An Analysis Of The Translation Of The2011Government Work Report In The Light Of The Semantic Translation And Communicative Translation

The translation of the political documents can be traced back to the founding of NewChina when it was urgent for China to win support from the international community bymeans of diplomatic affairs. But at that time, there were few translations from Chinese toforeign languages except the translation of the works of Mao Zedong. Since theimplementation of the reform and opening up, the economy of China has been growing apace,leading to a rise of China’s international status and arousing the interest of internationalcommunity in China’s political, economic, cultural sectors. As one of the most effectivechannels for China’s publicity overseas, the translation of political documents is receivingincreasing attention with more and more people devoted to the research of the translation ofpolitical documents. There are highly political implications in the political documents.Therefore, being faithful to the original is the first and foremost step in the translation of thedocuments, and being accessible to the readership is the aim. Both faithfulness andaccessibility should be integral parts of the translated documents.The thesis attempts to discuss the text types and translation principles in the translationof the2011Report on the Work of the Government from the viewpoint of the semantictranslation and communicative translation proposed by Peter Newmark. Semantic translationattempts to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic structures of the second languageallow, the exact contextual meaning of the original. It conforms to the norms of the sourceculture and the thought of the writer of the original and provides some interpretativeinformation only when the connotational meaning of the original is inaccessible to thereadership. Communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close aspossible to that obtained on the readers of the original. It is devoted to the target language and readership and strives to prevent any obscurities and difficulties in the translation. Based uponthe three language functions, i.e. expressive, informative and vocative functions put forwardby German psychologist Karl Buhler, Newmark classified texts into three corresponding typeswhich coexisted within each text. Newmark stated that the semantic translation was used forthe expressive texts, while the communicative translation for the informative and vocativetexts. According to Newmark, authoritative statements, including the Report, are typicalexpressive texts. Therefore, after a comprehensive comparison between the Report and itstranslation, the author of the thesis states that the semantic translation is the primary methodin the translation of the political documents and the communicative translation is thesubordinate. Based upon this statement, the author proposes two guiding principles for thetranslation of the political documents, i.e. faithfulness and naturalness.The thesis is made up of six chapters.Chapter One gives a brief and panoramic view of what will be discussed in this thesis.This chapter will inform readers of the object, motivation, theoretical basis and methodologyof the thesis.Chapter Two is the literature review. In this chapter, the definition of the politicaldocuments will be given at the beginning. The chapter will then review the previous researchof political documents by the scholars at home, the lion’s share of this chapter, as well as bythose abroad.In Chapter Three, the theoretical framework will be elucidated. To be clear about thewhole of the meaning of ST and CT, the author of the thesis will unravel their underlyingparts, including an overview of approaches to translation in the pre-linguistics period,linguistics-oriented approach to translation, different language functions and text types,definition and application of ST and CT. Lastly, the evaluation of the ST and CT by otherscholars will be given briefly. Chapter Four is a comprehensive analysis of the source text and the target text. To beginwith, some basic questions will be resolved, such as, who translate the source text, why dothey translate and who might be the readership? The chapter will then deal with the languagefunctions and text types of the Report and the intention of the Report and its translation. Andthen the comparison between the two texts will give us clue to some of their similarities anddifferences in four levels, i.e. lexical, syntactical, textual and rhetorical. The comparison willlead to the conclusion that translator should first and foremost show faithfulness to theoriginal and secondly produce a text that is accessible and natural to the readership.Chapter Five is the core of the thesis, dealing with the application of the ST and CT tothe translation of the Report. This chapter will begin with the application of ST and CT inaccordance with different text types. Newmark stated that the ST is used mainly forexpressive text and CT for informative and vocative texts. The authoritative statements,including the Report, are typical expressive text with some of the informative and vocativeelements. Therefore, the author concludes that the ST should be the primary method for thetranslation of the Report and the communicative should be the subordinate. Based on theabove conclusion, the author of the thesis proposes two guiding principles of faithfulness andnaturalness and provides some translation strategies to illustrate how the two principles areobserved in the translation of the Report.Chapter Six is the concluding part of the thesis. The rise of China entails widespreadunderstanding and support from international community. As one of the most effectivechannels to introduce China, the translation of the political documents should be attachedgreat importance. The ST and CT, Newmark’s main contribution to the translation theory, canserve as a guiding direction for the translation in this regard, with the former as the primarymethod and the latter as the subordinate. They can help translators achieve faithfulness to theoriginal as well as naturalness for the readership, thus providing a new perspective in the translation of the political documents.