On the Subjectivity of the Translator

静夜思  （唐）李白
床前明月光，疑是地上霜。
举头望明月，低头思故乡。
A Tranquil Night
Before my bed I see a silver light,
I think the ground is covered with hoar frost.
Raising my bed, I find the full moon bright;
And bowing down, in thoughts of home I’m lost.
                               — Tr. 许渊冲
The Moon Shines Everywhere
Seeing the Moon before my couch so bright,
I thought hoar frost had fallen from the night.
On her clear face I gaze with lifted eyes:
Then hide them full of Youth’s sweet memories.
                             — Tr. W. J. B. Fletcher
Thoughts in a Tranquil Night
Athwart the bed
I watch the moonbeams cast a trail
So bright, so cold, so frail,
That for a space it gleams
Like hoar-frost on the margin of my dreams.
I raise my head, —
The splendid moon I see:
Then droop my head,
And sink to dreams of thee—
My fatherland, of thee! [16]
— Tr. L. Cranmer-Byng
In this Chinese poem, Li Bai vividly expresses his thoughts of home in a tranquil night with bright moonlight. The Moon is usually used to represent reunion of families in China, which can arouse strong resonances of the readers. But the three translated versions take various interpretations and forms owing to different translators’ different cultural backgrounds, for-construction and for-understanding. The translated versions are greatly different from the original poem, from which a littler color and style of Li Bai’s can’t be seen. The three translators all take rhyme and rhythm into consideration, but Xu Yuanchong and Fletcher adopt the form similar with the original poem, while Cranmer-Byng adopts free translation. From the target texts we can’t see the artistic conception of the source text, especially Cranmer-Byng’s, in which “so bright, so cold, so frail” and “sink to dreams of thee—My fatherland, of thee” express the implied incisively and vividly. That caters for tastes of English readers, not Chinese readers. Fletcher translates the theme into “The Moon Shines Everywhere”, which has lost sentiment and doesn’t answer for the original style. All of these are the result of creativity. As translators have to present the source text by their own interpretation and understanding, and add their own aesthetical tendencies, horizons, emotions and so on. To sum up, the translator playing as a creator in the whole process of translation is an unavoidable fact.

4  Restrictions of the translator’s subjectivity
To attain translating purpose, inevitably the translator must play his subjectivity in translating process, which has arouse great attention in translation circle and academia. However, some personal factors of the translator, such as, bilingual ability, personal aesthetics tendency and judgment standards etc., have great impact on the translator’s subjectivity. At the same time, the translator’s subjectivity can’t be played at his pleasure, but has to be restricted by target language culture, receptor’s receptivity and so on. So the translator’s subjectivity should be properly understood and played, which can achieve a balance between fidelity and free creation and obtain a satisfactory efficiency of language and society. 转贴于 酷文网-论文下载中心 http://www.coolwen.net