On the Analysis of the Subjectivity of Translator in Computer—Aided Translation

【Abstract】：This paper consists of three parts. It firstly deals with the the advantages of computer-aided translation， which gives more help to the process of human translation. Then， it analyzes the limitations of computer-aided translation， which tells us that the CAT can not replace human translation. The last part is the subjective role of translator in Computer-Aided Translation， which includes the meaning of the subjectivity of translator， the subjectivity of translator in Computer-Aided Translation， and The exertion of subjectivity of translator in Computer-Aided Translation.

【Key words】：computer-aided translation; the subjectivity of translator; human translation

Introduction

In this era of globalization， the requirement of translation has been in the rapid growth， and the translation timeliness requirement has been greatly improved. In this case， the Computer-Aided translation technologies have emerged， which provides a great convenience for our translation process. The rapid development of the information age makes the translation from the traditional to the modern and the translation activity shows the tremendous changes. Under this context， the translators' work environment and work equipment has been improved greatly， especially the translation efficiency has been greatly enhanced under the driving of the computer-aided translation. However， the computer-aided translation has not yet reached the level of intelligence as well as the complex process of translation itself， which computer-aided translation technology can help translators， but it can not replace human translation. Therefore， the main role of the translation process is still translator. The translation capability for translators and literacy requirements during the New Era will also improve， that is to say， the connotation of the translator's subjectivity has been greatly enriched and there is a new perspective in the translator’s subjectivity research of translation process.

1. The Advantages of Computer-Aided Translation

The core of Computer-Aided Translation technology is translation memory （the abbreviation is TM）. The work principle of TM is to build one or more translation memories by the existing source text and target text of translators. During the translation process， the system will automatically search the same or similar translation resources （such as sentences， paragraphs etc.） in the TM and come out the reference translation work， which allows users to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort， and just focus on the translation of new content. Computer-aided translation technology with these characteristics determines its function of avoiding duplication， improving efficiency and contribute to the creation of personalized translation environment for translators. With computer-aided translation technology， translators can learn from previous translation works， avoiding duplication and reduce the burden and improve efficiency. Moreover， translators can tailored for their own personalized translation environment by accumulating their common field of translation corpus through the use of computer-aided translation tools. In addition，. When doing the same translation project by more than one translator， they can share the same translation memory and terminology database by making use of computer-aided translation tools. when the project team members have been encountered the translated material in the translation process， they can consult the translation works in the team.

2.The Limitations of Computer-Aided Translation

The biggest shortcoming of computer-aided translation lies in its not perfect translation quality， and can not have the ability to grasp the meaning of the world， speech and sentence structure， which results in improper translation of word disorder， chaos structure， poor readability. Secondly， unlike human translation， computer-aided translation neither understand the cultural factors that exist in the target language， nor have profound literary skills with the result that the computer can not translate these contents. In addition， because of the limited memory and terminology database stored in corpus， the providing reference translation vocabulary sentence is more fixed. Therefore， the translation may be lack of diversity and the expression will be more single if the translators translate based on the referred translation work and also the corpus stored in memory and terminology database does not fully cover all the meanings of some words. Therefore， we should alert to the possible \"1 friends\" and other meaning errors when we use the computer-aided translation technology.

3.The Subjective Role of Translator in Computer-Aided Translation

3.1 The Meaning of the Subjectivity of Translator

Translator's subjectivity refers to the subjective initiative for the translation goal in the translation process under the premise of respecting the translation objects as a translator， which the "basic features are the conscious cultural awareness of translation subject， cultural character and aesthetic creativity. It can be also subdivided up two aspects： the first is reflected in the process of accepting the original subject： the second is reflected in the creation process of aesthetic subjectivity. Both will merge together and consistently throughout the translation process.

3.2 The Subjectivity of Translator in Computer-Aided Translation

The features of translation determine that the translation initiative can not be fully in accordance with the wishes of the translator's subjective whim to translation free and distorted the original text and fabricated and subjective conjecture. At the same time， it is constrained by many external factors. Compared with the traditional translation mode， during the computer-aided translation， the translator's passivity also highlighted the performance of the translator in the help of the computer-aided translation software and also constraints. Computer-aided translation technology will help translators deal with the recurring translation content and eliminate the duplication of the pain. The translator， however， also be bound by the technology. The functional features and memory， storage terminology database of computer-aided translation software will affect the behavior of the translation.

The translator is the only subject of translation practice， not isolated， abstract subject and he will always be in the complex interplay relationship between the original author， the original context， the target readers， and even the translation work， translation environment. The translator's subjectivity not only reflects in the understanding and interpretation of translation as well as the "re-creating of arts at the language level ， but also in the selection of translation task， translation purpose and translation strategy. In the computer-aided translation technology， people are the implementer of the translation as well as the operator of the computer-aided translation software， therefore， the CAT software terminology database and memory are relying on people to construct， so the translators of computer-aided translation technology-dependent growing today， the subjectivity of the translator will show the increasing trend in the process of increasing relying on the computer-aided translation technology as a translator.

Initiative is the most important features of the subjectivity， the initiative requires the translator to mobilize all kinds of abilities and the resources and emotions actively and proactively in order to transfer one language into another language under the help of translation software. The characteristic of “for-me” determines the purpose and direction of initiative. The characteristic of “for-me” requires translators to choose translation strategies according to the translation purpose. In the computer-aided translation， the translator needs exerting his characteristic of initiative and “for-me” in the stages of preparation， the process of translation， post-editing.

In the preparation stage， the translator should always pay attention to collect and accumulate memory corpus， sharing resources with other translators， choosing a powerful， and easy to operate translation software and configuring different contents for memory bank according to different translation tasks.

In the process of translation， the translator makes the appropriate choice based on the results of the pre-translation coming out by translation software， adjusting the structure of language， translating the works that in line with the original translation and semantic translation of human language translation expression habits. When there are some contents that have not stored in the memory bank in material or even there have some relevant contents in memory bank， however， the contents can not match the new translation work， which needs the translator exerts his initiative to have the creative translation activities.

In the post-editing stage， the translator needs to have a strong sense of responsibility to edit the translation work carefully and focus throughout the whole article and integrate the material divided into small units in the process of translation as well as unifying translation style from a broader perspective. If you use the translation model of cooperation with many translators， you must pay more attention to the unification of the translation work style.

3.3 The Exertion of Subjectivity of Translator in Computer-Aided Translation

3.3.1 The Translators Should Have the Abilities of Mining Information and Analysis Information by Taking Fully Advantage of The Internet in the Context of Information age

First of all， translators should be able to quickly search and collect some field of relevant background knowledge by using the Internet search engine. Secondly， the translators must learn how to gain the corpus and terminology library throughout the network resource. Translation Memory technology is the core of computer-assisted translation， which will directly affects the translation efficiency when we use the computer-aided translation software.

3.3.2 The Translators Should Have the Abilities to Skillfully Use the Office Automation Software， Computer-Aided Translation Software and the Text Recognition Software in the Context of Information Age

Modern translation activities were almost be done by the computer. The translation tasks received by translators and the final handed translation products is often presented in the form of electronic document presentation， so whether you have the ability to skillfully use the relevant computer software will directly affect the translators’ translation speed and translation quality.

3.3.3 The Translator Must be Able to Integrate Their Own Language Skills into the Process of Computer-Aided Translation in the Context of the Information Age

The translator is the operator of the computer-aided translation software as well as the creator of the term and memory libraries. Term library and memory bank can not be automatically generated by computers. And terminology database is the database constructed or collected one word entry by one word entry through the translator， while memory bank is the database translated word by word and constructed by automatically computer memory. Translator should be able to translate their language abilities and skills to the limit in order to ensure that the terms used by terminology database and memory bank could reach the two basic standards， which are the faithful translation and the expressive translation.

3.3.4 The Translator Must Have the Abilities of Using the Computer and Internet and Maintain It in the Context of the Information Age

In modern translation activities， the translator has the multiple identities， and he not only is able to do their own translation work ， but also should strive to become a computer expert and some field expert. Traditional translator lived by his pen while modern translators are living by computer. Computer is just like the people one depends upon for one's livelihood for the translator. Therefore， they must be served very well， otherwise， the translation work must be affected. So， the translator should have the good habits of timely backing up the important files and have the awareness of the computer virus prevention as well as timely maintaining the Internet and re-installing the computer system in the case of the network suddenly interrupted and the system suddenly crash.

Conclusion

Computer-aided translation technology has brought great convenience to human translation and provided help and reference for the translator. Even so， the translator is still in the dominant position in the process of translation. The establishment of translation Memory needs the hard work of translator and the translation process also need translator to make the choice for the referred translation work as well as exerting his subjective initiative when the referred translation work can not meet the translation demand and producing the creative translation work. Moreover， the translator is also needed to sort and proofread the text during the editing stage after the translation. So I believe that in the near future， the translation industry reform and innovation revolution will eventually triumph when the computer-aided translation technology is familiar and skilled using by more and more translators. However， in this translation process， the translator must exerting his subjective initiative consciously， who must not only develop their ability to use the network of information and analysis of information mining， and skilled use of office automation software， computer-aided translation software capabilities and text recognition software， but also should have the ability to integrate itself into the computer-aided language translation of the whole process， which will achieve a goal of perfect interaction between man and machine.

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