Overseas English 海外英语

本栏目责任编辑：梁 书

一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一

翻译研究翻译研究

2012年03月2012年03月

Political Words in Diplomatic Translation黄佳程

（厦门大学 国际关系学院 南洋研究院，福建 厦门 361005）Abstract: The translation of political words in diplomacy is the central topic in this thesis. The thesis analyses the translation of politicalwords with specific examples with discussing the main features of diplomatic language. The method of the thesis is taxonomic study. Politi⁃cal words are with unique features of formalness, tactfulness and sensitiveness. Choosing different strategies according to the type of politicalwords is the key in political translation. The thesis focuses on discussing how to translate fix expressions, formal word, terms and four-char⁃acter phrases.

Key words: diplomatic translation; diplomatic language; political words

中图分类号：H159 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1009-5039(2012)05-0130-02

1 IntroductionWith the development of comprehensive national strength, Chi⁃

na has more powerful influence in International politics. Politicallanguage plays an important role in mutual communication betweenChina and other nations. Precise translation deepens the under⁃standing between nations. On the contrary, translation mistakebrings misunderstanding even disaster. Therefore, political transla⁃tion gives a serious and significant task to translators. Politicalwords, which are the focus of the thesis, have several unique fea⁃tures, so the translation of political words with strong political sensecomes up particular requirements to translators. Also, there are a va⁃riety of political words. Choosing different strategy according to thetype of words is significantly important.2 Main features of diplomatic words2.1 Formal

Diplomacy is an important and serious activity between coun⁃tries. It should be behaved in diplomatic manners to show the re⁃spect to other countries. The features of diplomatic language em⁃body in diplomatic language. Therefore, using formal language isthe basic requirement to diplomatic language. Some honorifics suchas 'Majesty', 'Royal Highness', 'Excellency' are used in diplomaticlanguage to show formalness. Furthermore, formal verbs are pre⁃ferred, which is a part of following discussion.2.2 Tactful

The tactfulness shows the positive image of a nation as well asrespect to other nations. Furthermore, it helps to avoid some embar⁃rassment, bringing friendship and cooperation between nations.Here is an example:

由于大家都知道的原因，两国人民之间的来往中断了二十多年。现在，经过中美双方的共同努力，友好往来的大门终于打开了。（周总理于1972年在欢迎尼克松总统宴会上的祝酒词）

It is generally known that the communication between Chinaand the United States has ever suspended for over twenty years be⁃

cause of America's invasion of Korea. Here, Premier Zhou diplomat⁃ically chose the vague expression“due to the known reason”to re⁃place the embarrassing real reason instead of pointing out it bluntly.By doing this, Premier Zhou not only expressed our position, but al⁃so maintained tactfulness.2.3 Sensitive

Politics is sensitive because it is closely related with the secu⁃rity of the nation. That requires the political speaker to be cautionsin choosing the proper words because little language mistake maybring political troubles to mutual relations. For example, DengXiaoping once pointed out“祖国统一后，台湾特别行政区可以有自己的独立性，可以实行同大陆不同的制度。”The English ver⁃sion is“After unification with motherland, the Taiwan Special Ad⁃ministrative Region will assume a unique character and may prac⁃tice a social system different from that of the mainland.”Here,“独立性”is rendered into“unique character”instead of“indepen⁃dence”. Though it is just the difference of choice of words, it has dif⁃ferent connotations. If we use“independence”, it means MainlandChina agree Taiwan doesn't belong to China, which is wrong and il⁃legal. Instead, using“unique character”means Taiwan has somespecial privilege. However, it is a part of China basically.3 Taxonomic discussions on choosing translationstrategy for political words

The thesis divides the political words into four types as follow⁃ing. Each type should be handled with different translation strategy.It will be demonstrated by specific examples.3.1 Fix expressions

Some expressions in diplomatic translation consist of commonwords, whereas, they have respectively fixed translation which arebroadly accepted by International diplomacy. We call them fix ex⁃pression such as“sovereignty and territory integrality”(主权与领土完整) and“sustainable development”（可持续发展）. If we trans⁃late“可持续发展”into“continued development”, foreigners will

收稿日期：2011-12-03 修回日期：2011-12-27作者简介：黄佳程（1987-），女，广西柳州人，厦门大学国际关系学院/南洋研究院学生，硕士研究生，研究方向为公共外交。

ISSN 1009-5039Overseas English 海 外 英 语

zwwh@overseaen.comhttp://www.overseaen.com

Tel:+86-551-5690811 5690812

130

Overseas English 海外英语

一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一

翻译研究翻译研究本栏目责任编辑：梁 书

2012年03月2012年03月

understand it, although it is not standard translation.We also find a few of fix expressions share translation rules,

for example, words with the negative prefix such as“反”、“抗”、“防”、“非”and“不”. Usually, we translate“反”“抗”、“防”into 'an⁃

ti-' and we translate“非”and“不”into 'non-'or 'un-'. We find thatfixed expression in Chinese declines to adopt idiomatic translationwhich conforms to rules of diplomatic language and target language.3.2 Formal words

In Nida's equivalence theory, he argues that there are two dif⁃ferent types of equivalence, namely formal equivalence and dynam⁃ic equivalence. Formal equivalence“focus attention on the messageitself, in both form and content”(Nida 159). From the definition, weknow that formal-equivalence theory focus not only on the contentbut also the form of language.

In translation, when we deal with the verbs, it is common tofind some verbs formal while others not. We do compare the formalwords in political essays and informal words with the following ex⁃amples:

Informal formal扩大 widen expand承诺 promise pledge落实 carry out implement坚持 hold adhereWords in English usually have synonyms which share same

conceptual meaning but differ slightly in style, emotion and so on.The formal words and informal words have stylistic distinction. Al⁃though the words on the left and the right have similar meanings,the words on left side are informal and they are common to be usedin daily life. Only the right ones are proper in political essays interms of form.3.3 Terms

In the Wikipedia, term refers to“a noun or compound wordused in a specific context meaning”. It is inevitable to find terms inpolitical essays such as“科教兴国”,“多极化”,“亚太经合组织”and so on. Some political terms with culture background are hard totranslate because the translator has to handle the connotations be⁃hind the superficial meaning due to the differences in thinkingmode, values and logic between Chinese culture and the target cul⁃ture. The translators usually use the strategy of transliteration orfree translation to convey the meaning.

For example, the term“不折腾”gives a challenge to transla⁃tors. There are several translation versions as followings:

bu zhe teng（国务院新闻办的发布会上现场翻译）no trouble-making（季羡林）avoid self-inflicted setbacks（中国驻纳米比亚大使任小萍）stop making trouble and wasting time、no self-consuming polit⁃

ical movements(不搞自我消耗的政治运动）（资料来源：“新华网”）There are some political terms concerning national policies or

proper nouns. To the contrary, these terms are of less culture, whichdeclines to adopt literal translation.

可持续发展 sustainable development和平共处五项原则 five principles o peaceful coexistence中俄战略伙伴关系 China-Russia strategic partnership

of cooperation

Various translating strategies have been used in the renditionof political terms, among which literal translation and free transla⁃tion are the essential ones. Whether the terms have rich culture orequivalent words will be an important measurement of choosing thetranslation strategy.3.4 Four-character phrases

The mass use of four-character phrase is very common in Chi⁃nese political essays. This distinctive feature makes Chinese politi⁃cal essays much more rhythmic, solemn and grave. Due to the differ⁃ences between Chinese and English, it is very difficult to find anequivalent expression in both meaning and form. Obviously, freetranslation is preferred in translating four-character phrases.

Compared with literal translation, free translation is a kind ofstrategy, in which“the meaning of the statement, expression or textin the source language is rendered into the target language withoutexactly or accurately following the source language. It is a kind ofreproduction based on essential meaning and intention of the origi⁃nal language material”(Chen 289). [6]

Four-character phrases in political translation such as“源远流长”、“风云变幻”、“世代友好”have significantly cultural meaningwhile there are no equivalent words or phrases in English. There⁃fore, the translators have to grasp the core idea and find similarwords to translate them. Adopting free translation and changing theform of source text is wise and necessary.

Here is the English version:源远流长 in the history风云变幻 despite the changing International situation世代友好 ever-lasting friendshipGenerally speaking, the rendition is on the basis of mean⁃

ing-transfer and the change of linguistic form. Most of thefour-character phrases especially Chinese idioms adopt free transla⁃tion because it conveys the connation of the words better.4 Conclusion

The thesis gets the conclusion that diplomatic words haveunique features due to its political nature. It is formal, tactful andsensitive, which comes up professional requirement to translators.The thesis also subclasses the political word into four groups. Obvi⁃ously, fix expressions and some terms have fixed or official transla⁃tion, which requires translators to refer to the release papers and ac⁃cumulate the volumes of vocabulary. Others can be deal with freetranslation. Free translation appears more frequently than literaltranslation in translating the political words. Whether the wordshave rich culture or equivalent words will be an important measure⁃ment of choosing the translation strategy.References:[1] 周恩来.尼克松总统宴会上的祝酒词[R].北京:人民大会堂,

1972-02-21.[2] 邓小平.与杨力宇教授的谈话[R].新泽西:新泽西大学,1983.[3] Nida E A.Toward a Sience of Translating[M].Leiden:E.J.Brill,

1964.[4] 新华网.新华通讯社网络中心 [EB/OL].[2009-01-20].http://

news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-01/20/content_10687277.ht⁃ml.

[5] 陈林华.语言学导论[M].长春:吉林出版社,1995.

131