| With the deepening of globalization, Chinese readers’ needs for timely international news grow faster and faster which highlights the importance of Chinese translation of English news in cross-cultural communication. News translation differentiates from general translation: not only messages, but also underlying ideas,values and beliefs contrary to the dominant ideology of China and Chinese readers’ expectation may be transmitted when English news is translated. Therefore, news translators are confronted with various difficulties and challenges.This thesis introduces Chesterman’s five ethical models into studies on Chinese translation of English news. Descriptive research method, comparative research method, and case study are employed to analyze different roles a news translator played and the ethical conflicts in English news translation as well as to explore factors influencing a news translator’s ethical decision-making and suggestions for ethical decision-making in English news translation. The study is conducted from three main aspects:Firstly, as a code of interpersonal relationship, ethics has permeated every aspect of human society, including translation activity while translation, as an intercultural interaction, is interrelated in innumerable ways with ethics. Chinese translation of English news consists of three phases: understanding the ST, translating as well as editing. It is discovered in the thesis that in English news translation, a translator is clothed with five roles: a reader of original English news(understanding the ST), a translator himself or herself(translating), a Chinese editor(editing), an employee of patron(underlying role during the process), and a communicator(underlying role during the process). Different roles undertake relevant responsibilities and obligations.Secondly, models of translation ethics are put forward by Chesterman on the basis of basic ethical values. Under different ethical models, a translator is supposed to assume different responsibilities and obligations. Since different roles of a news translator require him or her to take different responsibilities and obligations, a news translator may violate his or her ethical responsibilities of one role for those of other roles and vice versa. That is when ethical conflicts of different roles stand out. The thesis attempts to reveal possible interpersonal role conflicts of a news translator under models of translation ethics by making a comparative analysis between English news and their Chinese translations.Lastly, when confronted with those ethical conflicts, a news translator is supposed to make a quick ethical decision. On one hand, understanding different roles he or she plays and ethical conflicts of different roles is helpful for a news translator to make a quick ethical decision; on the other hand, paratextual factors, such as receptors’ values and expectations, ideology and national complex etc., influence a news translator’s ethical decision-making. To balance relations between various interested parties is pointed out as the key to ethical decision-making in English news translation.The research explores multiple roles of a news translator and ethical conflicts of different roles from the perspective of ethics, aiming to provide a new angle for studies on news translation. Other relevant disciplines are expected to take the research for reference. |
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