Problematic of Translating Political Discourse in Media: Barack Obama’s Speech as a Case Study

Prepared by the researche  : Abdeslam Albakri¹ & Cherif Teimi^{2 – 1&2}University Ibn Tofail, Kenitra, Morocco

Democratic Arabic Center

Arabic journal for Translation studies : Ninth Issue – October 2024

A Periodical International Journal published by the “Democratic Arab Center” Germany – Berlin

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Abstract

This study investigates the problem of translating political discourse in media with a specific reference to “Barack Obama’s Speech as a Case Study”. Moreover, it highlights the characteristics of political discourse as well as the strategies and techniques of translating such type of discourse which requires different ways a translator can follow to achieve an acceptable translation. The present study adopts a descriptive and analytical approach. Its main focus is the concept of translatability of political texts. The translations of Obama’ speech from English into French and Arabic will be carefully examined and compared with its corresponding ST segments. The analysis will focus on the strategies used by the translator to render that political speech adequately. Furthermore, varied political expressions along with their translations will be analyzed to identify the type of equivalents they feature, the translator’s choices that affect the ST, and the factors that influence the translation of these expressions. The findings reveal that such text type is a very important genre which makes the process of translating such texts problematic for translators. On the one hand, the researcher finds that the translator used semantic translation strategy in translating most political expressions. On the other hand, since there is a lack of equivalence for cultural bound expressions, the translator used pragmatic translation for such expressions.

1. Introduction

     Translation of political discourse remains among the most difficult types of translation due to the great difficulties that translators face in translating political discourse. The remarkable development that the study of translation experienced after the Second World War doubled the number of theories and schools that proposed definitions, descriptive studies and methods of translation research. This study highlights the relationship of translation with political discourse and identifies the translator’s techniques, strategies and the most important difficulties he faces during the execution of the translation process.

     The choice of this topic is due to two reasons. The first one is scientific in terms of the value of the topic, through which the role of the media and the extent of its contribution to the translation of political discourse is highlighted. The second one is subjective in terms of the great desire towards such topics. This is because it is a subject that has not been discussed much before, which prompted the researcher to try to shed light on the subject in view of the acceleration of events in the contemporary world.  Thus,  the translator must be fully prepared to perform his task, especially in the midst of these events where the word has its weight, which makes its transmission fraught with difficulties.

The objective and the importance of this study consists in focusing on the problem of the translation of meaning in political discourse because it is above all an indirect discourse in its meanings and how to treat this aspect. Noting the search for the appropriate strategy for translating political discourse and the characteristics associated with it, and how to approach it in order to contribute to enriching studies and research that deal with political translation in general and political discourse in particular and that reveal the methods and strategies followed by the translator during the translation process.

     For the sake of accuracy purposes, the study at hand is considered to be an attempt to answer the following questions:

• What are the most important techniques and strategies used in translating political discourse in media?
• What are the encountered problems while translating political discourse in media?
• Are all words and expressions translatable in political discourse?
• What are the preferrable translation techniques and strategies to use for this purpose?
• To which extent can the translation of political discourse fulfil the original meaning?
• What are the suggested solutions to make such translation easier?

     This study follows the descriptive-analytical approach due to its relevance to the nature of the research topic, in order to allow the tracing of all aspects and characteristics of the research topic, considering that political discourse has its own advantages, in addition to the comparative approach in the applied study of the subject where two different translations of a political speech on two different news channels will be compared and the track of the developments and changes that have been known in this field in general will be kept.

2. Review of Literature: Political discourse in translation

In order to analyse political discourse, it is advised to break down the political text or talk into its two main components: politics and discourse.

Discourse originates from the Latin word ‘Discursus’ which signifies ‘conversation or speech’. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary (2024) defines discourse as a “ a mode of organizing knowledge, ideas, or experience that is rooted in language and its concrete contexts such as history or institutions”. Discourse is studied from researchers belonging to different disciplines. In linguistics, discourse is tackled from various theoretical and methodological angles.

     Political discourse, which relies primarily on language is a “form of social action, always determined by values and social norms, by conventions (as naturalized ideologies) and social practices and always delimited and influenced by power structures and historical process” (Wodak,1995, p,206).

According to Fairclough (2003, p,8), political discourse is represented by many communicative means such as treaties, speeches, election campaigns, editorials, commentaries in newspapers, interviews and conferences. Politicians usually use an easy language, direct and mixed with colloquial language as well as indirect communicational strategies like proverbs, metaphors and idioms. These characteristics may take the language of political actors very informal or highly formal. Moreover, politicians often use two types of style, a rhetorical style that can include, for instance, the vernacular language, and also the language of politics.

Political discourse has been the central concern of many researchers and approaches. In fact, it should be pointed out that the political discourse produced by  media and its translation undergo the process of ‘recontextualisation’ which is a kind of representation of political event in a new context.

It  is worth noting that there were many studies carried out on political discourse in one language but little research has been carried out on political discourse from translation perspective. In addition, political discourse analysis as a field has benefited a lot from translation studies. Van Dijk (1998, p,11) points out that Political Discourse Analysis (PDA) is concerned with the analysis of political discourse in terms of power, power abuse, domination and all forms of resistance or counter-power against any kind of discursive dominance. Politics has become the source of interest for many fields of study among which Translation Studies. Schaffner (2004, p,135) emphasizes the fact that it is necessary first to understand politics before exploring political discourse from Translation Studies perspective. Translation plays an important role in the development of discourse. But, it is necessary to link translations to their social contexts in order to explore the causes and effects of translation products.

Moreover, PDA has benefited from Translation Studies in terms of analysis, interpretation and translation of political discourse. Schaffner (1997, p,122) proposed strategies to translate political discourse from a functional perspective. She is against conforming to text-typological conventions of the target culture community because political texts do not have the same conventionalized features.

Mohamed Marouane (2014, pp,143-144) emphasizes that PDA plays a leading role in  analysing the different manifestations of political communication and language. According to the political discourse analysis, discourse is not only influenced by ideology but it is capable of producing it as well. For him, Translation Studies help a lot in explaining how lexical choices may allude to different ideological and socio-cultural values. So, there is a strong interaction between political discourse and translation.

Furthermore, Schaffner (1997, p,26) argues that translation helps a lot in revealing the ideological features of political discourse at both lexical and syntactic levels. She claims then that all translations are ideological because they are governed by interests, aims and objectives of ‘social agents’. Ideological features can be depicted from the political discourse at the lexical level by adding or deleting for instance a particular word. They can also be revealed at the grammatical level by the use of passive structure in order to avoid an expression of agency.

Mona baker (2006, p,19) foregrounds her theory on some concepts from media such as narratives. She discusses the challenges of translation process from different perspectives among which the ethics of translation and the study of translation mainly as being a form of ‘re-narration’. Hence, her theory is called ‘Narrative Theory’. She makes emphasis on the fact that translators are far away from objectivity and neutrality. Thus, this attitude towards translators was already discussed many years ago through other alternatives and concepts like ‘faithfulness’ and ‘fidelity’. Translation becomes for her a sort of manipulation. In other words, translators are but manipulators in the sense that they produce their own narratives. Therefore, she defines narratives as being both public and personal stories that man advocates. In other words, narratives are stories that men tell to each other and tell the world they live in. Thus, this definition implies the fact that translators are able to create their own narratives and their own stories from a particular context.

Moreover, Mona Baker (2006, p,92) discusses the ethical issue of translation saying that both translators and interpreters are confronted to a capital ethical choice between preserving the same ideological device as produced in the text or utterance and refusing the translation of a text or utterance where ideology seems to be a serious problem in that particular context. Besides, translators and interpreters may opt for other strategies to reduce the impact of the ideological nature of the texts or of the utterances to translate. In fact, she wants to shed light on the fact that the translations, mainly those of political discourse are but sorts of narratives proposed by a translator or by an institution.

In fact, Alvarez & Vidal (1996, p,5) assert that translation may be highly influenced by ideological background of the translator. The intervention of the translators can be seen in the careful choice of words, in the ways of placing them in the sentence. All the translation strategies used by the translator as deletion and addition for instance are to implement his own culture and more precisely his own ideology.

Nord (2003, p,11) emphasizes that the translator’s decisions are governed by ideological reasons. Lefèvre (1992, pp,13-16) maintains the importance of the role played by ideology and patronage in the translation process. According to their ideological, social and cultural beliefs, translators may come up with a translation that is totally different from the source text and from the speaker’s intentions. Translation becomes then a distortion of the political discourse. He classifies three elements of this patronage:

• The ideological component: patronage for Lefèvre is ideologically focused and ideology is not linked to the political;
• The economic component: It concerns the remuneration of writers, rewriters, critics and teachers by patrons (e.g., by newspaper publishers, universities and governments);
• The status component: The beneficiary has to conform to ‘the patron’s expectations’.

Mona Baker’s (2006) discussion of translation from ideological reasons perspectives is also raised by Christina Schaffner and Susan Bassnet (2010, pp,3-13) but through the important term ‘recontextualization’. It is a kind of transformation that relies upon many goals, values and interests. Translations becomes very reluctant to ideological decisions that are determined by translators or sometimes by institutions mainly in the translation of political discourse. So, translation becomes very important in ‘the export and import’ of political discourse.

As it is said before, translation is an act performed inside language and an analysis of language becomes very connected with the intentions and the decisions of the translator. In this respect, they emphasize that translation is very important in the political activity. More than that, translating political texts requires now a kind of political decision. Translation is very necessary then to the websites of governments, which are obliged to publish their texts in different languages.

On the other hand, Selim (2009, p,1) argues that the history of translation between East and West is governed by ‘colonial hegemonies’ in the region and is linked to the process of identity formation. Newmark (1990, pp,157-160) stresses that the translator has to give more attention to some features of political discourse when translating a particular text or a particular speech. Politics is a set of confusing and big values that the translator must care of. Examples of these features of political discourse are the different jargons used by politicians in order to refer to some points. Translators are to deal with the political discourse as being a ‘sacred’ text. Any mistranslation may lead to big problems and conflicts. Translating political discourse becomes then a dangerous act. Therefore, more attention is required by translators especially when translating for example terms and slogans that have no equivalents in the target language.

Schaffner (2004, p,120) argues that due to globalization and translation, political discourse has been internalized and information is now accessible for everybody in the world. There is in fact a big connection between political discourse and translation. Therefore, translation plays an important role in the spreading of different political issues.

Valdeon (2007, p,100) stresses that translators are mediators because they rely upon their knowledge of the political, ideological and socio-cultural issues of the political discourse in order to produce a translation that is easily understood by the TL audience. Translators interpret the ST according to their political, cultural and ideological backgrounds. So, the analysis of the ST and the TT is carried out through the foregrounding of the connections between transnational, linguistic and ideological features existing in political discourse. The translator has to acquire a big knowledge of both the culture of the SL and that of the TT.

Schaffner (2004, pp,127-128) emphasizes that the translation of political discourse informs the target audience about a communicative act already implied in the source text. Translation is then an intercultural activity and many elements may influence it as the situation, the audience, the function of the political discourse in the TL community. The functions of the ST and the TT determine the strategies and methods. The function of the ST is persuasive whereas the function of the TT is informative. This means that the SL and the TL communities do not share the same knowledge.

Moreover, it is worth noting the difficulties that translators face in translating the ideology of the political discourse published in the media. Venuti (1995, pp,18-19) for instance affirms that translation can be called a cultural political practice because it constructs ‘critiquing ideology-stamped identities. It is highly recommended to decide whether to ‘domesticate’ or to ‘foreignize’ the text. If ever there is any mistranslation, some cultural and ideological codes will serve the ideology of the target culture.

Faiq (2004, p,2) stresses that many theorists take the element of ideology as a starting point in their research mainly because the act of translating includes ‘manipulation’, ‘subversion’, ‘appropriation’ and ‘violence’. As Norman Fairclough (1995, p,71) stresses, ideologies reside in texts and it is impossible to read texts without taking into consideration the element of ideology. Meanings are produced through interpretations and discourses are open to different interpretations which are in turn based on different ideological positions.

Consequently, Hatim Bassil and Jeremy Munday (2004, p,200) point out that equivalence is no longer important in the act of translation. To translate from a language into another language is never innocent. The process of translation is sometimes ideologically manipulated. Ideological considerations play nowadays an important role in the translation process.

3. Problems and Difficulties of Political Translation

     It is an accepted fact that political discourse tends to be the most challenging to translate owing to the problems it poses for the translator. In the literature, translation scholars considered three common problems which are associated with the translation of political speeches: first, the problem of culture-boundedness. Second, the linguistic complexity. Finally, the equivalent impact.

3.1. The Problem of Culture-boundedness

According to Schäffner and Wiesemann (2001, p,134), political texts “display different degrees of culture-boundedness” and hence constitute a challenge for translators. For them, political texts, being highly culture-specific when addressed primarily to the source culture audience, pose a serious problem for the translator because he is unaware of how much implicit information in the ST needs to be clarified through the TT because, in such case, the target audience members do not have the necessary background knowledge about certain cultural issues discussed in the ST.

• The Linguistic Complexity

According to Mahdiyan et al. (2013, p,36), when translating a political speech, the linguistic complexity of the text presents a second difficulty that translators frequently encounter. In other words, both the structure and the chosen words and expressions have a tendency to be difficult. Because of this, it is “trickier” to translate these words from a ST to a TT because their organization and structure were carefully picked. Additionally, they referred to the concepts behind the word choice, the structure, and the message of a political text as “complicated and subtle”.

Another difficulty for the translator in this regard is that the speaker’s ideologies and intentions are not clearly indicated in their speeches all the times. In this case, an analysis of the speech is required because it allows the translator to identify any hidden intents that were not directly mentioned in the speech. As a result, the translator will be able to accurately translate the text producer’s thoughts and intentions to the target culture audience.

• The Equivalent Impact

A third reason which makes of political texts the most challenging to translate is the fact that the ST impact is not often recreated in the TT. Although the translator seems to have reproduced the same effect of the original on the TT readers through his translation, the TL readership will not react to the TT like the original addressees for the simple reason that the translational situation of the TT is different from the situation in which the original text was delivered. Moreover, when the text is translated, it will address a new audience at a different time and place. In this vein, Thiele et al. (2005, p,151) stated:

“Translation always involves semantics reflected by pragmatics; the latter meaning, in essence, the relationship of the elements of a text to the potential users of a text. In particular, the pragmatic directedness of a political original as against that of the new rendering is often markedly different … The translation may, at least on the text surface, abound in directive style markers addressing readers to think, feel and act according to the politician’s intention or interest. But in actual fact, target language readers will not normally react like original addressees because the translational situation is different from the situation in which the source text was produced and delivered.”

4. Media and Translation

On the one hand, Newmark (1991, p,146) asserted: “I believe that there is no pure and simple translation of political texts in the press and elsewhere”. On the other hand, most readers of foreign news in newspapers and online are probably ignorant of the function that translation serves in media reporting, according to Schäffner and Bassnett (2010).

Politics, media, and translation are usually seen as having an unseen connection by them. To explain what Schäffner and Bassnett (2010) explained:

“Media reporting on political events is always a form of recontextualization, and all recontextualization involves transformations. Recontextualization and transformation are particularly complex when it comes to translation, that is, when media reporting crosses linguistic boundaries.”

All in all, scholars of translation are particularly interested in a number of processes that are generally taking place in the setting of journalistic translation but have not yet received enough attention.

5. Techniques of Media Translation

     There are different techniques and strategies employed in media translation. Yet, the following techniques are the most commonly used types of translation in mass media and communication:

·      Direct Matching Translation

This technique is considered the most used technique in translation since it is based on the connection of each of the linguistic units in the source language and it corresponds directly to the target language. It refers to the literal translation that Peter Newmark created to translate word for word.

     On the other hand, direct matching translation, consists of two basic techniques:

·  Identitive Translation:

It is a direct translation technique. It is used when all the linking properties of the access language are identical for the components of the source language on the lexical and semantic level.

·  Equative Translation:

The translator resorts to this technique when there are two concepts with corresponding characteristics expressed in words which correspond to the units of the source sentence at the morphemic level as well as at the lexical, semantic and pragmatic level where the translator can choose equivalents for source language expressions, even if they are morphemes.

·       Interdependent Techniques

     It is a translation procedure that includes a set of techniques related to each other, used in cases of overlap between elements of the linguistic sequence with other non-linguistic elements. This is manifested in the translation of news in a multi-media environment, and in case the translation is not possible due to a gap in the target language, or any cultural barrier that may prevent the translator from establishing a direct link in the target language, and the equivalent or corresponding translation techniques have failed to bridge the gap to which the translator resorts in search of a sound translation. This process is represented by a set of techniques, compensation, substitution and explanation.

·      Compensatory Techniques

     When it is impossible to use the two equivalent or identical translation techniques to establish an equivalent translation at any textual level, translation by compensation is necessary to provide an appropriate translation that achieves the objective. This procedure in turn includes other techniques represented in substitution and addition. Substitution is a technique for closing the gap in the absence of a word corresponding to a word of the target language, it can be replaced by another word semantically close to it. It also includes a number of other techniques, inserted whenever the translator encounters a lexical, grammatical or cultural obstacle, the most important of which are: borrowing, multi-translation, omission, substitution, translation by negation.

·      Modulatory Techniques

This translation technique aims to transmit the meaning in a natural way so as to know the intention of the source text by adapting or modifying a word, an expression or a sentence according to the requirements of the target language.

·    Explicatory Techniques

If the previous techniques are not able to convey and communicate the intention of the source text, the translator resorts to the inclusion of these translation methods, which are based on the explanation of words, phrases or sentences that may be ambiguous in the original text and thus comply with the simple definition of translation being an explanation and a simplification. This is one of the overlapping techniques due to the contradiction it causes between SL and TL where text marks are included in the target language that are absent in the source text.

6. Methodology

The methods used in this study consist of a citation of a set of excerpts taken from the former American president Barack Obama’s speech  that were regarded worthy of investigation since such excerpts speak favourably of the person in question.

The present study follows a descriptive and analytical approach. Its main emphasis is on the most significant political expressions. It tackles the concept of translatability of political texts and it actually describes the image and the message of the SLT discussing the translation of those political expressions in the SLT.

The translations of the selected  political expressions will be carefully examined. They will be compared with their corresponding ST segments. The selection of Obama’s speech is due to the linguistic and rhetorical characteristics that distinguish him as a public speaker as well as the position that the United States of America plays in various fields, particularly the economic and the political ones and its great influence in international policy-making and decision-making which put the translator in that difficult situation.

Different political expressions along with their French and Arabic translations will be analysed in order to identify the type of equivalents they feature, the translator’s choices that affect the ST, and finally, the factors that influence the translation of these expressions. The analysis will focus on the techniques and strategies used by translators to render them in the TL.

7. Discussion

The choice of the corpus was based on its conformity with the subject under study through which  the speech by the American president “Barack Obama” will be analysed. This is because this speech teems with political terms as a message from the West, led by the United States of America, to the Arab world. The study at hand seeks to highlight the differences between media and political translation, seeks how the sentences are transmitted, modified and manipulated from sender to recipient in the light of the media revolution and how the feedback of translators from the Islamic and the Arab world was in the transmission of  meaning of the speech to media viewers, particularly Al-Jazeera and France 24 TV channels.

First, the study starts by discussing the differences between the translation technique used in each of these television channels.

Example 1:

• Omission and addition:

We can see that the Al Jazeera translator used the word “استثنائي” to translate the word “extraordinary” into English, to which the word “مذهلة” or “مدهشة” corresponds in translation. We note that the translator gave the word the meaning of powers, considering that the exception means a departure from the customary framework, which indicates the translator’s point of view towards the region where he tried to emphasize that what is happening in the Middle East and North Africa is unusual and the word “exceptional” gives a more powerful meaning.

As for France 24, the word “extraordinary” has been translated by the word “extraordinaire”, which is a synonym for the word in the original speech, and it is a literal translation of the word that does not meet the purpose of the expression and its force.

Example 2:

• Omission and literal translation:

The translator of the two channels Al Jazeera and France 24 made a literal translation of the sentence, so the translation was correct and faithful to the original. In this sentence, the translators respected the words as they appeared in the text. The translators relied on the literal translation of the sentence for their confidence that the recipient is able to understand the meaning of the sentence without the need for interpretation. However, the translator of Al Jazeera who omitted the expression “there” in the original speech, which refers to the state of Iraq, unlike the translator of France 24.

Example 3:

• Literal translation:

The two translators of the Al-Jazeera and France 24 channels made a literal translation of the sentence, so the translation was correct and faithful to the original, and in this sentence the translators adhered to the words as they appeared in the text.

Example 4:

• Literal translation, addition, interpretation:

The Al-Jazeera translator omitted the word “in many parts of the world” to reduce it to the word “الشرق الأوسط” that is to say “Middle East” in order to define and convey to the addressee the meaning of what he meant by the world, where the translator tries, replacing the word “world” with the Middle East to explain to the addressee that the operations of violence and oppression of tyrannical governments exist and occur to a large extent and there are many in the Middle East which he neglected to mention in the original speech. As for France 24, the literal translation of the sentence was invoked to allow the addressee to deduce it according to the context.

Example 5:

• Explanation, clarification, interpretation:

We note that the translator of the Al-Jazeera channel did not rely on the literal translation of the speaker’s words, but rather relied on translating the meaning in a way that suits his point of view while remaining in the same sense and interpreting the sentences in a way that explains the original meaning by adding an explanation of what the addressee is aiming for because the author indicated the need not to rely on the wealth of the earth to achieve the development strategy, but the translator clarified and referred to these riches represented in oil and gas considering that they are the pillar of the economy of these countries.

As for France 24, the literal translation of the sentence was invoked to allow the addressee to deduce it according to the context. A literal translation of the meaning of the sentence in the speech and relying on the transmission of the sentence as it came in the translated speech. It has been found that the literal translation fulfils the objective and that the addressee is able to understand the intended meaning without the need for addition or interpretation.

Example 6:

• Literal translation, interpretation :

We can see that the translation of the France 24 TV channel has put the expression “à l’encontre des espérances des populations” as equivalent for “hostile to people’s hopes”. The translator used this expression meaning that these hopes will not oppose the expectations of the populations. This is an interpretation of the word danger or threat, which is a non-literal translation, but which is in the same context.

Example 7:

• Literal translation, addition:

The interlocutor uses metaphors and puns. This is the reason why the translator must know the political events, the language, the identity, the civilizational, cultural and ideological aspects. Moreover, the translators of the two channels committed to the literal translation to make it clear that the recipient had made promises and committed to implementing them. He also emphasized the strength of the meaning of the term in its translation.

Example 8:

• Literal translation:

Both translations depended on the literal translation of the sentence, in particular the word “cornerstone” corresponding to the word “pièce maîtresse” that is to say cornerstone in the construction context. The translator tried to rely on the translation of the word as it is to preserve the strength of the sentence and used it to express the importance of the issue and consider it as a pillar. It was a literal translation that clarifies the truth and the strength of the meaning to be transmitted by the addressee.

Example 9:

• Substitution, Transmission:

In this process, the sequence of parts of speech changes during translation, since grammatical structures are often different in languages, that is, the location of the verb and the subject differs. The verb is before the subject in Arabic and the subject is before the verb in French and English.

Through both translations, the translator relied on substitution since this method is a change in the process of sequencing parts of speech during translation. This is because grammatical structures are often different in languages, that is to say, the location of the verb and the subject differs, so the verb is before the subject in Arabic. Here there is a change in the placement of words only.

Here, the substitution appears through both translations by changing the location of the words according to the linguistic translation and the meaning to be transmitted and even in the pronunciation, it is easy and appropriate. Moreover, the translation of the word “human” has not been translated literally. In both translations, it has been translated as “fondamentaux” i.e., “أساسية” with the aim of giving strength to the meaning and emphasizing the importance of that meaning.

Example 10:

• Substitution, Literal translation:

The substitution appears through the two translations in the words “فرصة تاريخية” and “historical occasion” where the word ‘فرصة’ and ‘occasion‘ are introduced and the word ‘تاريخية’ and ‘historical’ are delayed, while in the original speech we find the opposite ‘historical opportunity’.

8. Results and Conclusion

Political discourse is one of the behaviours closely related to the art of doing politics. Political discourse is a strategic force that enables the recipient to convey to the masses the ideas he believes in and the aspirations he seeks to achieve.

Political discourse is one of the first means of communication with the masses, given its great importance, especially since today’s world urgently needs to keep pace with the current developments in the light of globalization. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the different trends and opinions. This can only be done by relying on translation, which has become a science in its own right and an unavoidable necessity to decode and symbolize the international community in an effort to link the links of communication and communication. In the absence of this condition, translation loses its raison d’être and its role in the honest and accurate transmission of content.

Translators of political speeches face many difficulties when translating a text. Thus, they must be armed with tools, knowledge, skills, and strategies that allow them to glide smoothly without encountering an obstacle that makes their task difficult. It is not enough to use dictionaries, but also to become familiar with the sciences of the time, i.e.,  not only  translators need to know the arts of language writing, but they also need to be aware of a lot of information about the world in which they live.

This study highlighted the role of  media in the translation of political discourse, considering that media translation is a human activity, its purpose is to link communication and facilitate access to what is produced by the other and what is happening in other regions of the world. The research objective was to analyse and evaluate the translation techniques adopted in the corpus under study, which included media translation of US President Barack Obama’s speech through two TV channels from English to French and Arabic and comparing them, highlighting the most important methods of the translator and the techniques of transmitting information to the recipient.

All in all, in any communication process, the sender chooses a way to convey his message either orally or through mass, audiovisual communication. With technological development, the world has become, thanks to the media, a small village, and reliance on media translation in light of the flow of information has become the backbone of the news industry at present.

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