Analysis Of The Relationship Between The Translator's Subjectivity And Translational Norms

Since the 1970s, the translator's subjectivity has become one of the hot issues with the"cultural turn"occurring in translation studies. The translator's status has gradually turned from"invisibility"to"visibility"and becomes more and more dominant and authoritative. But translation is a complex socio-cultural and norm-governed activity. The translational process can be regarded as the translator's selection and adaptation to the translational eco-environment. So during the translational process, the translator is not completely free. His/her behavior must be constrained by both internal and external factors."Norm"is the usual or normal situation. It is the generally accepted standard of social behavior."Translational norm"is also an absolutely essential concept in translation studies. Both the translator's subjectivity and restraints of norms of source and target cultural systems exist in the whole process of translation activities. This paper seeks to clarify what the relationship is between the translator's subjectivity and translational norms under the guidance of Hu Gengshen's approach to translation as adaptation and selection as well as the enlightenment of Chesterman's norm theory. The analysis shows that during the translational process, the translator's subjective motility is displayed from the translator's adaptation to the translational eco-environment to adaptive selections of translation strategies. The process of translator's selection and adaptation to the translational eco-environment (source text and target language context) is complex. It must be carried out on the basis of complying with translational norms. The relationship between the translator's subjectivity and translational norms is bidirectional rather than unidirectional. They are mutually affective.