Abstract:

This paper is a response to some points raised in the article “A Restricted View on the Social Nature of Translation: Foundation, Purpose and Affecting Factors” published on Issue 1, 2017, East Journal of Translation. The present article points out that translation cannot exist without the source language while translation studies do not live on language differences. The social properties of translation can be the key to broadening and deepening the translation studies. To study translation, however, we need to start with its essential property—the language. The generalization of the concept “translation action” does not do any good to objectively know the rules of translation. It should be done firstly through probing into its linguistic-property and then its social-property, and through investigating into “translation behavior” (intra-translation behavior) and the extra-translation behavior from the perspective of translator behavior. “Translator Behavior Criticism” combines translation’s linguistic-property and social-property together to form a dynamic paradigm, which breaks the traditional criticism model of dichotomy. “Translation Behavior Criticism” advocates that translation should be studied from its basic level of “linguistic-property” to the higher level of “social-property”, which does not mean to ethically depreciate a translation to “a lower rank” or to raise a translation to “a higher rank”. Rather, the “rank shift” means change from the simple to the complex, and from the basic level to the higher level.

Keywords: properties of translation; translation action; translator behavior; response

摘要：

《东方翻译》2017年第1期刊发了宋以丰先生的《翻译社会性管窥：基础、目的与影响因素》一文,所涉“译者行为批评”理论中有关翻译社会性的几组概念存在误读问题,本文特予以正解。将“翻译行为”概念泛化,不利于客观地认识翻译规律,从译者角度探讨“翻译行为”（译内行为）和“译外行为”结合的“译者行为”,更能从语言性到社会性对翻译的规律进行全面地认识和把握,而“译者行为批评”正是循着这样的路径来认识翻译的。这一路径反映的是由简单到复杂,由基本层到高级层的“级转移”,实非宋文所认为的是将翻译贬抑到“低级层”或者上升到“高级层”而进行的伦理批判。

关键词: 翻译本质, 翻译行为, 译者行为, 商榷