Interpretation Of Diplomatic Euphemism From The Perspective Of Skopostheorie

Euphemism plays an indispensable part in our daily life, which facilitate to achievesuccessful social communication and coordinate human rapport.The definition of diplomatic euphemism in this thesis is as follows: it refers to those wordsor sentences that are used when the diplomatic personnel discuss some events betweencountries or regions and they try to avoid mentioning them directly in order to achieveideal communication effects. Considering the difference between diplomatic euphemismand the other euphemism in everyday use and the importance of diplomatic euphemism inforeign affairs, I believe it is significant to study it. This thesis endeavors to approach theissue from the perspective of Skopostheories.The corpus is selected mainly from the transcripts of the Ministry of Foreign Affair’sspokesman at press conferences from April,2009to March,2011.Skopostheorie is the core theory of the functional translation theory. What it pays greatattention to is not the equivalence or perfection of the source text and the target text but theemphasis of selecting the best methods, aiming at the intended function of the target textbased on the analysis of the source text. In euphemism interpreting, the interpreter has totake the target readers’ psychological need into consideration so as to decide whether theeuphemistical approach is necessary in the target text. According to Skopostheorie,translation is a purposeful action and the intention of translation determines the strategiesthat should be adopted. This is called the "Skopos rule". There are also "coherence rule"and "fidelity rule" in Skopostheorie. By "coherence rule" it means that the translator shouldensure that the target text should be sufficiently coherent to make the intended userscomprehend it or to be meaningful to target language receivers. Skopostheorie is a goodtheory in guiding euphemism interpreting.This thesis consists of five chapters, whose main concerns are as follows:Chapter I begins with a general introduction, introducing the theme, objectives and significance of this research. Then the literatures that are related to this theme are reviewed.It proposes an effective theoretical basis, Skopostheorie, with its development and basicconcepts included. In addition, the definition, classification and function of euphemismsare also presented.Chapter2gives an overall illustration of diplomatic euphemism, with its definition,formation, construction and functions included. More specific use of diplomaticeuphemisms can help diplomats to avoid misinterpretations or misunderstandings inexchanges and improve their capability in intercultural communication.Chapter3is on the current interpretating situations of the diplomatic euphemism.Meanwhile, some problems are detected.Chapter4analyses the process of interpreting based on some principles of Skopostheorie.Chapter5concentrates on the interpretation of diplomatic euphemisms from theperspective of Skopostheorie. It discusses some interpretation strategies of diplomaticeuphemisms by citing many examples, which consists of a set of interpretations for pressconference addresses and speeches.Chapter6comes to the conclusion of this thesis. The application of Skopostheorie isfeasible for the Chinese to English interpretation of diplomatic euphemisms, regardless ofits inevitable limitations.