On Translator's Choices From Bourdieu's Sociological Perspective

Translation is a social activity.Translators,as the direct actors of translation,are under the influence of the social factors from their selection on the texts to be translated to the choices on translation strategies.As a result,the research on the factors that influence translator's choices is of some significance.In translation studies,it is better to not only focus on the text,but also the influence of the outside social factors on translators and then on the text.To study translation and translators in the social environment can prove a new research perspective for translator study.The research on translator's choices is included in translator study.At present,there are not many researches on translator's choices,and the existing researches are approached from limited perspectives.Therefore,in this thesis the author takes Julia Lovell's translation of A Dictionary of Maqiao as a case study to explore the translator's choices—choices on the text to be translated and on the macro and micro translation strategies—and to figure out the possible influential factors from the three key concepts of Bourdieu's sociological theory.Based on the research goal,the three research questions are presented as follow:(1)What are the translator's choices on the text,on macro translation strategies of the text as a whole and on micro translation strategies?(2)What are the characteristics of her choices in the English translation of A Dictionary of Maqiao?(3)How do the factors of “habitus”,“capital” and “field” affect the translator's choices?Translator's choices in the process of translation are not all subjective.As the first producer of the translation,the translator internalizes the outside factors and further affects translation choices.Bourdieu's sociological theory provides a perspective that combines subjectivity and objectivity.Therefore,the author of the thesis finds out the choices made by the translator on the text and the translationstrategies.And then she conducts a statistic analysis to conclude the inclination and characteristics of the translator's choices.At last,on the basis of previous textual analysis and document analysis,the author tries to answer the three research questions from Bourdieu's sociological theory.The author concludes from the research that Julia Lovell tend to translate Chinese literary works that are closely related to the history and culture of the contemporary and modern China.To focus on her translation of A Dictionary of Maqiao,Julia Lovell tend to stay faithful to the source text in translating information that reflects Chinese history and culture(e.g.culture-loaded words);while in rendering information that are not closely related to Chinese culture and history,the translator tends to pay attention to the fluency of the text and adapt to the habit of English readers.Julia Lovell's choices on the text to be translated and on the translation strategies are under the influence of her habitus,her capital and position in British literary field.Besides,Han Shaogong's capital and Julia Lovell's communicative process with him also have an impact on her choices.This study not only contributes to the understanding of the text of the English translation of A Dictionary of Maqiao,but also explores Julia Lovell's choices on translation and the factors behind,which is an attempt to study translator's choices from the sociological perspective and can serve as a reference for translator study in the future.