| George Steiner(1929-2020)claims that understanding is translation,and the process of understanding — language generation is the process of translation.For Steiner both intralingual and interlingual translation is the way of human communication and is equivalent to that of translation.Combining the study of language and translation,Steiner’s After Babel:Aspects of Language and Translation places the significance of translation in the context of hermeneutics,poetics,and literary criticism.Therefore,he is able to focus the major issues of language,thinking,and culture in his studies.Based on the translation formulations Steiner proposed in After Babel,Language and Silence and Errata: An Examined Life and his thoughts on language,this thesis attempts to locate the significance from dimensions of the contents,the ontological significance and the essence of translation.The main component of the thesis is divided into three parts.The first part of the thesis attempts to answer the research question No.1,what the contents of Steiner’s view of“understanding as translation” are.Steiner claims that the understanding is translation.This part includes the discussion of Steiner’s idea of the assumption,the means and the limit of the understanding.In Steiner ’ s view,the assumption of understanding depends on the bet on transcendence.We need to presuppose that the text is meaningful,and this preset relies on the real presence of significant being;The means of understanding depends on the movement across borders among different fields,regions,languages,cultures,historical periods,texts and literary creations and criticism;The understanding is limited to many factors.Hence,there is no perfect translation although the translation is infinitely close to perfect.Successful translation should be an incarnation.The second part of the thesis attempts to answer the research question No.2,what the ontological significance of translation is.Steiner proclaims that translation is the unity of the word and the world.By the exploration of how to realize the dialectical unity of these elements in the translation,the word and world,the body and spirit,temporality and creativity,private language and public language,as well as truth and falsity.The Steiner ’ s ontology of translation is clarified.The third part of the thesis attempts to answer the research question No.3,what the essence of the translation is.This part of the discussion covers three areas: the first aspect is the incompleteness of translation,which means continuously opening to being.For translators,it is important to remain astonished andkeep asking questions to translate and convey the meaning of being.The second aspect is the ethicality of translation—altruism,which means that in translation,there is an obligation to convey meaning,that is,the communication process of the significant being,which reflects a spirit of “exchanging gifts”.The third aspect is the artistry of translation,which is reflected on the fact that translation is an experience of “transcendence”,a place of possibility and the“truth”.The last part is the conclusion of the thesis.This thesis,from the perspective of hermeneutics,sorts out and integrates Steiner’s translation theory and discusses the significance.According,the discussion falls into this three aspects: the contents of the proposition,the ontological meaning and the essence of translation.The thesis concludes that translation is an art of understanding,and human beings are translators in the process of meaning derivation and its acceptance.The argument,from the perspective of hermeneutics,Steiner’s translation formulation ontologically is a systematic integration of his translation discussions in his lifelong works.It will help us for a deep understanding about the relationship between translation and language,meaning and the world in its essence.It will also further help us for discussions of the relationship of language environment and cultural environment,and broadens and enlarge the horizons of understanding of what translation is. |
