The role of translation in bilingual editing of magazines

In cross-cultural or intercultural encounters of the modern age, mass communication has become a daily feature of our technological civilisation, and mass media have facilitated effective international information flow. Bilingual editing becomes an important medium of mass communication. The effectiveness of such communication rests upon the grammatical, lexical, sociolinguistic, socio-cultural, discourse and strategic competence of participants (editors, writers, translators and readers). It rests upon their ability to creatively use and to sensitively respond to language. In this dynamic process of communication, a bilingual editor not only plays the role of translator but also acts as a mediator; as Hatim and Mason (1990:223) suggest, s/he "has not only a bilingual ability but also a bi-cultural vision". -- In view of the diversity of usage of bilingual editing in the media, this research delves into the role of translation from English to Chinese in the bilingual editing of magazines in Hong Kong. This area is of interest for four reasons: first, since the press medium engages most translation practitioners, a study in this area may help future practitioners to have a better understanding of this science and art and its practice; second, text types are highly diverse, allowing room for discussion of translation devices; third, Hong Kong is a typical meeting place of the East and West and bilingual editing serves as a tool of information flow; fourth, the rising status of Chinese in Hong Kong approaching 1997 will enhance the role of bilingual editing. -- The study focuses on translation only from English and Chinese, or vice versa. In as much as there is very little academic attention to bilingual editing and its nature, processes and techniques, or to the role of translation in bilingual editing, it is believed that this research will help facilitate cross-cultural communication between Westerners and Chinese. -- The objective of this study is to derive new insights into the translation process with the support of contemporary approaches, and to descant on different lexical, grammatical and cultural features between English and Chinese; and most important, to elicit from the above features a set of parameters which may promote consistency and precision in the discussion of translating articles of the abovementioned press medium. -- Editors and theorists agree that an understanding of the source language text is essential. To review the basis for understanding the source language correctly, a text analysis of an English text and its Chinese translation will be performed. This analysis will take a functional approach which is based on Halliday's model of analysing the functional grammar of English. The first concern is with the analysis of clause complexes. The thinking behind this concern is influenced by Bell's approach to the clause. Such a functional approach is applied to the Chinese text. This does not' mean a complete application of Halliday's functional model to the Chinese language, but the functional approach will be used as a tool to reveal the relationship between the two languages as well as to analyse the source language. -- Case studies developed from the textual analysis of different types of magazines and from discussions with the translators or bilingual editors about their views of the translating process will be presented. Samples of articles illustrating the difficulties and challenges are also cited.