Unfaithful Translations of Perfume Ads

Unfaithful Translations of Perfume Ads

By Liu Xi

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

For the B. A. degree

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

May, 2016

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 The Background of the Perfume Culture 1

1.2 The Introduction of the Study 1

2. The Core of the Appraisal Theory--Attitude 2

2.1 Affect 4

2.2 Judgment 5

2.3 Appreciation 7

3. The Attitude Theory and the “Unfaithful” Translation 8

3.1 The Reproduction of Affect in the Perfume Ads Translation 9

3.2 The Turn of Judgment in the Perfume Ads Translation 10

3.3 The Change of Appreciation in the Perfume Ads Translation 11

4.Conclusions 13

References 14

Acknowledgment 15

Unfaithful Translations of Perfume Ads

Liu Xi

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

Abstract: Appraisal is a part of the interpersonal function in Systemic Functional Linguistics, formed from three parts, namely Attitude, Engagement and Graduation. It can illuminate the speaker’s attitude and positioning towards matters. Attitude is the core of Appraisal Theory. Regarded as the center of Appraisal Theory, Attitude is closely related to the emotions of human beings. It consists of three aspects,which respectively are emotional responses, judgment of behaviors and evaluation of objects. Three sub-systems are included in the Attitude, which are called as Affect, Judgment and Appreciation. In recent years, some scholars in our country have introduced the Appraisal Theory to the Chinese readers and applied it to the study of different genres, but very little has been done, up to now, to apply this newly developed theory in translation studies. This paper tries to use the Appraisal Theory as a tool to investigate the “unfaithful” phenomena in translation. Four perfume ads are investigated in the present study. Finally a discussion is carried out to explore possible reasons for the “unfaithful” choices by the translators.

Key words: appraisal theory; attitude; explain; perfume ads translation; “unfaithful” phenomenon

摘 要：评价作为系统功能语言学中人际功能中的一个分支，分别是由态度、介入、级差这三个维度构成，用来阐述说话者对事物的态度。其中，态度理论是评价理论系统的核心部分。作为评价理论的核心，态度与人类的情感有着密不可分的关系。态度理论包括情感反应、行为判断和事物评价，主要包含三个子系统：情感、裁决和鉴赏。近几年来，我国有一些学者对评价理论作了许多的介绍，但将这一理论应用到英汉翻译研究的还不是很多见。本文中，将尝试运用评价理论中的态度系统作为分析和研究的工具，对四则国际品牌香水广告的英汉文本进行介绍、对比、分析和说明，考察译文的“不忠实”现象及其背后的成因，从中揭示

原作者和译者的价值取向对语篇的影响。

关键词：评价理论；态度；解释；香水广告翻译；“不忠实”现象

1. Introduction

1.1 The Background of the Perfume Culture

The English word “perfume” comes from the Latin word “parfumare”, which means being smoked. There are a lot of reasons for people to use the perfume. In addition to feeling the fragrance, relieving fatigue and relaxing the nerve system, more people think that it is the symbol of social identity and status, and the reflection of value. Perfume is not only a kind of technology product, but also a kind of cultural product.

Exposed in The Research Report of China’s Luxury Market in 2012, the expenditure in global perfume adds up to more than 27 billion dollars, which shows that the sales of perfume tend to increase greatly in China. Since the world famous brands want to penetrate Chinese market, more and more companies turn their attention to the brand with the excellent qualities. A good advertisement translation can not only reflect the product characteristics and promote the spread of information, but also raise the desires of potential customers to purchase, which will bring the company huge economic benefits.

1.2 The Introduction of the Study

Appraisal theory is developed mainly on the basis of systemic functional linguistics, which is developed by Halliday. As Thompson put forward, “evaluation” is “the central part of meaning of any text and that any analysis of the interpersonal meaning of a text must take it into account” (Thompson, 1996:65). Evaluation mainly concerns with “the kind of attitudes that are negotiated in a text, the strength of the feelings involved and the ways in which values are sourced and readers aligned” (Martinamp; Rose, 2003:22). Grounded on the framework of the appraisal theory, this paper attempts to explore a common translation phenomenon, which is the “unfaithful” translation. It is a fact that the source texts and the target texts are all used in particular discourse. However, what’s the cause of the “unfaithful” translations on the basis of facts? How are the attitudes of the translators reflected in translation? What’s the effect of the opinion and attitude of translators on the translation? What are the factors that would probably have influences on the attitudes of translators? These are the question to be discussed in this paper.

According to Holmes, there are two purposes of translation studies. One is describing translation phenomena. Another is setting up the principles and the parameter system which can explain and predict these phenomena. This paper tries to investigate the “unfaithful” phenomena in translation by means of using the appraisal theory as a tool. Four perfume ads are used in the present study. The source and target texts are mainly described in the framework of the Appraisal Theory and then compared to find the differences.

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