2.1 Ethics of Translation

Translation ethics research has been going on for more than 30 years. Researchers in this field have put forward their theory, presented some key concepts, and discussed their scope and methods of application. In this section, the development of translation ethics research, and its theoretical construction and application of research are summarized, which is followed by a brief introduction to its key concepts, as well as a discussion of the relevance of the some literary translations.

The exploration and observation of the field of translation has been concerned with the consideration of moral issues - the relationship between the translator and the other parties involved. The consideration of the identity of the translator includes thinking about the relationship between the three translation subjects: the interpreter, the writer of original work and the target language reader. In the process, the views of the promoters, customers and publishers are also taken into account. In China, the discussion on translation activities began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The translator, based on his own experience, presents practical suggestions for translation and translation. For example, Zhi Qian proposed literal translation of the source text, and pondered over the importance of faithfulness over elegance (Zhi Qian, 2009: 22). Dao An (2009: 24) put forward the translation view of“五失本，三不易”(literally five cases in which the features of the source language were lost and three difficulties in translation), which were problems and difficulties in the translation of Buddhist scriptures. (Dao An, 2009: 24) These views actually reflect their ethical perspectives involved in translation activities, that is, the translator's professional philosophy (attitude toward the source text and the overall translation task). Western translation theories were also tinted with some ethical color. For example, Schleiermacher's argument about foreignizing  

reflects the question of what the translator's role is in the cross-cultural communication. (Sehleiermacher, 1992: 42) Ethical issues have always been inherent question in translation theories, yet it was not until the year 1984 when the French translator Antoine Berman first mentioned the "ethical aim of the translating act" (Berman, 2000: 285), did this topic start to draw researchers' attention, following which was the climax of researches on it. Berman was the first researcher to introduce the concept of ethics to the translation field. According to Wang Dazhi (2009: 220) in the thesis about carrying out researches on translation ethics, Berman (2000: 295) proposed his theory about translation ethics in his article Translation and the Trials of the Foreign. He criticized the cultural tendency of "ethnocentrism" in France at his time. (Berman, 2000: 295) Intended to develop French language, Berman (2000: 295) emphasized the importance of translators' respect for the foreign language when translating foreign works, and appealed to translators to preserve the foreignness in those works. To achieve this aim, he suggested that translators should adopt literal translation in translation practice. This viewpoint caused a series of discussions about translation ethics (Wang Dazhi, 2009: 220).来`自^吹冰论*文-网www.chuibin.com

2.2 The Cultural Turn in Translation Studies

Translation is cross-cultural communication. Culture influences the translator’s choice of the words in original text and the translation strategy. In the process of translating works, different translators use different approaches to forming different translation styles. The following is a comparison of the vocabulary, grammar and discourse of the two translated translations. In this process, the different translation strategies the translators adopted can be easily understood: alienation and naturalization. Naturalization means that in the target culture close to the foreign culture and readers, people in the familiar language habits to read. On the other hand, foreignization or Europeanization means that readers can see differences in both languages, including literal translation and literal translation plus notes.