Translating Chinese Classics in Contemporary Chinese Political Discourse: A Study of Translation Effectiveness from Target Readers’ Perspective

Chen Zhang

doi:10.56395/amxmdd38

Authors

Chen Zhang The University of Sydney, Australia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5720-0105

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56395/amxmdd38

Keywords:

translation effectiveness, cognitive privity, translation of Chinese classics, political discourse

Abstract

Translating Chinese classics is always a difficult task in literary translation. But when literary translation occurs in political discourse, the situation becomes even more complex. In political discourse, citing of Chinese classics is usually used as an evocative tool to arouse the audiences’ empathy with the aim of gaining acceptance and shaping the speaker’s language style. Consequently, the purpose of translation under the specific political contexts becomes an important issue when evaluating the effectiveness of literary translation in political discourse.

This study examines the effectiveness of literary translation embedded in political discourse by drawing on reception theory and descriptive translation studies to identify the factors that have an impact on target readers’ reception of the translation and in turn set up a evaluating framework of translation effectiveness.

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Author Biography

Chen Zhang, The University of Sydney, Australia

Chen Zhang received her PhD study in Translation and Chinese studies with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Sydney in 2022. Chen’s research area is mainly in translation and discourse studies of political and literary genres and discourse studies. Chen also has a broad research interest in cultural studies, feminist studies and Chinese teaching as a second language.

Chen is also a teaching fellow at the University of Melbourne, RMIT University and Monash University. She is engaged in the teaching of fundamental Chinese, Chinese literature, Chinese translation, and Translation for professional purposes and participates in curriculum design.