Application Of Hermeneutics In The Translation Studies

Translation activity, as a part of human life, is the bridge for exchange of ideas between different cultures and for imparting information. Traditionally translation studies have been seen as a branch of linguistics. However, modern translation theorists in China are of the view that it should be regarded as a separate discipline that should be studied from various angles and at multiple levels in order to come up with new definitions about this old topic and to provide new methodologies. Studying from the point of view of hermeneutics, the thesis purports to open up new perspectives for translation and to seek a theoretic basis.The first section of the paper is the introduction, which throws light on the scope, background, and purpose of this study. Starting from the development of hermeneutics, the paper presents the theoretical background and the author of this paper fully realizes that, with further translation study, the cry for studying from different perspectives surges up with each passing day. The paper responds by contemplating translation study from intercultural perspectives and provides a rethinking thereof.The second section is devoted to a short review of available theories of the translation study under the perspective both at home and abroad, in which the author affirms the achievements and summarizes the disputes. Hermeneutic studies from various dimensions, perspectives and disciplines lay a good foundation for translation.The third section proposes the theoretical basis of this paper—hermeneutics. After combining Gadamer's hermeneutics and the evaluation of the relationship between hermeneutics and translation, the paper further analyzes the feasibility and desirability of translation study in the scope of hermeneutics in China today. The author thinks that the prime principles of hermeneutics provide some new angles for translation study and also points out that it is meaningful to study translation from the ideas of Gadamer, that is, from the historical interpretation and fusion of horizons.The fourth section discusses the problem of cultural differences in translation study and gives a detailed interpretation. The author thinks that, as translators, we are faced with an alien culture that requires that its message be conveyed in anything but an alien way and that culture is expressed by its cultural words, proverbs and idiomatic expressions, whose origin and use are intrinsically and uniquely bound to the culture concerned. So we are called upon to do a cross-cultural translation whose success will depend on our understanding of the culture we are working with.The fifth sections deal with the practice of translation in the scope of hermeneutics. The author analyzes that the pre-understanding of the translator affects his understanding of the original text and a translated version is only a product of the prejudice of its own age; so it also provides translators with opportunities to reinterpret, reevaluate and retranslate the same text. The fifth section discusses the role of fusion of horizons. Language and cultural filtering in translation are unavoidable since the translator's horizon can never be the same as the original author's. In translation study, this phenomenon can easily be proved from cultural imagery, content and form, In these two sections, the author sets up new research...