關于《政府工作報告》翻譯的研究——從奈達功能對等理論的角度

On the Translation of Government Work Report—From the Perspective of Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory

Abstract： As is known to all， the Government Work Report， an authoritative official statement made at the people's congress， is extremely formal. It requires each word， expression and sentence has the exact meaning. Since the functional equivalence theory can make the versions achieve the closest natural equivalent to the original text， this paper， based on Nida's functional equivalence theory， conducts an analysis of national Government Work Report translation at lexical and syntactic level.

摘 要：眾所周知，作為在全國人民大會上所使用的權威官方聲明， 政府工作報告是極其正式的。它要求每個字，措辭以及句子都要有確切的含義。因功能對等理論可以使譯文本達到最貼近原文本的自然對等，所以本文通過分析奈達的對等理論， 擬從詞、句等層面研究中國政府工作報告的英譯。

Key words： Government Work Report； Nida's functional equivalence theory

關鍵詞：政府工作報告；奈達功能對等理論

作者簡介：李寧，女（1986-），漢，河南周口，重慶師范大學外國語學院2010級碩士研究生，專業：外國語言學及應用語言學，研究方向：翻譯理論與實踐 。

[中圖分類號]：H059 [文獻標識碼]：A

[文章編號]：1002-2139（2012）-24--02

1、Introduction

The annual Government Work Report not only summarizes the past achievement， but also puts forward future plans. Therefore， the English translation of national Government Work Report plays an important part in enhancing the mutual understanding between China and the rest of the world. Unlike the language style of ordinary speeches， the language style of Government Work Report is a restrictive pattern， in which the choices of the word and sentence structure are limited so that readers are implanted with a sense of authority and solemnity. Due to such political sensitivity and seriousness， most of the translators has paid much concern on the accuracy of the translation， regardless of the native English-speaking readers' habits of thinking and expression. In this respect， this paper， by using Nida's functional equivalence theory， aims to probe into some appropriate strategies to make the translation understandable and readable for target language readers.

2、 A Brief Introduction of Nida's functional equivalence theory

In The Theory and practice of Translation， Nida defines translation as \"reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message\". Nida's definition of translation renders that the relationship of TL receptors to TT should be roughly equivalent to the relationship between SL receptors and ST. It is this double relationship that provides the basis for functional equivalence. （Jin Nida， 1984： 85）. TL receptors of the Government Work Report are foreigners， it's not an easy job to achieve absolute equivalence. According to Nida， the response of the target reader in today's culture should be produced \"essentially like\" the response of the \"original\" receptors；if it does not，he suggested some changes should be made in the text in order to echo that initial response. In view of this， the translators have employed various translation strategies at lexical and syntactical levels to narrow the gap， as can be seen from the following examples.

3、 Functional Equivalence Applied in the Translation of Government Work Report

3.1 At Lexical Level

Since the government report introduces all the aspects of our country， including the current affairs， social life and cultural and economic development， it is inevitable to emerge a large number of words which only exist in our society. Such words with Chinese features are very difficult for the foreign readers to understand and difficult to find their counterparts in English. Therefore， if a translation can not send all the necessary information or achieve the same function of the original message， an explanation is preferred. The aim of explanation is to make the translated text more informative and understandable. Here are some other examples：

產學研結合

Get enterprises， universities， and research institutes to work more closely together

“米袋子”和“菜籃子”

“rice bag” （grain supply） program and the “vegetable basket” （non-staple food supply） program.

三河三湖

the Huai， Hai and Liao rivers， Tai， Chao and Dianchi lakes，

“三公經費”

spending on official overseas trips， official vehicles and official hospitality

“三農”

agriculture， rural areas and farmers

Political expressions which are familiar to Chinese people are commonly used in the original. However， target readers are completely puzzled without the corresponding backgrounds， which makes it very necessary for translators to give an interpretation. Therefore， translating the above political writing by means of interpretation is aimed at providing the foreign audiences with a full understanding of those expressions with Chinese characteristics.

3.2 At Syntactic Level

As is known to all， Chinese lays stress on the perception of the meaning which depends more on the context and reader's subjective conception， namely， there exist a large quantity of zero-subject sentences in Chinese political writings. While English is a subject-prominent language which emphasizes on formal agreement and completeness in sentence structure. Since the sentence structures of English and Chinese are so different and “Chinglish” often appears in the process of dealing with the subject， it is not easy to handle the basic sentence element well in our translation. By analyzing the above characteristics， this paper， from the perspective of functional equivalence， adopts different translation strategies to suit language habits of the target readers.

進一步推進西部大開發

We will further carry forward the development of the western region.

投資要重點用于加強農林水利建設，能源、交通、通信、環保等基礎設施建設。

We should focus investment on strengthening agricultural， forestry and water conservancy projects as well as energy， transportation， communications， environmental protection and other infrastructural facilities.

Based on our view mentioned above， the subjects in the Chinese Political writings are omitted for the sake of avoiding redundance， with the Chinese sentence remaining complete in meaning and correct in structure. However， it doesn't apply to English version. In many cases， it is necessary for us to make the the implicit subject \"we\" explicit. As in the above sentence， a subject \"we\" is added to signify the intended subject explicitly which refers to all the Chinese people.

把不斷改善人民生活作為處理改革發展穩定關系的重要結合點。

Continued improvement of people's lives must be regarded as an important link in balancing reform， development and stability.

Just like the above sentences， for the zero-subject sentences， there is another way to supplement the subject by converting the sentence into a passive one， which is to convert the object in the original sentence into the subject of the new sentence.

4、Conclusion

Since political texts is related to state affairs， the translation criteria of being faithful to ST has become somewhat the basic rule for translators. However， due to language and cultural differences， it is difficult to achieve the complete equivalence. The research findings in this paper shows that the translation of government documents should not only be faithful to the original， but also give full consideration to the needs of the readers. To follow the “functional equivalence” principle， the translators should make some adaption in the process of translation， such as， the interpretation of the new words with Chinese characteristics and the supplement of subject to the Chinese zero-subject sentences.

References：

1、 Nida， E， A. and C， R， Taber. The Theory and Practice of Translation. Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press， 2004.

2、 Nida， E， A.：Language and Culture Context in Translating [M]. 上海：上海外語教育出版社，2001.

3、 杜素濤（2008），從功能對等理論看政治文獻翻譯技巧的運用[J]. 今日南國（4）。