Spanish Translation of Chinese Political Discourse in the Context of Skopos Theory

Abstract

With the increasing political, commercial, cultural, and diplomatic interactions between China and other countries, political discourse reflecting China’s content and political orientation plays a crucial role in international exchanges. This study aims to analyze the Spanish translation of Xi Jinping’s political speeches (The Governance and Administration of the State, Volumes I–IV), identifying translation strategies and assessing their suitability for Spanish-speaking audiences. Based on Skopos theory, a Chinese–Spanish parallel corpus was constructed, and a qualitative analysis was conducted to classify the translations into four categories: literal, literal with annotations, free, and interpretative. The results show that literal and literal-with-annotations translations predominate, preserving fidelity to the original political content, while free and interpretative translations are employed for culturally loaded terms or idiomatic expressions. The findings provide guidance for the Spanish translation of other Chinese political speeches, enhancing intercultural comprehension and supporting the international projection of China’s political image.