The Subject Of Translation

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

But all in all, it still exists quite a dispute until now on whether reader and writer should be included as the subjects in translation process. Nevertheless, translation collusion requires no other than the dialogue and interaction among translator, author and reader.

It seems the idea that translator’s essential role in translation process is an undoubted truth. For one thing, translator plays a dominant role in interpreting the reader of source text, for another, he or she acts as the creator of the translated text. Such kind of particular double roles enable translator to be the subject of both reception and creation, consumer and seller. For instance, when acting as a reader translator refers to background researches about original text for the sake of better understanding and interpretation of the source text from all levels. While as the creator of the translated text, translator is entitled to turn to "creative treason" for better interaction and communication with target reader. In a word, the process of translation can be labeled as subjective collusion.

In translation collusion, the subjects of translation are author, translator and reader, instead of translator or any one-sided power only. Subjective collusion is not created by translator only, but a procedure constituted by the three subjects all together. Similarity, when professor Xie Tianzhen introduced the concept of "creative treason" to expound the translation subjectivity. In the preface of his book Medio-Translatology, he mentioned that "we commonly regard translator as the only subject of creative treason in literary translation, while the truth is that the reader and recipient environment belong to the subject as well."[25]

Intersubjectivity is an indefinite topic, and its effects have been exerted broadly over the humanities and social sciences. The studies of intersubjectivity in translation area have been left far behind its studies in philosophy. The French philosopher Descartes, from 17th century, distinctively promoted the subjectivity of human being, which started a new period of philosophical subjectivity. Afterwards, Kant and Hegel greatly carried it forward, while after Husserl, more scholars turned to the studies of intersubjectivity. As to Husserl, intersubjectivity means the establishment of other subjects by me as an ego-subject and the re-establishment of a common world by ego-subjects including myself. The construction of "others" starts from transcendental ego and relies on its experiences. Gadamer made comprehension a matter of intersubjectivity in the framework of philosophical hermeneutics. He brought out the historical and cultural preconditions of understanding. What's more, Habermas has attached the real meaning to the theories of intersubjectivity, which regards the problem of it as an outstanding social and historical issue.

However, compared with the western world, the issue of intersubjectivity came to our limelight in a rather late period. For a long time, the status of translation and translation studies had been oppressed, as Xu Jun put that translation studies have always been covered and constrained like a servant, which can be observed from any allegories in history. Translation is reproduction, imitation, regeneration; while translator is matchmaker, servant, ferryman, invisible man etc. Translator lives under the shadow of original text and the author, and unfortunately being regarded as 'invisible man' who serving 'two masters'." Susan Bassnett proposed the concept of "Collusion" in her the essay "When Translation Is Not Translation" from the monograph Constructing Cultures: Essays on Literary Translation(2002).

With the gradually important status of translation, translators began to emancipate from the allegory "one master, two servants" and strive for his/her own values as "protestor". Subsequently, the issue of intersubjectivity of translation emerges to be one of the objects studied in translation theories. The theories of intersubjectivity are significant to the construction of translation studies. For instance, the focus on the three main translation moulds—the evolution from author-oriented translation and text-oriented translation to translator-oriented translation. Among different translation subjects, how does the intersubjectivity work? What problems does it exist? Whether the translation studies have already turn from subjectivity to intersubjectivity? Academic studies still need more investigation to prove.

In recent years, the translation studies was enlightened by the gradual shift philosophically from subject-object dualism to intersubjectivity. The methodology of test-oriented translation has transit to a new light of intersubjective interaction among the three main subjectives during the process of translation, that is, the original author, translator and the target readers.

The subjective collusion in translation is an complex activity involving many elements: the translator, author, original language, original text, target text and target readers and so on, which requires more focus on the relationship between translator and target readers. Translation, in a large sense, investigates the construction of lexical meaning.