Issue ? 36. February 2013

Politician's Verbal Image in Interlingual Communication

Ph.D., professor, Chair of Foreign Languages, School of Public administration, Lomonosov Moscow State University.
E-mail: Minaeva@spa.msu.ru

Translation of political texts involves linguistic, cultural and, sometimes, ideological modifications of the original text in order to affect the audience perception with the aim of evoking positive reaction on its part. In the course of translation the verbal image of the politician is frequently modified. Translators have the power to contribute to the personal image of the politician by correcting his / her mistakes and making speech more suitable to the context of situation, thus enhancing trust, understanding and respect between different peoples, cultures, and ideologies. Translation of political speech is manipulation, since it reflects the translators’ efforts in adapting the text to be perceived in a positive way.

By and large, the strategies used are aimed at eliminating potential conflicts by means of monitoring the target text. However the translator’s power is not unlimited: when translating the politician’s public speech the translator has to be aware of critically minded members of the audience present.

Keywords

Political communication, public speech, verbal image, translation.