News covers a wide range of areas such as politics, economy, medicine, health, social, sports, and etc., it also has various types, breading news, cover story, background information, feature story, commentary, for example. News is strongly characterized by its objective, fair and comprehensive, which uses certain terminology, sentence structures and style. Therefore, it is very important to know the common terminology, sentence structures and style for translator to do a good job.
For a report on earthquake, it is very common to see “An earthquake measuring X on the Richter scale struck xxx at xx:xx. The tremor was felt in most parts of xx.” In this sentence, “an earthquake strikes, measuring X on the Richter scale, the tremor was felt ” are all very expressions in an news to report an earthquake. When reporting a politician to visit other country, you will see “first leg, last leg, a visit that will also brings him to XXX”. These vocabulary has strong color of journism. These journalistic words have been used for a long time so that obtain special meaning that relates to news reports. In additiong, there are many established formulas found in the news, “according to sources concerned”, “cited as saying” for example. Midget words, synonyms of all work, Abbreviations, acronym and coinage are largely used in the news also, such as WB (world bank), ASP (American selling price), biz (business), Euromart (European market), haves and have-not.
Translation of news belonging to application translation has its own characteristics. Loyalty, no errors, no missing, smooth, proper use of words and no grammar error should be the basic standards when doing such kind of translation.
Whether translating breaking news or commentary, headline should always be put in the first priority. Generally, it has the following characteristics:
(1) Rhyme, including alliteration and end rhyme, the former is most seen. For example: Indian Immigrants（印度移民潮）; Tropical Timber（热带木材）; An Eye High in Sky（九重天外千里眼）; Steady Steps（稳步发展）, and etc.
(2) Making good use of idiom and proverb. For example: Gatt and Agriculture – Ploughshares into Swords（关贸协定与农业 – 玉帛化干戈）; Was Might Right?（强权即真理吗?）; Desperate Need, Desperate Deed（燃眉之急，非常行动）; Crying over Spilt Milk（牛奶卖不掉，哭也没有用）.
(3) Pun, this is a very common rhetorical device used in the headline, For example: A shock of hair（电击新疗法，秃头生秀发）; Smokescreen（吸烟无害，真相掩盖）
(4) Use the name of awarded movies. For example: The Silence of the Goats（沉默的羔羊）; Dancing with the Grim Reaper（与狼共舞）
(5) Borrow the name of famous literature. For example: War, No Peace（战争无和平）
In addition, the following three aspects should also be taken into consideration. 1. Accurate understanding of the original text; 2. Readability; 3. The response and acceptance of readers.