The Feminist Translation Theory

Feminist translation theory emerged in the late 1970s. This theory combines translation studies with feminist movement, thus providing a new perspective and a clear political position to the researches on translation theories. Feminist translation theory can be approached from three aspects: translator’s subjectivity, fidelity, and political elements.

The subjectivity of the translator refers to the translator’s initiative presented in the translation process. Traditionally, the identities of the translators were ignored and their status were very low, the translator was just seen as secondary and just like a servant. While the author and the receivers were put into important positions, the translators have to serve both. Therefore the translators not only have to make their translations conform to the meaning expressed in the source text, but also let them be clear and concise to the readers. It can be seen that translators may not have the opportunity to express their opinions and can just remain invisible. This situation is similar to the women’s position in the tradition ideology. However, feminist translators try to break such a kind of constraint, and advocate their creative participation and intervention in the translation process without having to conceal their viewpoints (Simon 1996: 35). They share the same status with the author and they can rewrite the original text with the intention of making women visible and overthrowing the dominant status of men.

Fidelity