On the Translation of Chinese Political Vocabulary in Cross-Cultural Communication

Abstract

Effective communication is more demanding as with China’s rapid economic and social development, and an increasing number of people are eager to know China more, especially in political system. Therefore, it is of great significance to carry out in-depth study on how Chinese political documents and policies are effectively communicated in English within an international context. The appropriate translation of Chinese political words and documents is the first and most important step to understand Chinese politics. Although great achievements have been made in documentary translation from Chinese to English, potential problems still exist, affecting the understanding of foreign people without Chinese cultural background. The purpose of this paper is to identify an effective and appropriate translation strategy to enhance the effectiveness of political translation, especially in Chinese political words and phrases. This paper conducted an analysis of political vocabulary translation from descriptive translation perspective, and recommends a practical strategy to apply this theory into Chinese political vocabulary translation.