The Manifestation of the Translator’s Subjectivity in George Steiner’s Four Steps in Translation—Taking Zhang Peiji’s English Translation of Li Dazhao’s National Crisis vs Heroic Nation as an Example

Abstract

The four-step theory of translation proposed by British translation theorist George Steiner provides a systematic approach and thinking for translation practice, mainly consisting of the four steps “trust”, “intrusion”, “absorption” and “compensation”. In Li Dazhao’s essay National Crisis vs Heroic Nation, the author uses the flowing river as a metaphor for the progress of a nation’s life and the rough and perilous road as a metaphor for the historical path that the Chinese nation has encountered. The most famous English translation of National Crisis vs Heroic Nation is by Mr. Zhang Peiji, which is of high quality, more faithful to the original text and similar in style. Guided by George Steiner’s interpretation of the four steps of translation theory, this paper takes Mr. Zhang Peiji’s English translation as the research object, and intervenes the translator’s subjectivity into the four steps to analyze its manifestation in the translation.