Political discourse analysis in operation
Belt and Road Summit coverage through translation
After implementing of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for four years, the Chinese government convened the BRI Summits
in Beijing in 2017 and 2019, respectively. This article will address the questions of how the summits were covered in translated news by
using empirical data from news published on the Reference News, a state-owned newspaper that publishes translated news, in
comparison to news carried in People’s Daily, an authoritative national newspaper in China. Situated in the framework of
political discourse analysis (PDA) within critical discourse analysis (CDA) and using the method of qualitative thematic analysis, the study
shows that translated news is a platform where contentious ideologies are at play and where dominant ones leave little room for the
confrontational. In this process, translators are submissive actors whose work is navigated by the agenda set by the authorities in either
legitimizing or representing frames in mainstream media.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Political discourse analysis under CDA and translation
- Data and method of analysis
- Themes, subthemes and tones of BRI Summit coverage
- Strategic functions of PDA and news translation
- Conclusion
-
References
References
Baker, Mona
2006 Translation and Conflict: A Narrative Account. London: Routledge.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bánhegyi, Mátyás
2014 “
Translation and political discourse.”
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica 6(2): 139–158.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bell, Allen
1991 The Language of News Media. London: Blackwell.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bielsa, Esperança and Susan Bassnett
(
2009)
Translation in Global News. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bloor, Meriel and Thomas Bloor
2013 The Practice of Critical Discourse Analysis: An Introduction. London: Routledge.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Braun, Virginia and Victoria Clarke
2006 “
Using thematic analysis in psychology.”
Qualitative Research in Psychology 3(2): 77–101.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Calzada Pérez, Maria
2003 Apropos of Ideology: Translation Studies on Ideology –Ideologies in Translation Studies. London: St Jerome.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chen, Yamei
2009 “
Quotation as a key to the investigation of ideological manipulation in news trans-editing in the Taiwanese press.”
TTR: Traduction, Terminologie, Rédaction 22(2): 203–238.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chen, Yamei
2011 “
The translator’s subjectivity and its constraints in news transediting: A perspective of reception aesthetics.”
Meta 56(1): 119–144.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cheng, Wei
2011 “
Innovative subjectivity of transeditors in intercultural communication: A Case study of the translated news of the 2008 Olympic Games.”
Language and Intercultural Communication 11(3): 215–231.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chilton, Paul
2004 Analysing Political Discourse: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chilton, Paul and Christina Schäffner
2011 “
Discourse and politics.” In
Discourse Studies, ed. by
Teun Adrianus van Dijk, 338–469. London: Sage Publications.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Daghigh, Ali Jalalian, Saleh Sanatifar, and Rokiah Awang
2018 “
Modeling van Dijk’s ideological square in translation studies: Investigating manipulation in political discourse translation.”
inTRAlinea 201.
[URL]
Dutra Fonseca, Pedro Cezar, Lucas de Oliveira, and André Moreira Cunha
2016 “
The concept of emerging power in international politics and economy.”
O conceito de potência emergente na hierarquia política e económica internacional 36(1): 46–69.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fan, Weiguo
2004 “
Vision of the reference news” 《参考消息》的“眼力”.
News and News Writing Journal 新闻与写作 (09): 3–5.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ferdinand, Peter
2016 “
Westward Ho – the China Dream and ‘One Belt, One Road’: Chinese foreign policy under Xi Jinping.”
International Affairs 92(4): 941–957.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fowler, Roger
1991 Language in the News: Discourse and Ideology in the Press. London: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Guo, Yangsheng
2017 “
Translation as vaccination: The political dialectics of translation under Chairman Mao.”
Translation Studies 10(1): 38–53.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Holloway, Immy and Les Todres
2003 “
The status of method: Flexibility, consistency and coherence.”
Qualitative Research 3(3): 345–357.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ietcu-Fairclough, Isabela
2008 “
Critical discourse analysis and translation studies: Translation, recontextualization, ideology.”
Bucharest Working Papers in Linguistics (2): 67–73.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kuang, Xianwen
2018 “
Central state vs. local levels of government: Understanding news media censorship in China.”
Chinese Political Science Review 3 (2): 154–171.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kuang, Xianwen and Rining Wei
2018 “
How framing of nationally and locally sensitive issues varies? A content analysis of news from party and nonparty newspapers in China.”
Journalism 19(9–10): 1435–1451.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Li, Jingjing and Saihong Li
2015 “
New trends of Chinese political translation in the age of globalisation.”
Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 23(3): 424–439.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Liu, Nancy Xiuzhi
2017 “
Same perspective, different effect: Framing the economy through financial news translation.”
Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice 25 (3): 452–463.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Liu, Nancy Xiuzhi
2019 News Framing through English-Chinese Translation: A Comparative Study of Chinese and English Media Discourse. London: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Luther, Catherine A. and Zhou Xiang
2005 “
Within the boundaries of politics: News framing of SARS in China and the United States.”
Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 82(4): 857–872.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mahdi, Aslani
2016 “
Ideological traces in political texts: A CDA approach towards news representation and translation of Iran’s nuclear program in English and Persian written media.”
International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature 5(3): 237–246.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pan, Li
2014 “
Investigating institutional practice in news translation: An empirical study of a Chinese agency translating discourse on China.”
Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 22 (4): 547–565.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Richardson, John. E.
2007 Analysing Newspapers: An Approach from Critical Discourse Analysis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Dijk, Teun Adrianus
2001 “
Critical discourse analysis.” In
The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, ed. by
Deborah Tannen,
Heidi E. Hamilton, and
Deborah Schiffrin, 352–371. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Doorslaer, Luc
2010 “
The double extension of translation in the journalistic field.”
Across Languages and Cultures 11(2): 175–188.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Ginneken, Jaap
1998 Understanding Global News. London: Sage.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wodak, Ruth and Michael Meyer
2009 Methods for Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Sage.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Xu, Di
2015 “
Online censorship and journalists’ tactics.”
Journalism Practice 9(5): 704–720.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zhang, Meifang
2012 “
Stance and mediation in transediting news headlines as paratexts.”
Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 21(3): 396–411.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zhang, Shixin
2016 Chinese War Correspondence: Covering Wars and Conflicts in the Twenty-First Century. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by
Cited by 3 other publications
Alejandro, Audrey & Longxuan Zhao
2024.
Multi-Method Qualitative Text and Discourse Analysis: A Methodological Framework.
Qualitative Inquiry 30:6
► pp. 461 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Ward, Martin
2023.
Translating CPC orthodoxy with Xi Jinping as its core: the role of the translator in the translation skopos of
Zhongguo Gongchandang Jian Shi
.
The Translator ► pp. 1 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
段, 翔
2024.
CiteSpace Visualization Analysis of Domestic and International Translation Studies Focusing on the “Belt and Road” Initiative.
Modern Linguistics 12:01
► pp. 484 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.