The Translator As An Interpreter

A translator always plays the role of an interpreter in the process of translation. In China's conventional translation studies employing philological approach and western structuralist approach, translator's interpretation is always examined in "vacuum". Little attention is paid to the specific interpretative circumstances when translation is conducted. The focus is on comparison between the original and translated texts and the standard for evaluation of translated works is set for the translated version to be equivalent to the original.Modern Hermeneutics makes a shift in concern from the author and the work to the "interpreter" itself. Heidegger introduces "temporality" and "historicity" into the study of hermeneutics. Gadamer further puts up concepts such as "prejudice" and "horizon". He claims that no interpretation can escape from subjective "prejudice" and, for an interpreter, "it is impossible to see" beyond his "horizon".Gadamer believes the hermeneutic horizon is historical and open to evolution with the change of prejudice. Interpretation is not a one-time behavior of the subject but a perpetual process, which becomes an endless "hermeneutic circle" and forms "effective-history of understanding" of the object to be interpreted.Synchronic selectiveness due to prejudice and horizon, and diachronic progressiveness due to the evolution of horizon, they combine to form the "historicality of understanding".Translation is in essence a hermeneutic act, which is the representation of translators' historical interpretation. Being the interpretative consequence of the translator, every translation has to be "selective" in itself while "progressive" when compared with prior efforts. In this way, translation is historical, synchronically and diachronically, in nature, which demands researchers to evaluate translation from the historical perspective.Inspired by modern hermeneutics and its view on translation, this thesis chooses the two English versions of Xi You Ji for case study. Through the description and comparison of the horizons, interpretations and representations of the two translators, this thesis eventually demonstrates the historical---selective and progressive---nature of translation, which is determined by the historical nature of the translator-interpreter. Therefore, a historical standard of evaluation is suggested by the author of this thesis.Chapter 1 serves as an introduction. It presents the issue of the translator's role as an interpreter and has a review of previous studies made by Chinese and Western researchers, including scholars of modern hermeneutics, and states the validity of this study on the translator-interpreter's interpretation from the perspective of modern hermeneutics. It also describes the research methodology and structure of this thesis.Chapter 2 includes a brief summary of the development of hermeneutics, introduction of several key concepts of modern hermeneutics and the view on translation from the perspective of modern hermeneutics.Chapter 3 includes a brief introduction of Xi You Ji and the multiple interpretations of it, which are closely related with the hermeneutic analysis in the next chapter.Chapter 4 describes synchronically and compares diachronically the horizons, interpretations and presentations of the two translators of Xi You Ji, Arthur Waley and Anthony C. Yu, under the hermeneutic framework and demonstrates the historicality of Xi You Ji's translation.Chapter 5 is the concluding part. Three points are drawn from the demonstration of this thesis: (1) The role of the translator as an historical interpreter determines the historicality of translation; (2) The evolution of horizon of translators in different times leads to retranslation; (3) Researchers should hold a historical view of in translation criticism.