Exploring an Imagological Approach to Translation Studies

Based on the interdisciplinary development of translation studies and imagology, this study clarifies and refines an imagological approach to translation studies, provides the definition of the approach, establishes its research scope, elaborates on its research objects and focuses, and proposes its research methods. Based on descriptive translation studies, this approach centers on the interactional relation between translation and image, makes use of textual analysis, draws on the concepts, theories and methods from imagology, and describes and explains translation phenomena from imagological perspectives. Within this approach, the research objects include literary and non-literary texts, the research focuses include both self-image and also hetero-image, and the research methods can be divided into three types: phase-oriented, agent-oriented and product-oriented. This approach is devoted not only to the influence of images on translation activities, but also to the construction, transmission and reception of particular images effected by translation in cross-linguistic and cross-cultural contexts.