On The Subjectivity Of The Translator

The translator is the subject of translation and an important participant in the construction of a national culture. But the subjectivity of the translator has long been obscured, which results in the marginalized cultural status of the translator. With the "cultural turn" in translation studies, proper and increasing attention has been paid to the cultural identity and subject status of the translator.The present paper, based on a survey of the previous studies on translation, and of the retrospect of the "cultural turn" in translation, addresses the subjectivity of the translator and explores the connotation, characteristics and manifestation of the subjectivity of the translator in an attempt to further the research on translational subjectivity.In chapter II, a tentative effort is made to explain the connotation of the translator's subjectivity. Then the characteristics of the translator's subjectivity are elaborated from three aspects to further explain the connotation: Every translator has his own subjective intention in the purposeful activity?translation. But the subjectivity of the translator is not arbitrary, which must be restricted by all kinds of subjective and objective factors. The translator must give full play to his creativity so as to achieve the translation ends. Furthermore, in light of several theories such as Hermeneutics, Cultural Translation theory, reader's response theory, intertextuality theory and inter-subjectivity theory, the subjectivity of the translator is further explored through analyzing its manifestation in the translation process, in the translator's consciousness of the target language culture and readers, in the intertextual relationship between the target text and the source text, the target text and the target literature, and in the inter-subjectivity of translation between the translator, the author and the reader.At the end of this paper, the author puts forward two suggestions: that the translators' consciousness of creativity shall be integrated with their self-restraint; that translation criteria and principles shall be further understood in hope of promoting the development of translation practice and studies.