On Subjectivity Of Target-Text Readers From The Perspective Of Communication Theory

In1960s, with the occurrence of Aesthetics of Reception, the study of western literary theory realizedthe turning from the so-called “author-centre” to “text-centre” then to “reader-centre”. The study on thesubjectivity of target-text readers has attracted attention in translation area. And the scholars do research onthis subject mainly from the perspectives of Aesthetics of Reception and Readers’ Response Theory. Thecommunication theory of translation holds the view that the nature and aim of translation are thecommunication of information and translation texts ultimately serve for target-text readers. So this researchaims at investigating the preference of target-text readers for the two translations of Gone with the Wind bya questionnaire survey, in order to prove the subjective initiative of target-text readers that they havepreference for translations instead of being passively accepted, which can present the subjectivity oftarget-text readers.This research is on the basis of two basic models of informational communication, and raises theresearch questions and conducts the study under the guidance of the selectivity perception. Besides, theconcept of feedback afford the research method for this research. The research consists of two parts. Firstlythe author chooses Gone with the Wind as the case stud, classifying its cultural-loaded words and collectingthe translations of those words in Fu Donghua and Li Meihua’s translations, then analyzing on the basis ofthe selectivity perception of the communication theory. In second part, the author makes a questionnairesurvey on the preference of two translations among the target-text readers. Then the author gets theconclusions: First, the target-text readers of different educational background have different preference fortranslations. The readers with more knowledge about the cultural background of SL countries are incline toaccept the foreignizing-oriented translations, on the contrary, knowing little about the SL country, thereaders prefer the domesticating-oriented translations which embodies with more “Chinese style”. Second,the result of the survey shows that the readers prefer the foreignizing-oriented translations of the ecologicaland religious cultural-loaded words and prefer the domesticating-oriented translations of the linguistictranslations, as to the material and social cultural-loaded words, the readers preference will depend onvarious situations.The research tries to make study of the subjectivity of target-text readers from a new perspective witha new researching method, aims at serving as a modest spur to induce someone to come forward with hisvaluable contributions to better combined the survey research and translation studies.