Mongolian Translation In Yuan Dynasty As Manipulated By Power

Translation is closely related to power. A focused examination of questions pertaining to power and translation dates from 1990, when Bassnett and Lefevere wrote in the introduction to Translation, History and Culture that translation scholars must go into the vicissitudes of the exercise of power in a society, and what the exercise of power means in terms of cultural production. Since the cultural turn in the 1990s, significant works have been produced foregrounding issues of power. And questions of power brought to the fore in discussion of translation history and strategies.Power is ubiquitous; there exits no discourse, which is not influenced by power. Ignoring the relationship between power and translation, we can't exactly find out the essence of translation activities, nor can we make convincing explanations for some translation phenomena. Translation and power coexist, and where there is translation, there is the operation of power. The choice of source texts and translation strategies reflects the relationship between discourse and power to a great extent, and construct power as well. Translators'value judgments are not always neutral. Sometimes they are succumbed to some powers, and their translations serve the constructions of powers involved. Translators are entangled in a web of powers all the time, which restricts the exertion of their subjectivity.The study of translation and power, which is of great significance in opening new perspectives for translation studies and advocating cultural diversity, has in recent years accrued to a hot topic in the domain of translation studies. Moreover, this study has also been called the power turn in translation studies. Based on Michel Foucault's theory of discourse and power, the thesis mainly discusses how the Mongolian translation in Yuan Dynasty is manipulated by power relations.The dissertation falls into three parts. Introduction is the leading part, makes a concrete explanation for the causes of topic selecting, the present situation of research, the meanings of research and the method used in the paper.Chapter 1 Based on the historical development of Western translation methods, gives a concrete discussion of the "cultural turn", "power turn", the relationship between translation and culture, the relationship between translation and power, etc. Chapter 2 discusses the social background of Mongolian translation in Yuan Dynasty. Chapter 3 Based on Michel Foucault's theory of discourse and power, discusses the Mongolian translation in Yuan Dynasty manipulated by power relations. Our study only covers the major aspects of the power relations in translation, but is not and can't be exhaustive.The author advocates a dialectical view of the power relations.The existence of power imbalance does not mean translators should bow to the cultural hegemony; neither do description and exposal power ideological manipulation justify such manipulation. Over-emphasis on social constrains will result in the fall of translators'social status; negligence of them might lead to random translation.The power relations theory enables us to see the historical and cultural causes for some translation phenomena, and in particular, the power relations behind them. It complements the other approaches and makes translations research more objective and comprehensive.