The impact of ideological shifts on translators' strategies: a language-in-use analysis of two Chinese versions of Nineteen Eighty-Four

• Main Author: Xu, Kunyang
• Other Authors: Lin Tzer Liang Benedict Christopher
• Format: Thesis-Master by Coursework
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Humanities::Language
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/168454
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The influence of ideology in translations has long piqued the interest of translation studies, particularly when it comes to cross-cultural translations of the same source language. Yet, ideologies within a single society evolve over time, and it is equally crucial to examine intra-comparisons of ideological shifts through the lens of translation. In this study, two Chinese translations of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four are compared to shed light on the role of ideology. The study employs a qualitative approach with the use of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and systemic-functional grammar (SFG) to analyses the language-in-use, social context, and functional transitions of the two translation versions. There are variations in the ideational and interpersonal variations due to passive voice, tone, and word choices. One version has a generally neutral tone with bold word choices, while the other has a clear satirical tone. The translations differ from one another is mainly because the dominant ideas around the translator at work changes, which are no way less significant than those expressed in the source text. The study contributes to the field of CDA by emphasising the importance of linguistic features used in translations and their impact on the ideologies revealed in the text.