本論文以台灣的殖民歷史及族群分立為研究素材，以儒釋道思想，尤其是禪宗，為研究方法的依據，參酌德國文評家班雅明的翻譯理論，企圖建構可以反映台灣文化主體的翻譯理論。在台灣開拓史上，荷蘭人及西班牙人根據原住民語言創造拼音羅馬字，日本殖民者及國民政府推動國語普及運動。後者壓抑被統治者的語言，以樹立自己語言的絕對霸權，並美其名為基於共通語言之需要。前者顯然注意到語言並非只是訊息的傳遞，而是與歷史文化息息相關。從這個角度來看，翻譯的目標，不應僅是兩種語言之間語意的轉換，應該設定為展現語言中無法傳遞的部分。但語意之外的層面，大多無法言傳，又該如何翻譯呢？佛教常以否定二元對立的方式，打破聽者習以為常的認知模式，使其得以訴諸直覺，釋放豐富多元的樣貌。翻譯不屬於原文，也不屬於譯文，這種門檻位置使其得以擺脫符號組合的固定模式，展現原屬無法言傳的部分。

This paper proposes a translation theory in keeping with Taiwan's long history of being colonized, its multi-ethnic situation, and the shaping role played by Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism in the thinking pattern of the predominant Han ethnic group. Zen Buddhism and Walter Benjamin's translation theory are major points of reference in an attempt to formulate a workable theoretical framework. The Spanish and Dutch colonizers created romanization systems based on the speeches of Taiwan's aboriginal tribes while the Japanese and Chinese rulers imposed their languages on the Taiwanese in the name of establishing a common language. The Spanish and Dutch took the steps apparently out of an understanding that language is not limited to the function of communication, but has more to do with historical and cultural factors. Viewed from this perspective, translation shouldn't set its goal merely as an exchange of messages, but should aim, instead, for the incommunicable dimensions of language. The practice of denying binary oppositions by Zen masters may point out a way of how this can be achieved. By shocking an uninitiated person out of the habitual pattern of cognition, Zen masters may trigger in him torrents of unrestrained instincts which would otherwise be stratified into various forms of obsession. In the same vein, translation should be viewed as an activity carried on neither at the realm of the original language, nor at that of the target language. The liminal position it occupies sets off mechanisms in which new possibilities can emerge.