语言、文化与翻译的政治——翻译研究新概念

Politics of language, culture and translation——On new concept of translation research

长期以来翻译被理解为语言转换的纯技术性操作,与价值判断无涉。然而细读翻译史会发现语言转换的表面性客观中立形象掩盖了翻译发起的意识形态和政治动机。况且,语言本身也不是工具那样简单,也有历史性和意识形态因素;文学翻译是文化资本流通的重要渠道,文化资本的流向和途径不仅仅是语言和文学的优劣问题,更是一个选择权力问题,因而翻译也是建构话语权力的活动。

Translation has been regarded as pure technical operation of language translation and as being unrelated to value for a long time. Careful reading translation history found that objective and neutral language translation covered ideology and political motive of translation. Moreover, language itself is not so simple as a tool and it has historical and ideological factors. Literature translation is an issue to choose rights because literature translation is the important channel for cultural capital to circulate and because the circulation and path of cultural capital is not only a topic about good or bad language and literature but is a topic about choice.