Influences Of Translator's Subjectivity On Translating Strategies

For a long time,the role of a translator has been the most active factor in the translation process.In the process of translation,the translator has to give full play to the role of subjectivity on both the understanding of the original text and the recreation of the target language.The translator is the participant and executor in the practice of translation;but in the field of translation studies,the translator has not received enough attention.The translator had been in a passive position for a long time and this phenomenon continued until the emergence of “cultural turn”.The “cultural turn” in translation studies has opened up a broader perspective for translation studies.A larger number of scholars have attached importance to the study of the translator.Before 1980 s,the translator's accurate understanding on the original text,the “faithfulness” and “equivalence” to the original text were always put forward by scholars in order to solve the problem of “how to translate”.From the beginning of 1980 s,with the emergence of “cultural turn”,people gradually began to realize the importance of the translator.The translator's subjectivity is an indispensable factor in translation,so its role should not be ignored and overstated.In recent years,the translator's subjectivity has been paid more attention and it has been gradually developed.Translation is one of the most important means of international communication and cultural communication.In recent years,with the massive output of Chinese culture,the study of translation has become more significant.Especially the translation of prose has a higher research value.Mr.Zhang Peiji is the author of four volumes of Selected Modern Chinese Essays,which are regarded as comprehensive study of Chinese prose in English version.In the process of translation,the translator can give full play to the subjectivity and choose the translation strategy as a subject of translation.However,this subjectivity of the translator,namely the choice of translation strategies is affected by some factors,such as the translator's background,bilingual ability,comprehension ability,aesthetic ability,reader consciousness etc.Therefore,in the study of translation “faithfulness,expressiveness and elegance” cannot be regarded as the unique standard to evaluate the quality of translation.Because prose is a kind of beautiful genre,the author of this thesis believes that prose translation can be analyzed through “faithfulness,expressiveness and beauty”.If we can analyze the choice of translation strategies from the perspective of the translator's subjectivity,this is such a good starting point.Prose has a long history of thousands of years in China and it has acquired a great achievement.Chinese prose,being the essence of Chinese literature and the carrier of Chinese culture,is not only translatable but also worth translating.As one of the upholders of this view,Professor Zhang Peiji,has long been devoting to the translation of modern Chinese prose,making a great contribution to the theoretical study as well as the practice of modern Chinese prose translation,especially to the translation practice.The four volumes of Selected Modern Chinese Essays translated by him have been well received by readers and scholars,providing good reference and guidance for the translation of modern Chinese prose.So it is of significance to analyze Zhang Peiji's translation for the study of prose translation.C-E translation is a more difficult task than E-C translation.As a kind of literary translation,prose translation is also very difficult.Chinese prose has its own characteristics.There are a number of loose sentences in the prose and it is almost the combinations of instantaneous thoughts.However,as another language,English is characterized by the external grammatical structure and integrates the sentence in all forms.In this thesis,the author will take Mr.Zhang Peiji's three prose translation works Tribute to the White Poplar,Autumn in Peiping and The Sight of Father's Back as a case study to research the translator's subjectivity in translation strategies,so as to introduce various basic translation strategies and methods of prose translation.The study will lay the foundation for improving the accuracy of Chinese prose translation.At the same time,it provides an important reference for other types of translation work in the days to come.