A Tentative Study on Feminist Translation

Abstract：Bringing the aspect of “gender” into translation studies，feminism gave fresh impetus to the “Cultural Turn” for translation studies in 1990s.Feminist translation theory is more aggressively action-oriented.In the west，the insertion of feminism into translation studies gives rise to feminist translation theory，which provides nourishment for traditional translation theories and practices.However，in China，there is no thorough and complete introduction of this theory，not mention the feminist translation practices.So this paper was made，on the one hand，for the sake of systemizing this theory and on the other hand，in the interest of inspiring its Chinese counterpart in certain ways and liberating in a way Chinese translation studies from its traditional situation.

Key words：Feminism；Feminist translation；Gender identity

1 Introduction

In the mid to late 1960’s，women’s movement had began to develop impetuously in North America and Western Europe，and had great repercussion both in society and academy.The incessant spread and development of feminist thoughts urged people to reexamine the differences between men and women.Later，Feminism highlights women’s self-awareness and holds that the whole system of social culture and historical tradition determined women’s inferior status in society.

2 The Construction of Gender Identity in Feminist Translation

2.1 The Definition of Gender Identity

Since feminist translation practices generally make the translator’s female identity visible，it will be helpful to clarify the basic concept first.“Gender identity，as the term is typically used by psychologists，refers to a ‘fundamental，existential sense of ones maleness or femaleness，an acceptance of one’s gender as a social-psychological construction that parallels acceptance of one’s biological sex’” （Rhode 93）.What is responsible for the construction of conventionally gendered women and men is not childhood socialization，but the assignment of women and men to different and unequal positions in the social structure.

2.2 Constructing Gender Identity

Traditionally，translation has been celebrated as the after-life of the source text and scholars’ attention has shifted to the discussions on the visibility of the translator.“It must first be noted that translators themselves are among the agents of their shadowy existence.” （Venuti 1992，l） Lawrence pointed out，“with translation construed in romantic terms，that deviation，whatever in the translated text does not resemble the author is sometimes given an equally individualistic construction： it resembles the translator” （Venuti 1992，3）.Venuti in his works repeatedly calls for a translator-oriented translation，insisting that translator should inscribe himself visibly into the text.Life experiences of the individual have constantly affected the translator because people have a kind of tendency for certain words and sentence structures，either from personal experience or background or by cultivated preference.

The meaning of the original text does not simply reside in a text but is the result of a process of negotiations and a set of relations between the social system within which the text is produced，consumed and represented by the author and the translator.However，we will not deny the fact that objectively，our shared knowledge of the structure of our language and the processes of interpreting utterances in our community imply a relatively large degree of common understanding，in spite of differences in individual responses.The differences here are generated out of various social experiences of the individual reader or translator.Social grouping and relationships affect the linguistic behavior of authors and translators and thus on the part of authors or translators，language will code their world-view closely without any conscious choices.

Such differences encode in the translated text encourage us to examine the way gender identity is constructed.If we consider the process of translation，it can be generally divided into two phases： reading and writing by the translator.“Translation is the most intimate act of reading” （Spivak 398）.A translator，firstly as the reader of the original，combines gendered life experiences with the author’s to generate a particular way of understanding.Hence，the translator，as a special reader，actually keeps expressing his/her own understanding of the original text rather than the so-called “authoritative meaning”.In this way，a gendered reading is one whereby the reader comes to the process of reading with a framework of expectations which are determined by one’s gender，and the reader interacts with elements in the text which are addressing him/her in a gendered way.These two sets of elements including the reader’s expectations and the meaning of the text sometimes may not get involved with each other in an easy way： in fact they may often clash because the text may be written in a stereotypical way which does not constitute “being female” for a feminist reader.The feminist reader takes the part of the woman writer against patriarchal misleading that trivialize or distort her work.

The woman translator rewrites her understanding into her target culture，whose work is expected to display her gender identity in different degree.

“Where woman’s experience is treated as a firm ground for interpretation，one swiftly discovers that this experience is not sequence of thoughts to the reader’s consciousness as she moves through the text but reading or interpretation of ‘woman experience’-her own and others-which can be set in vital and productive relation to the text.” （Culler 63）

Actually，the translated texts will represent the essence of the original text but in the shadow of the translator identity.Recent research into the relationship between language and gender has increasingly adopted a social constructionist framework.“Language is viewed as the site of the cultural production of gender identity： subjectivity is discursively constituted” （Butler 198）.In other words，“each person’s subjectivity is constructed and gendered within the social，economic and political discourse to which they are exposed” （Weedon 21）.

In the text，certain language choices are very personal，for instance，when we express emotion or when we coin phrase.Nevertheless，it is more objective to recognize that social factors rather than individual ones determine the language choices.According to feminism，women’s writing is influenced by their particular experiences and moving beyond the values in the patriarchal society.The female voice therefore permeates the women writing and translation as the site for ideological struggle for equality and respect.

While translating，the translator is doomed to get the meaning of the origin with his/her life experiences.Thus，a female translator and a male translator will do their work differently.Translators are regarded as constantly “doing gender”，and the different ways in which women and men behave are accounted for by the gendered social contexts in which they operate.Here the difference will appear in the translated texts，which provide us the evidences to show how the gender differences affect the translating activity and how those textual differences before each reader could suggest the translator’s preferences of certain words and sentence structure.

What indeed are the processes through which translation constructs gender identity of the participants-the author or the translator？ The only evidence we can possibly find is in the translated text.It’s known to all that sociolinguists usually study the social factors which influence the human discourse and writing.Hence the analysis on the role of gender in writing is what the thesis intends to employ to tell，as well as the gender differences of the translated text，then further clarify the gender identity constructed in the reproduction of the original.

Bibliography

[1]Bell，Roger T.Translation and Translating：Theory and Practice [M].Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2001.

[2]Butler，Judith.Excitable Speech：A Politics of the Performative[J].London： Routledge，1997.

[3]Culler，Jonathan.On Deconstruction：Theory and Criticism after Structuralism [M].London： Commercial Press，1983.

[4]Rhode，Deborah L.ed.Theoretical Perspectives on Sexual Difference [M].New Haven and London：Yale University Press，1990.

[5]Spivak，Gayatri Chakravorty.The Politics of Translation：The Feminist Critique of Language，Ed.，Deborah Cameron[J].London and New York：Routledge，1998.

[6]Venuti Lawrence，ed.The Translation Studies Reader[J].London：Routledge，1992.

[7]Weedon，Chris.Feminist Practice and Poststructuralist Theory[J].Oxford：Blackwell，1987.

作者簡介

周思（1984.08—），女，四川汉源人，硕士研究生，四川音乐学院，讲师，主要研究方向为英语语言文学。