An Intertextual Study Of Translating The Advertising Slogans: Crossing Cultural Barriers

Intertextuality is now attracting more and more attention, but the previous studies have been focused on the theoretical aspects. Or the practical research on translation methodology is insufficient.The present study demonstrates seven types of intertexts in the advertising slogans in order to show the popularity of intertextuality. According to the theory of intertextuality, texts exist in a network of already established meanings. Authors would assemble available meanings rather than produce new ones. As intertextuality emphasizes the relationship between one text and its pre-texts, it is important for the translator to understand how the text is formed and in order to achieve a successful translation, he has to refer to the pre-texts. In both understanding and expressing processes in translation, the intertextual knowledge plays an important role.Based on the model proposed by Hatim & Mason, the author intends to find the intertextual references and transfer the intertextual signals to the target text, with the purpose to improve the translation quality and make the translated advertising slogans effective. First, the author explains briefly the linguistic characteristics of the English advertising slogans, then the different intertextual relations found in them are touched upon; finally the possible translation strategies drawn from intertextuality are suggested.