DIFFICULTIES IN TRANSLATING THE POLITICAL DISCOURSE: AN APPROACH TO SPECIALISED REGISTERS
DIFFICULTIES IN TRANSLATING THE POLITICAL DISCOURSE: AN APPROACH TO SPECIALISED REGISTERS

Summary/Abstract: Due to the specificity of their activity at the crossroads of cultures, translators have become today important pillars of “cultural communication” (Malone, 1998), as well as of the “soft power” described by Nye (1990; 2004). Ever more often the place of conflicts is taken by debates and negotiations in which translators hold an important role. However, state propaganda sometimes makes it more difficult to distinguish truth from lie, in written documents as well as in the official political discourse. Translator trainees should be prepared for this role and be offered the opportunity to study such texts, in order to learn how to act as real cultural mediators. The question is: should they go beyond the surface meaning of words, in search of a hidden truth, or should they remain “invisible” and provide the linguistic transfer without any personal involvement?

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