Abstract

This paper analyses Boris Yeltsin’s 1992 speech to the US Congress as an example of rhetorical translation. It will first describe Yeltsin’s political and rhetorical career from his beginnings in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) through the perestroika period to the beginning of his first presidency in 1991. Subsequently, an analysis of the 1992 speech to the US Congress will demonstrate how Yeltsin augmented his rhetorical toolkit by incorporating techniques from American presidential oratory, and the processes of translation that occurred in the process.