A Study On Translator’s Subjectivity In Zhou Jianren’s Translations

Zhou Jianren,as the pioneer of modern scientific translation in China,makes great contributions to the progress and development of China’s scientific cause.The translation of bioscientific documents is an important part of Zhou Jianren’s whole life work.He published many translated works in the field of bioscience,which emancipated the minds of the people and promoted the development of modernization and the research of natural science translation at that time.A number of his translated technical terms have been used up to now and have had a far-reaching influence.Zhou Jianren creatively puts forward the concept of "Scientific Sinicization" in translation practice,the core idea of which is to convey Western scientific theories in Chinese language,thus highlighting the translator’s subjectivity in translation practice,and promoting the development of Chinese scientific theories.In the late 1970s,the Western translation scholars put forward the "Cultural Turn",which began to emphasize the translator’s manipulation of the original text.Translators gradually have moved from the traditional marginal position to the dominant position.The "Cultural Turn" has laid the foundation for the emergence and development of the translator’s subjectivity theory.Translator’s subjectivity has become a hot topic in current translation studies,and the research perspectives have been constantly enriched.However,previous studies have placed too much emphasis on the translator’s initiative,thus neglecting the passivity and individuality.In view of this,this thesis combines the three aspects of initiative,passivity,and individuality to analyze the embodiment of translator’s subjectivity in translation texts.Scientific documents are characterized by concise language expression,numerous technical terms,and strong professionalism.As the subject of scientific documents translation,translators should exert their subj ectivity and choose appropriate translation methods according to the translation purpose,so as to make the translation clear and easy to be accepted by target readers.This thesis mainly studies the translator’s subjectivity in the translation of bioscientific documents,thus providing some suggestions for scientific documents translation.Taking Zhou Jianren’s bioscience translations as the research materials,this thesis analyzes the manifestation of Zhou Jianren’s translator’s subjectivity in terms of translator’s initiative,passivity and individuality.It is found through the research that Zhou Jianren overcomes the limitations of various passive factors in his translation practice,and that he exerts the initiative and individuality on the basis of his understanding of the original text and the purpose of translation and gives full play to the translator’s subjectivity through harmonizing the relationship among the initiative,the passivity,and the individuality.It can be seen that in the scientific texts translation,translators should try their best to balance the relationship among initiative,passivity and individuality,reproduce accurate and excellent scientific translations by recreating the original text on the basis of the content of the original text so as to promote the international exchanges in science and technology and motivate the development of scientific theories.