A German Functionalist Approach To The C-E Translation Of Publicity Materials

In modern society, the development of economy and international exchanges give rise to a growing need for publicity materials and their translation. Informative function and vocative function are the main functions of publicity materials. Besides, they feature a communicative nature. In order to achieve the desired effect, the translation of publicity materials should be a dialogue between the communicator and the receiver.In view of their characteristics, the translation of publicity materials should be different from that of other genres. However, the current study of Chinese-English translation of them is far from satisfactory and traditional translation theories seem increasingly inadequate. Previous researches on the C-E translation of publicity materials largely focused on the translation of individual words, phrases, sentences and certain unsystematic translation skills. Studies of the cultural factors and translation strategies under cultural influence leave much to be desired.Taking German functionalist translation theory as the framework and adopting the methodology of Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS), the thesis seeks to open a new perspective for the C-E translation of publicity materials with specific functions. The methodology adopted for analysis features a two-stage procedure: discovery and justification. The functionalist approach is characterized by its target-orientedness since it emphasizes the expected functionality of the target text in the target culture. In this theory, translators are encouraged to make full use of various sources of information and are entitled to choose whatever translation strategies they think appropriate to achieve the Skopos of the translation. It also provides a theoretical basis for some unconventionaltranslation strategies like adaptation that is frequently employed in the C-E translation of publicity materials. Therefore, the feasibility of the application of this theory has been fully testified.Based on description and comparison, the thesis first makes a detailed analysis of collected data to find the problems in the translation of publicity materials. This procedure is in line with the key steps in the justification stage of the Descriptive Translation Studies. Then the thesis sets out to introduce the application of functionalist translation theory to the C-E translation of publicity materials with special reference to the text typology theory, the Skopostheorie, the theory of translational action, the poly-criteria principle, and the translator training theory. Under the guidance of these theories and rules, the thesis presents a clear picture of the individual roles of the initiator, the source text producer, the translator the target receiver and the target-text user in the C-E translation of publicity materials, and points out that the whole process is an intricate target-audience-centered intercultural communication for the translator. Linguistic, cultural and political differences all influence the adoption of translation strategies. In this case, the functionalist translation theory encourages the translators of publicity materials to be a bilingual and bicultural expert and a qualified communication expert. They are endowed with the right to make proper modifications of the original version on condition that the spirit of the original is fully conveyed. With the functionalist translation theory as the overall guidance, the thesis summarizes three types of adaptation, namely, interpretation, deletion and restructuring by analyzing abundant authentic examples. Each translator is expected to produce a functional translation by selecting certain information from the source text and create the information through adaptation in light of the pre-determined Skopos to achieve the maximum positive publicity effect. Adaptation can best represent the essence of the functionalist approach as long as "the end justifies the means". At last, thethesis makes some suggestions on how to improve the overall abilities of the translators and proposes a tentative top-down model for the translation of publicity materials in the Conclusion part.