A Study of Advertisement Translation from the Perspective of Functional Theories

By

Sheng Zhihui

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

For the B. A. degree

Department of English

School of Liberal Arts

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

May, 2018

Acknowledgements

During the process of writing my paper, many people have helped me and offered me some valuable advice. To begin with, I want to express my deepest gratitude to thank my supervisor professor Lu Huaguo, who is very patient and professional in his teaching work. He had made a lot of contributions to my English major course and my paper. I benefited a lot and accomplished the essay successfully.

Meanwhile, I want to extend my cordial thanks to the faculty who has taught me patiently during my four years’ university life. Without their help, I could not have developed myself and enjoyed the colorful four years.

Last but not least, I am pleased to thank my classmates and family members for their support and company. They gave me courage to overcome the hardships and obstacles during the period of academic thesis writing.

A Study of Advertisement Translation from the Perspective of Functional Theories

Sheng Zhihui

Department of English

School of Literature

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

Abstract: The rapid development of the world economy has brought a lot of chances to different fields all around the world. If a new product or service wants to enter the market and have a sustainable development, advertisement is the essential tool to help the new product or service to stay in the international market for a long time. There are various kinds of translation. Advertising translation is quite different from them. Advertising has many different functions to promote the commercial development. According to different translation norms, advertisement has different influence. During the process, translators summarize different principles. And this article is about one of the most important principles, functionalist theory. Through the introduction, explanation and analysis of the theory, I will try to find a better way to achieve better advertising translation under its guide.

Key Words: functionalist theory; advertising; advertising translation; examples and influence

摘 要：世界经济的快速发展为经济环节中的各个方面带来了契机。一种新的商品或服务要进入并长期立足于国际市场，广告是必不可少的工具。翻译有很多类型，广告翻译是其中一种。广告翻译，这种翻译类型是统一而又独立的。广告有着不可小觑的作用。根据不同的翻译准则，广告翻译发挥着不同的作用。本文从众翻译理论中很重要的功能理论出发，通过对功能派翻译理论介绍、解释和分析，努力寻找在其指导下使广告翻译充分发挥其作用的方法。

关键词：功能派理论；广告；广告翻译；范例及影响

Contents

1.Introduction 1

1.1 Research Background 1

1.2Literature Review 1

1.3 Research Significance 2

1.4Thesis Structure 3

2.Theoretical Foundation 3

2.1 The Formation of the German Functionalist Theory 3

2.2 The Advantages and Disadvantages of the German Functionalist Theory 6

3.An Introduction of the Advertisement Translation 6

3.1 The Purpose and Function of Advertisement 7

3.2 The Features of Advertising English 8

3.2.1 Using New or Self-made Words 8

3.2.2 Using Monosyllable Verbs 9

4. Functional Theories of Translation and Translation of Advertisement 10

4.1The Role of Functionalist Theory in Advertising Translation 10

4.1.1 Communicative Translation 10

4.1.2 Applying "Communicative Translation" to Advertising Translation Practice 11

4.2 Methods for Advertisements Translation 12

4.2.1Transliteration 12

4.2.2 Free Translation 13

4.2.3 Mixed Translation 13

5. Conclusion 13

5.1 Major Findings 14

5.2 Limitations 14

References 15

Introduction

1.1 Research Background

In the early 1990s, with the rapid development of commercial field, some Chinese researchers began to study advertising translation. According to content of the research, researchers mainly focus on the problems in the translation of advertisement methodology. But the research was still at the "start-up stage" of advertising translation research. Later, when the contents of translation studies constantly go deeper, the principles and standards of advertising translation began to be involved during the process. However, since the late 1990s, more and more research has focused on difficult issues in advertising translation, such as the translatability of artistic conception, the artistic nature of advertising language, and the guidance of functional theories. This article discusses the skopos theory of the functionalist theory and advertising translation. I hope that it might provide some ideas and references for the future research of advertising translation.

1.2Literature Review

The research about the development of the functionalist affirms that skopos theory plays the important role in literary translation. Meanwhile, a lot of experts have paid attention to the guiding significance, who researched the skills to improve the special literary translation.

In the functionalist translation theory, there is no doubt that skopos theory is the core idea. It pointed out that if the effect of the translation doesn’t achieve the purpose of original text because of the law of purpose, the faithful principle is no longer applicable during the process of translation. If the law of purpose leads to non-fluent translation, the "faithful rule" obeys the "coherence rule". But both of them must submit to the law of purpose. From this provision, we can find out how the three laws of functionalist translation theory are related to each other and limited to each other ( 贾文波, 2005). Hu Zuoyou studied the translation of advertisements in cross-cultural communication from the perspective of convergence of visions. He proposed that the essence of advertising translation is to convey the life of advertisements so that they can take root, germinate, and grow in new cultures, and be loved by readers of the target language. (胡作友, 2007).Advertising needs to be clear and concise. So it can attract the attention of a wide range of audiences and facilitate their identification and memory. Therefore, the “KISS” principle should be followed by advertising language, which means “Keep it short and sweet” (曹顺发, 2002).

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