Abstract
In the current globalized world, countries are becoming increasingly interconnected, and global news transmission plays a vital role in connecting the world. What role do translation and translators play in the global flow of information? And what is the relationship between news translation behaviour and social factors? An interdisciplinary approach is required to answer these questions. Liang Xia’s A Discourse Analysis of News Translation in China takes Cankao Xiaoxi (参考消息, literally Reference News, the daily newspaper in mainland China authorized to publish news from other countries) as a case and uses an integrated approach informed by critical discourse analysis, translation studies, media studies, and ethnography to analyse news translation in China.
The book consists of eight chapters. Chapters 1 to 4 are respectively the research background, literature review, theoretical review, and theoretical framework of this study. Based on the product–process–power theoretical model, the research is carried out on three levels. At the first level – the textual level – the data used are news related to China published in Cankao Xiaoxi in the first four months of 2012, and news concerning Bo Xilai’s case in September 2013. The second level, that of processing, pertains to ethnographic field study and interviews with in-house workers. The third level of analysis is mainly based on historical data, relevant research, and internal publications of the Xinhua News Agency.
Chapters 5 to 7 comprise the main analysis according to the three levels just described. The fifth chapter presents findings from textual comparison, which indicate that the news translation is not totally faithful to the original texts. In Chapter 6, the field research reveals that the translation process carried out by Cankao Xiaoxi includes English news selection, pre-editing, translation, and post-editing. Chapter 7 explores the way power relationships influence news translation in China. In the author’s words, news translation is not purely academic, but influenced by political and ideological engagement. Readers read the selected and edited content that the government wants them to see.
As a concluding remark, the author argues that manipulation is an intrinsic feature of news translation. This is related to the institutionalization of the translation process and the workings of power, which is divided into immediate power (translators), direct power (the institution), and indirect power (the ideology in the culture). This hierarchy of power relations makes manipulation an inevitable part of news translation.
The book impresses with its research methods and theoretical framework. Its interdisciplinary approach described earlier also integrates comparative textual analysis, describing the mechanics of news translation in China in a relatively objective and comprehensive way. Unlike previous studies focusing primarily on translated texts and translation skills, this book builds an innovative theoretical framework systematically analysing news translation based on three dimensions and taking into account not only translation discrepancies but also institutional routine and ideological factors. The research method and theoretical framework can be applied to other studies such as political discourse analysis and critical translation studies.
However, there are deficiencies. First, the data used for text comparison are limited. Following four months of translations of English-language news related to China and Bo Xilai’s case is far from enough to uncover the influence of the Chinese sociocultural context. And Chinese cultural traits can only be understood in comparison with other countries. To make diachronic and synchronic comparisons and to analyse the trend of a certain translation strategy, a corpus-based approach might be a better way because it has the advantage of statistical analysis through processing large data.
Second, some concepts in the book are debatable. When analysing the Chinese social and cultural context, the author uses words and phrases such as ‘one-party regime’ and ‘monopoly’, which are inconsistent with China’s political party system. In my opinion, the political party system that China has adopted is multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. This is a socialist political party system with Chinese characteristics. The system is different from the one-party system and multi-party competition system in other countries.
Third, insufficient attention is paid to the cultural differences between China and the West. Unlike the West, China practises a culture of moderation and implicit ways of expression. Therefore, in translation, the Western way of thinking and expression in the source texts is not blindly followed. Many of the words and expressions are rendered in a way that is acceptable to the target Chinese readership.
All in all, this book is recommended reading for scholars and students who want to know more about the working mechanisms of Chinese media institutions and the ideologies and power relations underlying the practice of news translation in China.