A Study On Chinese-English Advertisement Translation By Applying Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory

With China's entering WTO, globalization has also affected the world of advertising. Companies do not limit their ambitions to the domestic market, they are dedicated to expand international market as well. Advertisement translation, being a type of intercultural communication and as a result of international business communication, gradually attracts the translator's attention and appears as a field of study. From relatively thorough analysis, the author notices two completely different phenomena in the field of advertisement translation. On one hand, professional and effective translation of English advertisements into Chinese; while on the other hand, relatively poor and ineffective translation of Chinese advertisements into English.Therefore, the author will concentrate the study on the translation of Chinese advertisements into English. The thesis endeavors to analyze the current problems existed in the field of Chinese-English advertisement translation and dig the caused reasons from the aspects of linguistics and culture respectively, as well as dealing with the problems by applying Nida's functional equivalence theory.The thesis is composed of five chapters:Chapter one illustrates the purpose of the thesis to introduce the implementation of further research, carries on a brief illustration on the realistic significance of the study, and explains the source of language data to be used to enhance the reliability and readability of the thesis.Chapter two reviews the theories applied to Chinese-English advertisement translation to support further analysis, including the notion of equivalence, essence of Nida's functional equivalence theory, and cultural implications in translation. Feasibility of applying Nida's functional equivalence theory to Chinese-English advertisement translation is reasoned as well.Chapter three analyzes the current problems existed in Chinese-English advertisement translation from the aspects of linguistics and culture respectively. Linguistically speaking, neglect of linguistic features of English advertising language with respects to lexicon, syntax and rhetorical devices are the main causes of existed linguistic mistakes in Chinese-English advertisement translation. Culturally speaking, ignorance of cultural connotations of lexemes, overlook of cultural default in the source text, and inobservance of the differences between western and Chinese advertising culture are the roots of inefficient cultural transference in Chinese-English advertisement translation.Chapter four introduces practicable translation strategies by applying Nida's functional equivalence theory along two clues. Firstly, according to the factors which influence on Chinese-English advertisement translation, the thesis suggests corresponding translation methods to deal with these factors based on target language oriented and target culture oriented principle advocated in Nida's functional equivalence theory. Secondly, since linguistic factor and cultural factor always coexist in a text and usually cannot be separated, the thesis suggests the application of adaptation strategy in the process of Chinese-English advertisement translation. Three concrete adaptation strategies can be adopted depending on the level of understanding difficulties caused by the linguistic and cultural differences between the source text and the target text: direct transfer, partial adaptation and total adaptation. Chapter five summarizes the whole thesis, objectively states the possible contributions of the thesis to the field of Chinese-English advertisement translation, and points out the limitations of the thesis with suggestions on future research efforts.