On The Translator's Subjectivities

The translator is a most dynamic factor in translation. As an independent thinking entity, s/he unavoidably displays his/her subjectivities in the translation process. His/her motivation, purpose, strategies, methods and competence greatly influence the formation of the target text. The translator as an individual decides how a specific translation assignment is to be carried out; and translators as a whole play an important role in intercultural communication and facilitating the development of human culture. However, so far most researches on the translator have only focused on his/her linguistic competence, translation skills and functions in cultural communication, and scarce attention has been paid to how the translator, as a crucial human factor that influences the translation process with his/her motivation, attitude, cultural orientation, value, prejudice, horizon, historicity and translation purpose, etc. In view of all this, the current research has made an attempt to probe into the issue of how the translator involves him/herself in translation process and thus influences translation results. The main objective of this research is to provide an overall description of the working mechanism of the translator in the translation process with a view to facilitating the understanding of the nature of translation.I group all the participating elements of the translator in the translation process under the title of the Translator's Subjectivities. The single form "subjectivity" refers to the personal element which is based on or influenced by his/her personal feelings, tastes or opinions, or is dependent on the mind or on his/her perception of its existence. I use the plural form of the word to reveal the fact that the translator has to bear and react to a great number of different internal factors and external forces, and that s/he on most occasions can sensibly and purposely compromise them. I explore the translator's subjectivities from two sides in a philosophical sense. On the one hand, I regard that the translator is a thinking or feeling entity; s/he has the conscious mind, the ego, especially as opposed to anything external to the mind; on the other, the working mechanism of the inner factors of the translator's subjectivities is dependent upon external forces. In other words, the translator's subjectivities reveal themselves in his/her reaction to external constraints. These become two fundamental issues that underlie all my arguments in this research.The translator with his/her subjectivities is the core of my discussion. I explore the translator's involvement in translation from the perspectives of his/her selection ofthe source text, translation strategies, choice of translation methods, and coordination of interpersonal relationships. The exploration finally leads to two conclusions. First, translation is a human process in which the translator is in a dominant position; second, this process reveals how the translator's subjectivities operate under social, cultural and personal constraints.The whole dissertation consists of five chapters plus an introduction and a conclusion. In the "Introduction", I state the fact that the translator's status has been marginalized throughout history and discuss the causes of this marginalization. It is pointed out that the root of the marginalization of the translator in China lies in the Chinese social mentality. The Chinese culture always saw itself as the center of the world and did not attach much importance to communication with other cultures. Translation was regarded as a means of fulfilling certain political and social purposes. As a result, there were not many scholarly discussions on translation, neither were there many reflections on the translator. The second cause originates from the typical Chinese mode of thinking and understanding, which was abstract and sentimental. This mode exerted great impacts upon serious thinking on translation and the translator. Researches on the translator thus became either oversimplified, touching upon only the translator's...