The translation of Salazar's speeches into English: a case-study on soft power practices in twentieth century Portugal

The concept of soft power is visible in many forms. According toNye, the use of rhetoric is the resource found at the basis of softpower, thus projecting the development of a specific kind ofnarrative in a given setting. Hence, this article will focus on thecontext of the twentieth century Estado Novo dictatorship in theperiod from 1933 to the aftermath of the second World War inPortugal. This regime employed soft power practices through thesystematic publication of political texts, more concretely of thespeeches written and delivered by dictator Oliveira Salazar, whichwere translated into several foreign languages. This work willprovide insight into the case of the translation of Salazar’sspeeches into English as a means to influence internationalrelations with a specific target audience in mind. It will alsoexemplify the kind of message the regime wanted to disseminateaccording to a specific target audience. A close reading of twospeeches will therefore provide further insight.