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【Abstract】This paper aims at feminist translation theory and its development in China’s translation studies, and briefly arguing its attributions.
【Key words】feminism translation theory attribution
【中图分类号】H315.9【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1001-4128（2011）05-0061-02
1 The viewpoints of feminist translation theory
Because of the feminist background, feminist translation theory takes a clear political stance challenging all the traditional gendered theories and standards all shedding new light on translation studies. Simon says that the core of feminist translation theory is to “identify and critique the tangle of concepts which relegates both women and translation to the bottom of the social and literary ladder.” With such a clear feminist perspective, feminist translation theory offers new understandings to translation studies: 1） sexual discrimination in translation studies should be eliminated 2） translation is not a “neutral” activity, rather, it is “political” 3） translation is a production instead of a reproduction 4） translation is rewriting in the feminine 5） the translator/translation is equal with the author/original. As a result, feminist translation theory helps to broaden the horizon of translation studies.
2 Current studies of feminist translation theory in China
Until now, more than 30 articles and one monograph concerning the issue of feminist translation theory have been written in China. The introduction of feminist translation theory was started by the end of the 2001. Before 2002, feminist translation was barely known to scholars in China. The pioneering paper in this concern is an interview of a famous female translator Jin Shenghua made by Professor Mu Lei, an active female scholar in translation theory and practice. During the interview, Prof. Mu did have noticed some trend about feminist translation discourse in the international discussion. However, the idea of feminist translation was not mentioned in this interview. From then on, feminist translation began to grasp an increasing share in the domestic translation discussion. On the basis of exploring the theoretical origins and historical background of feminist translation theory discourse, some have done random philosophical thinking about feminist translation, some have elaborated on some specific aspect of feminist translation, such as the translator’s subjectivity, and the question of “fidelity”. There are also scholars who have tried to associate feminist translation with the Chinese context and discourse of feminist translation.
3 Feminism’s attribution in translation theory
3.1To rid translation studies and practice from the scorn for women:Feminists viewed the language as an instrument of women’s oppression and subjugation which needed to reformed. When Joann Haugerud was translating Bible, she refused to use “Man” or “He” to refer to those including females, for example
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes me shall never thirst…, and him who comes to me I shall not cast out.” （The Revised Standard Version of John 6:35-37）
Joann Haugerud retranslated it like this:
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life anyone who comes to me shall not hunger, and anyone who believes me shall never thirs…, and those who comes to me I shall not throw out.”
In translating the Bible, feminists affirm the following gender-related renderings of Biblical language:
（1）The generic use of “he, him, his, himself” should be employed to translate generic 3rd person masculine singular pronouns in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. However, substantival participles can often be rendered in inclusive ways, such as“the one who believes” rather than “he who believes.”
（2）“Man” should ordinarily be used to designate the human race or human beings in general, for example in Genesis 1:26-275:2 Ezekiel 29:11 and John 2:25.
（3）In many cases, anthropor refers to people in general, and can be translated “people” rather than “men”. The singular anthropos should ordinarily be translated “man” when it refers to a male human being.
（4）Indefinite pronouns such as tis can be translated “anyone” rather than “any man.”
（5）In many cases, pronouns such as oudeis can be translated “no one” rather than “no man.”
（6）When pas is used as a substantive, it can be translated with terms such as “all people” or “everyone.”
Also feminists use gender-neutral designations for professions and positions. For example: they use business executive instead of businessman chair （person） instead of chairman representative, senator but not congressman humanity or humankind instead of mankind workers, work force, personnel but not manpower etc.
3.2 To redefine the relationship between the original and the translated:For a long time, traditional Chinese and western Translation Studies have tended to consider the source text as the “absolute standard” in the judgment and evaluation of a translation work. Nida once said that translators should try their best to reduce their subjective involvement and he put forward the notion of equivalence as the fundamental criterion in western Translation Studies and translation criticism. This is also the case with China. Yan Fu set down the triple translation criteria of “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance,”（Xin Da Ya）,which influenced and still exerts great influence on the development of translation studies. From the classical viewpoint, the “ideal” translation “should be like a completely transparent pane of glass.” In 1995, the French translator Berman emphasized the creative function of the translation subjectivity. While feminist translation theory requires the translation to conform to the subjective understanding of the source text by the translator.
The understanding of the source text by the translator obviously is influenced by the already existing feminism concept of the translator. If sometimes the source texts pass messages against those in the feminist translator’s mind, she would find it necessary to tamper with the messages so that the readers are able to receive more positive messages.
4 Conclusion
Feminist translation theory gave fresh impetus to the ’cultural turn’ of translation studies for its political discourse. It deals with questions about the links between social stereotypes and linguistic forms, about the politics of language and cultural difference, about the ethics of translation. It helps people to realize the limitations of the traditional translation and has done great contributions to the translation theory.
References
[1] Luise von Flotow. 2004. Translation and Gender ［M］. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
[2] 陈洁.女性主义翻译及在中国语境下发展的可行性.广东外语外贸大学硕士论文，2006
[3] 姜卫强.女性主义对翻译理论的贡献［J］.宜春学院学报， 2005, （10）: 161-163
【Key words】feminism translation theory attribution
【中图分类号】H315.9【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1001-4128（2011）05-0061-02
1 The viewpoints of feminist translation theory
Because of the feminist background, feminist translation theory takes a clear political stance challenging all the traditional gendered theories and standards all shedding new light on translation studies. Simon says that the core of feminist translation theory is to “identify and critique the tangle of concepts which relegates both women and translation to the bottom of the social and literary ladder.” With such a clear feminist perspective, feminist translation theory offers new understandings to translation studies: 1） sexual discrimination in translation studies should be eliminated 2） translation is not a “neutral” activity, rather, it is “political” 3） translation is a production instead of a reproduction 4） translation is rewriting in the feminine 5） the translator/translation is equal with the author/original. As a result, feminist translation theory helps to broaden the horizon of translation studies.
2 Current studies of feminist translation theory in China
Until now, more than 30 articles and one monograph concerning the issue of feminist translation theory have been written in China. The introduction of feminist translation theory was started by the end of the 2001. Before 2002, feminist translation was barely known to scholars in China. The pioneering paper in this concern is an interview of a famous female translator Jin Shenghua made by Professor Mu Lei, an active female scholar in translation theory and practice. During the interview, Prof. Mu did have noticed some trend about feminist translation discourse in the international discussion. However, the idea of feminist translation was not mentioned in this interview. From then on, feminist translation began to grasp an increasing share in the domestic translation discussion. On the basis of exploring the theoretical origins and historical background of feminist translation theory discourse, some have done random philosophical thinking about feminist translation, some have elaborated on some specific aspect of feminist translation, such as the translator’s subjectivity, and the question of “fidelity”. There are also scholars who have tried to associate feminist translation with the Chinese context and discourse of feminist translation.
3 Feminism’s attribution in translation theory
3.1To rid translation studies and practice from the scorn for women:Feminists viewed the language as an instrument of women’s oppression and subjugation which needed to reformed. When Joann Haugerud was translating Bible, she refused to use “Man” or “He” to refer to those including females, for example
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes me shall never thirst…, and him who comes to me I shall not cast out.” （The Revised Standard Version of John 6:35-37）
Joann Haugerud retranslated it like this:
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life anyone who comes to me shall not hunger, and anyone who believes me shall never thirs…, and those who comes to me I shall not throw out.”
In translating the Bible, feminists affirm the following gender-related renderings of Biblical language:
（1）The generic use of “he, him, his, himself” should be employed to translate generic 3rd person masculine singular pronouns in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. However, substantival participles can often be rendered in inclusive ways, such as“the one who believes” rather than “he who believes.”
（2）“Man” should ordinarily be used to designate the human race or human beings in general, for example in Genesis 1:26-275:2 Ezekiel 29:11 and John 2:25.
（3）In many cases, anthropor refers to people in general, and can be translated “people” rather than “men”. The singular anthropos should ordinarily be translated “man” when it refers to a male human being.
（4）Indefinite pronouns such as tis can be translated “anyone” rather than “any man.”
（5）In many cases, pronouns such as oudeis can be translated “no one” rather than “no man.”
（6）When pas is used as a substantive, it can be translated with terms such as “all people” or “everyone.”
Also feminists use gender-neutral designations for professions and positions. For example: they use business executive instead of businessman chair （person） instead of chairman representative, senator but not congressman humanity or humankind instead of mankind workers, work force, personnel but not manpower etc.
3.2 To redefine the relationship between the original and the translated:For a long time, traditional Chinese and western Translation Studies have tended to consider the source text as the “absolute standard” in the judgment and evaluation of a translation work. Nida once said that translators should try their best to reduce their subjective involvement and he put forward the notion of equivalence as the fundamental criterion in western Translation Studies and translation criticism. This is also the case with China. Yan Fu set down the triple translation criteria of “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance,”（Xin Da Ya）,which influenced and still exerts great influence on the development of translation studies. From the classical viewpoint, the “ideal” translation “should be like a completely transparent pane of glass.” In 1995, the French translator Berman emphasized the creative function of the translation subjectivity. While feminist translation theory requires the translation to conform to the subjective understanding of the source text by the translator.
The understanding of the source text by the translator obviously is influenced by the already existing feminism concept of the translator. If sometimes the source texts pass messages against those in the feminist translator’s mind, she would find it necessary to tamper with the messages so that the readers are able to receive more positive messages.
4 Conclusion
Feminist translation theory gave fresh impetus to the ’cultural turn’ of translation studies for its political discourse. It deals with questions about the links between social stereotypes and linguistic forms, about the politics of language and cultural difference, about the ethics of translation. It helps people to realize the limitations of the traditional translation and has done great contributions to the translation theory.
References
[1] Luise von Flotow. 2004. Translation and Gender ［M］. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
[2] 陈洁.女性主义翻译及在中国语境下发展的可行性.广东外语外贸大学硕士论文，2006
[3] 姜卫强.女性主义对翻译理论的贡献［J］.宜春学院学报， 2005, （10）: 161-163