As for translator’s subjectivity from the hermeneutics perspective, Friedrich Schleiermacher and George Steiner are the famous representatives of hermeneutics translation theory.
Friedrich Schleiermacher mainly focuses on the translation process. He does deep analysis on the relationship between translation and understanding, and he considers that it is almost impossible for a translator to fully present the meaning of the source text because of the restrictions from the original author and source text to a certain degree. Thus, translator’s task is to try to shorten the distance between the original author and the target language readers. What’s more, Friedrich Schleiermacher lays stress on the understanding the text and the role of translator.
From George Steiner’s point of view, understanding is translation, and a thorough understanding is scarcely possible. He holds his Fourfold Translation Motion Theory: trust, aggression, incorporation and reciprocity. Firstly, trust is embodied by translator’s choice of source texts. Before taking up the translation, the translator needs to choose a valuable text, which deserves being translated and is meaningful. The layer of trust becomes the groundwork for the translator to better do the translation work. Secondly, aggression refers to the translator’s aggression on the source text. The translator has the initiative to invade the text, for purpose of further understanding the content and theme of the text. Thirdly, since the translator does the translation work on the basis of his own understanding, it is inevitable to dope his personal understandings and ideas, which give new incorporation to the target language readers. In this respect, the quality of the incorporation is largely determined by translator’s comprehensive ability and language competence. Finally, reciprocity is of great importance. In translation, the contents, ideas and even literature charm of the source text are impossible to be fully replicated. There must be some imbalance, which requires reciprocity to convey the meaning and emotion of the source text as fully as possible.
Although hermeneutics can provide in-depth interpretation of the translator's subjectivity, but this theory remains strong sense of philosophical speculation and it’s likely to talk about the translator’s subjectivity at a metaphysical level.