Ideology And Translation

Translation studies can be conducted inside and outside languages. Since the "cultural turn" in the 1980s, the west academe has put the emphasis on the outside elements of languages, diverging from the inside ones. This is a new dimension in studying translation phenomena and discussing the translation theory. The schools of Functionalism, Polysystem and Manipulation have studied the problems such as target culture and literary norms which have great influence on the selection material and translation strategies. The last famous American scholar, Andre Lefevere, pointed out that ideology and patronage affected not only the translation process, but also the translation product.Based on the approach of descriptive translation studies and the skopos theory represented by Vermeer, the polysystem theory represented by Toury and Lefevere's rewriting theory, this thesis tries to interpret the ideological manipulation of translation. The present author first of all reviews the traditional translation studies, which stress the establishment of and compliance with translation criteria, then focuses mainly on the comparison of the source and target texts, and finally points out that the cultural turn has made the translation studies turn into the social- cultural elements. Consequently ideology, as one of the most important elements, has therefore attracted more and more attention. The skopos theory mainly represented by Vermeer focuses on the purpose of translation as the most decisive factor in translation action and this /these purpose/ purposes is /are governed by ideology. The polysystem theory represented by Toury goes even further that translation, as a set of decision-making in the translating process, is governed by norms. Ideology has functioned as an "invisible hand" manipulating every level of the decision-making. The Manipulation school represented by Lefevere considers translation as a rewriting. He borrowed the term "system" from the Russian Formalism and viewed society as...