以功能對(duì)等理論為指導(dǎo)的廣告翻譯

1、摘要隨著經(jīng)濟(jì)的充分發(fā)展，經(jīng)濟(jì)的全球化趨勢(shì)同益明顯，廣告在現(xiàn)代社會(huì)中的作用越來越重要，因而對(duì)廣告翻譯也提出了越來越高的要求。但是，盡管人們已經(jīng)對(duì)廣告翻譯進(jìn)行了大量的實(shí)踐活動(dòng)，然而我國對(duì)廣告翻譯的理論研究遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)滿足不了社會(huì)的需求，廣告翻譯尚未得到充分發(fā)展。廣告是一種跨語言、跨文化的交流活動(dòng)，對(duì)輸入國消費(fèi)者的心理、信仰等產(chǎn)生直接的沖擊，從而影響商品在目標(biāo)市場(chǎng)的占有率和銷量。中英語言和文化中的差異決定了廣告翻譯是一項(xiàng)非常靈活而復(fù)雜的工作，在眾多的翻譯理論中，奈達(dá)的功能對(duì)等理論提出了這樣的概念：譯文的接受者對(duì)譯文信息的反應(yīng)應(yīng)該與源語言接受者對(duì)原文的反應(yīng)基本相同。這一理論正好符合了廣告翻澤的特點(diǎn)，即譯文應(yīng)與

2、原文具有相同的勸說功能。從這個(gè)角度來說，功能對(duì)等理論應(yīng)該是指導(dǎo)廣告翻譯的最佳理論。本文通過研究分析論證功能對(duì)等是指導(dǎo)廣告翻譯的最佳理論原則之一，在功能對(duì)等的理論基礎(chǔ)上，著重討論如何處理廣告翻澤中所涉及的語言和文化差異：另外還結(jié)合實(shí)例提出常見的翻譯策略。第一章中，作者首先介紹了翻譯的一般理論，接著詳細(xì)闡述了奈達(dá)的功能對(duì)等理論；第二章主要介紹了廣告的基本知識(shí)，以及廣告本身所涵蓋的語言特點(diǎn)和文化因素，為后一章節(jié)的廣告翻譯作了鋪墊。第三章作者首先論證了功能對(duì)等理論對(duì)于廣告翻譯的可行性，通過分卡廳、探討，認(rèn)為奈達(dá)的“功能對(duì)等”理論非常適合于廣告翻澤。并在此基礎(chǔ)上分析了應(yīng)用功能對(duì)等理論為指導(dǎo)，廣告譯文之于

3、原文在文體，內(nèi)容以及形式上的總體要求。第四章是全文的重點(diǎn)所在，說明了目前廣告翻譯的主要策略。在第四章中，作者首先說明了廣告翻譯應(yīng)當(dāng)達(dá)到兩個(gè)層次的對(duì)等，即語言層次的對(duì)等和文化層次的對(duì)等。在功能對(duì)等理論的指導(dǎo)下，為了達(dá)到最貼切的自然等值，作者在具體分析典型的廣告翻譯實(shí)例基礎(chǔ)上，提出了歸化轉(zhuǎn)換的翻譯策略。最后一章中，作者對(duì)全文予以歸納、概述，并指出了文章不足之處和今后進(jìn)一步研究的方向。關(guān)鍵詞：功能對(duì)等，廣告翻譯，翻譯策略VIAbstractsWith the full development of the economy and the economic globalization trendbec

4、oming increasingly evident，advertising is playing a more and more important rolein modem society,as a result，there is an increasingly higher requirement inadvertising translationHowever，despite the fact that people have taken a great dealof practical activities in the field of advertising translatio

5、n，the Chinese theoreticalresearch of advertising translation still far failed to meet the needs of the community,advertising translation has not yet been fully developedAdvertising is a crosslanguage，crosscultural communicative activities，havinga direct impact on the consumer psychology and beliefs

6、of the importers，and therebyaffecting the share and sales of commodities in the target marketBecause of thelanguage and cultural differences between English and Chinese，the advertisingtranslation is a very flexible and complex taskIn SO many translation theories，NidaS functional equivalence theory p

7、uts forward such a concept：the reaction of the receptors in the target language should be substantially the same as the receptors in the source languageThis theory is consistent with the characteristics of advertising translation，that is，the target text should have the same persuasion function as th

8、e original textFrom this perspective，functional equivalence theory should be a best guiding theory of advertising translationWhile pointing out through analysis that the functional equivalence theory is one of the best guiding principles for advertising translation，this thesis focuses on how to deal

9、 with the language and cultural differences involved in advertising translation，besides in the end,common strategies of translation are given on the basis of examplesChapter One first introduces the general theory of translation，and then elaborateson NidaS functional equivalence theory Chapter Two i

10、ncludes the basic knowledgeof the advertising and advertisement，as well as the language features of advertising，SO as to pave the way for the latter chaptersIn the third Chapter，firstly,，thefeasibility of NidaS functional equivalence theory in advertising translation is fullyVIIelaborated through an

11、alysis and discussion，and based on this，the writer furtherdiscusses the overall requirements for advertising translation in style，form andcontentChapter Four shows the current strategies of advertising translationIn thischapter，the author states at the outset that the advertisements should be transl

12、ated totwo levels of equivalence，that is，the language level and the cultural levelUnder theguidance of functional equivalence theory，in order to achieve the closest naturalequivalence，the author proposes strategies of adaptation based on specific examplesof typical advertising translationThe final c

13、hapter outlines and summarizes the wholetext，where the author points out the inadequacy of the thesis and the direction offurther studyKeywords：functional equivalence，advertising translation，translation strategiesIntroductionAs China is deepening its opening up to the outside world，especially afterj

14、oining WTO，the international economic activities develop rapidly and theinternational advertisements grow vigorouslyThere is a strong need for efficientinternational advertising communicationThus the amount of advertising translationkeeps increasingAs a specialized and important area of translation，

15、advertisingtranslation has its own features and rules，which deserve an intensive and systematicstudyWe all know that a successful advertising translation Can influence thecustomers imperceptibly but enormously,and it can arouse peopleS interests inbuying the products and bring about profit for a com

16、panyWhile on the other hand，afailed advertisement will not only cause economic losses but also directly influencethe image of a company even a countryIncommensurate to its ever growingimportance，advertising translation still remains an under explored field as a branch inthe discipline of translation

17、，the study of advertising translation，especially thatbetween the English and Chinese languages，is far from satisfactory in accordancewith its needUntil now,no systematic theoretical research on this issue has beensufficiently conductedThere are only a small number of papers making a summary ofthe ex

18、perience achieved from the advertising translation practice，among which themajority is published in college journals instead of Chinese key joumalsMany of thearticles are descriptive rather than analytical，dealing with specific aspects ofadvertising translation，such as translation of rhetoric，slang，

19、brands and slogans，andaesthetic properties and SO forthThis thesis，adopting an analytical approach，discusses the application of NidaS functional equivalence theory in advertisementtranslationInstead of focusing on the specific techniques，it tends to focus on thegeneral principles and general transla

20、tion strategies that should be followedIngeneral，it consists of four chapters with introduction and conclusion：Chapter Onefirst introduces the general theory of translation，and then presents NidaS functionalequivalence theory，its development，content and essenceIn chapter Two，basicknowledge of advert

21、ising has been discussed in great detail，including thedevelopment of advertising，definition of advertising and advertisement，classificationof advertising，purposes and functions of advertising，and features of advertisinglanguage which have been analyzed from three aspects，namely,lexically,syntactical

22、ly and rhetoricallyBased on the first two chapters，it is thus safe to drawthe conclusion that the application of the functional equivalence in advertisingtranslation is practical and feasible，therefore in the third chapter，the writer firstelaborates on the feasibility of NidaS functional equivalence

23、 theory in advertisingtranslation through analysis and discussion，and then under the guidance of NidaSfunctional equivalence，the writer further discusses the overall requirements foradvertising translation in style，form and contentChapter Four is the most importantpart of this thesis，which shows the

24、 current strategies of advertising translationSinceNidaS functional equivalence theory proposes that translation shall be target languageoriented and target culture oriented，strategies of adaptation are definitely reasonableand unavoidableIn this chapter,a number of examples are quoted to illustrate

25、 theapplication of NidaS functional equivalence in advertising translationThe conclusionsummarizes the whole thesis，and the author points out the inadequacy of the essayand the direction of further study2Chapter One Literature ReviewAny factual analysis and practical application need a systematic th

26、eory as thebackupWith regard to the field of advertising translation，the author will first of allreview briefly the notion of equivalence and NidaS functional equivalence theory,asthe guiding theory in dealing with advertising translation11 Notion of Translation EquivalenceThe first significant stat

27、ement on translation was made by Cicero(1 06BC-43)inthe first century BC，proposing“not to translate word for word，but to translate sensefor sense”Since then，translation theories have developed for more than 2000 yearsThe termequivalencefirst appeared in JRFirths writing when he stated thattheSOcalle

28、d translation equivalents between two languages are never really equivalent(Firth，1 957)With the development of linguistics and the linguistic-orientedtranslation studies in the west，“the concept of translation equivalence has been anessenti al issue not only in translation theory over the last 2000

29、 years，but also inmodern translation studies”(Wilss，200 1：1 34)“Translation is the replacement of arepresentation of a text in one language by a representation of an equivalent text in asecond language”(MeethamHudson，1 969：7 1 3)The main goal of translation is toestablish a particular type of corres

30、pondence between the source text and the targettextThe nature of correspondence has been referred to as“faithfulnessorfidelity'，or more predominantly,to the notion of“equivalence”Therefore，equivalence is acentral concept in the translation theoryBut to gain a full equivalence in translation ison

31、ly ideal for all translatorsSince“there are，properly speaking，no such things asidentical equivalents”(Belloc，1 93 1：37)，one must try to find the closest possibleequivalence in translationGenerally,Studies of translation equivalence could becategorized into the following types：1)referential or denota

32、tive equivalence wheresource language and target language words supposedly refer to the same thing in thereal world；2)connotative equivalence where source language and target languagewords trigger the same or similar associations in the minds of native speakers of thetwo languages；3)quantitativesche

33、me equivalence where relationships of lexicalequivalence，in particular in the area of terminology,are distincted as one-tooneequivalence，oneto-many equivalence，oneto-part-of-one equivalence or nilequivalence；4)textnormative equivalence where source language and targetlanguage words are used in the s

34、ame similar contexts in their respective languages；5)textual equivalence where source language and target language information flows aresimilar and the cohesive roles of source language and devices in their respective textsare more or less the same；6)cultural equivalence where source language and ta

35、rgetlanguage cultural information are commonly shared by their respective readersThesesix categories of translation equivalence mentioned above can be regarded asequivalence in different degrees，with regard to different levels of presentation and atdifferent ranksHowever,such classification seems un

36、controllableAccording toEugene Nida，equivalence can be generally categorized into two types，of which oneis formal equivalence and the other is functional。equivalenceAccording to Nida，F(xiàn)ormal equivalence refers to“a faithful reproduction of source text form elements，inwhich the form equivalence is mor

37、e important than the communicative effectivenessof the target text”，while functional equivalence“focuses on the effectiveness of thetarget text，denoting equivalence of extra linguistic communicative effect”(Nida，1 964：1 59)For a translator,“not only mastery of forms of the language is important，but

38、also mastery of forms in order to accomplish the functions of language”(Brown，1 987)Mastery of vocabulary and structures is of no use if the translator cannot usethe forms for the purpose of transmitting and receiving thoughts，ideas，and feelingsbetween the translator and the target language readersh

39、ip or between the writer of thesource language and the reader of the target languageWhile forms are themanifestations of language，functions are the realization of those formsMoreover,with regard to the field of advertisement translation，of whi ch the source text hasclearly specific function，the real

40、ization of functional equivalence between the sourcetext and the target text seems more applicableOwing to these reasons，the thesis willapply functional equivalence theory into advertisement translationFor furtherresearch，the author will introduce the theory of functional equivalence412 Nidas Functi

41、onal Equivalence TheoryOne of NidaS most important contributions to translation theory is the concept offunctional equivalence，which was first put forward as dynamic equivalence asopposed to formal equivalence in his book Towards the Science ofTrans腸rng in 1 964The concept of functional adequacy in

42、translating has been described in a number ofbooks and articles as”dynamic equivalence”121 Dynamic Equivalence and Functional EquivalenceBefore giving further illustration on functional equivalence theory,it is necessaryfor US to first discuss about two terms，that is，dynamic equivalenceand“functiona

43、lequivalence”What is the relationship between the two?As a matter of fact，functional equivalence originates from dynamic equivalenceAccording to Nida，'basically,functional equivalence has been described in terms of dynamicequivalence”(Nida&Waard，1 986)The essential idea of dynamic equivalenc

44、e wasfirst mentioned by Nida in his article Principles of Translation as Exemplified byBible TranslatingIn his attempt to define translating，Nida wrote：“Translatingconsists in producing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent to themessage of the source language，first in meaning and

45、secondly in styleIt containsthree essential terms：1)equivalent，which points toward the source language message；2)natural，which points toward the target language，in accordance with NidaSviewpoint，”the best translation does not sound like a translation”；3)closest，whichbinds the two orientations togeth

46、er on the basis of the hi曲est degree ofapproximationIn Toward a Science of Translating，Nida(1 964)first postulated hisconcept of dynamic equivalent as follows：In such a translation(dynamic equivalenttranslation)one is not SO concerned with matching the receptor-language messagewith the sourcelanguag

47、e message，but with the dynamic relationship，that“therelationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as thatexisted between the original receptors and the messageA clear definition ofdynamic equivalence was given in 1 969，when Nida clearly defined dynamicequivalence in his

48、textbook The Theory and Practice of Translation asin terms of5the degree to whichthe receptors of the message in the receptor language respond to itin substantially the same manner as the receptors in the source language”In FromOne Language tO Another(NidaWaard，1 986)，the expression dynamic equivale

49、ncewas replaced by functional equivalenceBut essentially there is not much differencebetween the two conceptsThe reasons why Nida uses functional equivalence toreplace dynamic equivalence is that the expression dynamic equivalence has led tosome confusion，“since the term dynamic has been understood

50、merely in terms ofsomething which has impact and appeal”Therefore，in order to avoid thismisunderstanding and to emphasize the concept of function，“it has seemed muchmore satisfactory to use the expression functional equivalence in describing thedegree of adequacy of a translation”122 Essence of Func

51、tional Equivalence TheoryIt was not until the twentieth century that functional approaches to translationwere inventedThroughout history,translators observed that different situations callfor different renderingsReiss argues，“Translation should be governed primarily bythe functional aspect which pre

52、dominates，or in the new terminology,by the originalSSkopos”(Nord，200 1：6)Functional equivalence theory,put forward by EugeneNida，well embodies the spirit of functionalismThe reason for his substitutiondynamic equivalence with functional equivalence is partly due tostress on theconcept of function”(N

53、ida&Waard，1 986)According to Nida，translating meanscommunicating，and this process depends on what is received by persons hearing orreading a translation“Judging the validity of a translation cannot stop with acomparison of corresponding lexical meanings，grammatical classes，and rhetoricaldevicesW

54、hat is important is the extent to which receptors correctly understand andappreciate the translated text”(Nida，1 997：1 1 6)Therefore，“the relative adequacy ofdifferent translations of the same text can only be determined in terms of the extent towhich each translation successfully fulfills the purpo

55、se or function for which it isintendedIn other words，the relatively validity of each translation is seen in thedegree to which the receptors are able to respond to its message(in terms of both formand content)in comparison with 1)what the original author evidently intended would6be the response of t

56、he original audience；2)how that audience did，in fact，respond”(Nida，1 976：64)We can see that Nida attaches great importance to the role ofreceptors in evaluating translationBy examining the response of the reader,forwhom a translation is intended，one can make a more objective judgment oftranslationWi

57、thout consideration for the monolingual reader,translation scholars andpractitioners are likely to make wrong assumptions about the translationNidaSfunctional equivalence theory put emphasis on cultural factors in translationIn NidaSview,the most serious mistakes in translating are usually made not because of verbalinadequacy,but of wrong cultural assumptions”He argues，translation shall aim at“complete naturalness of expression，and tries to relate the receptor to modes ofbehavior relevant within the context of his own culture”(Nida，1 964：1 59)Therefore，“for truly successful translating，