Unknown agents in translated political discourse

Christina Schäffner
Aston University
Abstract

This article investigates the role of translation and interpreting in political discourse. It illustrates discursive events in the domain of politics and the resulting discourse types, such as jointly produced texts, press conferences and speeches. It shows that methods of Critical Discourse Analysis can be used effectively to reveal translation and interpreting strategies as well as transformations that occur in recontextualisation processes across languages, cultures, and discourse domains, in particular recontextualisation in mass media. It argues that the complexity of translational activities in the field of politics has not yet seen sufficient attention within Translation Studies. The article concludes by outlining a research programme for investigating political discourse in translation.

Keywords:
Table of contents

Since 2011, the European Union has been experiencing an economic and financial crisis. At a series of meetings, EU politicians have discussed potential solutions and have proposed rescue packages. Their debates have led to the drafting and/ or signing of agreements, treaty amendments, fiscal compacts and other kinds of policy documents. Politicians regularly comment on their decisions, for example in debates in their own national parliaments, in speeches to their own citizens, or at press conferences to representatives of the national or international mass media. The mass media play a significant role in communicating politics to the general public, by reporting about political events, by interviewing politicians, by broadcasting press conferences on TV, etc. An illustrative example in the context of the EU’s financial crisis is a bilateral meeting of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, held on 16 August 2011 in [ p. 104 ]Paris. One of the outcomes of this meeting was a joint letter addressed to Herman van Rompuy, the President of the European Council, in which they outlined proposals for a system of economic governance. The two politicians also gave a joint press conference, at which they presented their proposal and answered journalists’ questions. TV and radio channels as well as news agencies reported this meeting on the same day, with subsequent articles published by the mass media during the days following.

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price. Direct PDF access to this article can be purchased through our e-platform.

References

Baker, Mona
2006 Translation and Conflict: A Narrative Account. New York and London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baumgarten, Stefan and Chantal Gagnon
2005 “Written Political Discourse in Translation. A Critical Discourse-Perspective on Mein Kampf”. Wolfgang Thiele, Joachim Schwend and Christian Todenhagen, eds. Political Discourse: Different Media—Different Intentions—New Reflections. Tübingen: Stauffenburg, 2005. 11–32. [Linguistik Band 34].Google Scholar
Bhatia, Aditi
2006 “Critical discourse analysis of political press conferences”. Discourse & Society 17:2–173–203.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bielsa, Esperança and Susan Bassnett
2009 Translation in Global News. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Blackledge, Adrian
2005 Discourse and Power in a Multilingual World. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins. [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 15].   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boéri, Julie and Carol Maier
eds 2010 Compromiso Social y Traducción/Interpretación—Translation/Interpreting and Social Activism. Granada: ECOS.Google Scholar
Calzada Pérez, Maria
2001 “A three-level methodology for descriptive-explanatory Translation Studies”. Target 13:2. 203–239.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Ya-mei
2011 “The ideological construction of solidarity in translated newspaper commentaries: Context models and inter-subjective positioning”. Discourse & Society 22:6. 693–722.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chilton, Paul
2004 Analysing Political Discourse. Theory and Practice. London and New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Conboy, Martin
2007 The Language of the News. London: Routledge.[ p. 124 ]Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman
1995 Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Longman.Google Scholar
2000 New Labour. New Language?. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
2006 Language and Globalization. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gagnon, Chantal
2010 “When text and translation production meet: Translation in the Prime Minister’s Office”. Christina Schäffner and Susan Bassnett, eds. Political Discourse, Media and Translation. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010. 164–177.Google Scholar
Gumul, Ewa
2010 “Explicitating Political Discourse”. Christina Schäffner and Susan Bassnett, eds. Political Discourse, Media and Translation. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 94–115.Google Scholar
Holland, Robert
2006 “Language(s) in the global news: Translation, audience design and discourse (mis)representation”. Target 18:2. 229–259.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ilie, Cornelia
ed 2010 European Parliaments under Scrutiny. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins. [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 38].   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kang, Ji-Hae
2007 “Recontextualization of news discourse: A case study of translation of news discourse on North Korea”. The Translator 13:2. 219–242.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Koskinen, Kaisa
2000 “Institutional Illusions: Translating in the EU Commission”. The Translator 6:1. 49–65.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 Translating Institutions: An ethnographic study of EU translation. Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar
Le, Elisabeth
2010 Editorials and the Power of Media. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins. [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 35].   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Juan
2009 “Intertextuality and national identity: discourse of national conflicts in daily newspapers in the United States and China”. Discourse & Society 20:1. 85–121.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Loupaki, Elpida
2010 “Investigating translators’s strategies in rendering ideological conflict: The case of news translation”. Christina Schäffner and Susan Bassnett, eds. Political Discourse, Media and Translation. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 55–75.Google Scholar
Mossop, Brian
1990 “Translating Institution and ‘Idiomatic’ Translations”. Meta 35:2. 342–354.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Okulska, Urszula and Piotr Cap
eds 2010 Perspectives in Politics and Discourse, Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins. [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 36].   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Patrona, Marianna
2011 “Neutralism revisited: When journalists set new rules in political news discourse”. Mats Ekström and Marianna Patrona, eds. Talking Politics in Broadcast Media. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins 2011 [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 42].   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rundle, Christopher and Kate Sturge
2010 eds. Translation under Fascism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schäffner, Christina
2010 “Political communication: Mediated by Translation”. Urszula Okulska and Piotr Cap, eds. Perspectives in Politics and Discourse, Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 255–278. [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 36].   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012 “Press conferences and recontextualisation”. Alonso Araguas Iciar, Jesus Baigorri Jalon and Helen L. Campbell, eds. Ensayos Sobre Traduccion Juridica e Institucional, Granada: Comares. 69–83.Google Scholar
Schäffner, Christina and Susan Bassnett
eds 2010 Political Discourse, Media and Translation. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Valdeón, Roberto A.
2005 “The CNNenEspañol News”. Perspectives 13:4. 255–267.   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van Doorslaer, Luc
2009 “How language and (non-)translation impact on media newsrooms. The case of newspapers in Belgium”. Perspectives 17:2. 83–92.[ p. 125 ]   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weizman, Elda
2008 Positioning in Media Dialogue. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins. [Dialogue Studies, 3.].   DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weiss, Gilbert and Ruth Wodak
eds 2003 Critical Discourse Analysis. Theory and Disciplinarity. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Wodak, Ruth and Paul Chilton
eds 2005 A New Agenda in (Critical) Discourse Analysis: Theory, Methodology and Interdisciplinarity. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 13].   DOI logoGoogle Scholar