A Study On The Strategies For Chinese-English Translation Of Report On The Work Of The Government From The Perspective Of Rapport Management Model

Currently,China has played an increasingly important role in the international community.The Annual Report on the Work of the Government reviews the work of last year and outlines the plans of the government for the next year.The Report on the Work of the Government is the most authoritative political document,concerning policies,economy,culture,diplomacy,and livelihood.Consequently,the English translation of Report on the Work of the Government is an important carrier to strengthen international exchanges and to establish a good image of China.Scholars have done researches on the translation of Report on the Work of the Government.Some of the scholars have summarized many translation techniques and redundancies on the basis of their translation experience.The other scholars have applied translation theory to explore the English version of Report on the Work of the Government.However,there are few researches to explore the contextual factors that influence the translation techniques.This thesis chooses both the English version and Chinese version of Report on the Work of the Government from 2014 to 2018 as a case study,and adopts qualitative approach and quantitative method to analyze the English version and Chinese version of Report on the Work of the Government.This study enumerates and categorizes the differences between the English version and Chinese version of Report on the Work of the Government to explore the essence by adopting different translation techniques.The research questions are as follows:(1)What are the differences between the Chinese version and English version of Report on the Work of the Government?(2)What are the translation techniques reflecting in the differences between the English version and Chinese version of Report on the Work of the Government?(3)Why do translators use these techniques? By a comparative analysis,this study has shown that(1)there are two kinds of differences between the English version and Chinese version of Report on the Work of the Government.One is differences in terms of forms,and the other is differences with regard to functions.The differences in terms of forms include conversion of sentence patterns,specifying tense and adding words.The differences with regard to functions consist of emphasizing tone,weakening tone and explanatory expressions.(2)more precisely,the differences in terms of forms reflect in some translation techniques,including using emphatic sentence pattern,specifying tense,adding modal verb,adding the first person,and adding category words.The differences with regard to functions include using words with strong emotions,adding positive words,adding words expressing aspiration,using words with a weaker tone,adopting free translation,using affirmation and using explanatory expressions.Utilizing these translation techniques reflects the strong determination and attitude of the government towards the implementation of the work,and also presents the aim of serving the people and taking responsibility for the people.(3)adopting different translation techniques is beneficial to improve the international image of China,and to build an equal and harmonious relationship between our government and the international society.From the perspective of relating,this study attempts to explore the underlying reasons for different translation techniques in light of Rapport Management Model put forward by SpencerOatey(2000),the purpose of which is to manage the relations.In terms of the function of English version of Report on the Work of the Government,this study involves two kinds of relations: the relation between our government and people,and the relation between our government and international community.In view of three components(face management,sociality rights management and interactional goals)in Rapport Management Model,this study explores the rapport orientations influencing the translation techniques,which are rapport enhancement orientation and rapport maintenance orientation.The former is associated with quality face,social identity face and association rights.The latter is related to quality face,social identity face,equity rights,association rights and interactional goals.