A Study On The Strategies Of Translating Li Keqiang's Report On The Work Of The Government From The Perspective Of Ethics Of Difference

In the context of globalization,the political,economic and cultural exchanges between China and the other countries in the world have become increasingly frequent,China expects to win the understanding and approval of the international community;meanwhile,people all over the world are eager to know China,therefore,foreign publicity has becoming more and more important,of which the English translation of the Chinese political documents is a crucial part.Due to its authoritative,comprehensive and instructive content,the annual Report on the Work of the Government(RWG)has always drawn the attention of people from all walks of life both at home and abroad,especially its English version is one of the most authoritative windows for foreign readers to get to know the latest national conditions and development status of China,so the quality of its translation will directly affect whether foreign readers can understand Chinese policy accurately or not,the successful “going out” of the Chinese culture and even the image of China in the international community.Hence,the study of its translation bears strong practical significance.Under the historical background of the Anglo-American hegemony and the long governance of “fluent translation” in the mainstream of the Western translation history,Lawrence Venuti,a famous American Italian translation theorist,proposed “ethics of difference”,which was firmly against “sameness”,and advocated “minoritizing translation strategy” to release “remainder” in the target text through the preservation and demonstration of the linguistic and cultural foreignness of the original so as to shape the national cultural identity of the source language,which has aroused strong repercussions in academic circles.The translation of RWG is essentially a cultural exchange activity,in which translators convey plentiful Chinese messages as well as “heterogeneous” factors in language,culture and ideology to foreign readers,so ethics is sought to coordinate conflicts therein.On the basis of Venuti's “ethics of difference”,the strategies of translating Premier Li's Report on the Work of the Government are investigated,not merely on the question of which of the two strategies,domestication or foreignization,can convey the original text more faithfully.Indeed,the focus lies in the translation strategies from the point of view of cultural transmission as well as cultural exchange and a right ethical attitude is put forward,namely to respect the differences and it's held that “Chinese English” should be released in the target text by virtue of domestication and foreignization strategies to highlight the linguistic and cultural foreignness of the original so as to disseminate Chinese culture successfully,promote cultural exchanges among various nations and maintain the cultural diversity of the whole world.At the beginning of the thesis,previous studies of ethics of difference as well as the translation of political documents both at home and abroad are discussed and it is found that few scholars have applied “ethics of difference” into the translation of political documents,thus providing a new perspective for the researches in the field.Chapter Two constructs the theoretical framework of the thesis by presenting Venuti's foreignization translation theory and it's revealed that with “foreignization” as the core,foreignizing translation is a theoretical system of dynamic development: initially,it's regarded as a translation method on account of the text and later,it develops into an ethical attitude seeking “difference” based on the relations among translation,society and politics,etc.Moreover,the stylistic features of RWG and factors affecting its translation are also described.Finally,the implementation and embodiment of ethics of difference together with foreignization translation is expounded by textual analysis and its C-E translating strategies are proposed for reference.The writer of the thesis holds that the ethics of difference should be adopted in the C-E translation of RWG.To put it specifically,she believes that foreignization strategy should be employed in the cultural aspect and domestication be made use of on the linguistic level to ensure the acceptability of the target readers.The purpose of adopting both strategies in translating RWG is to achieve the successful “going out” of the Chinese culture,promote China's “soft power” and highlight its cultural identity.