Translator's Interference

Traditional translation studies focus mainly on comparison between source text and target text (has target text conveyed source text meaning exactly?);while far less effort is made to investigate the translation process itself, let alone translators' role within it. Applying reception theory in translation studies, this paper takes a closer look at translators' activities during said process and aims to bring insights to translation practice and translation criticism.Reception theory put forth by Hans Robert Jauss and Wolfgang Iser marks the shift of emphasis in literary criticism. Turning attention away from author and his work, receptionists attach more importance to reader and reader-text interaction. Ingarden and Iser's view on text as intentional object aimed at readers helps to justify translator-involvement/interference. H. R. Juass' idea of dialogic understanding (seeing reading as a dialogue between the text and the reader) can be applied to comprehend the indefinite meaning of source text. Hans-Georg Gadamer's horizon/fusion of horizons and H. R. Jauss' horizon of expectation/differentiation of horizon help explain two stages of translation process, (reading of the source text and the production of the target text), proving inevitability of translators' interference-passive involvement followed by active involvement.With the necessity of translators' interference being justified, this paper analyzes elements affecting interference activity, elements helping to shape pre-understanding/horizon, thus raising translators' awareness of elements exercising influence during overall translation process. This paper probes two aspects of translators' interference (macro and the micro aspects).Interference by no means works randomly; distinction between negative and positive interference therefore has been made, pointing at the need to ensure translators' positive interference and to avoid negative involvement in translationpractice.By analyzing translators' interference in literary translation, this paper aims at facilitating more conscious and effective translation activity. This paper also shows that, owing to translator's interference, translators of different pre-understanding/horizons may interpret one single text differently; consequently translator-interference can help explore source text potentiality. With translator-interference being recognized, traditional translation criteria are brought into question, and equivalence between source text and target text is proved an impossibility, thus new translation criteria enter.