A Study On The Translator's Multiple Identities From The Perspective Of Paratexts

According to Anthony Pym,translation history study should explain the social causes of translation,and the main object should be the human translator.Furthermore,the study should focus on the social environment in which the translator lives and experiences(2007,p.xxiii).Based on Pym's concept of translator's multiple identities,this paper studies Anthony C.Yu,who translated Xiyou Ji.With the help of the paratexts the paper analyzes the influence of Yu's identity as a scholar of literature and a scholar of religious studies,as well as the influence of his academic status on his translation competence and external social environment.The research finds that,for translator's competence,Yu's identity as a literary scholar has enabled him to have a deep understanding of the literary features of verses and proses of the source text,and endowed him with superb literary writing skills so as to recreate such features;that his identity as a religious scholar has provided him with profound religious knowledge and necessary research skills,so that he could figure out the exact meaning of Buddhist and Taoist terms in the original work and recreate these meanings in the translation by applying thick translation and using the existing English Buddhism terms directly translated from Sanskrit.And for external social environment,Yu's academic status has won him a position in the East Asia Department of the University of Chicago,which provided him stable income,ample time,and justification of his translation activity;such identity has also provided favorable conditions for Yu's translation,such as the acquisition of research funds,translation tools,reference materials and assistance from professionals.This paper draws the conclusion that the translators' multiple identities can improve their translation competence and the external social environment for translation undertaking,thereby helping translators better wield their subjective initiative as an active efficient cause during the translation process and influencing the translation history.