The C-E Translation Of Corporate Promotional Materials From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

With the increasing economic globalization, more and more Chinese enterprises begin to develop their markets abroad. Thus translated corporate promotional materials serve as a communicative bridge between our corporations and overseas customers. Currently, while some Chinese corporations have produced high-quality translated promotional materials, there are still quite a few corporations whose translations of promotional materials need to be improved before they can broaden overseas markets. In his practice of translating corporate promotional materials, the author finds that Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory can well guide that practice. Therefore, this thesis, under the guidance of Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory, makes an analysis on the methods for translating corporate promotional materials.Besides an introduction and a conclusion, the thesis consists three chapters:First the thesis introduces Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory. Functional Equivalence Theory argues that the quality of translated texts should be assessed with the readers’response, that is, readers of the translated text understand and appreciate the translated text in almost the same way as the original readers understood and appreciated the original text. Based on this, this chapter then analyzes the feasibility of Functional Equivalence Theory in guiding the translation of the corporate promotional materials. Then it analyzes the respective features of Chinese and foreign corporate promotional materials. Chinese corporate promotional materials favor the use of four-character phrases. They are presented with the inductive approach, which conforms to Chinese curve thinking model. The use of four-character phrases adds a flavor of rhythm and music to the corporate promotional materials, making them pleasant to the ear. Besides, Chinese corporate promotional materials tend to take a third-person perspective and their content may cover political elements. In contrast, foreign corporate promotional materials frequently choose common and simple words and narrate in a deductive way from the first-person perspective. They emphasize the expression of practical information. In the end, taking the different features of Chinese and foreign corporate promotional materials into account, the thesis applies Functional Equivalence Theory to analyze and explore some methods used in the C-E translation of corporate promotional materials. The skillful use of literal translation, literal translation plus annotation as well as conversion can help the translated texts gain the same effects as the origin texts, thus achieving functional equivalence.