Study on Translator’s Subjectivity from the Perspective of Skopostheorie

SHEN Hua-ying

Translation is important in the cross culture communication. The translator has great contribution to the cross culture communication， but the status of the translator is often be ignored. Therefore， the subjectivity of the translator is an important topic for studying translation. The translator is one of the most active and positive factors in the translation activity. It is worthwhile to study the subjectivity of the translator because the translator can influence the quality of target text. As for translation theory， Skopostheorie is an important theory since 1970s. Skopostheorie has decided that the translator should take which kind of translation strategies and translation methods in translation. People regard Skopostheorie as a new perspective to solve translation problems and disputes.

Keywords： the subjectivity of the translator， translation strategy， perspective， Skopostheorie

Translation is a necessary activity in the world culture communication， which has its own purposes in specific translation. Translator is the key factor in translation activity. The psychological activity of the translator can influence the target text and the target language expressive ability of the translator is another important factor in translation. The thesis will discuss the subjectivity of the translator， the translation strategies and the relationship of the source text and the target text. The author will give examples from the translation of two prominent English Versions of Hongloumeng to illustrate the subjectivity of the translator under the guidance of Skopostheorie.

Discussion on the Subjectivity of the Translator

The translator’s main activity is translation action that is the activity between the transformation of the source text and the target text. “This positive view of translation serves to reinforce the importance of translating as an act both of inter-cultural and inter-temporal communication” （Bassnett， 2008， p. 9）. Cultural turn begins in translation in 1970s. Cultural turn means the turn of political orientation， ideology and study perspective， which means the turn of translation strategies. With the development of social economy， the communication between countries has become more and more frequent. As for avoiding misunderstanding and avoiding culture conflict， it is necessary to pay much attention to the source culture and target culture. It is to get close to the source culture or the target culture in the translation works， which depends on the translation purpose. The subjectivity of the translator is reflected in the whole process of translation. The subjectivity of the translator can often be embodied in the two aspects， namely， the translation of expressive psychology and the translation of expressive ability. The translator should try to understand the original author’s psychological activity when the author writes the original text and try to understand the life experience of the original author. The psychological activity can influence the translator choosing the source text， choosing vocabulary， choosing sentence patterns， choosing the style of translation. The translator should try his or her own best to understand the intention of the original author. The translator should understand the background information of the original text. The translator should master the expression habit of the source text and the target text. Before the translation activity， the translator should presume which group of people are his or her target readers. Different translated versions are suitable for different target readers. The translator must be a versatile man who should know the cyclopedia of the society. The translator should have good moral character and the translator should be responsible for the target text and the target readers. The translator should respect the original text’s spirit and do not convey the different ideas of the original text. In the translation activity， it makes a lot of requirement for the translator. However， the hard work of the translator is often neglected by the targeted text readers and the whole society. It seems that the translator is an invisible man. The social status of the translator is relatively low and how to improve the social status of the translator is also a problem that needs to be solved by the society. It is unfair to treat the translator as an invisible man. “Invisibility is the term I will use to describe the translator’s situation and activity in contemporary Anglo-American culture” （Venuti， 2004， p. 1）. In fact， the status of the translator should be improved because of the the translator’s contribution to the success of cross communication and the global development. The translator gives the target text a total new life in alien culture. Sometimes， people put the source text into the high status， and maybe ignore the function of the translator and the hard work of the translator. The translator’s comprehensive ability will affect the quality of the target text. Therefore， it is necessary to study the the subjectivity of the translator in specific environment. The subjectivity of the translator can also show the translator’s education background， character， aesthetic conception and so on. The same source text can be produced into different translated versions by different translators. The target texts get different new appearances for satisfying different readers’ taste. The same source text can be produced into different translated versions by the same translator who has different translation purposes. “The translator must fully understand the sense and meaning of the original author， although he is at liberty to clarify obscurities” （Bassnett， 2008， p. 58）. The diversity of translation standards gives the translator more creative space. Meanwhile， it also gives the translator a big challenge that the translator should give a correct judgement for the translation purpose. The translator also need to look for the balance between the source language， culture and target language， culture and the translator should have master source language culture and target language culture. Anyway， the translator should try his or her best to avoid culture conflict. As for avoiding the culture conflict， the target reader should try to understand the source text’s culture. To some extent， the study of the subjectivity of the translator should focus on the foreignization strategy. The target text has using foreignization strategy more frequently， which brings more alien flavor for the target readers so that the translator is visible for the target readers. If the translator is more visible， the subjectivity of the translator embodies vividly.

The Translator Chooses Translation Criterion and Translation Strategy According to His Translation Purpose

Skoposthorie is put forward by Hans Vermeer in 1970s. Skopostheorie has three aspects： the skopos rule， the coherence rule and fidelity rule. The core of Skopostheorie is the translation purpose and the function of the target text. The fidelity means the social relationship of the translator， the target reader， the author of the source text and the translation sponsor. The translator should respect and harmonize others’ attitude and profits. It requires to realize the expected function and aims. Skopostheorie has great contribution to translation： one is the adequacy of translation， and the other is to emphasize the subjectivity of translator. Inter-textual and intro-textual coherence are subordinate to Skopostheorie. The purpose of translation can be divided into the translator’s own willingness， the requirement of the sponsor and the requirement of the clients. Skopotheorie can make more material become translatable. Skopostheorie pays much attention to the adequacy of translation and the subjectivity of translator is relatively improved. To some extent， Skopostheorie can make a balance when the translator choose translation strategies or translation methods and it can avoid the extremes of choosing domestication or foreignization. According to the translation purpose， the translator chooses different translation strategies. “Translation strategy contains ideas， approaches， ways and procedures. The four aspects complement each other and have impact on each other” （Fang， 2018， p. 99）. Translation strategy contains approaches， ideas， methods and procedures. Language is the carrier of the culture. Culture seems to be a big category and it is tough to deal with the culture difference. Especially， Chinese culture and western culture have big gap. For instance， “dog” means lucky in western culture and “dog” has derogatory meaning in Chinese. From the culture translation aspect， domestication and foreignization are two different and complementary translation strategies. Domestication is put forward by Nida who is a famous American linguist， translator and translation theorist. Nida’s theory comes from his experience in translating Bible. He advocates “dynamic equivalence” and “formal equivalence” in translation. Dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence means that translation focuses on having the equivalent effect on the target reader. “In fact， one of the most essential， and yet often neglected， elements is the expressive factor， for people must also feel as well as understand what is said” （Nida & Taber， 2004， p. 25）. As for the expressive factor， it is emphasized in the subjectivity of the translator. Nida supports that every thing is translatable. He thinks translation should serve for the target readers. He thinks the target text should reduce the foreignness of the source text to minimum. Domestication has been the dominant position in the translation for many years. Foreignization is first put forward by German scholar Schlerermacher in 1813. Lawrence Venuti advocates foreignization in The Translator’s Invisibility—A History of Translation， in order to improve the status of translator and the status of ethnic culture. Social morality， social customs and system， esthetic consciousness of the source text can be introduced into the target text by foreignization strategy. The diversity of culture in world is very important， which brings a colorful world for people. It is necessary for compatibility and absorption of other cultures by various cultures. If the translator adopts more domestication strategy in translation， it will lead to the invisibility of the translator. The subjectivity of the translator attaches more on the visibility of the translator. The translator gives the target text a new space to live in. The translation process is not a mechanic process. It is a dynamic process that includes the translator’s thinking and creating.

Discuss on Two Prominent English Versions of Hongloumeng to Illustrate the Subjectivity of the Translator

The source text is translated into the target text and the source text is the mother of the target text. The target text should looks like the source text. When the source text is translated， the target text gets the new life. The target text carries the translator’s culture quality， value orientation， personal aptitude. The source text and the target text have close relationship with each other. The target text helps the source text to spread into different countries， and it become a member to the multicultural system in the target language and culture. The consciousness of the translator can influence the target text. Hongloumeng is one of the Chinese four classical works， The first eighty Chapters are written by Xueqin Cao who is versatile man and his family is very wealthy in his early years. Unfortunately， his big and prosperous family experiences a cruel and dramatic changes in 1728. He himself sees the decline of his powerful family. The other forty chapters are written by Gao E. Cao spends many years to write this novel， which describes the prosperity and decline of the four rich and famous families： Jia， Shi， Wang and Xue. The novel shows many aspects of the Chinese feudal society， such as social order， political ideology， religion， the culture of architecture， the culture of wine， traditional Chinese medicine， people’s life and behavior in different social classes. The tragic love between Baoyu and Daiyu is the main topic of this novel. Every reader has his or her own harvest when he or she read it. Maybe the youth just see the love story between Baoyu and Daiyu. Maybe the old can see the decline of feudal society from the decline of the four big family. The novel contains thousands of years Chinese traditional culture， so it is a big challenge for the translator to translate this novel. Every translator has his or her own measures to deal with the problems of translating Chinese culture and images. In China， there are many scholars who study Hongloumeng in their daily work. It has been regarded as Chinese encyclopedia and it is one of the best materials to study Chinese traditional culture. It has been translated into more than twenty languages and nearly sixty different versions and it has two famous English versions. One is The Story of the Stone that is translated by David Hawkes and the other is A Dream of Red Mansions that is translated by Xianyi Yang and his British wife Gladys Yang. The two English versions get high reputation in the world. Hawkes is an American who is quite familiar with western culture and Xianyi Yang is a Chinese who is quite familiar with traditional Chinese culture. Obviously， for the translation of the title， David Hawkes mainly adopts domestication strategy while Xianyi Yang mainly adopts foreignization strategy. For instance， “red” means blood， violence in western culture while “red” means union， happiness， prosperous in Chinese culture. How to translate the title， it depends on the subjectivity of the translator. Hawkes successfully avoids the culture conflicts about “the translation of red”. The same source text can be translated into different target texts because of different translators. Xianyi Yang’s version is faithful to transmit Chinese culture to western readers. Xianyi Yang is intended to spread Chinese culture to Western readers. The Western readers who are interested in Chinese culture should choose to read Yang’s version. There was a academic conference held in August in 1980. Xianyi Yang took part in the conference， he made a formal speech at the conference that he had indicated Chinese people who want to know more about foreign culture and the western readers should know more about Chinese culture. He wants to spread Chinese culture to overseas. Hawkes’ target readers are the westerners who do not master enough Chinese culture. He usually adopts Western images to replace Chinese image. The Western readers can read it easily. Hawkes is a famous American translator and sinologist. He is a great master of both Chinese and English. He resigns from working in Oxford University for devoting his whole energy and time to translate Hongloumeng. Obviously， he is very interested in Hongloumeng. His purpose of translating Hongloumeng is to entertain Western readers. Hawkes puts forward his own introduction to The Story of the Stone： “My one abiding principle has been to translate everything-even puns. […] I have therefore assumed that whatever I find in it is there for a purpose and must be dealt with somehow or other. I can not pretend always to have done so successfully， but if I can convey to the reader even a fraction of the pleasure this Chinese novel has given me， I shall not have lived in vain ’’ （Hawkes， 1973， p. 46）. From his introduction， His motivation of translating this novel is to make his target readers get happiness when they read this novel. Hawkes dedicates his whole spirits to translate this novel. It can be seen that the value of this novel in Hawkes’ heart.

To compare the translation of the same sentence. Hawkes translates it as “The judge whose hat is too small for his head” （Hawkes， 1973， p. 65）. Yang translated “ Resentment at a low official rank” （Yang， 2010， p. 24）. Obviously， Yang’s version is quite concise and accurate. It contain abundant Chinese official culture. The size of hat on one’s head mean the official rank or social status. Hawkes’ version is literal translation， but the target reader can not get real image. The Western readers do not know the relationship between the size of the hat and official rank.

Compare another same sentence translation. Hawkes translates it as： “Eyes likes a painted phoenix. Eyebrows like willow-leaves， a slender form， seductive grace； […]” （Hawkes， 1973， p. 91）. Yang translates it as：“She had the almond-shaped eyes of a phoenix， slanting eyebrows as long and drooping as willow leaves. Her figure was slender and her manner vivacious” （Yang， 2010， p. 50）. In Yang’s version， it exactly describes how Xifeng Wang looks like： “almond-shaped eyes of a phoenix” is vividly transmitted the original text’s meaning. In west， there is no willow and the western readers do not know the image of willow. The source text describes Xifeng Wang as a beautiful， smart， capable and sociable woman. In Hawkes’ version， seductive is a derogatory word. In fact， seductive is not suitable to describe Xifeng Wang. From this point， the translator’s subjectivity is showed vividly. The translated versions are enough reflected the translator’s understanding of the source text. It embodies the subjectivity of the translator. The living background influences the translator to choose translation strategy and influences the translator’s understanding the source text. Two translators have achieved their translation purposes.

Conclusion

The emphasis of the subjectivity of the translator do not mean that there is no limitation for the translator when he or she is translating. From the perspective of Skopostheorie， the embody of the subjectivity of the translator should have a balance between the original author， original text， the translator， the target reader， the sponsor and the profit of publication press.

References

Bassnett， S. （2008）. Translation studies. Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

Fang， M. Z. （2019）. Pragmatic translation studies： Principle， strategies and techniques （Revised ed.）. Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Press.

Hawkes， D. （1973）. The story of the stone （Vol. 1）. London： Penguin Books Ltd.

Nida， E.， & Taber， C. （2004）. The theory and practice of translation. Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

Venuti. （2004）. The translator’s invisibility—A history of translation. Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Press. Yang， X. Y.， & Yang， G. （2010）. A dream of red mansions. Beijing ： Foreign Language Press.