Getting around ‘Bu Zheteng’

Abstract

President Hu Jintao took his audience by surprise with his speech at a commemorative event to celebrate 30 years of China’s reform and opening-up. Deviating from his official rhetoric, Hu resorted to a colloquial phrase of ‘bu zheteng’ to stress the government’s determination to avoid political upheaval and maintain stability. However, the tricky nuances of northern Chinese vernacular have proved to be a tough linguistic nut to crack for the media. In this paper, the author analyses the different translations, and subsequently makes recommendations. Using ‘bu zheteng’ as an example, the author also expounds a problem in Chinese into English translation. Most of these translations in China are poorly done, as the translators are mostly Chinese nationals who learnt English solely from textbooks. Substandard quality may be frequent, given the circumstances; however, the bigger problem is that most translators are unaware of their ineptitude, believing that literal translation is the best approach. Translating into a non-native language may be necessary for a while. It is therefore important that when translators encounter a problem, they investigate, verify and deliberate until they find the most satisfactory solution. Unless verified and validated, no translation may be presumed correct.