Translation Of Ideology In The Chinese Version Of Lean In:Women,Work And The Will To Lead

The Chinese translation of Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In:Women.Work and the Will to Lead was published by China CITIC Press in 2013.Due to the controversy surrounding the theme of the book and Sandberg's influence,it has gained great media and reader attention after publication,but there are few researches about the translation published in China.The case study aims to investigate how ideology interferes with text selection and translation strategies and how the ideological aspects in the source text are translated into the target text.Based on data collected through an interview with the translator and text analysis,this thesis bridges the gap between sociocultural context at the macro-level and discourse analysis at the micro-level by drawing from Critical Discourse Analysis and systemic functional grammar.There are the following major findings:Firstly,ideology does influence the publisher's text selection and the translator's strategies.The consistent publishing ideologies of China CITIC Press directly promote the selection of Lean In to translate.More fundamentally,the contemporary Chinese gender role ideology has influenced the publisher's choice.As urban Chinese women go out to work and head for high-level positions in the professional world,they face a double burden both in work and at home and desperately need an example like Sandberg.Large group of potential readers and huge market promoted the publication of Lean In China.The publishing ideologies also influence the translator's strategies.A fluent and concise language is demanded by the publisher as the market positioning of the book is a bestseller.The translator's personal ideology shaped by her education and experiences also influences her translating strategies.Secondly,generally the translation fails to convey adequately the ideology of the original texts,but the translator does show her feminist consciousness in the translation and arouse the readers' resonance with the author and sympathy for women.The translator tends to adopt a literal and plain style in the translation.She omits or simplifies most of the cultural-loaded words in the ST,thus failing to convey adequately the ideology embedded in them because of the absence of those cultural elements and explaining notes in the translation.Last,the reason why the translator fails to convey certain ideological elements may have something to do with her overall literal and plain translating strategies and the market positioning of the book as a bestseller.While the translator's identification with the author and her empathy over women may play a role in certain amplifications of the ideology in the original.What's more,the author Sandberg and the reader Cao Ding actually helped to shape the final translation.The reader Cao Ding wrote letters to the publisher to give suggestions about the first-edition translation and most of them were taken in the later editions,and some major additions and ellipses were done specially by the writer for the publication of the book in China.An implication of this thesis is that first-hand information concerning what really happened in the process of producing translation is very important in translation studies.Sometimes it's hard to decide the motivations behind certain translation shifts only by subjective speculation based on textual analysis.It's also important to be cautious when one observes translation shifts.Scholars shouldn't be hasty in jumping into the conclusion that those shifts are just a reflection of the translator's manipulation.Nor should they view the translated texts as shaped only by the translator and the patron.The author and the readers may also play important roles in the actual complex process of translation.