Strategies For Translating Politically Sensitive Texts

The Manipulation School holds that translation is a rewriting of an original text.But it does not mean translators can make changes on the original at will.This rewriting is in fact inevitably constrained by ideology.Ideology is often enforced by the patrons and influenced by power relations.During the translation process,the translator is often subject to two kinds of ideologies.On one hand,the author's ideology is blindly followed without the source text deliberated on.On the other hand,the translator's ideology encourages the translator to turn the source text into what can be approved in the target-language country.Given the conflict of ideologies,the translator therefore needs to well play the role of mediator to deliver a satisfactory translation.China:The Pessoptimist Nation is a monograph on China's national identity and national security written by UK-based American scholar William A.Callahan.As a politically sensitive text,this book fully reflects conflicts of values and ideologies.It is therefore a good material for ideology studies.Based on the previous theoretical studies and the translator's reading and translation experience,this report presents five strategies for translating politically sensitive texts,namely addition,substitution,attenuation,deletion and footnote.Reflecting on typical examples,the translator elaborates on the influence of ideology in this report.Since ideology is inseparable from political works,great importance thus needs to be attached to it during the translation process.