A Narrative Study Of The Translation Of “Island Disputes” News In English Digest

April of 2012 saw the Philippines' illegal attempt to capture Chinese fishermen around Huangyan Island and the farce of “nationalizing” Diaoyu Island being played out in Japan.With such provocation come the ire and outrage throughout China and a huge attention from West media,who boast of their “objectivity” and “neutrality”.Whilst their news does not lack some insightful ideas,they also contain bias-soaked and non-objective expressions.For translators,to be an “objective” voice hailer for these west narratives or an engaged and active mediator occupies a centre stage for a research eye.From a narrative perspective,neutrality is mere myth for the reason that reality is never directly represented but constructed through narratives and that any(re-)narrators must be in a specific narrative position.Both verbal and non-verbal material participates in the construction of narratives.In this sense,translation can be taken as re-narration,in which events and characters in source language narratives are re-narrated in the target language.Taking 18 pieces of English news and their translations in English Digest(2012-2015)as a research object,concentrating mainly on the comparison between original news and its translation,both of which are being juxtaposed with each other,focusing on places such as interlinear notes,footnotes,guidance reading,this paper attempts to find out traces of their reconstruction,however small and trivial they are.And it also sets out to seek the deep reason behind their actions.One particular find is that direct or apparent intervention in the texts can be found nowhere,beyond occasional addition or emission of some words in a secret way.However,whether translations stay true to the original texts isn't the barometer for revealing the translators' non-neutrality.On the contrary,their one-sidedness or partisanship is constantly present even from the very beginning of translational material choosing.Except for material choosing and para-texts usage,one strategy called “fine-tuning”,which encapsulates using words more likely to stimulate narratives Chinese readers hold on to,deleting and adding words in a nuanced way,also proves to be extremely and efficiently helpful.What's more,photos in the magazine are just as important as the material choosing and translating itself.Faced with island disputes with Japan and the Philippines,both Chinese translators and translation scholars are unsung(re)-narrators in that they all intensify,weaken or even fight against some west narratives.Their(re-)narrations become a place where Chinese people's attitude towards island disputes finds their most concrete expression.They are staunch custodians and advocates of China's mainstream narratives.