（英语语言文学专业论文）交际翻译视角下广告中不可译性因素之处理.pdf

中 文 摘 要 随着中国加入世界贸易组织和全球经济一体化进程的深入，中外商业与贸易方 面的交流日益频繁。大量的中国产品进入国际市场，同时，大量外国产品也涌入中 国市场，各种商品在市场上的竞争愈演愈烈。而广告作为一种有效的促销手段，在 促进销售、开拓国际市场方面的作用也越来越明显，几乎所有商家都会采用广告策 略来提高其品牌知名度、扩大影响，拓展市场，而只有借助于成功的广告翻译，才 能达到预期的目的，因此广告翻译的地位也显得越来越重要。本文拟将英汉广告中 的不可译性因素作为研究对象， 首先比较英汉广告， 发现它们的相似之处以及差异， 然后在此基础上探讨广告翻译中存在的语言不可译和文化不可译现象，以及这些不 可译性因素产生的原因，最后应用英国著名翻译理论家彼得.纽马克的文本功能理 论和交际翻译理论来探讨翻译过程中这些不可译性因素的处理方法。 英国语言学家卡特福德认为，翻译就是用一种等值的语言（译语）的文本材料 去替换另一种语言（原语）的文本材料。在这一定义中，等值与文本材料是两个关 键词。 为了建立翻译等值关系， 原语和译语都必须与功能上相关的语境特征相联系。 如果不可能把功能上相关的语境特征建立在译语文本的语境意义中，就无法进行翻 译，或者说出现了不可译性。他指出，翻译中存在着语言不可译和文化不可译。广 告也是一种语言，因为英汉两种语言本身的差异以及他们所反映的文化的不同，在 中英广告中同样存在着这两方面的不可译性因素。 彼得.纽马克认为文本具有表达功能、信息功能、呼唤功能、审美功能、人际 功能和元语言功能，其中前三种为主要功能。在此基础上，他根据文本的的内容和 不同功能将文体分为三类，即表达功能、信息功能和呼唤功能文本。广告属于以呼 唤功能为主的文本，其主要目的在于唤起人们关注，促进销售，因此无论是中文广 告还是英文广告都具有简洁、生动、形象、琅琅上口、讲究修辞等共同特征，但是 同时在语言运用和文化方面也存在一些差异。 彼得纽马克认为，任何文本都是可以进行翻译的。以呼唤功能为主的文本应 采用交际翻译法，注重再现原文要旨，以译语接受者为中心，重视译文的社会影响 和价值， 因此， 在进行广告翻译时应优先考虑在译语中传达原语的要旨和劝诱效果， 遵循效果优先、符合译入语文化和符合译入语广告规范及特色原则。根据这三条原 则，针对广告中的不可译性因素，我们就可以采取一些灵活的增减、变通、补偿等 手段来进行处理。 本文由六部分构成。第一部分为引言；第二部分为文献综述；第三部分简要介 绍中英文广告在语言方面的共同特征；第四部分分析汉英广告的语言和文化差异以 及由此产生的不可译性因素；第五部分利用彼得.纽马克的文本功能理论和交际翻 译理论来探讨不可译性因素的具体翻译原则和翻译技巧；最后为结论部分，概括全 文，同时强调了译者的作用和职责。 笔者搜集了大约一千多条中英文广告语，应用了分类法、例证法、综合法、比 较法等研究方法，参阅了大量的专业书籍和电子资源，希望能够在广告中不可译性 因素的翻译方面提出一些可行性的方法。 关键词：广告；不可译性；文本功能；交际翻译； abstract with the in-depth economic globalization and chinas entry into wto, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of chinese enterprises and products flowing into the international market while at the same time, the increased transparency and advantages that wto membership confers have ushered in a new sea of foreign goods into the domestic market, so the international commercial competition is becoming more and more fierce. in this severe competition, most companies adopt advertising strategies. advertising, as the most powerful weapon available in shaping self image and promoting goods, plays a vital role in exploring and developing international markets. but without proper translation, the expected goals of ads can not be achieved, so the advertising translation is gaining more and more importance. however, in the course of advertising translation, translators have to deal with a very practical problem: how to effectively overcome various difficulties to make all the source texts translatable and achieve the same effect on target language consumers as that on source language consumers. different countries use different languages and have different cultures, which makes translation difficult to achieve equivalence. the thesis intends to choose chinese and english advertisements (ads hereafter) as the study object, first analyzes the characteristics of english and chinese ads, finds out the similarities and differences existing between them at linguistic level and cultural level, then probes into the untranslatable factors resulting from the differences at linguistic level and cultural level based on catfords theory of untranslatability, and then try to put forward some feasible translating methods to deal with them in the light of peter newmarks theories of text function and communicative translation. according to peter newmark, the famous british translation theorist, language of all text types bears six functions: the expressive function, the informative function, the vocative function, the aesthetic function, the phatic function, and the metalingual function， and the first three are main functions of a text. based on it, he divides the texts into three types according to their content and style, that is: expressive text, informative text and vocative text. here the term “vocative” means calling up the readership to act, think, or feel in the way intended by the texts. ads mainly belong to the vocative-text type. the vocative function is usually the primary function in commercial ads. but they are also informative and inform the readers of the information about the products or the services. the major purpose of ads is to attract peoples attention and urge them to think and act, so both chinese ads and english ads possess some common features: the language in ads is usually concise, lively, attractive, persuasive and often contains a lot of rhetorical devices. but at the same time, due to the linguistic and cultural differences between english and chinese, they both possess some unique features, which leads to the difficulty in translation. another famous british linguist and translation theorist c.j. catford defines translation as “the replacement of textual material in one language (sl) by equivalent textual material in another language (tl).” in this definition, “text ”and “equivalent ”are two key words. he points out translation shifts are based on the distinction between formal correspondence and textual equivalence. otherwise, it is impossible to conduct translation, in another word, it is untranslatable. he thinks there exist two kinds of non-translatability: linguistic and cultural non-translatability. the former is due to the difference in the source language (sl) and the target language (tl), while the latter is due to the absence in the tl of relevant situational features. ads are a special kind of text, owing to the linguistic differences between english and chinese and the different cultures they represent, these two kinds of non-translatability also exist in chinese and english ads. how to deal with them is a critical problem in advertising translation. according to peter newmark, any text is translatable and how to translate them properly depends on what prospective the translators choose. in his opinion, communicative translation is the best approach to the texts mainly with vocative function. as for vocative texts, there are two important factors. one is the relationship between the writer and the readership and the other is that these texts must be written in a language that is immediately comprehensive to the readership. as far as translation of ads is concerned, the first factor refers to the relationship between the advertises and the readers. the advertisers promote the products or the services by the wonderful advertisements in the hope that the readers will take action. the second factor indicates that the advertisements must be written in concise, attractive, impressive, informative, infectious and above all, convincing language. in translation of these texts, the translator should be fully aware of the relation between the original writer and the readership as equality, command, request, or persuasion, and reproduce it in his work. communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original. in his view, the communicative translation of vocative texts such as advertisements not only requires an equivalent effect, but it is essential to the success of the translation. and it is the criterion by which the quality of the advertisement is assessed. translators should focus on the receptor or readers and try to convey the gist of the source language to the target language rather than just the form and try to achieve the functional equivalence. he points out three principles in translating such kinds of texts: the first is the priority of the effect; the second is conformity to the target language culture and the last, conformity to the target language ads criteria and characteristics. we can adopt some transformation or compensation approaches to the untranslatable factors in chinese and english ads on the basis of these three principles. the main body of the whole thesis consists of six chapters. chapter one is introduction; chapter two is literature review. chapter three talks about the linguistic features of chinese ads and english ads from three aspects; chapter four is the analysis of untranslatable factors existing in ads in the light of the theory of non- translatability put forward by c.j.catford; in chapter five, some approaches are put forward in the light of peter newmarks theory of text function and communicative translation, such as adaptation and compensation and so on. and the last chapter summarizes what has been studied in the paper and also points out some problems. during the preparation period, more than one thousand chinese and english ads have been collected. as far as methodology is concerned, three kinds of approaches are relevant to this study: one is qualitative and interpretive which uses existing examples of advertising as a source of data; another is the content analysis to test the differences between english and chinese ads; the third is the analysis and adoption of the result of previous research. the ads are chosen from numerous chinese and american magazines, newspapers, some bilingual magazines and the papers on ads. some slogans are chosen from the books: 赵静， 广告英语 ；高志宏、徐 智明， 广告文案写作 ；梁婷、夏天,英文广告实用手册 ；吴为善,沟通无极 限-广告语言的全方位透视and some papers for masters degree. it is sincerely hoped that this research will enlighten translators of advertising texts and make a little contribution to the prosperity of translation studies and to the progression of translation of adverting texts. key words: advertisements(ads); untranslatability; text function; communicative translation 承承 诺诺 书书 本人郑重声明：所呈交的学位论文，是在导师指导下独 立完成的，学位论文的知识产权属于山西大学。如果今 后以其他单位名义发表与在读期间学位论文相关的内 容，将承担法律责任。除文中已经注明引用的文献资料 外，本学位论文不包括任何其他个人或集体已经发表或 撰写过的成果。 本人郑重声明：所呈交的学位论文，是在导师指导下独 立完成的，学位论文的知识产权属于山西大学。如果今 后以其他单位名义发表与在读期间学位论文相关的内 容，将承担法律责任。除文中已经注明引用的文献资料 外，本学位论文不包括任何其他个人或集体已经发表或 撰写过的成果。 学位论文作者（签章） ： 200 年 月 日 chapter one introduction 1 chapter one introduction this part, which serves as the introduction to the thesis, first presents some basic ideas of advertising, then it moves on to explain the necessity and purpose of the research on untranslatable factors in ads, and finally introduces the framework of the thesis. 1.1 basic ideas of advertising nowadays, advertising penetrates every corner of society， almost any place imaginable are employed to all sorts of information to all people. 1.1.1 definition of advertising the definition of advertising given by the longman dictionary is to make (something for sale,services offered, a room to rent etc.) known to the public. the definition of advertisement is something used for advertising things, such as a notice on a wall or in a newspaper, or a short film shown on tv. generally speaking, advertising possesses five basic characteristics. they are: non-personal, informative, persuasive and it is a special way of communication which needs pays. 1.1.2 classification of ads ads can be divided into many different kinds according to different standards. according to the purposes, ads can usually be divided into noncommercial ads and commercial ads. the former tries to inform, persuade, or remind people about the particular idea, cause, or philosophy, and is mainly for public welfare. the latter aims at promoting sales and profits, and the purpose of it is to leave a favorable impression upon the potential audience and urge them to take action. usually, commercial ads are much more presented through mass media such as tv, newspapers, radio and so on. the reason for that lies in that almost all manufacturers and companies are willing to spend a large sum of money to make a certain product known to as many people as possible or to boost the image of a certain brand. commercial ads can also be divided according to the target audience into two groups: consumer ads and business ads. most of the ads in the mass media are consumer ads. they are typically directed at consumers. by contrast, business ads tends to be concentrated in specialized business publications, professional journals, trade shows targeting at a certain approaches to untranslatability in ads from the perspective of communicative translation 2 group of people involved in some business. since consumer ads are most accessible to common people, the thesis will focus on consumer ads. 1.1.3 the structure of consumer ads consumer ads are profit-oriented. in general, consumer ads are composed of five elements: (1) illustration. it is often composed of some pictures which are usually about the product itself, its packing, or usage and serves as the main visual element. (2) headline. “a headline in an ad is the leading sentence or sentences, usually at the top of the ad, that attract attention, communicate a key selling point, or achieve brand identification.”1 a headline plays an important role in the whole ad, because people usually first see the headline when they read an ad. the headline is the first thing to arouse peoples attention. so advertisers pay much concern on the headline. (3) body copy: it the extension of headline and also the main part of an ad. in the body copy, the advertisers often introduce various information about the product , such as features, functions, and after-sell services and so on. according to the writing style, body copy can be divided into the following four types: straight line copy, narrative copy, testimonial copy, and descriptive copy. (4) slogan. the brief but striking sentence at the end of an ad is called slogan, which is usually the most memorable result of an advertising campaign it is used for advocating the benefits and advantages of the product and persuading readers to take action. usually, a slogan is short but forceful, and reads fluent and rhythmic. here are some good examples: quality never goes out of style.- levis（莱维思牛仔）2 when it rains, it pours.- morton salt（莫顿食盐）3 一切皆有可能-李宁 你不理财，财不理你. (slogan of managing money magazine) (5)trademark: the brand of a product. a trademark consists of two parts: the brand name and visual symbol. the trademark is the symbol of the product in the ad, and at the same time the icon of the 1高志宏，徐智明.广告文案写作 ，1997: 96 2 ibid, 1992: 33 3 ibid. chapter one introduction 3 company itself. because of this , the advertises usually make great efforts to create an attractive one. 1.1.4 purposes of ads advertising is a kind of art, which impresses its consumers and moves its audience by exhausting the persuasive skills. one of the famous experts said, “the symbol of a successful ad is to not only urge people to purchase its product, but also make people and the field of advertising remember it as a masterpiece.” 4 the purposes of advertising can be generalized as “awareness, comprehension, conviction, and action” according to association of national advertising(ana).5 1.1.5 functions of ads generally speaking, ads do play a very important role in both reflecting and shaping our society. five different functions have been identified for ads. they are the marketing function, the communicative function, the economic function, the social function and the educational function 1.2 research motivation 1.2.1 importance of advertising translation advertising is permeating, persuasive, and seductive and it is one of the most powerful strategies for marketing and distribution of products. just like an invisible hand, advertising, through all possible means of communication, exerts its impacts on peoples conducts and lives either physically or psychologically. in the age of information, ads have infiltrated into all walks of life and become an important source of information as well as an indispensable part of our life in the modern world. with chinas entry into the world trade organization and the economic globalization, the trade and commerce communication between china and other countries is increasing rapidly. a great number of foreign commodities have been introduced into the chinese market, and vice versa, which has pushed businesses of various countries, regions, and nations to develop and compete not only in their local markets but also in an internationally globalized market. in this severe global competition, most multinational companies adopt advertising strategies to shape self 4 梁婷，夏天.英文广告实用手册, 2003: 9 5 赵静.广告英语 ， 1992: 6 approaches to untranslatability in ads from the perspective of communicative translation 4 image and promote sales, so advertising, as the most powerful promoting weapon available, is becoming a fast growing industry in modern societies. when a product is marketed to another country, usually the original ad has to be translated with appropriate adaptation to cater to the needs of the new market, so advertising translation plays an important role in developing international market. 1.2.2 the difficulty in advertising translation the thesis mainly focuses on chinese and english advertising translation. because of the differences of culture and linguistics, english ads and chinese ads display many different features to cater to the needs of consumers in local market, the process of ad translation often is not only a linguistic transfer, but also a cultural transfer. at the same time, due to the differences in respect of values, ideological moulds, life styles, and aesthetic values derived from the cultural differences between english and chinese, the process of advertising translation undertakes the task of transmitting both the information of the product itself and the culture of the business and society in which the product is produced to the customers overseas, and in the meanwhile producing the same persuasive effect in the target market, and often the desirable result anticipated by the original advertisers in the ads is difficult to be achieved in their rendition. many translated ads faithful in form fail to achieve positive social functions and some are even meaningless or offensive into the target audience as a consequ