On Translator's Cultural Responsibility

At the turn of the 21st century,the heated discussions centered round cultural studies show signs of calming down.Many scholars have applied more logic insight into their reflections on translation studies.The return to ethics is the trend suggested by some western scholars,the profundity of which goes beyond the trend itself.The suggestion will lead to a new dimension of the translation studies.In the final analysis,ethics sustain people's action and interpersonal relationship.Therefore,the construction of ethics should revolve round the study on the relationship between translation subjects.In translation,the translator which is the most important subject under the ethical dimension becomes a moral agent.Translation ethics is such kind of criterion of moral behavior that the translators should abide by in their translation activities.Thus the process of translating becomes a process of moral decision-making,and these decisions and choices reflect his/her value orientation and embody his/her cultural responsibility in the cross-cultural communication.Whether the translators abide by ethics morals norm of the translation or deviation from it will have direct relationship with the quality of the translation and the acceptance of the readers,or will even threaten the security and stability of the society.This thesis makes a special effort to investigate the cultural responsibility of the translator.By combining with the practice of Ku's translation activity,the author attempts to analyze Ku's cultural responsibility from the theory of translation ethics so as to deepen people's cognition to this problem,and will lead to new upsurge for reflections and discussions.This thesis consists of four chapters in addition to introduction and conclusion.The introduction clarifies the achievements in the study of Ku Hungming in China's translation circles,the author's motivation to write this paper,the research objective,and last but not least,the research methodology of the paper.Chapter One deals with the ethical dimension of translation through an ontological analysis of the respective nature of ethics and translation and outlines the location,scope,and current development of translation ethics.The author argues that the translator's virtues include but are not limited to the following three:honesty,respect,and responsibility.Their ontological meaning and specific connotation in the translation activity are discussed respectively.Chapter Two is based on Skopos Theory developed by the German school as the most important theoretical basis and it explicates in what way the two translators' purposes and value orientation of translated version of the Analects are related to their ways of dealing with cultural images,which results in two different translations suitable for different readers and which will play different roles in cultural communication.Chapter Three is the key part of the thesis.It makes a comparative analysis of the two English versions translated by James Legge and Ku Hungming from linguistic,stylistic and cultural perspectives.It provides a detailed investigation of features of content and form of Ku's translation of the Analects through contrasts with James Legge's version.Chapter Four elaborates on Ku's cultural responsibility and his patriotic enthusiasm in the special history background.In conclusion,the author briefly reviews the arguments of the thesis and points out the practical value and theoretical significance of the research to translation and translation studies.