A Study Of Professor Zhang Jinghao's Retranslating Behavior Seen From His Versions Of Emma

Several translators have committed themselves to the translation of Emma, the best and most mature work of Jane Austen. Professor Zhang Jinghao has translated Emma twice and has his versions published respectively in 1984 and 1998. His retranslating behavior is well worth studying.Retranslating behavior is a sort of translator behavior. In a narrow sense, translator behavior refers to the behavior that a pure translator should behave, which equals to translation behavior. At this level, the translator can reflect his linguistic nature. In a broad sense, translator behavior refers to a translator's translation behavior and other behaviors that an ordinary social man should have. In other words, the translator here is not only a translator but also an ordinary social being. At this level, the translator can reflect not only his linguistic nature but also his social nature. Consequently, the translator plays two roles when translating—pure translator (linguistic being) and social being (ordinary man). No matter what role he plays, his behavior is an exertion of his subjectivity.Retranslation study is an important branch of translation studies. In the recent years, translation researchers have studied the versions of the same work translated by different translators. With the"cultural turn"developing in depth, translators, as the subject of translation activities, have attracted more and more attentions from translation researchers. This thesis concentrates on the two versions of the same work translated by one translator, which can convincingly present how the translator's subjectivity affects translator behavior.Translator behavior can be explored from two aspects: the intra-translation and extra-translation. The former regards the translator as a linguistic being, whose subjectivity can be manifested in his faithfulness to the source text or the original author; while the latter considers translator as a social being, who wants to realize his goal of serving the society with translation activity as the means. (Zhou Lingshun, 2010c) In intra-translation, translator behavior, mainly, is the translator's active choice, such as his comprehending of the source text, his choice of words and sentence structures as well as his choice of translation strategies. In extra-translation, translator behavior is both active and passive choice. The active choice can be the choice of the source text, translator's cultural standpoint and so on, while the passive choice is the choice of translation strategies which are employed to meet the expectations of target readers and so on.By making a comparative study of Professor Zhang Jinghao's two versions of Emma, this thesis will take the above two aspects to explore Professor Zhang's retranslating behavior with translator's subjectivity as the theoretical basis. The methodology employed in this study is descriptive and comparative. By comparing different versions, this study describes the causes underlying Professor Zhang's retranslating behavior, which is meanwhile the exertion of his subjectivity.In the end, this thesis tries to arrive at the following conclusions: since the translator is a social being, his behavior is a sort of social behavior. When translating, the translator's linguistic nature is restricted by his social nature. The translator's active choice stems from his sociality, while his passive choice is a manifestation of the socialization of his behaviors. Consequently, translator's subjectivity can be manifested in the translator's linguistic nature in intra-translation, and translator's social nature as well as the socialization of his behaviors in extra-translation. A translator's retranslating behavior is his behavior in socialization.