The Study Of English Translation Of Political Discourse From The Perspective Of Metafunction Theory

The white paper Poverty Alleviation:China’s Experience and Contribution is published by the Information Office of the State Council in 2021,which marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.Over the past 100 years,the Communist Party of China has united and led its people to fight poverty with unwavering and tenacious faith and will.The white paper comprehensively records the arduous history of the Chinese Communist Party in leading its people to fight against poverty,introduces the Chinese contribution of human poverty alleviation,shares China’s experience and practices on poverty alleviation and eradication,and presents China in a vivid and comprehensive manner.It can be said that this white paper has great research value as an important historical material and document reflecting the development of poverty reduction in China.The study of the original text of the white paper and its English translation is not only helpful to disseminate the experience of the Chinese Communist Party in poverty eradication to the world,but also plays an important role in the foreign communication of China’s national image.The study is bases on Halliday’s Metafunction theory,and uses qualitative and quantitative data analysis to conduct a comparative study of the original text and the English translation of the selected white papers,in terms of the transitivity of the ideational function,the modality system of the interpersonal function,and the thematic structure and cohesion of the textual function,respectively.This study summarizes and analyzes the various functions in the selected corpus,and summarizes the distribution of each function in the original Chinese text and the English translation,as well as whether the ideational function,interpersonal function,and textual function change in the process of English translation,and analyzes the reasons behind differences are summarized,and the applicability and feasibility of Metafunction theory in the study of English translation of political discourse is explored.Through the analysis of the Metafunction theory of the selected white papers,it can be found that the translation generally follows the material and relational processes of the original text,but the difference lies in the fact that the translation uses more mental and existential processes than the original text.From the perspective of modal verbs,both the translation and the original text adopt the median scale of modality expression,but the frequency of high scale of modality in the original Chinese text is higher than that in the translation.Regarding the use of textual function,the two texts are roughly the same in terms of the use of thematic progression pattern,but the original text adopts more of the constant theme progression pattern.Concerning the use of the reference of cohesion,the translation adds a large number of indicative pronouns to restore the logical structure in the original.In general,the translation and the original text are basically consistent in the three meta-functions,and may show differences in some dimensions due to cultural differences and the influence of the genre of the white paper.The analytical study shows the applicability and feasibility of Metafunction theory in the English translation of political discourse.This study not only enriches the study of English translation of political discourse and provides argumentative support for testing the applicability of Metafunction theory to the study of English translation of political discourse,but also helps relevant researchers to accurately understand the discourse system of government white papers,as well as provides reference values for some translation researchers,front-line translators and language learners of foreign political discourse in their relevant study and practice.