Power Relations In Translation

Translation studies before the "cultural turn" was mainly "source-text-centered", and translation was studied under the paradigm of language studies. Translation studies under that paradigm principally focused on wether the translation was faithfulness to the original text or not, and paid little attention to the translation processes and the external factors which affect the process. Holmes firstly explains the name and the nature of translation studies, so he wins a high reputation in the field of translation studies and henceforward he has had a deep influence on many following researchers in the field all over the world. Many scholars follow his model and carry out some empirical studies about what happens in the "little black box"-the translator’s mind. However, culture is ubiquitous and it is rooted in its related language. Any translation activity takes place in the context of a specific culture, and a translator grows up and gets his/her education in his/her own culture, so he/she cannot escape from the influences of his/her native language culture. Translation is not only the process of translating from one language into another, but also a process of cultural translation.The so-called "cultural turn" in translation studies which began from1980s presents a new perspective for translation studies. Every step in translation process is "mediated" by the diverse cultural values in some hierarchical order, which means a translation process is influenced by a power game of two cultures. Translation is enmeshed in a set of power relations that exist in both the source contexts and the target contexts. The study, based on the literature review, intends to discuss whether, how and why power relations have influences on translation by analysing the translation of Hongloumeng into English.To objectively describe the influences of power relations on translation activities and translation process, the method of DTS (descriptive translation studies) is adopted in the study to explore or to explain the reasons behind most translation activities and phenomena on the basis of literature review. By the method of DTS, it is to describe how asymmetrical power relations influence the selection of texts for translation, the translation principles the translator identified in translation and the translation methods applied in translation under the influences of different power relations.To discover the influences of power relations on translation, the study is firstly to identify what power relations cover in translation studies. As power in some cases can be the capacity to produce intended effects, and force, manipulation, persuasion and authority are the manifestation of power, power relations can be identified as the unequal and asymmetrical relationship between power holders and those who are forced, or manipulated or controlled. So in the study power relations stand for the influences, or the control, or the authority of a pary over others in the translation process. The influences can be political, economic and cultural. Political power relation stands for the political relation between the two parties when the powerful party in translation has more political influences on or control over another party, and the political dominance of the first party over the dominated party influences the translation process as well as the translation. Similarly, economic and cultural power relations cover the unequal power relations in economy, society and culture that play roles on translation activities.According to Steiner, the first step in translation is initiative trust, an investment of belief, underwritten by previous experience. All understanding and the demonstrative statement of understanding which is translation, starts with an act of trust. This kind of trust is decided by the political, economic and cultural background as well as the sponsors and the translator. From this view, translation begins from the choice of text for translation, and the step is influenced by political, economic and cultural power relations. In reality, not all translators have the right to choose those texts they want to translate, whereas in most cases they are under the powers of sponsors, political, economic, social and cultural ideologies which have more political, or economic, or cultural power over the translator in most translation activities. Those texts that are politically and culturally accordant to the acceptance for target readers are possible to be translated into target language sooner, while those texts are politically and culturally unacceptable for target readers are not possible to be translated soon. In addition, texts from dominating cultures, especially those dominating cultures with the strong economic power, are more easily chosen to be translated into the dominated cultures. The publishing agencies, as the sponsors in translation, are also under the power of political context and social ideology, as they have to face the censorship of the authority and they have to survive and develop by the acceptance of target readers. Political power relation, economic power relation and cultural power relation influence the text selection in translation activities, and generally texts based on these powers are more possible to be translated into other language, so political and cultural ideologies are the prior influential factors in choosing what kind of texts to be translated.Translation principles covering the general guiding principles direct the whole translation process. In the study, translation principles based on Schleiermacher’s view are re-identified as source-text-oriented and target-reader-oriented in considering the two endpoints in translating:source text and target reader. When a translator focuses on the source text, he/she pays more attention to the original text meaning, linguistic features and cultural connotations, so he/she tries to faithfully translate those culturally-loaded expressions and makes the translation more faithful to the original text. On the contrary, when a translator concentrates on the acceptance of target readers, he/she tries to domesticate foreign expressions into the target language, which makes the translation more fluent and the translator invisible. In most cases the two principles are decided by different power relations. The political power relation is represented by a sponsor’s ideological influence on translator’s dealing with expressions of political and ideological functions. The political power relation, including the dominance of the political ideology, has great influences on their translation principles. The economic power relation, which is also the most important factor in translation, indirectly influences the identification of translation priniciples in the translation process. Translators in most cases have to keep accordant to the economic power to make profit for their labor. The cultural power relation is also one influential factor in translation. When a translator is from a dominating culture, he/she is prone to respecting his/her own culture without too many changes in translation. If a translator comes from a dominated culture, in translation he/she is prone to retaining too many cultural expressions of the source text, so the translation will be more faithful but not fluent for the target readers. In sum, the unbalanced political power relation, economic power relation and cultural power relation set the translation principles in translation activities, and the degree of manipulation is decided by the degree of equilibrium between these power relations.Accordingly, under the influences of these power relations, translators choose different translation methods. If the general principle is "source-text-oriented", the translators would take the linguistic features and cultural connotations of the original text into consideration, and such related translation methods as amplification, footnote and borrowing would be applied in most translation activities. While the general principle is to satisfy the target readers, the translators would make the text as fluent as possible, and such methods as omission, combination and in-text interpretation are often employed in their translation activities.The study makes theoretical contributions to translation studies by re-identifying translation principles, considering the selection of texts for translation as the first step of translation process, and systematically analyzing whether, how and why the political power relation, the economic power relation and the cultural power relation have influences on the translation process. It helps translators rethink the translation, translation process, translation principles and translation methods, and then in translation activities, translators can adopt their proper translation principles and translation methods according to the influences of power relations and the requirements for practical translation assignments. In the study, a case study of translating Hongloumeng into English is employed to illustrate the influences of power relations on translation process. Yang’s translation and Hawkes’ version were influenced by different political, economic and cultural power relations and different translations were accordingly produced. Their selections of translating Hongloumeng, their application of different translation principles and different translation methods in translating Hongloumeng are under the influences of different power relations.In sum, by way of descriptive translation studies, the study identifies that the selection of texts for translation is the first step of translation process, that translation principles are either "source-text-oriented" or "target-reader-oriented" on the basis of Schleiermacher’s view on translation, and that in the process of translation, the selection of text for translation, the identification of translation principles and the application of translation methods generally under the influences of political power relation, economic power relation and cultural power relation. So the study concludes that in most cases the whole translation process is influenced by power relations.