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International Journal of New Developments in Education, 2024, 6(3); doi: 10.25236/IJNDE.2024.060306.

The Study of Translator’ Subjectivity in Translating Chinese Classics

Author(s)

Yanrong Li

Corresponding Author:
Yanrong Li
Affiliation(s)

Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010000, China

Abstract

English translation of Chinese classics plays a crucial role which has a bearing on the development of Chinese culture. And Chinese translators should have a greater sense of responsibility and mission. Even though translators are the main body in translation and the significant part in the dissemination of Chinese culture, who have been neglected or not valued for a long time. Some scholars hold that translators have not been given the cultural status which they deserve in China's cultural pluralism, and there has been a marginalization of the cultural status of translators. While it may be true that "outsiders" may be biased in evaluation of translators for the reason that they do not have a good understanding of the tasks and the nature of translators’ work, it is even more puzzling that the study of translation itself does not pay enough attention to the subject of translation, as evidenced by the weakness of the study of the subjectivity of translation. Since the 1970s, with the “cultural turn” came up in western translation studies, the study of the translator's subjectivity has been given more attention. This essay will analyse the development and significance of Chinese classics translation, combining with the connotation of translator's subjectivity and the expression methods as well as features of the translator's subjectivity from four aspects: the translation process, the translator's cultural awareness of the target language, the inter-textual relationship between translated and the original text as well as the target literature, and the inter-subjectivity of translation. This is trying to reveal new dimensions in the study of translator's subjectivity, with a view to expanding and enriching the study of translator's subjectivity on the part of Chinese classics translation.

Keywords

Translation of Chinese classics, Subjectivity of the translator, Cultural turn

Cite This Paper

Yanrong Li. The Study of Translator’ Subjectivity in Translating Chinese Classics. International Journal of New Developments in Education (2024), Vol. 6, Issue 3: 37-42. https://doi.org/10.25236/IJNDE.2024.060306.

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