英語政治演講的語言特點(diǎn)和翻譯方法

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(jìn)入21世紀(jì)以來，人類社會不斷進(jìn)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(dá)政治思想和報(bào)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(jìn)國際交流方面便起到了極為關(guān)鍵的作用。 在當(dāng)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(nèi)獲得更多政治信息！對英語政治演講進(jìn)行適當(dāng)?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(guān)鍵詞：英語政治演講的語言特點(diǎn);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(jī)有什么教訓(xùn)的話，那就是，當(dāng)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(xiǎn)人間蒸發(fā)，大學(xué)學(xué)費(fèi)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?yàn)檫@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(jì)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(guān)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