Stylistic Analysis Of Diplomatic Language And Diplomatic Translation

The word diplomacy is an equivalent of Chinese Waijiao, meaning interaction among different countries. Different diplomats, scholars gave various definitions to diplomacy, of which two main points are in common: first, diplomacy deals with relations between different countries and it is an important tool to defend a country's national interests and realize its foreign policy; second, peaceful means especially negotiations and dialogues are employed in diplomatic activities.Since the nature of diplomacy is negotiation and dialogue between nations, language inevitable plays a very important role in it. Furthermore, when heads of states or diplomats from different countries who speak different languages are interacting with each other, translation is very important to ensure the smooth process of diplomatic activities.As a reflection of society and culture, language is socially and culturally bound. Diplomatic language, as a reflection of diplomatic activities, has the features of being formal, conservative, precise and accurate. During the last centuries, the lingua franca of diplomatic language was Latin and French. In the present world, however, English has become the dominant language.Diplomatic language has its own features, including those reflected in its style. There have been quite a few translators and translation theorists who lay emphasis on preserving the style of the source language text when rendering it into another language. In this thesis, the author attempts to employ the theory of stylistics to analyze diplomatic language and deal with the translation of diplomatic language. It is suggested that the principles applied to diplomatic translation are: accuracy, appropriateness and preservation of the source language style.This thesis consists of six chapters.Chapter One illustrates the definition of diplomacy and the features of diplomatic activities. Chapter Two focuses on the development of diplomatic language and the features that are closely related to diplomatic activities. The third chapter, based onthe theory of stylistics, conducts stylistic analysis of diplomatic language and reveals the stylistic features of diplomatic language: formal, conservative, precise and accurate. Chapter Four deals with the principles for diplomatic translation: accuracy, appropriateness and preservation of the source language style. It is also suggested that the main strategy for diplomatic translation is literal translation. Chapter Five covers the trend and changes in diplomatic language under the influence of social and cultural development. The thesis ends with Chapter Six, which is a conclusion drawn from the previous chapters.