Translation Of Publicity Texts From Chinese Into English Under The Guidance Of Skopostheorie

With the further reform and opening-up to the outside world, especially since China's entry into the WTO, China has seen an increasing number of business connections and cultural exchanges with the rest of the world over the past ten years. As a result, translation of publicity texts from Chinese into English accounts for quite a large proportion of current translation missions.However, most of the English translations of publicity material from Chinese are not up to either the standards expected by translation commissioners or the linguistic standards of smoothness and expressiveness. Some of the reasons for such a phenomenon can be elucidated as follows:(1) Translation commissioners lack understanding of the nature of professional translation and they tend to set deadlines that translators can hardly meet.(2) Translation practitioners lack adequate professional training.(3) Theoretical guidance is relatively rare and hard to access.(4) The differences between Chinese and English exist in philosophical origin, aesthetic value, ideology, history and tradition.This thesis tries to address the issue of how translation of publicity texts from Chinese into English can be enlightened and guided by the principles and methods of Skopostheorie, with a view to proposing some translation strategies for translators to use to satisfy both the needs of commissioners and the needs of readers of their translations.Chapter One briefly discusses the background of this study, the objective of this research and the organization of this thesis.Chapter Two elaborates on publicity material, from its definition and features to the requirements for translating publicity texts from Chinese into English.Chapter Three provides a review of the development of the functionalist translation approach, including a discussion of Eugene Nida's dynamic equivalence theory and Peter Newmark's communicative translation theory, followed by a discussion of the German functional school: Skopostheorie, as well as its representative thoughts and related aspects.Chapter Four is an analysis of the differences between Chinese and English languages and cultures from the angles of philosophical origin, aesthetic value, ideology, history and tradition, followed by a discussion of some frequently used translation strategies which this study deems as of high value.Chapter Five presents a case study. The author analyzes the case text under the guidance of Skopostheorie, suggesting such practical translation strategies as addition, deletion, restructuring, etc. as well as providing a revised version of the case text.Chapter Six summarizes the whole thesis and discusses the possible implications of this thesis for the practice of translation of publicity texts from Chinese into English.