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In this article, the main analytical objective is a group of expressions with Chinese characteristics used in press conference interpretation (PCI).
The expressions with Chinese characteristics always contain theses features: (1) these expressions cover a wide range and provide information about China from different perspectives for foreigners; (2) these expressions always contain many political, economic and scientific jargons and culture-loaded words; (3) these expressions aim at introducing China to the foreigners and letting the foreigners know what has happened recently or what is going to happen in China (on the internet).
As one kind of the diplomatic interpretation, PCI has the following traits: (1) it has something to do with the national politics and economy and represent the image, reputation, profit and international relationship of a country (Sun Binwen &Fang Yuan 2011: 216); (2) the political sensitivity requires the interpreters to present the content of the source language (SL) faithfully without adding their own opinions or something else; (3) the language in PCI should be formal, concise, and even vague if necessary (Xie Yiming & Wang Binhua 2011: 16).
1 The Brief introduction of “ the Skopos Theory”
The Skopos theory proposed by Reiss and Vermeer is a general theory of translation and interpretation. There are three rules of the Skopos theory: (1) the skopos or purpose rule; (2) The coherence rule; (3) The fidelity rule(Munday 2001: 79). The essence of the purpose rule is “the end justifies the means”(Reiss and Vermeer 1984: 101). Any form of translational action, including the translation itself, may be conceived as a “purposeful activity”(Nord 1997: 12). The coherence rule or intratextual coherence stipulates that “the target text must be sufficiently coherent to allow the intended receivers to comprehend it; it should make sense in the communicative situation and culture in which it is received”(Huang Hua 2007: 4). The fidelity rule refers that SL and the target language (TL) should conform to each other on the inter-language coherence (on the internet). According to the Skopos theory, ST is just one of the offers of information (Nord 2001: 25) and an open entity full of possibility (Fan Xiangfu and Liu Quanfu 2002: 25), for which translation should be regarded as the processing based on it. The interpreter can maintain the most important information, filter the less important information and rearrange it according to the purpose of SL (Fan Yong 2005: 70). One of the most important elements to decide the purpose is the recipient, the receiver in the eyes of the interpreter. They have their own cultural and communicative background (Chen Ying & Li Yuying 2011: 21). The interpreter should pick the information up from SL, the collection of the information, and rearrange them in a very logical order according to SL and the situation of the receiver including their thinking patter, cultural background and so on. 2 The Analysis of the Collected Information
As explained above, any translation has its own purpose. The purpose of the expressions with Chinese characteristics is to let other countries know more about China. The style and logic of the interpreted version should adhere to the situation of the foreigners, which facilitates their understanding and catching. The main problem in the existing interpreted version of expressions with Chinese characteristics can be divided into two parts. One is the violation of the purpose rule. The other is the chaotic arrangement of the information.
The three examples analyzed below are always applied to answer the questions about the marvelous achievement accomplished by China in the development, the government’s work and ethnic and religious issues.
2.1 坚持科学发展、和谐发展、和平发展
Version1: Employ a scientific approach to development, and maintain harmony and peace during development.
Version2: Adopt a scientific approach to development, a process that emphasizes harmony and peace
These two versions are not in accordance with both the purpose rule and the clear arrangement of information. The interpreted texts do not express the intended purpose of the target text clearly and directly. The compound sentence in version 1 and the complex sentence in version 2 increase the difficulty in understanding. The arrangement of the information in these two versions is not clear. The three separated noun and the two verbs arranged in a chaotic order will make the listener confused, and spend time in clearing their mind.
Version3: Pursue development based on the scientific approach, harmony and peace.
Version4: Uphold the development featuring science, harmony and peace
These two versions are much better than the above two. The simple sentence is easy to understand. Three nouns forming the parallel structure and one verb as a predicate demonstrate the information more clearly.
Version5: Uphold the scientific, harmonious, peaceful development.
This version, compared with the above four, is better. It’s the simple sentence and the clear order of the information makes it easier to be caught by the listeners. The three parallel objectives are applied instead of the nouns in the above four versions, which make the sentence adhere to the coherence rule and the fidelity rule.
2.2 我们必须以对国家和人民高度负责任的精神采取有力措施解决这些问题
Version1: We must be responsible to the country and the people by effectively resolving these problems. This version does not adhere to the clear order of the information. There are two verbs in this sentence: one is served as the predicate of the whole sentence, the other is served as the adverbial clauses of method. According to the original Chinese version, this version changes the part of the speech of these two verbs, which will decrease the accuracy of the conveyed information.
Version2: We must resolve these problems with a strong sense of responsibility to the nation and the people.
This version is much better than the above one. The sentence structure is the same, but the order of the information is correct, which will convey the right information to the listeners.
2.3 民族宗教工作进一步加强
Version1: More work was done to improve ethnic and religious affairs.
This version violates the purpose rule by not demonstrating the purpose directly. It has the simple structure, which is good for the listener to understand. According to ST, the subjective of this interpreted version is added by the interpreter, which leaves the real subjective of ST behind. The added subjective will make the listener confused.
Version2: Ethnic and religious affairs was further developed.
Version3: Ethnic and religious made further progress.
Also with the same simple sentence as the above one, the real subjective of the original Chinese version is applied in these two versions, which conform to the coherence rule and the fidelity rule by making the listeners easy to understand.
3 Finding and Suggestion
According to the analysis above, the main problems existing in the expressions with Chinese characteristics consist of two kinds: (1) the violation of the purpose rule, which consists of two parts: one is complex sentence structure, the other is the addition of the new words; (2) the chaotic arrangement of the information, which comprises the separation of the paralleled structure and the change of the part of the speech.
On the basis of the above-mentioned problems in the existing expressions with Chinese characteristics, three valuable suggestions are given. Firstly, interpreters should enhance their ability in the interpretation to deal with SL by grasping the main information, arranging it in the logic order and conveying it in an efficient way. A professional interpreter should treat SL as the collection of the information and pick out and arrange them if necessary. Secondly, interpreters should carry out some adjustment to their recipient. According to the purpose and the coherence rules, the purpose of the interpretation is to make the recipients get the information effectively without hindrance. In order to achieve this, the interpreters should always bear their recipient in mind and take their situation into consideration during the preparation and the interpretation. Thirdly, because of the differences in cultures and thinking patterns between China and other English-speaking countries, the interpreters should adapt to the western thinking patterns, which is convenient for them to convey the information effectively to the foreigners.
4 Conclusion
In conclusion this essay applies “the Skopos theory” to the analysis of the interpreted version of a special group of expressions with Chinese characteristics. In the analysis, the two main problems are drawn, and three suggestions are given. Because of the lack of time, consideration and capacity, this essay still needs further improvement and the further research.
5 Reference
1 Huang Hua, On the C-E translation of Public Signs from the Perspective Of Skopos Theory.2007
2 Munday, J. Introducing Translation Studies: Theory and Application,2001
3 Nord, Christiane. Translation as a Purposeful Activity-Functionalist Approaches Explained. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.2001
4 陈颍,李玉英. 目的论视角下的口译策略[J]. 江西教育学院学报,2011(1)
5 范勇.目的论观照下的翻译失误-一些大学网站英文版例析[J]. 解放军外国语学报,2005(1)
6 范祥涛,刘全福.论翻译选择的目的性[J].中国翻译,2002(6)
(责任编辑 杜和)
The expressions with Chinese characteristics always contain theses features: (1) these expressions cover a wide range and provide information about China from different perspectives for foreigners; (2) these expressions always contain many political, economic and scientific jargons and culture-loaded words; (3) these expressions aim at introducing China to the foreigners and letting the foreigners know what has happened recently or what is going to happen in China (on the internet).
As one kind of the diplomatic interpretation, PCI has the following traits: (1) it has something to do with the national politics and economy and represent the image, reputation, profit and international relationship of a country (Sun Binwen &Fang Yuan 2011: 216); (2) the political sensitivity requires the interpreters to present the content of the source language (SL) faithfully without adding their own opinions or something else; (3) the language in PCI should be formal, concise, and even vague if necessary (Xie Yiming & Wang Binhua 2011: 16).
1 The Brief introduction of “ the Skopos Theory”
The Skopos theory proposed by Reiss and Vermeer is a general theory of translation and interpretation. There are three rules of the Skopos theory: (1) the skopos or purpose rule; (2) The coherence rule; (3) The fidelity rule(Munday 2001: 79). The essence of the purpose rule is “the end justifies the means”(Reiss and Vermeer 1984: 101). Any form of translational action, including the translation itself, may be conceived as a “purposeful activity”(Nord 1997: 12). The coherence rule or intratextual coherence stipulates that “the target text must be sufficiently coherent to allow the intended receivers to comprehend it; it should make sense in the communicative situation and culture in which it is received”(Huang Hua 2007: 4). The fidelity rule refers that SL and the target language (TL) should conform to each other on the inter-language coherence (on the internet). According to the Skopos theory, ST is just one of the offers of information (Nord 2001: 25) and an open entity full of possibility (Fan Xiangfu and Liu Quanfu 2002: 25), for which translation should be regarded as the processing based on it. The interpreter can maintain the most important information, filter the less important information and rearrange it according to the purpose of SL (Fan Yong 2005: 70). One of the most important elements to decide the purpose is the recipient, the receiver in the eyes of the interpreter. They have their own cultural and communicative background (Chen Ying & Li Yuying 2011: 21). The interpreter should pick the information up from SL, the collection of the information, and rearrange them in a very logical order according to SL and the situation of the receiver including their thinking patter, cultural background and so on. 2 The Analysis of the Collected Information
As explained above, any translation has its own purpose. The purpose of the expressions with Chinese characteristics is to let other countries know more about China. The style and logic of the interpreted version should adhere to the situation of the foreigners, which facilitates their understanding and catching. The main problem in the existing interpreted version of expressions with Chinese characteristics can be divided into two parts. One is the violation of the purpose rule. The other is the chaotic arrangement of the information.
The three examples analyzed below are always applied to answer the questions about the marvelous achievement accomplished by China in the development, the government’s work and ethnic and religious issues.
2.1 坚持科学发展、和谐发展、和平发展
Version1: Employ a scientific approach to development, and maintain harmony and peace during development.
Version2: Adopt a scientific approach to development, a process that emphasizes harmony and peace
These two versions are not in accordance with both the purpose rule and the clear arrangement of information. The interpreted texts do not express the intended purpose of the target text clearly and directly. The compound sentence in version 1 and the complex sentence in version 2 increase the difficulty in understanding. The arrangement of the information in these two versions is not clear. The three separated noun and the two verbs arranged in a chaotic order will make the listener confused, and spend time in clearing their mind.
Version3: Pursue development based on the scientific approach, harmony and peace.
Version4: Uphold the development featuring science, harmony and peace
These two versions are much better than the above two. The simple sentence is easy to understand. Three nouns forming the parallel structure and one verb as a predicate demonstrate the information more clearly.
Version5: Uphold the scientific, harmonious, peaceful development.
This version, compared with the above four, is better. It’s the simple sentence and the clear order of the information makes it easier to be caught by the listeners. The three parallel objectives are applied instead of the nouns in the above four versions, which make the sentence adhere to the coherence rule and the fidelity rule.
2.2 我们必须以对国家和人民高度负责任的精神采取有力措施解决这些问题
Version1: We must be responsible to the country and the people by effectively resolving these problems. This version does not adhere to the clear order of the information. There are two verbs in this sentence: one is served as the predicate of the whole sentence, the other is served as the adverbial clauses of method. According to the original Chinese version, this version changes the part of the speech of these two verbs, which will decrease the accuracy of the conveyed information.
Version2: We must resolve these problems with a strong sense of responsibility to the nation and the people.
This version is much better than the above one. The sentence structure is the same, but the order of the information is correct, which will convey the right information to the listeners.
2.3 民族宗教工作进一步加强
Version1: More work was done to improve ethnic and religious affairs.
This version violates the purpose rule by not demonstrating the purpose directly. It has the simple structure, which is good for the listener to understand. According to ST, the subjective of this interpreted version is added by the interpreter, which leaves the real subjective of ST behind. The added subjective will make the listener confused.
Version2: Ethnic and religious affairs was further developed.
Version3: Ethnic and religious made further progress.
Also with the same simple sentence as the above one, the real subjective of the original Chinese version is applied in these two versions, which conform to the coherence rule and the fidelity rule by making the listeners easy to understand.
3 Finding and Suggestion
According to the analysis above, the main problems existing in the expressions with Chinese characteristics consist of two kinds: (1) the violation of the purpose rule, which consists of two parts: one is complex sentence structure, the other is the addition of the new words; (2) the chaotic arrangement of the information, which comprises the separation of the paralleled structure and the change of the part of the speech.
On the basis of the above-mentioned problems in the existing expressions with Chinese characteristics, three valuable suggestions are given. Firstly, interpreters should enhance their ability in the interpretation to deal with SL by grasping the main information, arranging it in the logic order and conveying it in an efficient way. A professional interpreter should treat SL as the collection of the information and pick out and arrange them if necessary. Secondly, interpreters should carry out some adjustment to their recipient. According to the purpose and the coherence rules, the purpose of the interpretation is to make the recipients get the information effectively without hindrance. In order to achieve this, the interpreters should always bear their recipient in mind and take their situation into consideration during the preparation and the interpretation. Thirdly, because of the differences in cultures and thinking patterns between China and other English-speaking countries, the interpreters should adapt to the western thinking patterns, which is convenient for them to convey the information effectively to the foreigners.
4 Conclusion
In conclusion this essay applies “the Skopos theory” to the analysis of the interpreted version of a special group of expressions with Chinese characteristics. In the analysis, the two main problems are drawn, and three suggestions are given. Because of the lack of time, consideration and capacity, this essay still needs further improvement and the further research.
5 Reference
1 Huang Hua, On the C-E translation of Public Signs from the Perspective Of Skopos Theory.2007
2 Munday, J. Introducing Translation Studies: Theory and Application,2001
3 Nord, Christiane. Translation as a Purposeful Activity-Functionalist Approaches Explained. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.2001
4 陈颍,李玉英. 目的论视角下的口译策略[J]. 江西教育学院学报,2011(1)
5 范勇.目的论观照下的翻译失误-一些大学网站英文版例析[J]. 解放军外国语学报,2005(1)
6 范祥涛,刘全福.论翻译选择的目的性[J].中国翻译,2002(6)
(责任编辑 杜和)