On Application Of Transcreation Strategies In English-Chinese Advertising Translation

Transcreation is recognized as a fundamental aspect of numerous language service providers,as it continues to experience growing demand each year.Specifically,transcreation is widely utilized as a translation strategy within the field of advertising translation.Nevertheless,the lack of a definitive and universally accepted definition,coupled with a scarcity of comprehensive and methodical case studies,frequently leads to confusion regarding the precise nature of transcreation.Moreover,discussions pertaining to transcreation strategies often remain superficial,primarily focusing on rhetorical devices,while the effectiveness of these strategies in the context of advertising translation still awaits verification.This thesis aims to address three primary research questions:Firstly,what are the most frequently employed transcreation strategies observed in the mainland of China’s transcreated copies on Apple Inc.’s official website?Secondly,what are the variations in transcreation strategies adopted by the mainland,Hong Kong,and Taiwan versions?Lastly,how do transcreation strategies contribute positively to Apple Inc.’s advertising efforts?To achieve these objectives,this research begins by exploring the definitions of transcreation from multiple perspectives,including language practitioners,researchers in translation studies,and language service providers.This exploration involves a comprehensive review of previous research findings and their limitations.Additionally,drawing upon the work of scholar Madiha Kassawat,this study constructs a framework of transcreation components and techniques,highlighting its practicality.The research methodology involves analyzing 286 pairs of English blurbs found on Apple Inc.’s official website,along with their corresponding transcreation versions in the mainland,Hong Kong,and Taiwan region(as of January 2023).Both quantitative and qualitative analyses are conducted to examine the transcreation blurbs in the mainland version,focusing on six key aspects:rhetoric devices,linguistic adaptation,cultural references,cultural adaptation,rhetoric devices+,and colloquialism.Furthermore,a comparative analysis is carried out to identify the similarities and differences among the transcreation versions in the mainland,Hong Kong,and Taiwan.Based on the findings from the above analyses,this thesis endeavors to summarize the crucial and challenging aspects involved in the practice of transcreation within the realm of advertising translation.This thesis has the following research findings:First,within the frame of transcreation strategies proposed by Madiha Kassawat,the most common transcreation strategies in the 286 Chinese mainland blurbs on Apple Inc.’s official website are respectively structure modification,paraphrasing,and collocation in linguistic adaptation,followed by rhetoric devices,cultural adaption/references,rhetoric devices+,and colloquialism;Second,through the case analysis,the research finds that the Hong Kong and Taiwan versions prefer to retain the original English words while the mainland version of transcreation performs exceptionally in terms of the use of rhetorical devices and cultural reference,which better fits the aesthetic tendency and language habits of Apple users in the mainland of China;Third,as a powerful weapon against untranslatability,transcreation strategy is blessed with strong creativity and cultural adaptability and is widely used in persuasive and communicative texts.This study will expand the research scope of transcreation in the field of English-Chinese advertising translation,in hopes of providing a new perspective for future transcreation studies and practice.