Applications of Language Studies
A semiannual International Research Journal

A Comparative Study of the Role of Identity in the Persian Translation of English Political News

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Faezeh Arkan 1
Seyyed Sadegh Azizi Zavieh 2

1 Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Department of English Translation, Hazrat-e Masoumeh University, Qom, Iran

2 Ph.D. Student of Linguistics, Islamic Azad University, Qom Branch, Qom, Iran

Abstract
Translators have always imposed their own stances and identities upon the texts they are translating. This manipulation is of primary importance when it comes to critical texts such as political ones. The concept of identity is the core one to all translations. Farahzad (2012) proposes that a thorough and careful analysis of (non)linguistic features can help the translation critic identify changes in Target text (TT) which is ideologically driven. This study, therefore, aims at comparing translations of English news, identifying the identity modifications. Then, an attempt is made to justify and explain the results in terms of CDA in order to see the rationale behind the choices. To this end, 100 pieces of the recent political news (from 2016 to 2017) were collected. When all the data had been collected, the original texts – political news – were studied and analyzed along with their translations into Persian in order to identify the implications of translators' choices in terms of CDA. The next stage was discussing the results in terms of CDA. In this final stage the researchers attempted to reveal the ideological position -identity- of the translator in his/her decision making. The results of the study were significantly revealing; out of 100 pieces, 79 news items were directly indicative of the ideology and identity of the translator.

Keywords

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
Identity
Political news
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Applications of Language Studies
Volume 1, Issue 1
March 2018
Pages 77-99

  • Receive Date 17 April 2024

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