On The Translator's Subjectivity In Translation Activities

In conventional prescriptive translation thoughts, translation tends to be viewed as the secondary and parasitic cross-linguistic activity, which is to copy or imitate the original text with another language, and the translator should be invisible and completely faithful to the original text or the original author. For a long time, therefore, the translator's legitimate position and important role were denied and ignored in most cases, and his subjectivity had been marginalized by scholars. Since the 1970s, translation studies has developed greatly and the attention to the translator and his subjectivity has become one of the important features of contemporary translation studies. The growing number of actual case studies and relevant theories have showed that the translator plays an active and creative role in understanding and interpreting the text, and it is impossible for him to obtain the faithful equivalent of the original in the target text. He always makes some adjustments and rearrangements in linguistic form, meaning expression, and translated text's function, etc., and he can make his own choices in the light of his individual features, differences between languages and some cultural and social factors. Accordingly, his subjectivity always appears in the translation process overtly or covertly. The translator must take an active part in translation, which determines his subject status in translation.In view of the fact that the studies on the translator and his subjectivity have become the important part of translation studies and they are still at the initial stage of researching, this thesis, on the basis of the reviewing and exploring the historical and current studies, attempts to make a complete and systematic summarization and interpretation on the concept of the translator's subjectivity and the elements that have decided or influenced its manifestation, so as to deepen people's understanding to and consolidate the important position of the study of the translator's subjectivity in translation studies.From the perspective of translator, the thesis centers on the existenceand the manifestation of the translator's subjectivity, and is arranged into two main parts as follows. In the first part, which refers to the second chapter, the author reviews and summarizes the studies on the translator's subjectivity in history and in current times. Obviously, the translation studies circle has seen a "cultural turn" since the 1980s, especially in the last decade, and translation studies from a cultural angle, especially against the macro-cultural context, has brought about the attention and recognition of the roles of the translator and his subjectivity. And the study of the translator's subjectivity has become the important part of translation studies.The second part, including chapter three to chapter five, is concerned with a thorough and systematic account of the translator's subjectivity. To sum up, first of all, after giving the explicit interpretation about the concepts of "subject", "object" and "subjectivity" in translation, the author of the thesis argues that the translator is the subject of translation and the manifestation of the translator's subjectivity demonstrates fully the features of the translator's behavior. Second, on the one hand, in the subject-object relationship the translator's subjectivity is stimulated by the text's feature, that is, the text's closeness or indeterminacy. On the other hand, because intersubjectivity is the supplement and extension of subjectivity, the relationships between the translator and the original author and between the translator and the readership also are very important in the study of the translator's subjectivity. Lastly, other factors that influence the translator's subjectivity outside the subject-object and subject-subject relationships include the translator's individual features, the linguistic and micro-cultural difference between languages and the macro-cultural context that is made up with literary poetics and ideology. These factors may be the influences to arouse or control the translator's subjectivity.At the end of the thesis, the author concludes that the translator's subjectivity exists in every translator and every translation activity, and there are many factors that activate its manifestation, which are the focal points and the researching goals of the thesis. And then the author adds that thetranslator's subjectivity is not arbitrary and its manifestation must be predicated on the respect for the object of translation so as to better serve the translation purpose. Accordingly, only by uniting the consciousness of the translator's subjectivity and his self-restraint, can the study of the translator's subjectivity avoid falling into a passive position and enjoy the flourishing development in translation studies.