The Inheritance of National Culture and the Significance of International Publicity Translation ()
1. The Significance of International Publicity Translation of National Culture
International publicity translation can reverse the adverse impact on China’s anti-epidemic stigmatization. No matter what the strategy is, the target group should be determined first, and the publicity translation strategy is no exception. A large number of foreign books have been translated in China, but few of the local books have been translated and Chinese literature has been stumbling in the historical process of “going out” (Hu Anjiang, 2010) [1]. In the process of foreign translation, texts containing Chinese national spirit and historical and cultural traditions should become the main body, so that the target country’s audience can understand China’s social, historical, and cultural situation, unique philosophical concepts, and excellent national quality through translation and introduction. Thus, the audience can understand China’s 5000 years from a deeper cultural level, and realize that in the long history of the development of human civilization, Chinese culture is not a simple tributary, but one of the main contributors to promoting the historical process. Translators must carefully consider the cultural backgrounds of source and target language readers and analyze the differences in their knowledge systems (Lee, 2015) [2]. On the basis of such a good cultural image, people of other countries can get rid of the fog created by the media and truly understand China, a country with fruitful economic construction, with peaceful and friendly people who actively fight against the epidemic with one heart and one mind. One of the goals of our international publicity translation is to lay a foundation for China’s good image in the west. For example, in the construction of the “Belt and Road” project, external publicity translation plays an important role. As the initiator of the “Belt and Road” construction project, China is bound to set an example in the field of external publicity translation (Su Yang, 2020) [3].
2. Lay the Foundation for International Publicity Translation
International publicity translation can cultivate good soil for publicity work. In international exchanges, national material strength is an important factor affecting foreign exchanges, but it is not the only one. In international exchanges, economy and politics often blend with each other (Du Yanyun, 2008) [4]. Therefore, in the international exchange, the concept of the masses outside China is also one of the very important influencing factors. It is distributed to everyone and reflected in the country’s political structure. National image is a synthesis, which is the overall evaluation and recognition of the country itself, its behavior, its activities and its achievements by the external and internal public (Guan Wenhu, 2000) [5]. In many cases, the national image of a country is not only based on national interests, but also the conceptual identity of relevant countries. The premise of political mutual trust, economic mutual trust and military mutual trust is the identity of each other. From the fall of the Iron Curtain of the Cold War to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, ideological disputes are important manifestations of conceptual identity between countries. The division of eastern and Western camps is not only a consideration of economic interests, but also a struggle for national conceptual identity. Although ideology has been weakened after economic globalization, the mutual conceptual identification between countries still affects the national image of a country, and culture is an important part of the national concept. Foreign translation can obtain an ideal international image by projecting the achievements of domestic morality, knowledge, science and art to other countries. The international influence of a country is often influenced by military, economic, political and cultural aspects, and culture is the most influential factor (Li Zhi, 2005) [6]. Therefore, through publicity translation, we can create a cultural soil to understand and recognize each other’s identity, constantly emphasize the “seeking common ground while reserving differences” in cultural values between countries, learn from each other for the “different” parts, and constantly strengthen the “same” parts. In our understanding, the foreign publicity translation is not the same type as the traditional publicity on political assimilation, military deception or economic entities. Traditional political propaganda is often intrusive and politically colorful. It is a kind of “hard” propaganda with the main purpose of encouraging assimilation and identification. For example, the propaganda of democratic values promoted by the United States is often accompanied by the export of military and economic systems, which is a propaganda mode to force foreign recognition. External publicity translation is different. In principle, it requires us to try to weaken the color of political ideology and strengthen scientific knowledge and cultural content (Liang Yan, 2009). It is both pure in cultural exchange and national strategy. In this context, publicity translation is no longer just regarded as one of the elements of publicity activities, but is more likely to gradually develop into an independent and influential diplomatic soft power, which can obtain basic recognition power for China in foreign publicity and make China’s practices and policies more easily understood and recognized by foreign countries. Publicity translation creates a good international image of China by moistening things silently, and it reshapes the international image by reversing the western stigmatization of China’s anti-epidemic.
3. Assisting National Policies
International publicity translation can help national policies. The development and progress of any country not only depend on its own effective national policies of continuous self-improvement, independence and self-reliance, but also depends on the opportunities in the change of the international environment to a great extent. Only by increasing internal power and external opportunities can a policy be more successful. This includes the changes in various external factors and conditions such as diplomacy, economy, military, culture and public opinion environment. These environments and conditions jointly affect whether a national policy can be recognized in its implementation. In this sense, the important task of foreign publicity translation in China is to create a true, credible and friendly environment for the development of our country.
A good external public opinion environment (Liang Yan, 2009) [7] creates an external space for the implementation of China’s policies and guidelines. Only when more people in other countries have a deeper and comprehensive understanding of China, can China’s national policy be supported and recognized by more people in the international community. With the success of governance, it will finally be generally recognized by the international community, so as to improve China’s strength. Especially at present, China is in the stage of further deepening reform and opening up. Appropriate publicity translation strategies can not only improve the false information received by the western people under the epidemic, but also create an appropriate soft environment for public opinion and pave the way for China’s policies.
4. Enrichment of the Way of International Publicity Translation
International publicity translation can enrich the working methods of publicity. Different subjects of publicity also have different characteristics: the government has the function of national administration, which is a strong communication subject and has absolute authority. The government not only disseminates cultural information through the mass media (especially the special foreign publicity media), but also undertakes the responsibilities of the controller and manager of foreign communication, that is, the gatekeeper in foreign publicity. This is a characteristic that any other communication subject does not have. In addition, as the main body of communication, China’s government agencies have also directly planned and participated in various large-scale cultural publicity activities, of which the effectiveness of holding large-scale overseas cultural exchange activities is the most remarkable. However, as the main body of such cultural publicity activities, the government has a strong purpose, and publicity translation can be carried out through translation and exchange activities by individuals and social organizations. Especially under the current situation that the domestic anti-epidemic is relatively successful and the west needs a large number of domestic anti-epidemic related documents and methods, it is an effective way of publicity work to achieve the publicity function through such cultural translation activities, that is, it is not deliberate and can achieve the established purpose.
5. Conclusion
The inheritance of national culture needs long-term cultivation and edification, and the translation of external publicity undertakes the important mission of introducing national culture to the outside world. Through external publicity translation, it can not only effectively reverse the weakness of China in international public opinion, but also cultivate the appropriate cultural soil and shape the appropriate national image for China’s external publicity. It can avoid the great discount of our external publicity work and passivity in international public opinion due to cultural estrangement. The translation strategy of external publicity should cooperate with China’s national policy and enrich the working mode of our country’s external publicity.
Acknowledgements
This paper is sponsored by the Postgraduate Creative Foundation of Gannan Normal University entitled “A Study on Dynamic Equivalence of Ecological Translation Elements in Davis’ English Translation of Tao Yuanming’s Works from the Perspective of Cultural Context” (“文化语境视域下戴维斯英译《陶渊明作品集》的生态翻译元素动态对等研究”) (YCX21A004) and “National Social Science Foundation of China Western Project in 2018” (“2018年国家社科基金西部项目”) entitled “A Study of Chinese Ci Fu in the English-Speaking World” “英语世界的中国辞赋研究” (18XZW017).