What are the characteristics and translation strategies of international publicity translation?

Abstract: The purpose of foreign publicity translation is to convey information, promote communica

What are the characteristics and translation strategies of international publicity translation?

Abstract: The purpose of foreign publicity translation is to convey information, promote communication, and let foreigners better understand the past, present and future development of China. In order to give full play to the important role of international publicity in China's social life and promote the effective development of international communication, this paper analyzes the characteristics of international publicity translation, and puts forward relevant constructive translation strategies and requirements in combination with the audience effect of international publicity translation.

Keywords: international publicity translation; Culture; Translation strategy

With the deepening of China's reform and opening up and the increasingly frequent economic and cultural exchanges with foreign countries, the importance of foreign propaganda work has become increasingly prominent. These foreign propaganda activities of "Let China go to the world and let the world know about China" cannot be separated from translation. Therefore, "translation is part of publicity". Shen, 1992

International publicity translation refers to "translating a large amount of information about China from Chinese into foreign languages, and publishing and spreading it to the outside world through books, periodicals, newspapers, radio, television, the Internet and other media and international conferences." Huang Youyi, 2004

In order to give full play to the important role of international publicity in China's social life and promote the effective development of international communication, this paper analyzes the characteristics of international publicity translation, and puts forward relevant constructive translation strategies and requirements in combination with the audience effect of international publicity translation.

First, the characteristics of international publicity and translation

Chinese-English translation of publicity materials can be understood from both broad and narrow perspectives.

The translation of publicity in a broad sense covers almost all translation activities, including translation activities related to publicity in all walks of life, at all levels and departments, that is, the translation concept of "big publicity"

In a narrow sense, international publicity translation includes the translation of various media reports, politics, documents, document announcements, introductions of enterprises and institutions, public signs, information materials and other practical styles.

International publicity translation is a special translation form with its own characteristics:

An international publicity translation is basically a Chinese translation.

As the name implies, the translation of publicity materials is to complete the translation task of publicity materials, so "there is a prominent feature that they are basically translated from Chinese into foreign languages." Huang Youyi, a remarkable feature of international publicity translation in 2004 was to translate a large amount of information about China into foreign languages, and publish and spread it through various media, so that foreign readers can accurately understand the information conveyed by the translation and better understand China.

In China, the main task of international publicity translation is to translate Chinese into English or other foreign languages and spread the voice from China to the world. Any translation that has contact with foreigners and affects their food, clothing, housing and transportation in China can be called propaganda translation. The translation of publicity materials is a cultural communication phenomenon with distinctive cultural characteristics. When translating publicity materials, the translator is actually conducting cross-cultural communication.

Secondly, the target audience of translation for international publicity is "foreigners, not China people".

The nature and task of international publicity translation determines that the target audience of international publicity translation is "foreigners, not China people". Therefore, only when translators fully understand and keep in mind the differences of target readers can they complete the task of "letting China go to the world and let the world know about China".

Zhai Shuming once said: "It is right to regard foreigners as ignorance of China's knowledge." Mr. Zhao Haosheng once said that "ordinary Americans, including most members of Congress and officials, have limited knowledge of China." Zhao Haosheng, 200 1

Gutt, the founder of relevance theory, pointed out that it is impossible to convey the same idea to anyone without considering background knowledge. Facing different audiences, we often have to change not only the way we speak, but also what we want to express. Therefore, unlike other types of translation, China's international publicity translation must first adopt strategies that are easy for readers to accept, so as to ensure the recognition of publicity content.

Second, the translation strategies and requirements of international publicity

On the premise of following translation principles, all translation work should follow the standard of "faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance", and translators of international publicity should be familiar with and apply the principle of "three approaches to international publicity". Close to the reality of China's development, close to the needs of foreign audiences for China information, and close to the thinking habits of foreign audiences, Huang Youyi, 2004.

The task of international publicity is to "let the world know about China", so the translation of international publicity should ensure its communicative function to the greatest extent. Communicative translation requires translators to devote themselves to studying foreign cultures and foreigners' psychological thinking patterns, to be good at discovering and analyzing the subtle differences and characteristics between Chinese and foreign cultures, and to always grasp translation according to the thinking habits of foreign audiences. On the basis of fully understanding the original text, we should change cross-cultural awareness, make certain choices in the translation process, adjust the style to meet the audience's acceptance psychology, and choose fluent and easy-to-understand language to ensure the realization of communication purposes. Yu Jie, 20 10

Understand the language differences, according to the thinking habits of foreign audiences, make appropriate deletions to avoid piling up words.

English and Chinese have different language norms, which are quite different in morphology, syntax and rhetoric. In terms of words, Chinese expression tends to be elegant and English tends to be white; From the aspect of sentence structure, English pays attention to hypotaxis and Chinese pays attention to parataxis; There are also great differences in expression styles between English and Chinese. Chinese propaganda materials usually contain too many flowery words and modifiers, while English pays more attention to objective facts and tells a straightforward story. When translating publicity materials, the translator should remove those unnecessary modifiers to keep the translation of publicity materials concise and intuitive.

Qi Shiming, 2009

For example, every time a meeting is held, there will always be a saying of "successful convening". If literally translated as "the meeting has been successfully attended", foreign readers will think that there are many obstacles before the meeting. For another example, it is not appropriate to literally translate "unrealistic fantasy" into "unrealistic fantasy" because fantasy is unrealistic. For another example, it is not appropriate to directly translate "unfortunate tragedy" into "unfortunate tragedy" because tragedy itself is unfortunate. Lin Benchun, 2004

As a result, literary expressions considered essential in Chinese have become very objective and concise expressions in English, such as "* * * gray" completely shattered, "a lot of travel" criss-crossed, "overjoyed", "spotless/pure white" flawless, "featureless/ordinary" unremarkable.

Some translations with correct spelling and seemingly fluent grammar are very "faithful" to the original text, because their discourse construction methods do not take into account the reception psychology of the target readers, violate the customary traditions of western audiences, and are also incompatible with the English context, which makes it difficult for English audiences to identify with them, thus failing to achieve the expected effect of the translation.

For example, create green hotels and advocate green consumption. Putian Oriental International Hotel is translated as: Create a green hotel and advocate green consumption.

It is enough to change the above translation into green hotel green consumption.

Another example is the translation of "vast territory and abundant resources" and "unity and enterprising", which translates into "vast territory" and "unity and unity", and adopts the method of giving up shape and protecting righteousness to effectively convey information in concise language. All the above translations follow the habit of English expression, avoiding the piling up of words and conforming to the readers' acceptance psychology.

Second, enhance cross-cultural awareness. Literal translation and annotation are the main translation methods of China's characteristic words.

Cultural differences between China and the West lead to significant differences in thinking habits and expressions. After many conventional Chinese words are translated into English intact, it is not only difficult to faithfully convey the original intention of Chinese, but also cause unnecessary misunderstandings.

Mr. Duan Liancheng, a famous foreign communication expert, once pointed out: "We should not underestimate the ability of foreign readers or listeners, but we should not overestimate the understanding of ordinary foreigners about China." Duan Liancheng, 1992: 123 Therefore, historical events, place names, specialized agencies, political terms and slogans, jargon and slang, traditional festivals, unique food culture, etc. It must be indicated in the Chinese propaganda manuscript, so that foreign audiences will not be confused and confused, and the purpose of propaganda can be achieved.

For example, the May 4th Movement 19 19 opposed foreign imperialism and domestic feudalism; Xi 'an, the world-famous hometown of Terracotta Warriors and Horses; NPC, the highest legislature of China; Project Hope, a plan to raise funds from all sectors of society to support education in poor areas; Spring Festival Spring Festival, China New Year and so on.

In the English translation of international publicity, we can sometimes borrow famous foreign allusions, people or place names to compare Chinese allusions with similar attributes, that is, adopt the method of domestication. Domestication refers to the destination of the source culture, which requires the translator to be close to the reader and convey the content of the original text in a way that readers are used to. For example, we often compare Liang Shanbo in China's ancient tragic love story with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Professor Zhang Jian pointed out in the Course of News Translation: "Domestication is the interpretation of cultural characteristics, while foreignization is the reservation of cultural characteristics, that is, the translation should not only faithfully convey what the original text says, but also show what the original text says as much as possible, and reproduce the unique flavor of the original text in language and culture to the maximum extent. External publicity means promoting China and introducing China to foreign countries. Therefore, foreignization and literal translation are undoubtedly the best choices.

Three. Concluding remarks

To sum up, according to the characteristics of international publicity translation, translators are required to have the consciousness of "foreigners are not from China", pay attention to the differences between domestic and foreign readers, pay attention to the differences in thinking and psychology between Chinese and foreign readers, and properly process the Chinese original according to the English expression and the thinking habits and acceptance psychology of foreign audiences, that is, enhance the acceptability of the translation through methods and strategies such as deletion, addition, compilation or reorganization, so as to achieve the purpose of international publicity and exchange and truly let China go to the world.

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