On C-E Translation Of Company Profiles

With the rapid development of China's economy and the advance of globalization, China's corporations have more chances to communicate with foreign enterprises in the international market. Many enterprises put bilingual profiles on their website to introduce their products and services in hope of expanding business into western markets by making the enterprise known to foreign customers. Generally, company profile has two major functions: informative and vocative. However, an examination of the translations reveals that the quality of translation leaves much to be desired, and word-for-word strategy is widely used in the translation, failing to achieve the satisfactory effect. Research on company profile translation so far stays at the lexical and syntactic analysis and hardly provides any systematic guidance to translators in the field. As we know that the improper translation can impair the image of a company at best and result in adverse financial consequences at worst. Therefore we conduct the present study with the expectation to offer some applicable strategies for the translation.This thesis will use functionalist approaches as the theoretical framework to study C-E translation of company profiles. It begins with the introduction, which serves as a theoretical basis for the present study. Chapter two includes the definition, functions and characteristics of company profiles followed by a review of the previous studies. Chapter three introduces the functionalist approach which serves as the theoretical framework for the present study. Chapter four describes the questions that this study aims to investigate, the research methodology employed, and how the samples are collected and analyzed. Chapter Five makes a comparison of Chinese and English company profiles and relevant strategies, mainly "adaptation", are provided aiming to facilitate the reader-oriented translations. Chapter Six, as a conclusion, summarizes the major findings, discusses its implications, points out limitations of the present study and offers suggestions for further studies.