Zero Translation Of Chinese Culture-Loaded Expressions In Foreign Affairs Interpretation

As China continues to open up to the world and the exchanges between different countries and regions become increasingly frequent,the role foreign affairs activities play in China's international image becomes pivotal.Due to the historical,cultural and political differences,Chinese culture-loaded expressions in foreign affairs activities are normally a major challenge for interpreters and how to deal with the obstacle in foreign affairs interpretation has become an important issue in the interpretation industry.On the strategic basis of zero translation,this dissertation aims to analyze the application of zero translation of Chinese culture-loaded expressions in foreign affairs activities from the perspective of Skopos theory.With the manuscript of the taped conferences of the latest five Two Sessions(The annual National People's Conference and the Chinese People's Political and Consultative Conference held every March,NPC and CPPCC)as corpus and as the main content of the research content,the focus of this thesis is on the following question: whether or in what ways zero translation strategy can be applicable in foreign affairs interpretation of Chinese culture-loaded expressions?Through analysis of eighteen representative examples,the results show that both absolute zero translation and relevant zero translation are applicable in interpreting Chinese culture-loaded expressions.To be specific,Chinese culture-loaded expressions including traditional idioms and proverbs as well as four-character expressions are better translated via ellipsis of absolute zero translation,while literal translation with notes and complementary translation are more frequently used to interpret emerging culture-loaded expressions such as number abbreviations and internet buzzwords.Ellipsis is mostly applicable to traditional culture-loaded expressions which have no equivalents in English or whose direct translation would cause misunderstanding or confusion.Literal translation with explanation and complementary translation are mostly applicable to emerging culture-loaded expressions whose direct word-to-word translation would lead to grammatical or semantic mistakes in English.This thesis hopes to be of use in improving interpretation efficiency to deal with Chinese culture-loaded expressions in foreign affairs interpretation.