On The Translator's Interpretation Of The SLT

Just as I. A. Richards says, translation is probably the most complex type of event in the history of the cosmos. It is an integrated manifestation of the dynamic interaction between the author, the source language text (SLT), the SLT reader, the translator, the target language text (TLT) and the TLT reader. Translating practice both in China and in the West starts with the translating of religious works. Because of the sacredness of religious works, absolute faithfulness to the SLT is required. The author and the SLT are promoted to be the authentic judge. Therefore the translator's subjective initiative is neglected. He is figuratively described as servant, shadow, female or live machine. The achievements of modern linguistics are applied in translation study to analyze and describe accurately the transfer between the source language and the target language. However, the inadequacy of machine translation proves that the role of the translator, especially that of the literary translator, is not replaceable.Modern western literary criticism shifts the focus of its study from the text to the reader's subjectivity. The representative of this domain is hermeneutics which is a theory or philosophy about understanding or interpreting the meaning of a text. The process of translating can be divided into two stages: understanding and representing, in which the translator plays three roles: the reader of the SLT, the translator, and the first reader of the TLT. His reading of the SLT initiates the practice of translation. In this thesis, the author studies the translator's reading and interpreting of the SLT from a hermeneutic angle.This thesis consists of four chapters.Chapter One reviews the descriptions about the status of thetranslator in the history of translation in China and in the West, revealing that faithfulness and linguistic equivalence are the focus of translation study, hence the neglect of the translator's subjective initiative. Therefore, it is necessary for this thesis to study the translator's subjective interference, especially in the process of reading and interpreting the SLT.Chapter Two seeks to prove that the translator's understanding is a kind of interpretation. Though the translator, whose understanding is confined within the SLT, is different from the ordinary reader, who reads for reading's sake, he can not shake off his destiny as an ordinary reader. The translator understands the SLT on the basis of his pre-understanding. Meanwhile, the literary text is indeterminate for literary language is fuzzy and the author's intention is only partially accessible. This indeterminacy requires to be concretized through the translator's interpretation.Chapter Three specifically analyzes the five constituents of the translator's pre-understanding: his world outlook and life outlook, general cultural horizon, artistic accomplishment, literary competence and consideration for the target readership. By citing the example of Yan Fu's translation of Evolution and Ethics, the author explains integratedly how a translator's understanding will be influenced by his pre-understandings.Chapter Four discusses the deconstructionist's over-exaggeration of the translator's subjectivity. Though the translator has certain rights to interpret the SLT, he can not translate it casually for the bounds and limits of the context and the common ground of man's understanding.In conclusion, the thesis states that translation is a hermeneutic reconstruction in which the translator's pre-understandings areinvolved. Therefore, absolute faithfulness to the SLT is an illusion that can never be realized. The proposal of the translator's pre-understanding provides a new perspective for translation criticism.