On The English-Chinese Translation Of News From The Perspective Of Ideology

Translation is always influenced and manipulated by the target culture. Apart fromthe influence of the linguistic elements, translation is also influenced by non-linguisticelements, among which ideology is one of the most significant non-linguistic elements.Lefevere’s manipulation theory elaborates on it in a rather profound way. Among thelarge variety of translations, news translation is one of the case that can apparentlyjustify the theory of ideological manipulation.Reference News, published by Xinhua News Agency, is one of the majornewspapers to provide the Chinese readers with translated news reports all over theworld. In the case study, it can be seen that the selection of source materials andmethods for adaptation in Reference News are, to a large extent, manipulated by Chinesemainstream ideological factors. Therefore, by making a detailed study of the samples,the thesis has its typical significance to reveal the manipulating factors which arerelevant to the translations in Reference News. The thesis, based on Andre Lefevere’smanipulation theory, carries out a thorough investigation into the editing and translatingof the news reports in Reference News.The thesis investigates how ideology manipulates the choice of source news andmethods for editing and translating in the Reference News, exemplified by the threesource reports and their Chinese versions: i.e., the disputes on Diaoyu islands betweenChina and Japan in2012, China’s designation of the East China Sea Air DefenseIdentification Zone in2013, and the incident of vessel confrontation between the U.S.and China in2013. Firstly, according to the analysis of ideological manipulation onsource news selection, this thesis points out that Reference News, under the influence ofideology, chooses source news with special reporting stances as the adapting material.Secondly, the selection of original newspapers and news agencies is also influenced byideological factors. Generally speaking, most reports in Reference News are chosenfrom the world-famous newspapers and agencies that enjoy the highest prestige in the world. Furthermore, through a thorough case study of the three sample events, thisthesis analyses how ideological factors manipulate the choice of adaptation methods.Three kinds of news adaptation methods such as deletion, addition and modification aremainly adopted by translators and editors under the manipulation of ideology. In theprocess of analysis, this thesis also attempts to delve into how the aim of ideologicalmanipulation goes through out the translation practice.With the theory and practice combined comprehensively, this thesis draws aconclusion by using analytical and illustrative methods that ideological manipulationplays a significant role in the choice of source news and methods for adaptation inReference News. Under the manipulation of ideology, the target reader’s viewpoint on agiven news event can be greatly influenced or controlled by news translation. Thus thethesis concludes that news translation is also an indispensable channel of consolidatingthe dominant ideology.