A Redefining Of Faithfulness In Translation From The Perspective Of Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is a discipline studying understanding and explanation, and it forges an indissoluble bond with translation in its development. Both literary translation and non-literary translation cannot separate from the understanding and explanation to the original text. The nature of translation determines that translation studies are closely associated with hermeneutics theories.Hermeneutics was born after phenomenology and before reception theory. There were two big turns in history, namely the turn of epistemology and the turn of ontology. In 1927, Being and Time was published which marks the real establishment of hermeneutics ontological study and lays a foundation for the development of Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. In the 1970 s, hermeneutics theories begin to be consciously applied to translation studies.This paper first explains the theoretical basis of the text. Translation relies on the understanding and interpretation to the original text, while understanding exists in the form of historicity, therefore, translator’s prejudice in translation is inevitable. But not all prejudice is negative, in fact, prejudice is produced because of our existing historicity, and the prejudice of the translator is not a barrier for understanding, but a necessary condition. Literatures and translators have their own horizons, and translators in different periods of time understand and translate works with their own horizons, realizing the diversification of interpretation, therefore, the process of literary translation is a process of horizons’ fusion, but also the process of interpretation.Since the ancient times,domestic and overseas translators and scholars hold various kinds of views on the faithfulness of translation,while Yan Fu’s translation works have often been regarded as the representatives of disloyal translation.This paper analyzes Yan Fu’s translations,She Hui Tong Quan(《社会通诠》),from the perspective of hermeneutics,and redefines the concept of faithfulness in translation from the perspective of hermeneutics,therefore,it can be reasonably concluded that Yan Fu’s...