Functional Equivalence & C-E Ad. Translating

Functional Equivalence & C-E Ad. Translating AbstractAdvertising is one of the important means of promoting sales. With the rapid development of the global commodity economy, the production of commodities has become extremely prosperous, and the international competition of products of the same type has become exceedingly fierece. Therefore, in order to promote sales, manufacturers of each country compete in advertising to the best of their ability to set up images and trademarks of their products. In modern society, it is no exaggerating to say that advertising must go first before sales of goods. In order to help to improve the qualm' of the translations of Chinese ads. the paper, therefore, has deeply probed into a principle suitable for C-E ad. translating, and at the same time, put it into practice.The paper, at first, has made a review and rethink of the dominant translation theories at home and abroad. The theories discussed at home include Yan Fu's "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance". Fu Lei's "Shenshi" ("Likeness in Spirits") and Qian Zhongshu's "Huajing" ("Perfection"): for the theories studied abroad include Catford's "textual equivalence" and Nida's "functional equivalence" (hereinafter shortened as F-E). After careful analyses and study, the paper concludes that Nida's F-E is an effective principle for C-E ad. translating.The concept of "equivalence" in translation, has not only been a principal problem among Western translation theories for 2.000 years, but also a basic one in modern time. Quite a few meaningful explorations have been made on this problem. Nida's F-E has been the most influential one among them. The same as the other principles of "equivalence". Nida's F-E has shifted the emphasis of translation from stressing the form of information (which had been stressed ever since) to the content of information and responses of the readers. That's to say. the principle emphasizes "equivalence" on communicative functions between the source language and the target language, but not the "equivalence" on formal correspondence. The theories "readers" responses" and "content over form" are two core parts of Nida's F-E.Nida's "reader's responses" holds that a translation serves the readers or receptors of the target language. When to evaluate the quality of a translated text, one must evaluate the degrees of the responses to the translated text; in the meanwhile, compares it with the reactions of the readers of the source language to see whether they are essential!}' the same. Though in the communicative situation of advertising, the advertisers have no chance to discuss or exchange the information with the target audience, while it does not mean that ad. translators need not take the readers responses into account. Conversely, they must always bear the readers in their minds, making clear about their educational backgrounds, religion, customs, and consumer behavior, etc. If an ad. translator neglects the specific conditions of the target audience by running opposite to seek for formal correspondence in his or her translations, then it will be impossible for him or her to accomplish the communicative functions.Nida's theory of "content over form" is an important method to fulfill his "functional equivalence"; moreover, it is an essential means to deal with cultural differences in ad.translating. Nida proposes that because of linguistic and cultural differences, every single language differs a lot in the forms to transmit information, which are of great complexity, arbitrariness, and variability. Therefore, in order to preserve the content, the form should be adjusted precisely if necessary. The author deems that one must stick to the theory during the translation of ads. The reasons lie in the following: first, because ads are cultural products, therefore, one is sure to encounter acute cultural clashes while translating Chinese ads into English. General!}' speaking, cultural-loaded information can hardly be translated literally. Secondly, though some Chinese ads can be...