Translation As Interlingual Fusion Of Horizons

The most popular understanding of translation,which is based on an instrumentalist view of language,is the idea that,by referring to the universality of an invariant represented or signified by language as a set of signs and symbols,there is a determinate "meaning" prior to or outside language which can be "equivalently"(or "correctly")reproduced or transferred from one language to another.This linguistic instrumentalism has been accompanied by the ontological presumption that there is a determinate,universal,neutral,ahistorical framework in which all languages or "vocabulary items" can be adequately translated.Should there be some determinant conditions for identical meanings in all languages,it would be possible to define a single and univocal language,thus making any translation redundant.In an age when international communication is increasingly intense and modern science and technology is developing at an unprecedented rate,there has been growing dependence on a formalized and calculable language as a tool that can be used to quickly,expansively and efficiently serve all forms of communication of information.In the long run,the rich and diverse languages in the world will lose their vitality and creativity.Meanwhile,the plurality of the being of human beings will be greatly harmed.To regard language merely as an instrument to represent thought and to refer to the so-called reality by no means grasps the real essence of language.As a result,to understand translation as the transference of a Transcendental Signified between two languages on the basis of this linguistic instrumentalism is partial,misleading,and even dangerous.Taking understanding as our mode of being,the ontological turn of Hermeneutics after Heidegger has brought an ontological understanding of language into our view which stresses language's essence as the medium not only of our understanding but of our being-in-the-world,resulting in the emphasis of the revealing nature of language and an ontological view of truth.This study aims at reinterpreting the essence of translation from the perspective of Gadamer and Ricoeur's hermeneutics which moves beyond the subject-object dichotomy as well as the metaphysics of subjectivity.It is pointed out that the concept of Fusion of Horizons proposed by both philosophers has a becoming and reflexive nature that can enable the revealing of both the truth of understanding and the truth of self-understanding in a hermeneutic experience,which can help us explore the unique ontological truth value and ethical significance of translation as interlingual understanding and interpretation with plural languages as the medium.In terms of an ontological view of language,translation can be redefined as an interlingual fusion of horizons with an ontological value which is different from that of the general hermeneutic experience within one language community.This requires us to regard language not only as the plural natural languages in an epistemological sense,but more importantly as Logos at an ontological level.The real fusion of horizons in interlingual communication means to avoid reducing the Other to the Same or the Foreign to the Familiar,thus the irrevocable differences among languages obtain their creative and generative significance.As a process of constructing "comparables" between different language communities,translation achieves the fusion of languages and world experience.In this process,the language we belong to and the life world we have been thrown into present themselves.Meanwhile,the languages as the media of translation and the text being translated can experience an increase in being.Moreover,translation as fusion of horizons represents a kind of ontological truth that is revealed when what is one's own encounters what is foreign.We belong to our language and tradition,but this belonging and the related prejudgements usually cannot be realized.The distance between languages and traditions can help us temporarily suspend our belonging to our own language and tradition,so that with the help of a common language achieved in translation we can recognize the undistorted particularities of an alien language and tradition while experiencing the limits of our own language and tradition.Surely,the agreement achieved by the fusion of horizons can be the result of ineffective or false communication,yet the spacial distance between languages can make a new type of critique of ideologies possible,thus helping us distinguish the true prejudgements from the false ones.As a result,the scope of communication between language communities can be broadened,and our understanding of our own historicity and finitude can be enriched.Last but not least,translation as interlingual fusion of horizons is the process of seeking a type of particularized universality in the continuous dialogues among different language communities,which reflects the practical dimension of modern hermeneutics.When the heterogeneous Other is encountered,translation as fusion of horizons means that the ideal of assimilating the Other into what is one's own has been abandoned,as any attempt at reducing the Other to the Self or the Self to the Other will result in the end of real understanding.In this regard,translation is an activity to build a kind of communality between a "Presumed Sameness" and the "Unavoidable Differences" among languages so as to reach a temporary and delicate balance between the particularity and universality of language.To study the essence of translation from an ontological perspective does not mean the pursuit of "faithfulness" and "equivalence" is not important at all.It is hoped that a new understanding of the essence of translation as an interlingual fusion of horizons can help us shift our attention to what happens to us in the process of translation beyond our own expectations as well as the possibility of further understanding and further fusion of horizons.A truly laudable type of universality should be the continuous practice of translation instead of the construction of a universal language.It is in the interlingual fusion of horizon that the plurality of languages and world experiences become present and the particularities of traditions and cultures as well as the diverse beings in the world revealed and preserved.