On The Translator's Subjectivity In Translation

The translator's subjectivity in translation refers to translator's cultural consciousness, aesthetic tendency, creativity and judgment standards. These subjective qualities make this intellectual activity both challenging and charming. The overall principle of translation requires translators to exhaust the possibilities of the target language to convey the content and form of the original work. Meanwhile the uniqueness of the translator never fails to demonstrate itself during the specific stages of translation.This thesis is intended to make a study on the realization of the translator's subjectivity in translation. Dr. Lin Yutang along with his translation theories and practices has been taken as the case to investigate the connotation of the subjectivity of translator.Dr. Lin Yutang distinguished himself from his counterparts in that he has already developed his translation theories before put them into practice, so that his translating oeuvre bears more theoretical consciousness than those of other accomplished translators. Dr. Lin Yutang's translation theories is characteristic of its emphasis on the "operation" of translation, in which "sentence translation" and preservation of the "feeling-tone of words" are two of Lin's great contributions on English-Chinese translation studies. The analysis of the two points is an exploration of their roots in Dr. Lin Yutang's outlook on language and culture, especially the incisive understanding of English and Chinese languages, as well as his inclination of serving the target reader. The philosophy behind these contemplations is representative of Dr. Lin Yutang's subjectivity of translator. Self-translation is one highlight in this study. The combination of writer and translator gives prominence to some aspects of translation and shed new light for us to prove or disapprove existing translation theories. However, generally the desire to amend or improve the source text is much more difficult to suppress in self-translation than in translation of other people's work. Hence self-translation has been considered as a continuation or reinforcement of one's creative writing, as the translator is believed to be stricken by the impulse to create and improve his/her own work. The author hypothesizes that in Dr. Lin Yutang's self-translation, the distinction between self-translation and creation is clear and definite. The reason lies behind this fact is the great role of the translator's subjectivity played in Lin's self-translation.In this thesis two translated works by Dr. Lin Yutang has been chosen for comparative study, one is Lin's self-translation of his Between Tears and Laughter published several months earlier in America, and the other one is the translation of Every Man a King written by Orison Swett Marden. Through deep investigation of historical background, personal factors of Dr. Lin Yutang and close reading of the two translated works, we can figure out how the translator's subjectivity has been reflected in the two translations and find that the degree of such realization is much the same. This thesis supposes that it is also the translator's subjectivity that has helped Dr. Lin Yutang to be cautious of any improper handling or unfaithful rendering during the translation of his own work.This thesis has also discovered the distinguishing features of self-translation in terms of the effects of translator's subjectivity. Firstly, the privileged access to his/her own writing would grant the translator more confidence to adopt or adjust the strategies of delivering cultural information. Secondly, the effectiveness of the cross-language communication can be better guaranteed in self-translation as a result of the translator's profound knowledge of the target readers.