A Study Of Chinese Female Translators’ Subjectivity In Feminist Context

In the1980s, the "cultural turn" in translation studies and development of western feminism drove scholars to a new topic "feminist translation". In theory, feminist translation theory reveals male-orientations and gender prejudices in works and translations, and doubts the principles in traditional translation field, that is, fidelity, equivalence and the invisibility of translator. It emphasizes the equal status between the translator and the author, reinterprets "fidelity" from a feminist perspective and argues that "fidelity" should be directed towards the writing project instead of the author or the reader to foreground the female subjectivity. In practice, feminist translators choose the original texts according to personal likes and employ radical translation strategies, such as supplementing, prefacing and footnoting and hijacking, to make women seen and heard through their translations.The feminist translation theory was firstly introduced into China by Zhu Hong since the1980s, which provides a new perspective for the research of translation studies and has exerted great influence on the translation practice in China. Owing to different cultural and social backgrounds, Chinese female translators in the feminist context have their own characteristics different from those of the western feminist translators. And therefore they adopt relatively conservative and mild attitudes and strategies in translation practice. The reason why the author uses "Chinese female translator" instead of "Chinese feminist translator" will be explained in detail at the beginning of Chapter Three.The essay is made up of four chapters in addition to introduction and conclusion. Chapter One reviews the translator’s subjectivity, which brings a new angle to translation theories after the "cultural turn". Chapter Two starts with the introduction of western feminist movements, proceeds with the integration of feminism and translation, then expounds the theory, and at last studies western feminist translators’ subjectivity in translation practice. Chapter Three examines the feminism’s influence on Chinese translation studies, afterwards explores the differences between Chinese female translators and western feminist translators, and lastly elaborates on the reasons for the differences. Chapter Four takes Zhu Hong’s three translated works-Unlike a Dream, Gathering Wheat and The Sun is Not Out Today as cases to manifest her subjectivity in translation.The author concludes that part of Chinese female translators have been influenced by western feminist translation theory and shown their creativity and subjectivity in translation. They try to make women’s unfair treatment and sufferings seen by the public, portray their great features and merits, and help women to gain equality and respect. Chinese female translators choose texts not only written by female, but also writing about female. They adopt relatively mild strategies to present their concern and sympathy on women, such as supplement, over-translation and alteration.