On The Translation Of Chinese Political Speeches From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

Chinese political speeches, as a significant information carrier, are considered to be one of the most important mediums for them to learn about China. Hence, the translation of Chinese political speeches has its undeniable importance in our social activities.On the basis of previous research, the author tries to make a comparison study of the report of the Seventeenth National Congress from the perspective of functional equivalence theory.Functional equivalence theory focuses on equivalence between the source text and the target text, and shows great respect to the reader’s response. Chinese political speeches, as a tool for political communication, have their own special functions. According to the purposes of expression and the political meanings during the process of political communication, the author holds that the functions can be mainly classified into three categories, that is the informative function, the appealing function and the expressive function.The most obvious function of political speeches is informative function. Chinese political speeches are mainly used to inform people of the policies of the state and the Chinese Communist Party and to expound its attitudes or positions on certain issues. The political speeches provide people with objective explanation, analysis, description and reasoning about the government policies at home and abroad. On the one hand, this function is used to make known the policies and on the other hand, political speeches can be used to defend the interests of our country. Therefore, political speeches play an important role in shaping and changing the people’s state of mind. Informative function is the most significant one because only when the information is transferred, can other functions of political speeches be fulfilled.The appealing function involves an attempt to influence the behavior of the receptor and aims at calling upon the reader to act, think or feel, in fact to react in the way intended by the political speeches.In addition to informative and appealing function, political speeches also have expressive function. Language is used for communication. The same is true with political speeches. People must understand the information transferred by the political speeches. The expression of view of the government must be clearly and fully comprehended by the people. Only by doing this, can the gist of the speech by the government be passed on. Apart from explanation, political speeches may provide evaluation of an event. In contrast to explanation which presents objective and verifiable facts, evaluation is subjective which often makes known the positions of government.According to Nida’s functional equivalence theory, the thesis makes a comparative study of the approaches to the translation of Chinese political speeches from the perspective of three functions of Chinese political speeches.The thesis makes a conclusion that the informative function of the report of the Seventeenth National Congress is to convey the specific information and express the public opinions. The appealing function is represented from four aspects:direct appeal, stabilizing emotion, behavior replacement, and symbol benefit. The expressive function is mainly embodied in the political identification. The political group is united by ideology. The purpose of political communication is to ask group members to join in some social political activities and declare their justice in order to make their authority accepted and identified by the public. Chinese political speeches should be translated under the guidance of certain strategies, and the author holds that Nida’s functional equivalence theory can provide a practical way for it. It is necessary for translators to take this theory as a guide, and consider the differences between these two languages comprehensively during the translation practice. It is vital for them to choose the proper approaches flexibly regardless of forms in order to present the "equivalence" fully and convey the original meanings and content.