Translation Of Idioms In The Governance Of China From The Perspective Of Hermeneutics

178 pieces of important speeches by President Xi from 2012 to 2017 are collected in the two volumes of The Governance of China.This book has not only aroused extensive reading by domestic readers since its publication,but also been translated into many foreign languages for publication abroad.Many idioms have been used by President Xi in these speeches,which makes abstract political expressions more accessible.Idioms are culture accumulation for one nation,so idiom translation also constitutes the focal point and difficulty in the process of translating this book.Based on idiom definitions,this thesis collects 888 idioms from The Governance of China.As for these idioms,this thesis classifies them from different point of views and makes quantitative and qualitative analysis about them.According to the types of idioms,they are divided into set phrases,folk adages,mottos,proverbs and two-part allegorical sayings.From the perspective of their origins,they can be divided into different types of idioms from literary classics,daily life,political field,etc.From the quantitative aspect,this thesis collects data about various idioms.According to the data,the characteristics of idioms in the source text are summed up from the qualitative perspective.Steiner’s fourfold motion theory and hermeneutic terms are applied to idiom translation in this thesis.Based on Steiner’s theory,this thesis firstly analyzes the translators’ trust,including the trust of the source text,idioms in the source text,translators’ competence and responsibility,and readers’demand.Then,by combining the steps of aggression and incorporation,this thesis explores the translators’ translation of set phrases,folk adages,mottos,proverbs and two-part allegorical sayings.At last,this thesis discusses the translators’ compensation of political background and culture for the idioms in The Governance of China.This thesis concludes the translation methods of these 888 idioms in the process of the aggression and incorporation stage and compensation stage by case analysis.The following conclusions can be drawn from this thesis.According to different contexts,translators can adopt various translation methods flexibly to transfer the semantic and cultural meanings of idioms.In the process of aggression and incorporation,the translator mainly adopts the following nine translation methods.including free translation,literal translation,omission.reduction,combination.literal translation plus free translation,borrowing,back and imitation.In the compensation step,the translator mainly adopts the translation methods of addition,interpretation,compiling and literal translation plus annotation.By studying the idiom translation methods in The Governance of China,this thesis hopes to provide reference for the translation of political texts and idioms in the future,so as to better promote the political and cultural communication between China and the west.