A Study Of C-E Translation Of Chinese Political Texts From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

With the deepening development of reform and opening up,China’s position in the world is constantly improving,and people from all walks of life abroad are also more eager to have a deeper understanding of China.As a special type of text with significant Chinese characteristics,Chinese political texts have distinctive features in text content and writing style,and its English translation is closely related to China’s national image,which makes it of great research value.As a typical representative of political texts,China’s annual Report on the Work of the Government(hereafter referred to as RWG)not only summarizes China’s achievements in politics,economy,culture,and social life in the previous year(s),but also looks forward to the focus and development direction of the work of the coming year(s).As a result,it is the focus of attention both at home and abroad,and has become an authoritative channel to understand China’s actual situation and the direction of its national policies.For this reason,the quality of the C-E translation of the RWGs is of utmost importance.The words and phrases used in the RWGs are authoritative,precise and refined,and at the same time with distinct Chinese characteristics.Its nature of government document and the characteristics of its wording determine that the C-E translation of the RWGs should not only conform to the writing characteristics and original intent of the source texts,but also take into account the cultural background and linguistic and cultural characteristics of the target readers.According to Jef Verschueren’s adaptation theory,the process of language use is essentially a process of continuous language selection,and all languages in the world are characterized by adaptability,negotiability and variability.As an important intercultural communication activity,translation of political texts is also a process of continuous language selection.Therefore,based on Verschueren’s adaptation theory,this thesis attempts to analyze the application and embodiment of contextual adaptation,structural adaptation and dynamic adaptation and other adaptation strategies in the C-E translation of 2017-2019 RWGs,repeatedly verify the theoretical model of adaptation theory and summarize adaptation skills.Through verification and analysis,this thesis concludes that adaptation theory provides a unified theoretical framework for pragmatic system,which has strong applicability and can be applied to research of numerous areas.It is worth mentioning that it is certainly an admirable attempt to use only one theory to explain all the complex and varied language uses,but whether adaptation theory can shoulder this mission remains to be tested by time and practice.Combining adaptation theory with the C-E translation of political texts,this thesis re-analyzes,emphasizes and verifies the adaptation law of adaptation theory,and in this process summarizes how to effectively apply adaptation theory to guide the English translation of Chinese political texts,which will help translators better grasp adaptation skills and make proper choices in future translation practice,and provide helpful reference for C-E translation of other types of Chinese texts.