英语论文】英语广告翻译研究a tentative study on the translation of english advertisements

1、英语广告翻译研究A Tentative Study on the Translation of English Advertisements论文摘要当今世界，“地球村”的概念变得越来越被人们接受，随之而来的是经济全球化。在此大背景下，中国与世界各国的商品交流也更加广泛, 与之而来的是国际广告的重要性日益增加。国际广告是跨国界、跨文化的商品营销的宣传形式，所以它面临的不单是语言的转换问题; 如果只简单地把成功的广告翻译成进口国文字直接搬出去，结果往往是不好的，因为国际广告与国内广告相比要面临文化背景等多方面差异问题。因此，必须着重研究国际广告的翻译，以适应国际间贸易交流发展的需要。在随后的部分中

2、，作者会从相关书籍里援引42个例子，来着重研究国际广告中英语广告的翻译方法。作者首先会给出广告的定义，广告的种类，然后论述广告的语言特点；同时作者还会从文化背景等方面分析英语广告的特点；随后，作者从理论上简述了英语广告的翻译技巧，然后对选出的例子进行详细的分析，在此基础上对英语广告的翻译技巧提出建议。作者试图发现英语广告的翻译技巧，但是由于这个领域的复杂性和作者知识的局限，研究还会有许多需要改进的地方。因此，作者真诚希望更多的译者能够关注并参与到这个项目的研究中。在作者今后的翻译职业生涯中，掌握英语广告的翻译肯定会有十分重要的意义，这不仅是成为一个合格翻译的基本能力，而且还会提高作者的翻译质量

3、。关键词：英语广告 翻译技巧Abstract Nowadays, “Global village” has become common sense to more and more people, and as a consequence, economy globalization has been throughout the whole world. Under this circumstance, China has more and more merchandise exchange with foreign countries. Thus, international trade

4、are becoming more important than ever, as a result international advertisements are also becoming more important. International advertisements, as the sales promotion method which are cross-national boundaties and cross-culture, are facing not merely exchange of language. If the advertisements are m

5、erely exchange into the language of import country, normally better result can not be got. That is because compared with domestic advertisements, international advertisements will have to face the difference such as culture background etc. So more attention must be paid to the study of international

6、 advertisements translation to meet the requirement of the development of international trade.In the following section the author will cite 42 examples from related books to study the translation of English advertisements. The author will first give the definition of advertisement, types of advertis

7、ements , and then the author will analyse the linguistic characteristics of English advertisements, and at the same time the author will analyse the characteristics of English advertisements from culture perspective; the author then gives brief introduction of translation skills of English advertise

8、ments theoretically. The author will give detailed analysis of the examples. Based on this, the author will give suggestion on the translation skills of English advertisements.The author tries to disclose some translation skills of English advertisements, however as the fact of complexity of this is

9、sue and limitation of the knowledge of the author, still there is room for improvement. Therefore, the author sincerely hopes more translators can pay attention and contribute to this issue. For the authors future translating practice, it will have significant meaning to grasp the translation skills

10、 of English advertisements. To know the translation skills of English advertisements is essential ability to be a qualified translator. Needless to say it will improve the quality of the authors translation work. Key words: English advertisements translation skillsTable of ContentsPages1. Introducti

11、on.1.1 Project Background.1.2 Project Objectives 1.3 Project Design.12221.12. Rationale.2.1 Definition of Advertisement2.2 Types of Advertisements.2.2.1 Commercial advertisement 2.2.2 Commonweal advertisement.2.3 Linguistic Characteristics of English Advertisements.2.3.1 Lexical characteristics of E

12、nglish advertisements.2.3.2 Grammatical characteristics of English advertisements.2.3.3 Rhetoric characteristics of English advertisements.2.4 Objective or Function of Advertisements.2.5 Cultural Factor in the Translation of English Advertisements 2.5.1 Psychology factor. 2.5.2 Values factor.2.5.3 M

13、ode of thinking factor2.5.4 Age and character factor.2.5.5 Other factors.2.6 Brief Review on the Translation Skills of English Advertisements333334457991010101111113. Data Description. 3.1 Brief Introduction of the Data.3.2 Standard of the Data-selection1414154. Data Analysis. 4.1 Literal Translatio

14、n 4.2 Free Translation 4.3 Transliteration 4.4 Four-word Phrase.4.5 Combination of Transliteration & Free translation. 4.6 Parody or Imitation4.7 Combination of Literal Translation & Free translation.15161721212222235. Results and Suggestions5.1 Results.5.2 Suggestions. .2323266. Conclusion.

15、27Bibliography29Appendix30A Tentative Study on the Translation of English Advertisements 1. IntroductionWhen talking about advertisements, people can feel them everywhere. Yes, from ancient times, they have already existed, wherever in the eastern or western countries. Today, as the development of t

16、he economy, also as the enrichment of means of media spread such as TV, internet etc., advertisements have seeped into every corner of the world. Since the touch of translation, the advertisements translation has drawn the attention of the author. Good translation will attract the potential customer

17、s, on the contrary, inappropriate translation will lead to big problem. As well known by the people, a kind of battery made in China is called “白象”，according to free translation, it is translated into “white elephant”, it is no mistake grammatically, but the translator overlooked the cultural backgr

18、ound, “a white elephant” is an idom in western countries, means “heavy burden” or “something big but useless”. The result of market behavior of the battery in western countries can be imaged. In contrast to this, the translation of the drink “Sprite”. Original meaing of “sprite” is a “pixy”which see

19、ms to our Chinese something evil, if still adopting meaning implication or free translation, it perhaps will be not accepted by the Chinese customers. The translator is very clever and adopts transliteration, and it is translated into “雪碧”. On seeing this, Chinese customers will feel very cool and c

20、omfortable, and the market performance of “Sprite” has already been witnessed. So without any exaggeration, the translation of advertiments can make a product success, or ruin it. Thus translation of advertisements is vital in international trade.This is the reason why the author wants to carry out

21、the research. To make the research more specific, the author will mainly research the translation skills of English advertisements by give detailed analysis to the carefully-selected examples.1.1 Project Background Today, with the economic globalization and Chinas entry into WTO, exchange with forei

22、gn countries are more and more than ever. In the merchandise exchanges, advertisements play an important role. When forgien products enter into China, there must be advertisements accordingly. As a part of international advertisements translation, to study the translation of English advertisements h

23、as very significant meaning. The translatioin of English advertisements is vital in the sales promotion of related products to China. This research suggests the translation skills of English advertisements by give detailed analysis of the carefully-chosen examples and their translations. 1.2 Project

24、 Objective The author will focus this paper on the translation skills of English advertisements. Rational use of the skills can make TL receiptors accept the products through translated advertisements. So better understanding of the skills can improve the quality of translation in the future practic

25、e of translators, this is the objective of this research.1.3 Project DesignThis paper consists of six parts. Following this introduction, Part Two gives definition of advertisement, linguistic characteristics of English advertisemens, types of advertisements, objective or function of advertisements,

26、 cultural factor in the translation of advertisementes, brief review on the tranlation skills of English advertisements. Part Three describes the data to be analyzed in Part Four. Part Four tries to analyze the data and find the translation skills of English advertisements. Part Five is about result

27、s and suggestions on the translation skills of English advertisements based on Part Four. The last part gives a conclusion on the whole research paper.2. Rationale2.1 Definition of Advertisement“An advertisement is an announcement in a newspaper, on television, or on a poster about something such as

28、 a product, event, or job vacancy.”(COLLINS COBUILD ENGLISH DICTIONARY，2000)American Marketing Association (AMA) defines advertisement as “the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuative in nature about products, services or ideas by indentified sponsors through

29、 the various media.”(Tian xing, 2007. The Features of Advertising Language. Retrieved on May 31 2008 from :/ tesoon /english/htm/5273.htm)Autually advertisement come from a latin word “Adverture”, its original meaning is to draw the attention of the people, means to inform, persuade people or disclo

30、se something. In about 1300 1475, it evolved into Advertise. Until the end of 17th century, in most developed industrial country UK, accompanied by the large scale business activity, advertisements are widely used. (Lin, 2007: 2)2.2 Types of Advertisements:According to character, the advertisements

31、are divided into commercial advertisements and commonweal advertisements. (Lin, 2007: 16)2.2.1 Commercial advertisementsIt refers to advertisement in production, commodity circulation, service sector etc., to purchase or promote products, normally it will collect fees.2.2.2 Commonweal advertisements

32、It refers to advertisement “promote free of charge” some ideas or propositions, convey some ethnics values to public to enchance their civilization standard. The goal is acquire sound social benefits, instead of commercial benefits. This paper is focusing on commercial advertisements, so advertiseme

33、nts mentioned in this paper refers to commercial advertisements.2.3 Linguistic Characteristics of English AdvertisementsAccording to (Geng, 2005: 139-145), English advertisements have below Linguistic Characteristics:2.3.1 Lexical characteristics of English advertisements1) Adjectives and its compar

34、ative degree and superlative degree are widely used. In English Advertisement, ad-agents normally use over-exaggerated words to describe the characteristics and quality of the product, to allure the purchase desire of the customers, take an advertisement of Hotel as example:Your trip can always a ca

35、refree experience as our meticulous services keep you feel at home. Innovative décor, well-equipped guest rooms, elegant dining venues, attentive services and friendly smileonly when you visit the Windors can you discover how considerate we are!In the paragraph, 8 adjectives are used to attract

36、 the customer. In English advertisement, adjectives such as new, good, better, best, nice, rich, real, great, extra, delicious, amazing, gorgeous, inexpensive, juicy, rewarding, wonderful etc. appear more continually. 2) Abbreviative words are normally used to shorten the passage and save cost. For

37、example, décor in above-mentioned paragraph is abbreviation of decoration. They are normally as below:abbreviating first letters: i.e. HK = Hong Kong HR = human resourceabbreviating the end letters: i.e. ad = advertisement add = addressabbreviating the vowel letters: i.e. bnfts = benefits hr =

38、hourabbreviative compound words: i.e. asst = assistant bkground = background3) Compound words are largely used, the most is compound adjective, the structures are normally as below:noun + adjective, i.e. world-famous brand adjective+noun,i.e short-term investor noun+past participle,i.e.honey-coated

39、pills adverb+past participle, i.e. perfectly-textured cakes noun+past participle, i.e. cool,thrist-quenching cucumber adjective+present participle,i.e. the best-looking small car in the world 4）To make advertisement more understandable fluent and vivid, spoken language, slang, informal language are

40、normally used:Is microwave cooking fast?You bet! “You bet!” is informal English, same as surely or certainly.5) Monosyllabic verbs are widely used:In English advertisements, verbs such as make, get, have, see, buy, come, go, know, keep, look, need, love etc. appear more frequently.Practice really do

41、es make perfect.6) Elegant, formal words are used for slap-up products, such as automobile, luxury hotel etc. These kinds of words are splendid and elegant and can bring great “shock” to people. Their aim is attract the richer comsuers:An elegant and majestic atmosphere awits you upon first entering

42、 Tian Hsiang Restaurant. Your attention is immediately drawn to the interior décor which is both refined and luxurious. The restaurant comfortably accommodates 33 tables and there is ample parking conveniently located in the grounds.In general, no fixed pattern of usage of words in English adve

43、rtisements. In the translation, corresponding Chinese words should be used to retain the style of SL. For abbreviative words and compound words, during translation, special attention should be paid to make TL terse but clear to transfer the original meaning of SL.2.3.2 Grammatical characteristics of

44、 English advertisements1) Simple sentence or spoken language are widely used to make the advertisement more impressive:Hi,my names Messy Marvin, I got that name because no matter how hard I tried,my room and my clothes always messy. But then one day, Mom brought home thick, rich, yummy Hersheys Syru

45、p in the no mess squeeze bottle. And before I knen it, I was making the best chocolate milk Id ever had.It is from a kid to describe a kind of chocolate called Hershey, and it accords with the tone of a kid.2) Abbreviative sentence are normally used to save length of the paragraph and quicken the rh

46、ythm:It is a moment you planned for. Reached for. Struggled for. A long-awaited moment of success. Omega, for this and all your significant moment.3）Parallel sentences are normally used to leave deeper impression to reader:To enjoy a good picture these days you need more than a good screen.You need

47、a video tape designed to bring out the best in all the video equipment you owned.You need a video tape that delivers crisp colors and clear sounds.You need a video that look every bit as vivid on extended that it can keep your picture perfect after hundreds of replays.You need a video tape so techno

48、logically advanced that it can keep your picture perfect even after hundreds of replays.In short, you need Fuji video tape.Because if you want improve your picture, all you really have to do is improve your video tape.4）Use imperative sentence to persuade and incite the customer:Now! Say goodbye to

49、rough razors, tough tweezers, hot wax, harsh cream, or electrolysis. Hare Off removes unsightly hair in seconds. Keeps your skin looking silky smooth up to 8 wonderful weeks!You wont find a quicker, easier, neater way to enhance your beauty. Haif Off makes you feel more elegant, more sensual. More a

50、live! More back if doesnt.LET HAIR OFF REVEAL A MORE BEAUTIFUL YOU!5) Negative sentence are seldom used. Even used, the function is to stress the characteristics of the product:We would never say the new Audi 10 is the best in its class. We dont have to.6）Interrogative sentences are widely used to a

51、ttract attention and arouse curiosity; disjunctive sentences are used to show affirmation indirectly:The Seiko Ladies QuartzPretty, isnt it?In the translation of English advertisements, the phraseological characteristics must be taken into consideration and shown in TL. For SL and TL, translators sh

52、ould try hard to ensure sentence pattern, tense, voice to be in accordance with each other. But TL can not only “copy” SL. When necessary, alteration is needed to make TL more clear and fluent for the promotion of merchandise.2.3.3 Rhetoric characteristics of English advertisements1) SimileIt compar

53、es the similarity of two kinds of things, normally it uses simple and detailed description to illustrate abstract and complicated concept. Featherwater: light as a feather.2) MetaphorIt compares between two kinds of different things to show their similarity. It normally use the things which people a

54、re familiar with to compare the things which people are not familiar with.To spread your wings in Asia share our vantage point.3) PunIt normally uses the polesemy and hononymy to express dual meaning.Im More satisfied.4) PersonificationBy using this kind of method, the object is regarded as human be

55、ing, characteristics of human being such as emotion, character and language etc. are endued to them. This enables the advertisement more amicable to consumers.Arthritis discriminates against women.5) RepetitionIt can stress certain part of the sentence.Dish after dish after dish, people expect us to

56、 be better.6) Parallelism and AntithesisIt can make the sentence more orderly and stress the characteriscs, state and nature etc.of the object.Well tell you the odds before they are out. Well publish what other publications dare not.7) RhythmIt is correspondence of terminal sounds of words or of lines of verse and can make