On Translators' Role As "Bi-Cultural Mediators"

The growth of translation studies as a separate discipline is a success story of the 1980s. This subject has developed in many parts of the world and is clearly destined to continue developing well. Translation studies bring together work in a wide variety of fields, including linguistics, literary study, history, anthropology, psychology and economics.The role of translators has long been a hot topic among scholars in linguistics, sociology and translation field. With the development of translation theories translators have experienced great changes in their social and cultural treatment. This dissertation attempts to investigate the role of translators as "bi-cultural mediators".This dissertation consists of four chapters. In the first chapter, the paper examines the changes of the role of translators with the development of translation theories, as well as the author's reflection on the role of translators. Then in the second chapter, it discusses the relation between culture and translation and the cultural restrains on translation. The third chapter puts forward that translation is a bridge over cultures and the translators' role should be "bi-cultural mediators". When playing the role of "bi-cultural mediators", translators mainly adopt two strategies: domestication and foreignization. In the last chapter, with special reference to the translations of Moment in Peking, the paper explores the dominant role of translators in translation and cultural exchanges.In the end, the paper concludes that a qualified translator should be armed with profound cultural consciousness and strategies of dealing with cultural influence, apart from linguistic and literary competence. Only with these qualifications can translators work well as "bi-cultural mediators".