Discursive Production,Distribution And Reception In Translation For China's International Communication

In recent years,with the continuous enhancement of China's comprehensive national strength,the international community has been paying close attention to the development of politics,economy,culture,society,etc.in China.As international exchanges continue to deepen and international communication channels see further expansion,China's international communication is not only the world's key source of information to know about China,but also the core content for the construction of China's international discourse system,which is crucial to the international discursive power of China.Language serves as a link for international communication,and while dissemination effect is considered,the interpretation of culture and values,as well as the construction of the national image,are highly valued in the process of discursive practice of translation.Therefore,the effect of Translation for China's International Communication(TCIC)is relevant to the construction of China's international discourse system,and the research of TCIC should be given due attention.The core of TCIC is “translation”,yet the phrase “international communication” makes both the direction and the purpose clear.In essence,TCIC is an activity of cross-cultural communication that demands interdisciplinary and dynamic research,and the realization of its purpose relies on exploration and development of related theories and practices.TCIC has witnessed six-decade development,but the research system is inadequate and related studies are commonly limited to language level.Notably,some scholars have been trying to connect the ontological theory of translation with other interdisciplines.They have given insight to the language level of translation as well as extralinguistic factors so as to show that cultural and social factors which restrict translation activities have gradually aroused the attention of the academic circle.Through the process of linguistic turn,cultural turn and sociological turn in translation studies,a mature theoretical framework is needed as a support to analyze the relationship between various social constraints and the production,distribution and reception of translation.Among various research perspectives adopted in translation studies,the research framework of Critical Discourse Analysis(CDA)is closely related to TCIC in the following aspects: 1)research on ideology;2)research on the dialectical relationship between discourse and society;3)research on power relations.CDA examines the ideological meaning behind the linguistic structure through analyzing the linguistic characteristics of the text and the social and historical background they are generated from,and further reveals the complex relationship among language,power and ideology.TCIC carries on discursive and social practice in the socio-cultural context of the target language.Therefore the CDA perspective is adopted in this research to analyze the production,distribution and reception of discourse in translation.This research focuses on the analysis of the translation of Chinese political discourse represented by the original and translated versions of the 2017 Government Work Report(GWR).The translation of the GWR 2017 involves ideological work and should produce the communicative effect in the context of the target language.It stresses faithfulness to the original version while concerning the readers' reception and reaction.Mere exploration of the language level can hardly meet the multi-dimensional requirements mentioned above.Understandably,principles of the traditional domestication or foreignization strategy cannot apply to the dialectical and dynamic relationship between discourse and social practice.As a result,this research adopts the transdisciplinary perspective of CDA in the analysis of the data.The specific methodology of this research is based on Fairclough's Three-dimensional Framework of discourse analysis(Integrated Framework of Translation-Communication-Social Practice)in terms of production,distribution and reception.In this Framework,for the first dimension,translated version is examined in terms of the content of information involved in communication.The reproduction of the expression of metalinguistic function is analyzed in the translation version;for the second dimension,the communication practice of translation is investigated,in terms of the production,dissemination and reception of translation;and for the third dimension,the social practice of translation is observed,including the relationship between translation and power,between translation and social identity,and between translation,cultural values and ideology.This research examines TCIC in the context of international communication and explores the communicative nature of its discursive practice.The findings of this research are: 1)By examining TCIC from a transdisciplinary perspective,this research effectively overcomes the limitation of lexical analysis so as to highlight the social practicality of translation;2)In essence,TCIC is an international communicative process.The perspective of inter-subjectivity consists of multidimensional reflections on sponsors,translators,media and readers.Accordingly,the significance of communication and interaction is reflected in information dissemination which is of vital importance to constructing the international discourse system which syncretizes Chinese and foreign cultures;3)The effect of discursive communication is closely related to the discursive strategies used by the communicators.The exploration from the perspective of reader acceptance and response will enrich the communicative strategies of TCIC.