On The English Translation Of The Governance Of China From The Perspective Of Translation Ethics

Since the cultural turn,translation studies have entered an era of ethics.Discussing norms regulating translation activities,translation ethics concerns the relationship between different translation participants and the relationship between relevant languages and cultures,providing guidance for general translation practice.However,relevant domestic studies mainly focus on the translation of literary works and few touch on the translation of other kinds of texts.The English version of The Governance of China is a successful effort to translate political documents.Exploring ethical principles in the translation of this book can inspire similar practice.Therefore,this thesis tries to study The Governance of China from the angle of translation ethics.This thesis studies The Governance of China with examples of Chinese political terms,quotations of Chinese poetry and classical Chinese prose and Chinese common sayings based on Andrew Chesterman’s five models of translation ethics(i.e.ethics of representation,ethics of service,ethics of communication,norm-based ethics and ethics of commitment).It explores three questions:(1)What ethical principles are reflected in the establishment of overall translation principles before the translation process starts?(2)What ethical principles are reflected in the translation of political terms,quotations and common sayings in The Governance of China?(3)Are different ethical principles coordinated in the translation?After the analysis,this thesis reaches these conclusions:(1)The establishment of overall translation principles reflects the ethics of service and the norm-based ethics.Considering the goal of translation,the requirements of publishers and readers’ expectations,translators should faithfully represent the original work and improve the accessibility of the translation.This principle also applies to the translation of political terms,quotations and common sayings.(2)The ethics of representation,the ethics of communication and the norm-based ethics are reflected in the translation of the three abovementioned aspects.Deeper meaning tends to be represented first.On this basis,form or literal meaning is reproduced to some extent.When the representation of form may hinder understanding,translators usually interpret the idea or make explanations to facilitate cross-cultural communication.In some cases,translators also deviate from the source text to conform to linguistic norms or cultural expectations.(3)According to examples analyzed in this thesis,different translation ethics are basically coordinated well and this reflects translators’ pursuit of the ethics of commitment.