On The Translator And His Subjectivity In The Translation Process

The role of the translator in the translation process has drawn much more attention than ever before. Studies on the subjectivity of the translator have generally established the subjective status of the translator, although the Chinese traditional translation theory is always trying hard to confine the translator with the criterion of"faithfulness". The translator enjoys fairly a considerable degree of freedom.The hypothesis of subjectivity reveals the creative aspect of the translator in the translation process. However, it is misleading, rather than encouraging. So many constraints upon the translator have already put the claim of subjectivity on the slip ground. Even worse, some rigid notions and concepts have crippled the proper interpretation of the role of the translator.This paper tries to interpret the role of the translator in the whole translation process. Translation process is defined as a holistic process of the translator's understanding, rewriting and recreating. Translation is considered as the purposeful social behavior of the translator. The freedom of the translator is thus analyzed and the claim of subjectivity is well examined.A tentative study on the subjectivity of the translator shows that the invisibility of the translator is impossible and also that there seems a need of demonstrations of subjectivity to fulfill the specific translation purpose. The boundary of the freedom of the translator is, however, detected. In any concrete translation, the translator has to deal with many constraints and manipulate within a permitted way, which is defined by the social cultural factors, the psychological factors and many others. The freedom of the translator seems to range within a certain scope.With the help of Mary Snell-Hornby's integrated approach, especially the theory of prototypology and the principles of gestalt, this paper abandons the objectivist and reductionist tradition. It thus discredits the dichotomy way of categorization. The freedom of the translator can not be claimed as either subjectivity or objectivity. There is a middle status in between.This paper concludes that the translator is a restrained subject in the translation process, and the freedom of the translator is always dynamic but not static. The translator should fully observe the degree of his freedom in translation practice.