Influence Of Translator’s Cultural Identity On Translation:

Since the1970s, there has appeared a tide of cultural studies in the field of internationaltranslation studies. Translators, as well as translation theorists, no longer confined their horizonsto the transformation of languages on the linguistic level but began to examine translation on abroader cultural level. They insisted that translation and literary translation in special were notsimple technical transformation of two languages but cultural communication in nature, hencethe cultural turn in the translation studies.With this trend going deeper and deeper, the translator, as the subject and mediator of thetranslation activity and cultural communication, began to enter the horizon of the translationstudies and became a hot issue in the field of translation studies. The translator’s cultural identitybecame one of the subjects of translation studies following the study on the translator’ssubjectivity. Like what Andre Lefevere said, no translation is done in the vacuum. The translators,as the mediators of two languages and cultures, are bound to be influenced by their specificculture thus construct different cultural identities, and therefore display diversified intentions andtranslation activities in their translation practices.This thesis is a contrastive analysis based on the case study of Xu Yuanchong and ArthurWaley. Firstly, the thesis will, through the review of the relevant studies on this subject, try tomake clear the status quo of the studies conducted on the cultural identity, and further give aclear definition and introduction of cultural identity; Secondly, the thesis will exploit thedifferences of the Xu Yuanchong and Arthur Waley’s cultural identity based on the materialssearched and collected for the study and analysis of two translators’ cultural identity; Thirdly,through collection of the poems of different dynasties and genres translated both by XuYuanchong and Arthur Waley, the thesis will make a contrastive analysis on the translations ofthe two translators in combination with the study on their respective cultural identities, aiming atexploring the influences of the translator’s cultural identity on their translation practices; Finally,the thesis comes to the conclusion that the influences of translators’ cultural identity on theirtranslation not only exists but also is decisive. Due to the differences in translators’ culturalidentity, they display diversified intentions and practices in the translation process, falling mainlyinto three categories: different translation views, diversified understanding of the source texts and different adoption of translation strategies.In the last, the author of the thesis pointed out the shortage of the thesis and future plan.