Translator's Subjectivity In Translation Variation: From The Perspective Of Skopostheorie

The translation variation as a totally new concept in translation studies was first put forward by Professor Huang Zhonglian in the late 1990s, from the essence of which eighteen basic concepts concerning seven adaptations and eleven variation methods are derived. Furthermore, Prof. Huang Zhonglian provides a framework for the translation variation theory with an illustration in the logical relationship among all concepts, which in turn provides efficacious theoretical principles and scientific methodology for the translation variation studies. We can not talk about the translation variation without mentioning the following questions: "what is variation?", "what is its essence?", "how to carry it out in translation?", etc., all of which are centered on a key word: adaptation, the most distinguishable feature of this new concept. The translator, as the subject of the translational action as well as that of the translation variation, is required to be more competent to play fully his role in subjectivity. Taking into consideration the target readers' demands for information, the translator manipulates the source text (ST) by adaptations such as deletion, amplification, condensation or rewriting, possibly changing the form, the content or even the style of the ST, in order to realize the expected functions of the target text (TT), i.e. to achieve the communicative purpose. In this case, the translator's subjectivity is well demonstrated in the whole process of the translation variation in terms of the choice of source texts, the adoption of translation strategies, the manipulation of the expected response in target culture, and the like. In other words, the elaboration of the translator's subjectivity guarantees the activity of the translation variation. Thus it can be seen that there is definitely a relationship between the translation variation and the translator's subjectivity. Different from the full translation, the translation variation means to stress the communicative functions of the TT and the translation purpose.Skopostheorie in German school holds that the translation purpose decides the translation strategy and the translation process is not determined by the ST or its influence on receptors, nor the source-text function endowed by the author, but by the expected function or purpose of the TT, which coincides with the principles of the translation variation, thus paving a theoretical way for the translation variation which can be accordingly viewed as a kind of translational action involving a team-work among agents in the communicative interaction under Skopostheorie. The translator is usually called upon to produce a target text for a particular purpose that helps to decide the adaptation means and strategies of the translation variation and thus plays the role of "regulator" to coordinate the complicated interrelationship among the agents in the communicative interaction. Hereby, the mutual relationship between the translation purpose and the translation variation as well as the translator's subjectivity can be easily observed.The thesis attempts to probe into how the subjectivity functions in the process of variation in view of Skopostheorie. It is composed of four chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the theoretical foundation of the translation variation studies, i.e., the translation variation theory, and the theme of the variation in translation. Chapter 2 deals with the study of the translator's subjectivity since the "cultural turn" in translation studies. Chapter 3 discusses the leading role of the translator's subjectivity in the translation variation in terms of how the translator's subjectivity is manifested and what factors of the translator's subjectivity affect the translation variation. Chapter 4 proposes the translation purpose as a "regulator" of the translation variation and then relates it to the translator's subjectivity, thus presenting the interrelationship among the three, with a theoretical support of Skopostheorie.