A Translation Project Report Of Iran's Foreign And Defense Policies(Excerpts Of Chapter Five)

The Middle East,with turbulence all year round,is one of the most sensitive regions in the world in terms of politics,economy and military.Iran is located on the coast of the Persian Gulf and guards the Strait of Hormuz which is known as the lifeblood of the world's industries.In recent years,Iran has gradually expanded its influence in the Middle East and thus become the eyesore of the United States.Since the Trump Administration assumed power,comprehensive containment of Iran has been considered as a priority of its policies on the Middle East.A series of tough policies has been unveiled by the Administration,and Iran has also made uncompromising responses.In this context,the Congressional Research Service as one of the top ten think tanks in the United States released the report Iran's Foreign and Defense Policies.The thesis is a translation project report,in which the original text is selected from the report Iran's Foreign and Defense Policies issued by the U.S.Congressional Research Service in 2019 with more than 30,000 words containing twelve chapters.Iran's foreign and defense policies,its military capability and U.S.policies to counter Iran's malign activities are analyzed in detail in the original text,which contributes to the great historical and strategic significance.The first five sections of chapter five are selected as the target text of translation,elaborating Iran's threats to Gulf security,its policy on Iraq,Syria,and the Islamic State and a series of U.S.efforts to counter Iran.This report released by the U.S.Congressional Research Service is considered as an inspiration of analyzing and predicting the future of the U.S.-Iran relationship and of great translation value owing to its detailed content and closeness to international hotspot.First,China is a firm supporter of globalization and an active participant in it.The report has certain referential significance for the Chinese government in formulating foreign policies,guiding China to maintain balance in the complex U.S.-Iran relationship and making efforts to improve relations between the two.Second,domestic readers can further read the reports released by foreign think tanks after reading national reports on this international issue to obtain deep information behind the growing tension between the United States and Iran.Theirknowledge reserve will be increased and international perspective expanded.Third,translation of this text type is unfamiliar to the author and the author wishes to improve translation competence and accumulate relevant background knowledge through this project.The original text of the project is a political report,which is a typical informative text.The content of this report is highly professional,widely covering military,diplomatic,economic and other aspects.How to accurately convey the information in the original text through translation is the most important issue in this translation practice.At the grammatical level,technical terms containing complex and diverse background information are frequently used,most of which have established translations,with some still having no corresponding translations.Owing to the frequent appearances of rigorous wording of the political report,complex sentences and passive voices in this report,it is to some extent different from a Chinese report.In order to solve the difficulties and key issues in the translation,the text type approach by Katharina Reiss is adopted as the guiding theory for this translation project.Katharina Reiss in her text type approach divides texts into four types: informative,expressive,operative and audiomedial and explains the translation method corresponding to each type of text.Therefore,the text type approach is of strong guidance to the translation project.The author consistently adheres to the approach throughout the entire translation process and flexibly uses translation techniques such as conversion and division,aiming at conveying the information displayed in the original text accurately and completely.Experience and lessons have been learned through this project.The author deeply realizes that translation can not be accomplished at one stroke and it requires that the translator do sufficient preparation work before translation,maintain a dedicated and rigorous attitude during the translation process and patiently revise the first draft.What is also learned is that the translation competence is not only reflected in the application of various translation techniques,but also in whether the translator acquires the background information related to the original text.