The Influence Of The Translator's Subjectivity On The Target Text

Subjectivity is a concept in philosophy, referring to the alienation of the subject's essential power in its objective activity and the characteristics of the subject. The translator's subjectivity refers to the subjective initiative reflected in the translation activity by the translator on the precondition that he must respect the translation object in order to realize the translation purpose. It should be noticed that when the translator enjoys great freedom in the translation, he must act under certain constraints. Generally speaking, translator's subjectivity is manifested by the choice of different translation strategies due to different individual characteristics and different motivation of the translator.Fu Sheng Liu Ji, known as"Six Chapters of a Floating Life"(translated by Lin Yutang) or"Six Records of a Floating Life"(translated by Leonard Pratt and Chiang Su-hui), is an autobiography by Shen Fu in Qing Dynasty. The author of the thesis attempts to make a comparatively comprehensive study on the translator's subjectivity reflected in two English versions of this book, respectively produced by Lin Yutang and Leonard Pratt & Chiang Su-hui. The comparative study will be made from three aspects: different translation purposes; different translation strategies; different cultural background and linguistic competence. Based on analyses to a lot of examples from the two English versions, it is obvious that the translator's subjectivity does exist and play a crucial role in translation.In accordance with this task, the author divides this thesis into four chapters, besides introduction and conclusion. The first chapter offers a historical overview of the research achievements on the translator's role. The second chapter provides a definition of the translator's subjectivity. The third chapter introduces the particular objective in this thesis, Fu Sheng Liu Ji, and its individual translators. In the fourth chapter, taking these two English translations of Fu Sheng Liu Ji as a case study, the author of the thesis expounds the reasons for the differences between the two English translations from the perspective of the translator's subjectivity.