Reframing positioning in the English translation of Chinese foreign ministry spokespersons’ responses on COVID-19

Facing the challenge and opportunity of both globalisation and international cooperation, diplomatic communication has become increasingly significant for countries when it pertains to defending their own national interests. Thus, diplomatic translation is very important for properly clarifying positions and persuading others to achieve diplomatic goals. However, deviations on positioning can create shifts in power, identities, stance, and even political conflicts—which has been less highlighted in translation studies covering diplomatic discourse. Therefore, through focusing on the COVID-19 global health crisis, this study attempts to discuss how positioning is reframed in the English translation of Chinese foreign spokespersons’ responses on press conferences. From the perspectives of Appraisal Theory and framing strategies, this study aims to identify the deviations on appraisal resources in the translation; to examine the framing strategies used in appraisal deviations; to analyse the positioning reframed in the translation; and to explore the influence of reframed positioning on diplomatic function. This study is a qualitative research. It applies Fairclough’s approach of Critical Discourse Analysis with the aid of ATLAS.ti. This study also applies Munday’s model, which integrates the analysis on appraisal resources and positioning. The first procedure is text analysis; it compared the appraisal resources between the source and target text, which subsequently discovered the appraisal deviations. The second procedure is process analysis, which examined the framing strategies used in the deviations and thus how they reframed positioning in the translation. The final procedure is social analysis, which discussed the possible influence on the diplomatic function caused by the reframed positioning in terms of stance, national image, power relations, and solidarity. The results find many deviations on appraisal resources, with most of them seeing a decrease in the translation. Nevertheless, the framing strategies used in the deviations show different preferences in different appraisal categories—which reframes the positioning in the target text. Based on the appraisal deviations and framing strategies, this study finds that the positioning of positive evaluations on China is largely decreased and scaled down. The positioning that expresses negative others has become more explicit. Besides, the deviations on dialogic expansion make the translation monoglossic. The positioning tends to take for granted the proposition, and aligns the audience with shared value. Moreover, it finds that reframed positioning has a positive or negative influence on specific aspects of diplomatic functions. The spokespersons’ stance is weakened, which hinders the advancement of values. China’s national image is reframed as more modesty, objectivity, and politeness; on the other hand, the negative images of other countries become less severe, they are more specific. In addition, the power asymmetry between the spokespersons and journalists—as well as between China and other countries—is enlarged. The solidarity is highly constructed in the Chinese audience and the audience with shared values. This study highlights the importance and contents of positioning in diplomatic translation. It links positioning with Appraisal Theory and framing strategies—which is highly recommended for future studies. Besides, it also stresses the significance for translators to be aware of their roles in the translation of diplomatic discourse.

Text 124044.pdf Download (1MB) Official URL or Download Paper: https://ethesis.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/18752

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