On The Translator's Subjectivity And Its Role In The Great Changes Of Human History

As the subject of translation and an important participant in the construction of a national culture and cultural identity, the translator plays a critical role in the process of translation. Unfortunately, such translational subjectivity has long been obscured in both Chinese and western cultural polysystems, resulting in the marginalized cultural status and under-estimated values of the translator.The translation studies circle has seen a "cultural turn" since the 1970's, especially in the last decade. The translation study from a cultural angle has brought about a shift of its focus from a theoretical study, including the nature, the standards and the skills of translation, namely "how to translate", to the translation study on the basis of translators, namely "who is translating". The roles of translators in the translation process have thus been put into the foreground, which is to say,the translator's position as the translation subject has been more and more acknowledged, and his subjectivity and initiative highlighted. Based on the research and speculation of the translator's subjectivity, the paper primarily focused on addressing the translational subjectivity from a historical, theoretical and practical perspective. The paper also tries to expound the choices, gains and losses of a translator when struggling between two different cultures, which is frequently labelled as the "creative treason", whose purpose is to create the "dynamic equivalence" to the largest extent from the original language to the target language by the translator's subjective initiative. By citing some well-known translators, whose works have promoted the great changes in China, America and Europe, the paper attempts to explore the connotations and further the research of the translation subjectivity.