A Comparative Study On Translation Between Literary Texts And Commercial Ads Texts

With the development of economy and the increase of international businesscommunication, advertising translation has become more and more important, whichenriches the literary translation-centered pattern. Undoubtedly, the growing translationactivities and types have begun to challenge some of the current translation criteriaand theories. Based on the research done by our predecessors, the author of this thesishas made a tentative endeavor to suggest different approaches to translation in literarytexts and commercial ads texts according to the theory of semantic andcommunicative translation put forward by Peter Newmark.To start with, in Chapter One, this thesis provides a brief review of two majortranslation theories at home and abroad. The theories discussed at home include YanFu's principle of "Xin-Da-Ya"(faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance) and othervariations of the principle by his successors;for the theory studied abroad, this thesishighlights Eugene A. Nida's theory of "functional equivalence". After a careful studyand analysis, the author points out that the common limitation of the two theories liesin that they both attempt to find a universal translation criterion for all translationactivities. In the following part, theoretical framework of this thesis is given:"text-centered" translation theory by Peter Newmark. This paper holds that, based onthe classification of text types, the theory of semantic and communicative translationcan offer more flexible and multiple translation criteria for all kinds of translationactivities.In Chapter Two, this thesis illustrates the characteristics, functions, intentionsand styles of these two different texts — literary texts and commercial ads texts, andthen comes to the conclusion that literary works belong to expressive texts, whilecommercial ads are typical vocative texts.In the following chapter, the comparative study on translation between literaryworks and commercial ads is conducted from the perspective of linguistic features.And in this chapter, after detailed analysis ranging from status of the original writers,the rights of translators, the degree of faithfulness in translation, the readership andreaders' acceptance to text value, the paper holds that semantic translation is used forsuch expressive texts as literary works, and communicative for vocative texts likecommercial ads. Moreover, by comparing the great differences between English andChinese, a feasibility study of semantic and communicative translation is done. And itis proved that, though they come from different language families and are greatlydifferent in linguistic structures, yet with more flexibility in real practice, the guidanceof semantic and communicative translation for E-C and C-E translation is applicable.In Chapter Four, the translation of cultural elements in these two different texts,also called cultranslation, is analyzed, and methods of transplanting and transfiguring,which are respectively in accordance with semantic translation and communicativetranslation, are put forward, that is: "transplanting" used in such expressive texts asliterary works and "transfiguring" in such vocative texts as commercial ads. A literarywork belongs to the expressive text expressing the writer's minds and sentiments, andmirroring the social life, so it's necessary for the cultural elements to be transplantedfrom the SL text into the TL text in order that the original style and flavor be kept andthe SL culture be spread, while in such vocative texts as commercial ads with thepurpose of selling products or services, the translator needs to adapt the ads to the TLreaders' taste to intensify the appeal and achieves the equivalent function ofpersuasion by making use of TL readers' cultural background. So the unfamiliarcultural elements can be deleted, neutralized or domesticated by means oftransfiguring of translation.In the conclusion part, the thesis points out that, though functions and types oftexts greatly influence the choice of translation strategies, it is, by no means, indicatedthat semantic translation and communicative translation are totally against each other.Owing to the multiple functions of one text, even in the same text, there can't be onlyone method of translating throughout the text. So in translating literary works, it'simpossible to translate totally semantically, and likewise, there is no possibility oftranslating completely communicatively in translating commercial ads. Actually, theseare two methods with widely overlapping bands. And there are often sections in onetext that must be translated communicatively and others semantically. So it'snecessary for translators to take into consideration the alternative use of semantictranslation and communicative translation after bearing all related factors in mind.