On Translator's Subjectivity

The activity of TRANSLATION has grown along with the development of language. It is said that it is even as old as language, and it is a complex process besides its long history. However, until today, the complaint about the difficulty of translation has never ceased. Guo Muoruo considered the translation process so difficult that it is even harder than produce a text. Yu Dafu, Lu Xun and Yu Guangzhong, they had talked in different situations about the obstacles lying before them in the long road of translation. And to the translators, the biggest headache will never be the understanding of the meaning of original text, but that of the style of the writer, the tone of the text and the connotation of it. In other words, translators had long been swaying between the concept of "faithfulness" and "betrayal".According to Professor Lv Jun, the Chinese translation study has gone through three different paradigms: the Philological Paradigm, the Structural Paradigm and the Post-structural paradigm. In these three paradigms, the subjectivity is concerned. This thesis introduces the subjectivity in the study of these three paradigms. In the earliest translation study of philological paradigm, under the influence of philosophical thoughts of classical knowledge theory, the translation theory and translation criteria are just the wise comments of those experienced translators, which causes the translator centered in this paradigm. This is not scientific thus there was not any systematic translation theory being brought forward. However, in the translation study of structural paradigm, the philosophical foundation was changed from ontology and metaphysics into epistemology. Laying emphasis on the synchronic characteristics of language, structuralists highlight the common properties of languages, and they hold the view that every part in all the languages can be substituted or changed on the basis of certain principles. The text is considered as a closed system which has nothing to do with the outside world. The objective text is irrelevant to the subjective initiative. Consequently, the translator's subjectivity is neglected. Moreover, in the translation study of post- structural paradigm, the theorists discuss the problem of translator's subjectivity from the perspectives of Hermeneutics, Reception Aesthetics and Deconstructuralism. The translator's position has risen dramatically from the former slave to the master who enjoys high degree of freedom, and sometimes the translator even has a superior power. The subjectivity of translator has been exaggerated to the peak.Finally, the thesis points out that all these three attitudes are not scientific enough. With the help of a great German philosopher, Habermas's Communication Action Theory, this thesis concludes that in the translation study of constructivism paradigm, the translator's subjectivity should be rethought and reinterpreted from pragmatic perspective. According to Habermas, only in the interrelation to the society, can a single person exist as a distinctive personality. Isolated from social group, the. so-called ego and subject cannot do anything at all. Therefore, in the translation study of constructivism paradigm, translation is an equal dialogue between two subjects with the help of the media—language in order to reach a mutual understanding of the world where they live. Intersubjective understanding and communication become the focus in the study of translator's subjectivity. It can be seen that social action characterizes translator's subjectivity.