This thesis argues that website translations can be taken as a form of social control striving to achieve certain political or economic ends by the website owners from a self-representation perspective. Studying the Chinese-to-English translations of the destination sections in four tourism websites, this study aims to derive interpretations as to how the act of translating formulates multiple self-representations, which may be seen as ideological attempts to influence the perceptions of target-text audiences. This thesis has two main parts. The first, Chapters 1 and 2, outlines the research objectives, background information and the conceptualisation of the four cases, and a two-stage comparative method working within an integrated theoretical framework. The second part, Chapters 3 to 5, comprises the empirical findings, discussing how features of discourses hypothetically prominent in a particular dimension of the website context may come to manifest different identities of the website owners. The translation strategies for these features are examined to identify the aspects of these identities changed in the self-representation contexts. Chapter 3 hypothesizes that the common context of the websites is dominated by tourism discourse and other associated discourses. The translation strategies for discourse features expressing a set of shared identities of the website owners suggest that the concepts of consumerism and commodity advertising are re-formulated in the translations. Chapters 4 and 5 discuss further identities of the owners manifested in the diverging sub-contexts of the websites, and underline aspects of these identities foregrounded in the translations. Chapter 4 highlights the diverging organisational identities of the official and corporate websites. The translation strategies for certain organisational features show that different organisational stances, different beneficiaries and different business rivals of the two categories of websites are emphasised in the translations. Studying the identity of being ‘Chinese people’ formulated by certain re-presented features of local discourse, Chapter 5 points to the differences between the national images re-presented by the China websites and the regional images foregrounded by the HK websites in their translations. Finally, the conclusions summarize various notions relating to the multiple identities re-formulated in the self-representation context, as well as their economic and political implications.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:46:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mariu Moreira M Lopes.pdf: 860705 bytes, checksum: 0cbb79f067b527e068ce43ee02d43587 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-06-25 / Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo / Besides its instructional or dogmatic aspects, the Bible is considered a sacred book that has determined human behavior and acquired a sentimental value for people who consider it sacred. But most of its readers have access to it only through translation. So, if there is on one hand an untouchable object that cannot be tampered with, on the other hand the translation is seen as a tool that touches this text modality and, because of this, subjects itself to total sacralization or total demoralization. It is in this impasse that this research is established, because according to Simms (1997), the Bible is characterized as a sensitive text, due to the fact that its translation can provoke objection from receptors that hope to see the reproduction of the Original as God has left it. In this perspective, the functionalist theories of language are very important for Bible analysis, because they approach not only linguistic aspects but also pragmatic ones. On this basis, this research observes the sensitivity in Biblical translation, in the light of the three features of the context of situation ( field , tenor and mode ) and the metafunctions of language ( ideational , interpersonal and textual ) proposed by Halliday (1987). For this purpose, a comparative study of linguistic aspects in the Epistle to the Ephesians was done, observing the three Biblical versions most used in current Protestantism: Versão revista e atualizada - 2ª edição, Nova versão internacional e Nova tradução na linguagem de hoje. Besides this, a questionnaire was prepared with questions whose aim is to analyze receptors expectations about Biblical translation. With this research, we aim at verifying linguistic and socio-cultural aspects observed in the analyzed Portuguese versions of the Bible, which are supposed to be present in the mentality of the current receptor, making it possible to discuss the peculiarities seen in the translation of sacred texts, highlighted in this research: the sacred nature, the language of religion and the focus of translation. / Além de seu aspecto instrucional ou dogmático, a Bíblia é considerada um livro sagrado que rege o comportamento humano e desencadeia um valor sentimental por parte daquele que o sacraliza. Todavia, a maioria de seus leitores somente a acessa por meio da tradução. Assim, se, por um lado, tem-se um objeto quase intocável, que não pode ser burlado ou defraudado, por outro, observa-se a tradução como uma ferramenta que toca essa modalidade de texto e, por assim proceder, sujeita-se à total sacralização ou à total desmoralização. É nesse impasse que esta pesquisa se estabelece, pois, segundo Simms (1997), a Bíblia caracteriza-se como um texto sensível, tendo em vista que sua tradução pode provocar objeções da parte dos receptores que esperam a reprodução do Original tal como fora deixado por Deus. Nessa perspectiva, são de especial valia para exame da obra as teorias funcionalistas da linguagem, que levam em consideração não só os aspectos lingüísticos mas também os pragmáticos. Com esse fundamento, o trabalho observa a sensibilidade na tradução bíblica, à luz das características do contexto de situação ( campo , teor e modo ) e das metafunções ( ideacional, interpessoal e textual ), propostas por Halliday (1987). Para isso, fez-se um estudo comparativo de aspectos lingüísticos na Carta de Paulo aos Efésios, em três versões mais usadas no meio protestante na atualidade: Versão revista e atualizada - 2ª edição, Nova versão internacional e Nova tradução na linguagem de hoje. Além disso, também se elaborou um questionário cujas questões visavam a analisar expectativas do receptor referentes à tradução. Objetiva-se, portanto, com este estudo, verificar aspectos lingüísticos e socioculturais que subjazem às versões bíblicas portuguesas estudadas e que se supõem presentes na mentalidade do receptor da atualidade, promovendo, assim, uma discussão sobre as peculiaridades existentes na tradução de textos sagrados, dentre as quais se destacam nesta pesquisa: a natureza sagrada do texto, a linguagem da religião e o enfoque tradutório.

Summaries in German and English / The Geneva model of discourse analysis is a linguistic tool developed by Eddy Roulet and his team in Geneva. It was first presented in its modular approach in 1999. This dissertation examines whether the Geneva model can be applied to New Testament texts and whether this application yields results for exegesis. I first explain the model with its five basic modules and twelve organization forms, giving examples from German texts as well as simple New Testament examples. Then I apply the model to two New Testament texts (Rom 6:1,11 and John 8:31,42), summarizing the results in relation to exegesis at the end of each analysis. In the final chapter I discuss which parts of the Geneva model should generally be applied to New Testament exegesis, explaining its potential and its limitations and suggesting some areas in which the Geneva model could be complemented by other approaches. / Das Genfer Modell ist ein von Eddy Roulet und seinem Team in Genf entwickelter linguistischer Ansatz zur Diskursanalyse. Er wurde 1999 erstmalig in seiner modularen Auspragung vorgestellt. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird untersucht, ob dieses Modell auf neutestamentliche Texte angewendet werden kann und ob diese Anwendung einen Ertrag fur die Exegese bringt. Ich erlautere dazu das Modell mit seinen funf Grundmodulen und zwolf Modulverbindungen zunachst an deutschen und einfachen neutestamentlichen Beispielen. Sodann wende ich das Modell auf zwei neutestamentliche Texte an (Rom 6:1-11 und Joh 8:31-42). Am Ende jeder Anwendung fasse ich die Ergebnisse fur die Exegese dieser Texte zusammen. Im Schlusskapitel schliesslich erortere ich, welche Teile des Modells in der Exegese mit Gewinn eingesetzt werden konnen, wo Nutzen und Grenzen seiner Anwendung liegen und in welchen Bereichen das Modell durch andere Ansatze sinnvoll erganzt werden kann. / New Testament / M. Th. (New Testament)

Summaries in German and English / The Geneva model of discourse analysis is a linguistic tool developed by Eddy Roulet and his team in Geneva. It was first presented in its modular approach in 1999. This dissertation examines whether the Geneva model can be applied to New Testament texts and whether this application yields results for exegesis. I first explain the model with its five basic modules and twelve organization forms, giving examples from German texts as well as simple New Testament examples. Then I apply the model to two New Testament texts (Rom 6:1,11 and John 8:31,42), summarizing the results in relation to exegesis at the end of each analysis. In the final chapter I discuss which parts of the Geneva model should generally be applied to New Testament exegesis, explaining its potential and its limitations and suggesting some areas in which the Geneva model could be complemented by other approaches. / Das Genfer Modell ist ein von Eddy Roulet und seinem Team in Genf entwickelter linguistischer Ansatz zur Diskursanalyse. Er wurde 1999 erstmalig in seiner modularen Auspragung vorgestellt. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird untersucht, ob dieses Modell auf neutestamentliche Texte angewendet werden kann und ob diese Anwendung einen Ertrag fur die Exegese bringt. Ich erlautere dazu das Modell mit seinen funf Grundmodulen und zwolf Modulverbindungen zunachst an deutschen und einfachen neutestamentlichen Beispielen. Sodann wende ich das Modell auf zwei neutestamentliche Texte an (Rom 6:1-11 und Joh 8:31-42). Am Ende jeder Anwendung fasse ich die Ergebnisse fur die Exegese dieser Texte zusammen. Im Schlusskapitel schliesslich erortere ich, welche Teile des Modells in der Exegese mit Gewinn eingesetzt werden konnen, wo Nutzen und Grenzen seiner Anwendung liegen und in welchen Bereichen das Modell durch andere Ansatze sinnvoll erganzt werden kann. / New Testament / M. Th. (New Testament)