Discourse Identification and Coordination: On National Consciousness and the
Translation of Chinese Political Discourses
[1]
Zhai Shi-lei ， Li Chang-gui
(Research Center for International Coal & Energy Research, China University of Mining and
Technology )
Abstract:
With the Rise of China as the world’s leading economy, the international
environment China is facing has become more complicated. Therefore, the most
urgent agenda for Chinese government in external communication is how to talk to
the international community; that is to say, in what ways and what kind of discourses
should this emerging economy use, considering its distinctive political and historical
background, and how to coordinate its domestic expression and international
expression. From China’s controversial translation of “One Belt, One Road” to its
update official version“the Belt and Road Initiative”, as well as the conflicting
versions in translating China’s key political phrases between China’s official media
and Western media, the authors claimed the following findings.
The ideology shapes political discourses, then the patronage (especially the
government) manipulates the process of translation, and then national consciousness,
according to the case analysis, is perceived to be essential to political discourses
translation. Research shows that discourses concerning sovereignty, like the
translation of the names of disputed islands in South China Sea, Taiwan, ethnicity as
well as state nature should be categorized into critical political discursive which
deserves systematic and national criteria. Since China’s political discourses are rarely
known and less comprehensible to foreigners, and the target readers of the translated
version are those who are interested in China but rely much on its domestic and
Western media, the authors argue that how to develop a good sense of understanding
and even identification of Chinese political discourses is crucial. Based on the case
analysis, the author proposed that the process of identification integration, including
linguistic identification, cultural identification and political identification, can be
achieved via the principle of three-coordination, namely the coordination of linguistic
symbols and political implications, Chinese characters and universal features as well
as internal and international contexts.
[1]
This research is sponsored by the following research projects from China University of Mining and Technology:
1. China’s Image in China Columns and Blogs of Western Media, Project No.2013W21. 2. Comparative analysis
of the public opinion and policy environment of China’s energy going-out strategy, Project No. 2013KYPT04.
Key Words: national consciousness, political discourse, external communication
translation, identification, coordination