Abstract

Nowadays, the international relations are becoming increasingly close with the frequent communication among countries. Numerous campaigns are launched to have the government’s policies and political ideas known to the people. On these occasions, special importance should be attached to the words said, for these activities especially the international affairs are silent competitions. Careless remarks may trigger great disputes and even crisis. Therefore vagueness, as one nature of human language, is widely adopted in political language, to avoid those possible but unnecessary conflicts. And this thesis focuses on the analysis of the vague language and its translation in political texts from the aspect of pragmatics. It also gives the definition of vagueness, based on which the author further investigates different types of vague language and its possible functions. Taken different political texts as examples, the thesis explores the translation of vague language on Skopos Theory. It is believed that the translator has his right to adopt translation strategies to meet his purpose.

Key words: vague language; pragmatic account; translation strategy; skopos theorie

摘要

当今世界，国际关系日益密切，各国交流频繁。相关人员召开各类活动，通过新闻或各类文件、书籍等途径，宣传政策和主张。然而，无论是国内还是国际政治交流，不当的语言可能带来巨大的争执甚至危机.所以，为了避免引起不必要的冲突，模糊语言充斥各类政治文本。本文从语用学角度出发，通过对模糊语言及其翻译的分析，研究了政治文本中模糊语言的分类及其可能的作用。本文采用各类政治文本作为例子，分析了以翻译目的为核心的翻译文本，提出了作者观点，即为达到某种翻译目的，译者有权采用各种翻译策略，从而生成符合该翻译目的的文本。

关键词：模糊语；语用角度；翻译策略；目的论

1. Introduction
As an emerging political and economic power, China is engaged in series of domestic and international political activities such as holding press conferences, delivering government reports, attending the G20 summit, carrying out the six-party talks, frequently visiting other countries to renew old friendship and establish new contacts, etc. On these occasions, special importance should be attached to the words said, for these activities especially the international affairs are silent competitions. Careless remarks may trigger great disputes and even crisis. Therefore vagueness, as one nature of human language, is widely adopted in political language.
A common thought is that “political language should be formal and persuasive, cautious and precise, polite and tactic and that vagueness is not preferred while precision is much more desired”. However vagueness means indirectness but not inferiority. In fact, in political world, people are apt to apply vague language as it has a function that precise language never has. Political texts especially are distinct with a great amount of vague language employed for special purposes, like avoiding responsibilities. Considering the vital role political texts play in both domestic and international affairs, the thesis will take a closed look at vague language in political texts and aim to figure out a proper way to translate the vague language.