英语专业毕业论文-浅谈功能对等理论在广告翻译中的应用

2021年2月1日发(作者：drum是什么意思)

英语专业毕业论文

-

浅谈功能对等理论在广告翻译中的应用

Application of Functional Equivalence Theory in

Advertisement Translation

by

薛莹

A thesis presented to the School of English Studies of

Xi?an International Studies University

in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of

Bachelor of Arts

May 18, 2012

Class: 2008-16

Advisor:

张

倩

西安外国语大学

毕

业

论

文

开

题

报

告

姓名

安果英

性别

女

单位

河北省张北县西关街小学

论文题目

:

浅谈功能对等理论在广告翻译中的应用

Application of Functional Equivalence Theory in Advertisement

Translation

论文主要内容及参考文献

:

在现代 商业社会，广告随处可见。随着经济全球化的进行，各国产品开始在世

界范围内流通，广 告的翻译对产品的宣传与推广都起到了至关重要的作用。广告本

身作为产品的一种主要促销手段，其目的就是引起消费者的注 意，促使他们去购买

广告中宣传的产品和服务。尽管已有许多人对广告翻译进行了大量的 研究、实践，

然而该领域却仍有改进的空间。本论文，从语言学角度，联系翻译学的相关 知识，

根据奈达的功能对等理论研究广告的翻译，以期能给广告翻译带来一定专业、学术

的指导。

Chen, Ping. Modern Chinese. United Kingdom: Cambridge University

Press, 1999. Katan, D.. Translating Cultures: An Introduction for

Translators, Interpreters and

Mediators. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing, 2004.

Newmark, P.. A Textbook of Translation. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign

Language

Education Press, 2001.

Nida, Eugene A.. Language, Culture, and Translating. Shanghai

Foreign Language

Education Press, 1993.

Shuttleworth, Mark, and Moira Cowie. Dictionary of Translation Study.

Shanghai:

Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2004.

连淑能

.

《英汉对比研究》

.

北京

:

高等教育出版社，

2002.

指导教师

(

签名

)

年

月

日

浅谈功能对等理论在广告翻译中的应用

摘要

:

在现代商业社会，广告随处可见，它已渗透到社会生活的各个角落。随着经济

< p>
全球化的进行，各国产品开始在世界范围内流通。广告的翻译对产品的宣传与推广

< br>都起到了至关重要的作用。广告本身作为产品的一种主要促销手段，其目的就是引

起消费者的注意，促使他们去购买广告中宣传的产品和服务。尽管已有许多人对广

告翻译 进行了大量的研究、实践，然而该领域却仍有改进的空间。就广告翻译应当

采用的理论依 据，不同的学派持有不同的观点。广告功能的特殊性决定了广告翻译

的原则，本文认为功 能对等理论是广告翻译的指导原则，而且在广告翻译中，对等

可以达到三个层面，即词汇 对等，句法对等和修辞对等。本论文，从语言学角度，

联系翻译学的相关知识，根据奈达 的功能对等理论研究广告的翻译，以期能给广告

翻译带来一定专业、学术的指导。

关键词

:

语 言学

;

功能对等

;

广告翻译

Application of Functional Equivalence Theory in

Advertisement Translation

Abstract:

Advertisements can be seen everywhere in the commercial society.

With the economic globalization, products from different countries are

competing in the international markets; therefore, advertisement

translation plays an important role in the publicity and spread of the

products. As a main method of promoting sales, the main purpose of

advertisements is to draw consumers? attention and stimulate them to

purchase the product or service. Although many people have done many

researches in the field of advertisement translation, it also needs

several theoretical improvements. Different schools hold different views

on the guiding principle of advertisement translation. This thesis holds

the view that Functional Equivalence Theory should be viewed as the main

principle of translating advertisements, which depends on the unique

features of advertisements. The application of Functional Equivalence

Theory in advertisement translation should be achieved at three levels,

namely, lexical, syntactic and rhetorical level. This paper, from the

perspective of Linguistics, connecting Translation, attempts to study

advertisement translation on the basis of Functional Equivalence Theory,

put forward by Nida, and deduce some practical methods of advertisement

translation under the guidance of it, hoping to give some theoretical

and methodological reference for advertisement translation.

Key Words:

Linguistic; functional equivalence; advertisement translation

Table of contents

1.

Introduction .. .................................................. .......

................................ ................ 6

1.1 General

Introduction .......................... .................................

...... .................... 6

1.2 Literature

review ................................ .................................

...... ................... 6

1.3 Thesis

Statement ....... .................................................. .....

............................ 8 2. Advertisement Development and Features

of................................................ .. 10

2.1 The development of

advertisement ......................... .................................

.... 10

2.2 Features of Advertisement

Language .............................. ............................. 11

3. Three Requirements for Functional Equivalence Theory Applied in

Advertisement

Translation ........................... .................................

...... .................. 14

3.1

Naturalness ........................... .................................

...... ............................... 14

3.2

Accuracy .............................. .................................

...... ................................ 15

3. 3

Conciseness ......................... ...................................

.... ............................... 15 4. Strategies for Advertisement

Translation ......... .................................................. .

.. 17

4.1 Equivalence at Lexical

Level ................................. .................................

.... 17

4.2 Equivalence at Syntactic

Level ................................. ..................................

18

4.3 Equivalence at Rhetoric

Level ................................. .................................

.. 19 5.

Conclusion ......................... ....................................

... .......................................... 21 Works

Cited ........................... .......................................

.......................................... 23

1. Introduction

1.1 General Introduction

It is well known that advertisements have become a very important

and indispensable part of our life. Nowadays, we live in a world full of

advertisements. We can see them everywhere. It is a main method of

promoting products or services. The main function of advertising is

informing and persuading.

Advertisement translation, as a type of communication, is receiving

more and more attention than ever before. Advertisement is a practical

text style, quite different from common literary works, with a very

unique purpose of attracting consumers? interest and persuading them to

take action. As we all know, no matter in what way to translate the

advertisements, this only purpose has never changed. However, many

advertisements are still translated under the guidance of traditional

theories; little attention has been paid to the purpose of the

advertisement. Many obvious problems exist in the translation. Firstly,

a lot of advertisement translation adapts a word-to- word translation

approach. The order and meaning of the source language is faithfully

preserved without considering the features in advertisement language.

Moreover, the principle of translation is source-text-oriented, without

considering the purpose of the advertisement language. Therefore, the

translation is inadequate. The translated versions of advertisements are

very hard to be understood or accepted by consumers, needless to say

informing and persuading.

Under these circumstances, the function and purpose of advertisement

language should be paid more attention. It is necessary to search for a

theory to guide the advertisement translation under which the strategies

should be researched to show their applicability. The “Functional

Equivalence Theory” is just the right one.

1.2 Literature review

After centuries of heated debates about literal and free translation,

scholars in the 1950s and 1960s began to attempt more systematic

analysis of translation. The

most prominent issue was about meaning and equivalence.

P. Newmark holds that translation theory derives from comparative

linguistics and sociolinguistics, which investigates the social

registers of language and the problems of languages in contact in the

same or neighboring countries. After his careful observation of

translation process, he proposes “semantic translation” and

“communicative translation” (N

ewmark 38). Although there are quite

a lot of

differences between semantic translation and communicative

translation, they have something in common at a more general level: both

of them require that “the

translator has to respect and work on the form of the source

language text as the only material basis for his work” (Newmark 39).

In comparison with Newmark?s translation theory in which linguistic

analysis is

taken only as an approach to achieving translation purposes, Catford

lays his translation theory entirely on the base of linguistics. He

defines translation as the replacement of textual material in one

language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)

and puts forward “formal correspondence” and “textual

equivalence”. He holds

that “since translation has to do with

language, the analysis

and description of translation must make considerable use of

categories set up for the description language. It must, in other words,

draw upon a theory of language---a general linguistic theo

ry” (Catford

1).

While Eugene A. Nida and Taber think “translating consists in

reproducing in the

receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-

language message”

(Nida & Taber 37) Nida defines translating, the process of

translation as

“decoding

the meaning of a text in one language and encoding it into a

different language, often reflecting a quite different culture.” He

classifies Catford?s linguistics-based

translation theory as a “strictly linguistic approach to

translating”, which

focuses

much upon the structures of source and target language (Nida 7). In

order to overcome the narrowness of this approach, he proposes a

communication theory of translating, in which focus is given upon the

source, the form, the content of the message, the receptors, the setting

of the communication, the media, and so on, instead of mere verbal

message, in order to achieve the purpose of verbal

communication. Therefore, the closest natural equivalent must be

found to match the message in SL text. Such kind of equivalence is named

by Nida as Functional Equivalence, which means that the receptors of the

message in the receptor language respond to it substantially in the same

manner as the receptors in the source language.

Functional theories in 1970s and 1980s mark a move toward a

functionalist and communicative approach to the analysis of translation.

The functional equivalence theory of Nida is tremendously influential

since his work is the move towards a functional definition of meaning

where a word is meaningful only in its cultural context. The functional

equivalence theory has widely been applied to the study of translation

works, and these studies are mainly focused on literature translation.

Functional Equivalence Theory must be based on analysis of the message

embedded in source and target languages. In other words, no functional

equivalence can be achieved without adequate analysis of the languages

involved in translation process.

To sum up, the traditional studies of advertisement translation are

mainly included in literature translation, which investigate the style

of advertisements through analysis of the lexical and syntactic features

and probe into the translation approaches with contrast between the

English and Chinese styles of advertisements. Unfortunately, it is

largely neglected to study the translation of product advertisements in

relation to the theory of functional equivalence. This thesis tries to

link the wording of advertisements with its actual context and meaning,

and attempts to examine how functional equivalence is reflected in the

translation of advertisements in the hope of deepening the understanding

of advertisement translation and the theory of functional equivalence.

1.3 Thesis Statement

Since the author pointed the importance of the advertisement

translation above, there are some problems we are faced with in the

process of translating. Different schools hold different views on the

principle of advertisement translation. This paper will focus on Eugene

Nida?s Functional Equivalence Theory and introduce this theory in detail

and give some examples at the same time. And the author will analyze the

current strategies of advertisement translation. Moreover, this

paper will list two reasons and cite many examples to illustrate that

functional equivalence should be viewed as the principle of

advertisement translation. This paper will further argue that functional

equivalence could be achieved at three levels in advertising translation,

namely, lexical, syntactic and rhetoric level. At last, the author will

conclude that Functional Equivalence Theory is the main principle in

advertisement translation.

2. Advertisement Development and Features of

Advertisement Language

Advertisement is around us all the time. Whenever we read a

newspaper or a magazine, on the TV, or on the computer and so on, we are

confronted with advertisements. However, how is advertisement developed?

What are the functions and language features of advertisement? And what

are the methods applied in advertisement translation? These are the

questions which we must have a good understanding.

2.1 The development of advertisement

The embryonic form of advertising in the world is street cries,

which exist even today. The origin of advertisement dates back to

thousands of years ago when the first known methods of advertising was

an outdoor display, usually a sign or an announcement on the wall of a

building. Such primitive advertisements offered various commodities for

sale and rent. Advertising was not unknown in ancient Greece and Rome,

but advertising as were cognize did not start until the seventeenth

century in the West. It was at about this time that newspaper began to

circulate. Before that, it is printing which was first invented in China

and then introduced to the West that played a vital role in the

production of print advertising. Small types of advertising were

dominant before the nineteenth century and the style and language used

in ads at that time tended to be direct and informative. The Industrial

Revolution, which began in England in the mid-1700s and reached the

United States by the early 1800s, facilitated mass-production of goods.

Meanwhile, advertising became more and more important in the industrial

market. The great breakthrough for advertising came only in the late

nineteenth century. Technology and mass-production techniques were then

sufficiently developed for more firms to be able to turn out products of

roughly the same quality and at roughly the same price. This brought on

a crisis of over-production and under-consumption which meant that the

market needed to be stimulated by advertising. In the 1 950s, television

came to our life which developed

so fast that it became the main media to spread the advertisements.

Today advertising is playing a more and more important role in our daily

lives. As China is deepening its opening up to the outside world,

especially after joining WTO, the international economic activities

develop rapidly and the international advertisements also need to keep

the pace of development. As a result, advertisement has grown vigorously,

so there is a strong need for efficient international advertising

communication. Our daily

life has been greatly changed by it. Advertisements have seeped into

nearly every aspect of our life, and there is no doubt that our

attitudes, values and knowledge all have been affected by them to some

degree. As time goes by, more and more advertisements appear to us and a

good translation of them to open the door to commercial communication is

a must.

2.2 Features of Advertisement Language

Advertisement language features are very special, because of its

unique purpose, so it is necessary for us to make it clear before we

begin to translate them. 2.2.1 Lexical Features

Since the key role of advertisement is to persuade the potential

consumers to know the utmost quality of the product and have a need for

them, thus the lexical features of advertisement are greatly different

from that of other types of writing. First, creating new words to

attract attention is the main feature in advertisement language by

misspelling and free- compounding. In advertisements, advertisers

sometimes misspell some words deliberately so as to reach the aim of

attracting readers? attention

and enhancing them to take action. For example,

百“衣”百顺

(

百依百

顺

)--- a

creative slogan about iron, which vividly describes the

characteristic of the production directly and motivates the consumers to

wonder more about the information of it and maybe consumers are all

curious about whether the quality of it is real or not so they have

potential motivation to have a try. New words and phrases coined by

means of imitation or by free compounding are invariably met in

advertisements. Many words in advertisements, especially in trade names,

are words newly coined, or deliberately misspelled and abbreviated. The

case in this point is the advertisement about a

cigarette named Marlboro, which is abbreviated by the sentence---

“Man Always

Remember Love Because Of Romantic Occasion”. This newly

-created

word has

already been accepted by most of people and everyone can be

attracted by the beautiful sentence and remember this new brand easily.

Another example is about a juice advertisement: “the Orangemostest

Drink in the world”. This newly coined word

“Orangemostest” is deliberately created by the advertiser, which

consists of three parts: orange, most and est. It is well known and

welcomed by the old and the young

for its nutrition and high quality. Two superlatives “most” and

“est” are added to

orange so as to stress the best quality of this product. Creating

new words of this kind is used intentionally to suggest that the product

being advertised possesses some special qualities as well as the value

of creativity and interest. Second, in advertisements, flexible use of

compound can be found everywhere in advertisements. As the composing

parts can belong to any word class and their combination is not

restricted to the word order, its usage is flexible and changeable. For

example: “From

a heavyweight,

comes the latest lightweight”

--- an earphone

designed by Sony. These

two antonym compounds “heavyweight” and “lightweight” highlight

the quality of this production and the flexible use of compounds of this

kind can make the advertising language colloquial, thus leaving a

particular impression on readers? mind.

2.2.2 Syntactic features

“Advertising language is required to be precise and it has its own

characteristics in syntax compared with other types of writing” (Baker

49). In the following, the author

will elaborate them in detail. The pattern of simple sentence is the

most prominent feature in advertisement, like imperative sentence and

elliptical sentence. “Imperatives sending out appeals, suggestions or