On Translators’ Choice Among Responsibilities From The Perspective Of Translation Ethics

The return to ethics enhances translation studies in both width and depth. Itprovides a theoretical basis for clarifying translators’ responsibilities. Among allachievements of the studies on translation ethics, Chesterman’s ethics of commitmentis a representative one. For Chesterman, translators’ fulfillment of professionalresponsibilities is unconditional, and a virtuous translator would follow the absoluteinternal instruction determined by his/her own virtue and make adequate judgmentregardless of external social and historical context. However, ethical thoughts have itthat the do’s and don’ts for a human being cannot be examined exactly withoutintroducing concrete social and ethical relations, specific time and place, andbackground of practice. In other words, a translator should proceed from the correctunderstanding of the social and historical context, and choose more valuable actionsand strategies.Sorting out the views on translators’ duties from the philological and linguisticparadigm to the cultural mode and the return of translation ethics, the thesis exploresthe contributions and problems of Chesterman’s five models of translation ethics indefining translators’ responsibilities. Emphasizing on the absence of social andhistorical context and conditions in Chesterman’s ethics of commitment, the studyconducts a case analysis on Zhu Shenghao’s Chinese translation Romeo and Juliet.Through a careful examination of Zhu’s translation background, the paper comes to anatural conclusion: Zhu’s domestication translation strategy is consistent with thegeneral requirement of the times. Specifically, Zhu proceeds from the correct understanding of the domestic cultural background, highlights the strength of Chineseculture and the resolve of Chinese people against Japanese taunts and invasions, andthus delivers more valuable actions and strategies in face of conflicting ethicalresponsibilities.