Translation Of Advertisements From The Perspective Of The Functional Equivalence Theory

Comparatively speaking, Chinese modern advertising industry has a shorter history than that of the modern western society. However, together with the economic boom brought about by China's reform and opening up, Chinese advertising industry has seen an unprecedented rapid development. Accordingly, translating advertising has played an increasingly important role in the economic life. Nevertheless, the substantial discrepancies between English and Chinese languages and cultures make advertising translation a difficult job.Advertising language is well known for its originality, flexibility of language usages and the diversity of the forms. For translators it is a dilemma that the translation would be equivalent to the original text and function in similar ways as the original one does at the same time. In the final analysis, advertising translation should achieve the functional equivalence, namely to attract the readership's attention and persuade them to purchase the advertised product. Focusing on the functions of advertising, this thesis is based on Nida's functional equivalence theory and discusses some basic problems arising from advertising translation, including the bridging of cultural discrepancies between English and Chinese advertisements and the four most commonly used techniques in translating brand names. Furthermore, translators will find it very necessary and useful to employ the various compensatory techniques in the process of translating advertisements.