cultural context, text selection and evaluation of translation subjects and objects. There are three periods of time chosen and discussed. The first period: 1919-1949 and text selection; the second period: 1949-1980 and text selection and the third period: after the year of 1980 and text selection, and finally analysis of the influence that cultural context exerts on the evaluation of translation subjects and objects. Chapter five focuses on the presentation of the translator's subjectivity. Under the influence of cultural context, the subjectivity of the translator is not always in a passive position. If he agrees with the mainstream culture of his day, his subjectivity can get a full play in the followings: 1.selection of texts; 2.translation strategy; 3.translation act.Chapter six presents the conclusion for the whole paper and points out that there are some limitations in studying the subjectivity of the translator from the perspective of cultural context.