Advertisement Translation From The Perspective Of German Functionalist Approach

With the quick development of Chinese economy and accelerating globalization process, advertising business is growing at an incredible speed. China has become the third top advertising giant in the world today. The role of advertising in international trade and cultural exchanges is becoming more and more important, so is that of advertising translation. But as a matter of fact, in spite of the large amount of practices, the theoretical study on this new field is still relatively retardant in China. As a branch of translation study, advertising translation has its own laws and needs a systematic study.Advertisement is a very special practical type of writing with high commercial value. Therefore, the translator should follow the laws of advertising and choose the most suitable translation strategy or technique to realize the intended purpose of the advertisement. The traditional equivalence theory turns out to be increasingly inadequate and rigid"faithful"translation will often produce negative effect. As a break with the traditional translation theories and an important complement to translation studies, the German functionalist approach has presented a new perspective to the study of advertisement translation. According to Vermeer's "Skopostheorie", any form of translation may be conceived as an action, and any action has its purpose. The prime principle determining any translation process is the purpose (Skopos) of the overall translation action, and translation strategies and methods are determined by the purpose and the intended function of the target text. The German functionalist approach provides a theoretical basis for some unconventional translation strategies such as abridgement, addition and adaptation, and translators are entitled to choose whatever translation strategies they think appropriate to achieve the expected functions of the translation. What's more, advertising translation quality can be assessed properly according its fulfillment of intended purpose of advertisement. Therefore, The German functionalist approach is just the right and effective theory guiding advertising translation.The body of this thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter introduces general characteristics of advertisement, the present theoretical studies and practice of advertising translation at home and abroad as well as problems to be solved. The second chapter introduces the German functionalist approach and its enlightenment on advertising translation. The third chapter analyzes advertising translation strategies at macro-level with many authentic examples in light of functionalist approach. The fourth chapter introduces concrete advertising translation techniques at micro-level based on functionalist approach. In the fifth chapter, the author explores the comprehensive assessment of advertising translation quality from the perspective of functionalist approach.