Translational and critical analysis of political discourse in Persian translation of two news About the sanctions against Iran

Articles in Press

Document Type : مقالات علمی پژوهشی

Authors
M. Ahmadi 1
S. Sherkat Moghadam 1
F. Sassani 2
M. Fatehinya 3
1 Associate Professor, Department of French Translation Studies, Allameh Tabataba’i University
2 Assistant Professor, Department of French Translation Studies, Allameh Tabataba’i University
3 Master of French Translation Studies, Allameh Tabataba’i University
Abstract
Today, the news media has a momentous role in shaping public opinion and social developments. Journalistic translation thus follows guidelines and standards in order to convey the message and objectives of its source material. The translation of the political press discourse surrounding the US and international sanctions on Iran is particularly sensitive, due to its high potential in impacting international relations and political affairs.

The objective of our research is to highlight the importance of methodologies used for the translation of political press discourse. For this purpose, we have analyzed two important news articles related to the aforementioned sanctions. First, we conduct a critical analysis of the political discourse, based on Van Dijk's model, and then we perform a translational analysis, based on Antoine Berman's views. Finally, we explore the different types of modifications made by translators, as well as the efforts made to adapt the news to the media’s political ideology. In line with Van Dijk's opinions, we have shown that there is a close relationship between the ruling policy (power) and the press discourse (media), in shaping the public perception of policies and events at mass scale. We demonstrate how subtle deletion, change, and intensification is strategically used in jo urnalistic translation, in line with their desired discourse functions to achieve political goals.

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Language Related Research

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 13 July 2025