Translator, Subjectivity And Translation Norms

The issue of the translator's status and her/his subjectivity has been the primary concern of more and more translation theorists. Translators certainly deserve more recognition in the academic, literary, and business sectors, and in fact, in society as a whole. This thesis starts from a brief description of the nature, status and images of translators in society to seek ways to overcome translator invisibility. Then by resorting to philosophical hermeneutics, the writer discusses the close relationship between hermeneutics and translating, and points out that the involvement of translator's subjectivity during the process of interpretation is inevitable due to the fact that there is no 'objective' understanding, interpretation and reading of the original text, the indeterminacy of reading and understanding of the text, translation's impossibility of full representation of the original text and the existence of 'prejudice' etc.Now that the involvement of translator's subjectivity is inevitable, the fourth chapter focuses itself on the realization and degree of translator's subjectivity by discussing this issue from two angles: from the process of understanding and translation and from the choice of source text and translation strategy. It is found that the realization and degree of translator's subjectivity are in close relation to the genres and text types of the original text; that throughout of the choice of source text and translation strategy we can see the working of ideology and norms because we cannot ignore the fact that translation as a means of cultural enrichment, the choice of the works to be translated, and the guidelines and goals of the translation activity are set by certain forces. Translators are social animals and they are of no exception.The fifth chapter briefly dwells on the norms imposed on translators with two categories: preliminary norms and operational norms. And the last chapter takes Yan Fu as a case study with its focus on his choice of source text and translation strategy and his purposeful breach of the common poetological norms at his time to show Yan's active involvement of his subjectivity before and during his translation practice.