On Pragmatics And CE/EC Translation Of Advertisements In Light Of Relevance Theory

Advertising is an important part of sociolinguistics which exerts significant impact on all walks of life. However, regrettable mistakes in advertisement translation can be frequently observed. The appropriate C/E and E/C translation of advertisements is crucial since advertising has intimate relationship with society, yet it is also difficult due to the unique linguistic features of English advertising. This thesis intends to tackle this problem in terms of pragmatic translation.Pragmatic translation is to discuss the practical problems of translation in the aspect of pragmatics. It is essentially an equivalent translation theory which aims at achieving equivalence both in sociopragmatics and pragmalinguistics. Pragmatic translation is based upon relevance theory by Sperber & Wilson, which endeavours to achieve optimal relevance between the original text and the target context. If optimal relevance can not be obtained, pragmatic failure, i.e. the inability to understand what is meant by what is said, will occur. This thesis illustrates sociopragmatics and pragmalinguistics equivalence as well as the causes of pragmatic failure with a great number of examples. According to the ternary relation based on relevance theory, this thesis also attempts to define the respective roles of the author of the original text, the translator and the reader of translation and points out that only through the coordination of the above three parties can optimal relevance be ultimately achieved and can pragmatic failure be prevented from occurring in advertisement translation.