英語政治演講的語言特點和翻譯方法VIP

AbstractInthe21stcentury,withtheadvanceofhumansocietyandtheprogressoftechnology,theinternationalcommunicationbetweenChinaandothercountrieshasbecomemorefrequentthanbefore.Owingtorapiddevelopmentofinformationtechnologyandglobalization,peoplearenotmerelysatisfiedwithknowingwhathappenedintheirownnationalpoliticalcircle.Politicalspeeches,especiallyEnglishpoliticalspeeches,asthemajormediatospreadpoliticalthoughtsandreportpoliticalevents,arecapableofmakingpeopleknowmoreaboutinternationalpolitics.Duetolinguisticandculturallimitations,however,Chineseaudiencesorreaderscannotunderstandpoliticalspeechesinforeignlanguageverywell.Thus,theChinesetranslationofEnglishpoliticalspeechisattachedgreatsignificance.Underthecurrentbackgroundoffast-pacedlifestyle,theconcisenessandthegeneralityofEnglishpoliticalspeechesallowreaderstoacquiremorepoliticalinformationwithintheprecioustime.TheappropriatetranslatedversionofEnglishpoliticalspeechwilldeterminewhethertheoriginalpoliticalspeechescandrawreaders’attentionornot.Therefore,thetranslationofEnglishpoliticalspeechesisbecomingespeciallyimportant..Keywords:Englishpoliticalspeech;linguisticfeatures;comparisonbetweenEnglishpoliticalspeechesandChinesepoliticalspeeches;translationstrategies進入21世紀以來，人類社會不斷進步，科技發(fā)展日新月異，尤其是國際間的交流日益頻繁。資訊科技和全球化的迅速發(fā)展使得人們不單單滿足于了解本國政界所發(fā)生的事情。政治演講，尤其是英語政治演講，作為一種表達政治思想和報道政治事件的主要傳播媒介，能使人們知道更多世界上的政治問題。 然而由于語言和文化的局限，中國觀眾或讀者并不能很好地讀懂外語政治演講。因此，英語政治演講的漢譯在促進國際交流方面便起到了極為關鍵的作用。 在當今快節(jié)奏生活的大背景下，英語政治演講的簡練性和概括性能夠讓讀者在寶貴時間內獲得更多政治信息！對英語政治演講進行適當?shù)臐h譯也決定了能否吸引中國讀者。所以英語政治演講的翻譯也就尤為重要。關鍵詞：英語政治演講的語言特點;中文政治演講與英語政治演講的比較;翻譯策略1.1DefinitionsofPoliticalSpeechPoliticalspeechisacrucialtypeofpublicspeaking.Itisspecificforthemanifestationofthestandpointandpropositioninthefieldofdomesticpoliticalaffairsanddiplomaticrelationships.Namely,thespeechesaremadebypoliticiansordelegatesofsomeorganizationsorauthoritieswhointendtoconveysomepoliticalpropositionsandviewpoints.TheremarkablepoliticalspeechlikeIhaveadream,madebyMartinLutherKing.1.2CharacteristicsofEnglishPoliticalSpeechGenerallyspeaking,therearetotallythreecharacteristicsofpoliticalspeech.Itwillbebeneficialforustocomprehendpoliticalspeechbymasteringtheircharacteristics.1.2.1PoliticalTopicsThistypeofspeechreferstosomevitalpoliticissueswhichrelatetonation,party,reform,peaceandprogress.Speakersshouldclearlyexpresstheirpoliticalinclination,declaretheirpoliticalopinions,andtryeveryefforttocontrolthegeneraldirectionofhistoricaldevelopment.1.2.2MotivationalContentsThistypeofspeechhascertainpoliticpurposethatmakesaudienceacquaintwiththeadministrativeprogramorpoliticstandpoints.Then,thespeakercouldgaintheunderstandingandsupportofaudiences,whichisthemostbasicpurposeofspeech.Therefore,thistypeofspeechhasthefeatureofmotivationalcontentsandemotionalpersuasion.1.2.3PreciseLogicsTheinspiringpoliticalspeechneedstodemonstratetheunimpeachablelogicalityintheprocessofraising,analyzingandsolvingthepoliticalproblem.Onlyinthelogicalwaycanmakethepoliticalspeechmorereasonableandacceptabletoaudiences.1.3FunctionsandUseofPoliticalSpeechFirstly,politiciansmakeapoliticalspeechtoclarifytheirpoliticalideas,policiesaswellastargetsoftheiradministration.Accordingly,theymaygaintheunderstandingandsupportofthevotersandthepopulace.Thiskindofspeechisusuallyconveyedtothepublicbymediainpoliticalrallies,campaignsitesonsomespecialmemorialdays.Secondly,politicalspeechmustexpresscertainstandpointssothatitcouldcatchpeople’sattentionandincreasetherelevantparty’ssupportrate.Finally,deliveringpoliticalspeechcanmakepoliticians’viewscometrue,increasetheirpoliticalawarenessaswell.Ⅱ.The

linguistic

Featuresof

English

PoliticalSpeech2.1RhetoricFeaturesofEnglishPoliticalSpeechRhetoricisoriginatedfromthefourthcenturyB.C,anditjustreferredtooralpresentationskillsatthattime,whichpeopleusedtosay“argumentation”.InRhetoric,Aristotleeverdefinedrhetoricasafunctionofpersuasionthatcouldbefoundinanyquestion(Roberts,1924:281-286).Attheendof17thcentury,JoneLocke,anEnglishphilosophercalledrhetoricas“oratory”,whichisakindofartthatcanexpressdecency,graceandpower(Huang,1996:2).2.1.1TheUsageofParallelismParallelismisonerhetoricmethodthatisthemostusefullinguisticformtoachievethepurposeofemphasis.

Inotherwords,itisthemostsuitablerhetoricmethodforEnglishpoliticalspeech.

Thisformmaygathersentencesorpartsofspeechsuchasnouns,adjectivesandverbs.

Theusageofparallelismmakespeoplefeelmoreexcitingthroughthestrongsenseoflinguistic

rhythm.What’smore,italsocouldmakespeechmoreconciseandmakesentencestructuresmorebalanced.

Forexample,MarinLutherKingused“Nowisthetimeto…

”fourtimesinhisspeechtoemphasizethat

it’s

timeforblackpeopletowakeupandconductrevolution,

it’s

timefor

American

governmenttofulfillitspromise,toabolishracesegregationaswellastorequireequalityandfreedom.Theparalleledsentencessuccessfullyenhancethemomentumoflanguage,stressthingsandcreateastrongsenseofpictures.2.1.2TheUsageof

RepetitionSpeakers

userepetitionwiththepurposeofemphasizingacertainmeaningorhighlightingacertainemotion,which

coulddrawthereaders’

orlisteners’

attentionby

repeatingkeywordsandkeyconceptsso

that

theycouldhaveaprofoundimpression.

Forexample,

youcouldsee

the

repetitionof

thetopicsentencein

HillaryClinton’scampaignspeech.Theusageofrepetitioncouldmakethewholespeechmore

cohesive

andcoherent.

What’smore,

itisusefulforlistenerstoremembertheaimoftherally,speakoutourcommonpeople’sdesires:everyonehastherightofdemocracy,freedomandequality.2.1.3TheUsageofAlliterationThemajorrhetoricinphonologicalspeechisalliterationandsoundsymbolism.Alliterationistherepetitionofthesameletteratthebeginningoftwoormorewordsimmediatelysucceedingeachother,oratshortintervalsinordertostrengthentherhythmofspeech.

Infact,deliveringaspeechisequaltosayingsomething,thus

it’snecessarytoplaceemphasis

onrhymesothatthespeechcouldbecatchy.

Itisrhymethatendowsthewholespeechwithstrongtempos,sonoroustonesandinspirations.

Forexample,“weshouldnotdemeanourdemocracywiththepoliticsofdistraction,denialanddespair.”ThissentenceisaddressedbyALGore,thevicepresidentoftheUS,therearefivewordswiththesameletter“d”.Thesealliteratedwordsstrengthentherhyme,moodaswellasconnotationofthesentence,whichformphoneticalalignment.2.1.4

TheApplicationofSimileInordertoachievecommonsense,Englishpoliticalspeecheshavetopayattentiontothestructureofsentences.Thereareavarietyofsentencestructuresandfiguresofspeech.Amongthem,simileandmetaphorareoftenusedinEnglishpoliticalspeeches,politiciansoftenusethemtomakethespeechmorelivelyandunderstandable.Therefore,thespeechwillbeacceptedmoreeasily.Forexample,inordertoshowhisnegativejudgmentstowardracialsegregationanddiscrimination,MartinLutherKinguse

“abadcheck”

and“insufficientfunds”

tosymbolizethedelayofkeepingapromise,

“

alonelyisland”and

“darkanddesolatevalley”

tosymbolizeracialsegregationanddiscrimination,“swelteringsummer”

tosymbolizethespeaker’sdissatisfactionandnegativejudgementofracialsegregationandracialdiscrimination.Ontheotherhand,thespeakercomparedracialjusticeto

“thesunlitpath”.Healsocomparedequalityto

“aninvigoratingautumn,”

thustoshowhisstronglongingfordemocracy,freedomandequality.Tosumup,applicationofsimilecanconnectabstracttheorieswithconcretethingsthatpeoplearefamiliarwith,andmakecommonthingsbecomevividandimpressivetoreceivers.2.2ReligiousElementsTherearemanyreligiousfactorsinEnglishpoliticalspeeches,whichareforeignculture’sreflectionincommunication.Religionisaninseparablepartofwesternculture.Intheirinaugurationspeeches,presidentsoftenhopetomaketheirspeechesmoreattractiveandpersuasivewiththehelpofGod’spower.ThatisthereasonwhytherearelotsofreligiouselementsinEnglishpoliticalspeeches.BarackObamaquoteddirectlyfromBiblemanytimesinhisinauguralspeechtomakehiswordsmoreconvincible.Byarousingpeople’ssympathywithsomereligiousbeliefs,Obama’sspeechmayencouragepeopletogainconfidenceaboutthenewgovernmentinthematteroftacklingthecrisisandreconstructingabrightfuture.Forexample,hesays:“Weremainayoungnation,butinthewordsofScripture,thetimehascometosetasidechildishthings.TheGod-givenpromisethatallareequal,allarefree,andalldeserveachancetopursuetheirfullmeasureofhappiness.”2.3SentenceStructuresDifferentfromdialogues,advertisementsandnewsreports,theEnglishpoliticalspeecheshavespecialrequirementsonthesentencestructures.Ratherthaninterrogativesentences,declarativesentencesareoftenusedinapoliticalspeech.Becauseaquestionwillweakenthespeech’sseriousnessandfirmness,thusmakingthewholespeechlesspersuading.ThereareseldominterrogativesentencesinObama’sspeech.Apartfromdeclarativesentences,imperativesentencesarealsofoundinanEnglishpoliticalspeech.Thiskindofsentencestructureisusuallystartedby“l(fā)etus”whosefunctionistoactivatethelistenersandtocallontheiractionsaccordingtothespeaker’swill.Forinstance,“Letusrememberthesetimelesswords.Withhopeandvirtue,letusbraveoncemoretheicycurrents,andendurewhatstormsmaycome,”whichisselectedfromClinton’sinauguralspeech.Ⅲ.ThecomparisonbetweenEnglishpoliticalspeechesandChinesepoliticalspeechesTheclassicexamplesofwesterngovernments’politicalspeechesare

Lincoln’sGettysburgAddress,

Churchill’sImpromptuSpeechintheUnitedStatesforChristmas,MartinLutherKing’s

I

HaveaDream,BarackObama’sInauguralAddressandsoon.Chinesepoliticalspeeches’modelsare

PremierChouEnlai’sToastattheBanquetinHonorPresidentNixon,DengXiaoping’sPolicySpeech,PremierWenJiabao’sSpeechatCopenhagenClimateConference

andsoon.Chinese

andWesternrational

politicalspeecheshavesomespecificdifferencesincontext.

Atthesametime,eachofthemstressesondifferentaspects,whichreflectonfollowingtwo

facets:Ononehand,

thefirstaspectisembodiedinthespeechcontent.

Chinesespeechesgiveprioritytothe

“meaning”,whilewesternspeechesareaccustomedtoemphasizingonthe

“scene”.

Forinstance,ChinesePresidentHuJintaoattendedthe2008OpeningCeremonyofBoaoForumforAsia(BFA)

Annual

Conferenceanddeliveredaspeech

AdheretoReformandOpening-upandPromoteWin-winCooperation.Hefirstpointedoutthat

“SincetheestablishmentofBoaoForum,ithasplayedasignificantpartinpromotingmutualunderstandingandfriendshipamongthepeopleoftheworldinAsiaandadvancingthecommunicationandcooperationbetweenAsiancountriesandbusinesscommunity”.(Hu,2008)PresidentHustartedhisspeechfromtheexistingmeaningofFBA,possessingthetypicalChinesespeechstyle.

However,USPresidentBarackObamastartedhisspeechfromthesecondsentenceoftheInauguralAddress

withtherealscene

“Itistheanswerthattoldbythevoterswhostretchesaroundschoolsandchurchesinnumbersthisnationhasneverseen,bypeoplewhowaitedthreehoursandfourhours.Thisisthefirsttimeinlifeinvoteformanyofthem,becausetheybelievedthattimemustbedifferent,thattheirvoicescouldmakethistimedifferentaswell”.Theinauguraladdresshasatypicalwesternspeechstyle.

Thesetwodistinctivespeechstylesarecharacterizedbynationalhistory,traditionalgovernmentspeechandotherfactors.

“Meaningfirst”

manifeststhedignityofourChinesenation,and

“scene(case)first”

showsthecharmofspeech.

Eachhasitsownmerits.On

theotherhand,thesecondaspectoccursintheorator’spersonalstyle.

Chinesepoliticalspeechesarespecializedin

“teachingwithinwords,whilewesternspeechesliein“l(fā)ivelyandrealisticexpression”.

Chinese

politicalspeechesplacevalueupon

“selflessness”，whilewesterncelebrationspeechesattachimportanceto“individualism”.Chinese

politicalspeechestendtohavetheprofoundimplicationofsummary,withalittlegovernmentofficials’

individuallanguage.

It’shardtofindtheshadowof“me”.

However,

westernpoliticians

deliver

aspeechwiththethoughtof

“I

”everytimeand

everywhere.”Affectedbythe

deep–rootedtraditionalthoughts,

Chinesepoliticianshighlighttheoverallachievementanddevelopingdirectionwhentheydeliverspeeches,rarelymentionindividuality.

Onthecontrary,westernpoliticiansfrequentlyinterspersewithcitizens’

individualscenes,life,opinion,attitudes,etc,strivingtomake

theseriousspeechfullofemotionalorperceptualcolor.Ⅳ.Translation

Methods

ofEnglishPoliticalSpeech4.1TranslationIntroduction

of

English

PoliticalSpeechEnglish

political

speechtranslationisnotonlyaconversationbetweentwolanguages,but

also

a

communication

betweencultures.4.2TranslationStandardof

English

PoliticalSpeechand

English.

English

emphasesonhypotaxisandpaysmoreattentiontothecompletenessofgrammaticalform,logicalformandrigoroussentencestructures.

Chinese

laysemphasisonparataxisandhightlightsthesymmetryofvocabularyandsentencepattern.Consequently,appropriatetranslationof

English

politicalspeechesshouldcatertotheexpressionoftargetlanguageasconveyinginformation.

Atthesametime,

English

politicalspeechesshouldconveyspeaker’spassionandwisdomtoinfectthetargetreadersandlistenersandmakethemacceptcontentseasily.Sometimes,itisdifficultfortargetreaderstounderstandwhenoriginalspeechcontentsaredirectlytranslatedintotargetlanguage.Undersuchcircumstances,communicativetranslationmethodisrecommended,whichcanbeeasiertoacceptforreadersandincreasethereadabilityoftargettextthroughaddingnotesorparaphrasestooriginallanguage.4.3TranslationMethodsandApplicationof

English

PoliticalSpeech4.3.1ParaphraseParaphrase

isoneofthepropertranslationmethodsthatcouldmaketargetreaderscomprehendanEnglishpoliticalspeechmoredirectlyandexplicitly,namely,translatorscouldusetargetlanguagetoexplainthemeaningoforiginaltext.Paraphraseisakindofexplanationtranslationmethod.

Itneedstopreciselytranslatetheoriginalwordswithculturalbackgroundinformationandreflectitsconnotativesignificanceinthetarget

language,sothattargetreadersmayunderstandthetargettextbetter.Americanswhosentamessagetotheworldthatwehaveneverbeenjustacollectionofindividuals

ora

collectionofredstates

andbluestates.(Obama,2008)這些美國人像世界表明，我們從來都不僅僅是個體的集合，或是共和黨與民主黨的集合。The“redstates”and“blueStates”refertothenumberofvotedistribution

tendencyofelectionsintheUnitedStates.

The

blue

statesrepresentthevoters

whotendtosupporttheDemocraticParty.WhiletheredstatesrepresentthevoterswhosupporttheRepublicanParty.

Translating

“red”and

“blue”intotheredcolorandthebluecolordirectlyisnot

easyfortargetreaderstounderstand.Therefore,wetranslatethenintotheRepublicanPartyandtheDemocraticPartybyparaphrasemethod.LetUSrememberthat，ifthisfinancialcrisistaughtUSanything，it’sthatwecannothavea

thrivingWallStreetwhileMain

Streetsuffers.(Obama,2008)讓我們銘記。如果說這場金融危機有什么教訓的話，那就是，當普通民眾的生活受到重創(chuàng)，華爾街也不可能維持繁榮。Heretheoriginalmeaningof

“MainStreet”

referstotheavenueofAmericantown,whileitactuallymeansthecommonpeoplewhobelieveintraditionalAmericanvalues.ThisexamplefullyshowstheusageofparaphraseinEnglishpoliticalspeech.4.3.2BorrowingBorrowingisatranslationmethodthatthetranslatedversionshouldbeinaccordancewiththeforeignwords’morphologicalstructureandwordformationprinciple,namely,borrowingChinesetoelaboratewordsorexpressionsinoriginalEnglishtext.Forexample,thetranslatormayuseChinesefour-characteridiomsandcommonsayingstotranslateoriginalEnglishlanguage.

You

feelinvisiblewhenyour

medical

insurancedisappearsand

collegeisoutofreach．如果你的醫(yī)療保險人間蒸發(fā)，大學學費令你望而卻步，你肯定會有被遺棄的感覺。Translating

“disappear”

and

“outofreach”

into

“人間蒸發(fā)”

and

“望而卻步”cannotonlyexpresstheoriginalmeaning,butalsomeettheexpressionhabitoftargetlanguage.Borrowingfour-charactermakesspeechcontentclearandstraightforward.(2)

Yes，wemustprovidemoreladderstosuccessforyoungmenwhofallintolivesof

crimeanddespair．(Obama,2008:3)的確，對于那些誤入歧途、陷于絕望的失足青年，我們必須提供更多的幫助使他們走向成功。The“fallintolivesofcrime”

and

“despair”are

translatedinto

“誤入歧途”

and

“陷入絕望”

inthissentence.

SinceChineseexpressionand

English

statementareverysimilarinmeaning,suchtranslationmethodofborrowingmakesthetranslationmoreauthenticandachievestheeffectofconveyinginformation.4.3.3OmissionOmissionreferstoomit

someconjunctionsandprepositionstomaketranslatedversionssoundsmoothandsuccinct.Firstofall,Englishsentencesconnectedbyusingconjunctionstoexpressthelogicalrelationshipbetweensentences,whileChinesecanshowconnectionsbetweensentenceswithoutusingconjunctions.Therefore,parataxis-prominentChinesemayomittheconjunctionsaslongasthemeaningcanbemaintainedobviously.Secondly,Chineserarelyuseprepositions.ThusomissionoftheprepositionscanmakethetargettextmeettheexpressionhabitofChinese.Thishasalwaysbeenyourcampaignandthisisyourvictory，becauseyoursupport

hasmeantthedifferencebetweenwinningand

losing．這一直是屬于你們的競選，這也是屬于你們的勝利，正是你們的支持決定了勝利?！癆nd”“because”and“between”canbeomittedinthissentence,whichmakesthetargettextbecomenaturalratherthanstiffandaccordwiththeexpressionhabitoftargetlanguage.(2)ButIcanassureyou，asIhavesaidonmanyoccasions

thatnomatterwhathappens，Iwillworkforthenomineeofthe

DemocraticParty，becausewemustwininNovember．我已多次承諾，現(xiàn)在還要再次承諾，無論發(fā)生什么，我會繼續(xù)奮斗，力爭成為民主黨總統(tǒng)候選人。我們必須贏得十一月大選。Omittingthe

“but”,

“as”

and

“because”

ismoresuitablefortheChineseexpression.Thesentencecanalsobemorereasonableandcoherent.4.3.4AmplificationAmplificationmeanssupplyingrelevantinformationinourtranslationonthebasisofaccuratecomprehensionoftheoriginaltext.Therecanbefurthersupplementsofthe

hidden

informationsothatthetranslationtextcouldelaboratetheoriginalmeaning.Anditisthatpromisethatfortyfiveyearsagotoday，brought

AmericansfromeverycornerofthislandtostandtogetheronaMall

inWashington，beforeLincoln’sMemorial，andhearayoungpreacherfromGeorglaspeakofhisdream.（MartinLutherKing,2007:5）正是因為這一承諾，在四十五年前的今天，從這片土地的各個角落，美國人走到一起，聚集在林肯紀念堂前，華盛頓的一個林蔭大道上。聆聽來自佐治亞州的一位年輕牧師(馬丁·路德·金)講述他的夢想。Here,“ayoungpreacherfromGeorgia”referstoMartinLutherKing.Hedeliveredthespeech“IHaveaDream”onthestepsoftheLinconMemorial45yearsago.Addingcommentsmakesthetranslatedtextmorecompleteandunderstandable.1)Tomorrow，Iwillattenda

gatheringoftheUnitedNations

DevelopmentFundforWomen．(LiuZhirong,2010:12)明天。我還會參加聯(lián)合國發(fā)展基金會舉辦的關注婦女問題會議。 Here,theUnitedNationsDevelopmentFundforWomenshouldadd“婦女問題會議”intranslation,whichcouldletthemeaningofsentencemoreintact.Onlyinthiswaycanfullyexpressthetext’soriginalmeaning.V.ConclusionAfteraboveanalysis,theauthorwillmakeabriefconclusion.Firstly,thethesisproposesaroughideaoflinguisticfeaturesofEnglishpoliticalspeech.Therearerhetoricfeatures,religiousfeaturesandsentencefeaturesinEnglishpoliticalspeech.Furthermore,bythedifferencesandsimilaritiesofEnglishpoliticalspeechesandChinesepoliticalspeeches,wecouldusesometranslationmethodssuch