中西方差异论文范文.doc

论文编号:西南林业大学本科毕业（设计）论文 （2011届）题目： 中西文化差异对广告语翻译的影响 教学院系 外国语学院 专 业 英语 学生姓名 王亚平 指导教师 倪家徳 评 阅 人 二 零 一 一 年 六 月 一 日impact of cultural differences ontranslation of advertisementwang yapingsupervised byni jiadea thesis submitted as apartial fulfillment for the degree ofb. a. in englishfaculty of foreign languagessouthwest forestry universityjune 1st, 2011西南林业大学外国语学院毕业论文原创性声明本人郑重声明：所呈交的毕业论文是本人在导师的指导下完成的。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文未有抄袭现象。若本论文涉嫌抄袭，一切后果与责任由本人全部承担。 毕业论文作者签名： 2011 年 06 月 01日【abstract】 with the development of global economy, the economic ties and circulation of commodities are much frequent than ever before. however, cultural differences between chinese and western culture may cause some misunderstandings and unfavorable impact. based on the main features and main functions of advertisement language, this paper analyzes the differences between chinese and western societies from three aspects: the differences in social and historical background, the differences in personal values, and the differences in aesthetic standards. besides, it provides some translation techniques for improving the advertisement translation including literal translation, free translation and transformation.key words: cultural differences, advertisement translation, translation techniques【摘要】 随着全球经济的发展，商品流通日益频繁，但中西文化的差异可能会对全球经济交往造成一些误解和不利的影响。基于广告英语的主要特点和功能，本文从社会历史背景，价值观以及审美标准的差异三个方面分析了中西文化在广告语中的差异，并提出了直译，意译和转换三种广告翻译技巧。关键词：文化差异, 广告翻译, 翻译技巧contentsintroduction.11.the features of advertisement languages . . . . .21.1 the vocabulary of advertisement language . .21.2 the sentences structure of advertisement language .31.3 the rhetoric techniques of advertisement language32.the main cultural differences between chinese and western societies. . . 32.1the differences in social history background between chinese and westerners.42.1.1 authority orientation versus self- performance consciousness 42.1.2 confucianism versus christian culture.52.2 the differences in social values between chinese and western culture.72.2.1 collectivism versus individualism72.2.2 the implicit way versus the direct way.82.3the differences of cultural aesthetics between chinese and western culture. .103. translation techniques. . . . . 123.1 literal translation. . .123.2 free translation. .143.3 transformation. .174. conclusion.17chapter 1 introduction with the development of global economy the economic trade and circulation of commodities among countries become more and more frequent. many foreign goods enter the chinese market, and also a large number of chinese enterprises is eager to go into the international market during the past decades, therefore, advertisement plays a decisive role in the production of foreign trade. so the quality of advertisement translation between chinese and english has direct effects on the sales and image of products in the international market. however, because of the magnitude differences of the historical background, the values, the aesthetic appreciation etc. between the west and china, there are some cultural differences in the cross-cultural advertisement translation. culture really plays an indispensable part in translation, especially in advertisement language translation. the reason is that advertisements are applied to attracting the potential customers to take purchasing action, as a way of marketing products. in order to meet the psychological need of customers in the country which the products want to enter, the advertisement should conform to local culture. so a good advertisement language translator should not only be proficient in grammar and vocabulary, but also good at cross culture communication. this thesis is written to explore advertisements translation by analyzing the language features of advertisements and the intercultural factors, besides; some proposals for advertisements translation are discussed. the paper is arranged under five broad headings: introduction, features of advertisement language, aspects impact advertisement language translation, advertisement language translation techniques, and conclusion respectively.first of all, the introduction is to briefly present the significance of advertisement language translation. the second part of the paper discusses the main features of advertisement language. the third part focuses on the four main cultural differences between chinese and western societies. the fourth part pays attention to three advertisement language translation techniques. the whole paper eventually ends up with a conclusion as the fifth part.chapter 2 the features of advertisement languagesadvertisement language is the key to advertisement and a crucial way to transmit the information of products. advertisements language has a strong marketing function for products. it attracts and persuades potential customers to arouse to take purchasing action. if is common sense that, advertisement language is a special language which has some main features in common：attractiveness to catch the readers attention, creativity to project an image, persuasiveness to urge them to act and impressiveness to produce an impact. many experts and professors in china have made a lot of research and obtain significant achievements. gu yunfeng, a professor in foreign language department of zhejiang forest college, summarized the main four features of advertisement language. they are: the vocabulary of advertisement language is always simple and positive; simple sentences are used frequently, the grammar of advertisement language is uncomplicated, and the last one is that rhetoric devices occur everywhere. the vocabulary of advertisement language is easy to understand. adjectives are the most frequent words occurring in advertisement language to evaluate products, such as beautiful, good, delicious etc. the sentences structure of advertisement language is very simple and short, and interrogative sentences and imperative sentences are usually used in advertisement language in order to persuade customers to purchase the products. taking nestle advertisement slogan as an example: take time to indulge. this word displays the readers the utmost enjoyment to drink this kind of coffee, so the readers are easily lured by its advertisement language. the advertisement language always employs the present tense. the reason is that the present tense indicates the characteristics of products just like natural law which can last forever. e.g. a diamond lasts forever.(de bierres). whats more, advertisement language tends to employ some rhetoric techniques to impress their target readers, such as metaphor, paronomasia, exaggeration etc, e.g. things go better with coco-cola（exaggeration，coke-cola）；have a good time (pun certina-da watch）.chapter 3 the main cultural differences between chinese and western societies“translation is the expression in one language (or target language) of what has been expressed in another, source language, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences.”(dubois, /view) in real translation situations, translators sometimes can hardly bring the real meaning and cultural implications of the source language into the target language because of cultural differences. as eugene a. nida, a famous american translator, says, “the most serous mistakes in translation are caused by incorrect cultural background rather than the expressions” (nida, 1993, 53). the culture differences reflect on the language, especially in the advertisement language. for instance, it is quite possible that a chinese version of an american advertisement may not trigger the intended response in the chinese consumers, and whats worse, it may not be understood by them. so when it comes to advertisement language translation, the main mistakes are also caused by cultural differences. we have to pay enough attention to cultural differences in advertisement translation. actually, the translators should not only take the features of advertisement language into consideration but also pay much attention to cross-cultural elements to meet the psychological need of the customers. in their article, professors shu yongrui (foreign language department in china university of geosciences ) and hu qiumei(foreign language department in china university of geosciences) illustrates that the cultural differences mainly exist in phonic and semantic association. this paper will illustrate the main cultural differences between chinese and western societies which affect the advertisement language translation through the following three aspects.3.1 the differences in social history background between chinese and western.3.1.1 authority orientation versus self- performance consciousnessone of the most prominent features of advertisement in china is that credentials authenticated by the authorities are listed one after another to assure customers of their quality and credibility. in chinese peoples views, once the quality of a product is recognized by the government or the authorities, the credentials will be placed in a very notable position. to a large degree, our chinese people revere the authority and manifest in advertisements obviously. however, in the advertisements in america, it is hard to find out worshiping the authorities, instead, they are concerned more about self feeling and the standards of their own judgment. americans dont worship authority as chinese people do, they rely on their own perception to judge the quality of products rather than go along with the authorities blindly. e.g. example 1.中华医学会联合推荐。（高露洁牙膏）example 2.“the service to your standard. when you are used to having it all. the sea, from your room. the city, at your feet. the garden, in your midst.”(bayview hotel)the first example is one typical chinese advertisement, indicating the traditional viewpoint in chinese peoples mind for thousands years adore authority. while the second one reflects the secret cultural basis of western societies that is they are concerned about self feeling and enjoyment. the advertisement language tells customers that if they choose the service their social state will be improved accordingly. 3.1.2 confucianism versus christian culturechina has been influenced by the confucian culture for more than two thousands years and the ethical concepts were established under the confucian system to promote morality and hold expediency in concept. from confucius and mencius to neo confucianism, the main stream of chinese culture is that people are basically good and the realization of ones value should be made through introversion, self-control and introspection. it advocates the doctrine of the mean and lies stress on that man is an integral part of nature, whats more, it fostered our chinese people the cultural awareness of attaching importance to family, friends and affections .etc. this cultural awareness also conducts in chinese advertisements. as a result, many advertisements contain the human interest can strike a chord among chinese. on the contrary, humanism dominates the western philosophical thoughts. it tries to explain everything on the basis of humanity as the center of the world. so americachinese professor yang zhaoyang holds the opinion that chinese people attach importance to the product content of an advertisement. the cultural basis is the ethics combined with taoism buddhism and confucianism. e.g. example 1. 青青大草原 自然好牛奶（伊利牛奶）example 2. 有朋友，总是会赢 (枝江大曲)example 3.poetry in motion, dancing close to me. (toyota car)the first advertisement is one of many advertisements emphasizing man is an integral part of nature. the language shows lively green picture of a large area of grassland in which a cluster of cows are browsing. so the consumers tend to be persuaded by the advertisement to choose this fresh and natural milk. “有朋友，总是会赢”shows the importance of friendship in the minds of chinese, they think that relying on parents at home and leaning on friends away from home. friends are the key factor for us to be successful. while the latter one puts the humans feeling and perception in the central position, and uses humans point of view to judge the comfort and beauty of the car. this is accord with the christian culture in western societies. 3.2 the differences in social values between chinese and western culture the development of culture, economy, politics and civilization leads magnificent differences between chinese and western societies, so as the social values. the differences in social values between chinese and western culture this paper discusses chiefly lie in the follow two aspects. 3.2.1 collectivism versus individualism chinese people always put much emphasis on colony concept and collectivism, so we usually pay more attention to national affairs and family affairs, while westerners tend to think highly of individualism and independence. they believe collectivism may waken their individual creativity and interest. e.g. example 1. 柯达胶卷，属于你的家庭欢乐（柯达胶卷）this is the advertisement of kodak film in chinese market. the merchant gets hold of chinese peoples value of concerning about family affairs to persuade potential customers to purchase it. so this successful advertisement contributes a lot to the sales volume and the popularity of kodak film in chinese market.example 2. future for my future. (chevrolet)example 3. life has always been what you make it. excitement or just routine. and the line between freedom and feeling trapped can be as simple as two wheels. something like getting on a suzuki and breaking away. ( suzuki car)while in contrast, these two advertisements manifest a strong notion of individualism. they use attractive words to lure the potential customers to choose what he or she likes rather than what other people choose. the most crucial factor for westerners to purchase a product is what he or she prefers. this two advertisements show that westerners pursuit individualism not collectivism. 3.2.2 the implicit way versus the direct wayin chinese traditional culture, there is a public opinion that the words should be conservative and implicit. because the words not said are very meaningful and can achieve an ideal effect. chinese people believe that it is impolite or rude to express their ideas in a direct way. so in many literary works and daily communication there are countless examples of implicit expressions. however, the well developed economy formed fast-paced life style and strong concept of time for westerners, so that the westerners are likely to use a direct way to convey information and prefer the frank, candid and efficient attitudes. these two different expressing ways influence many aspects in chinese and westerners life. here the author just lists some examples to convey the difference in advertisements. example 1. 那一年，我和妹妹去乡下姥姥家，我们在田野上奔跑，在小河里钓鱼，在收割过的麦地里拾麦穗，空气里尽是迷人的清香！现在很难找到那种感觉了，田野变成了厂房，小河也不见了。咦？这是什么？味道真特别，让我想起乡下麦地里那迷人的清香。嘉士利，为你珍藏童真的滋味！example 2. for her deepest dive 1250 feet down to the floor of the pacific. earle relied on a massive cast alloy diving suit to protect her from such an alien environment. in just such a way, the rolex that dr. earle wears relies on its massively strong case to protect the delicate movement within. indeed, so rugged is the case that sculpting it from a solid block of metal requires pressures of up to sixty tons. (rolex watch)example 3. obey your thirst. (sprite, a drink) from the advertisements above, it is very obvious to see the differences of expressing ideas between chinese and westerners. the first one does not show directly the functions or the content of the products, but chinese customers will draw the gist of the advertisement that it helps the adults to recall and remember the sweet memory of childhood. the indirect way to express the emotion containing in the products give customers the feeling of cherishing carelessness and innocence of childhood. on the contrast, the second one tells the readers that the rolex watch is reliable and qualified for its quality. it employs some tangible figures and example to exhibit the endurance and resisting compression of the rolex. as for the third one, the simple but attractive advertisement slogan displays that this product can relieve thirst and satisfies the need of taste sense.3.3 the differences of cultural aesthetics between chinese and western culture.the public aesthetics has a close relationship to the advertisement translation. aesthetic mind is a integrated cultural consciousness combined with political view, religious concept, lifestyle and custom, etc. something worshiped by chinese doesnt mean it will evoke westerners resonance. the author illustrates the main different aesthetic tastes in different culture through different animals, figures and colors favored by chinese people and westerners respectively.dragon is not only beautiful but also a totem and a symbol of our nation in chinese peoples mind, reflecting concept of auspicious. while in western societies, it is a symbol