On English Translation Of Chinese Publicity Materials From The Perspectives Of German Functionalist Approaches

With the development of the globalization, more and more Chinese city introductions are translated into English. However, due to various reasons for a long time, the quality of translation of publicity materials is uneven. Some Chinglish in the translation hinders the international communication seriously and reduces the effect of publicity to foreigners. This paper advocates English translation of Chinese city introductions from the perspectives of German functionalist approaches and attempts to improve the quality of the translation.Many experts and scholars from different perspectives have done numerous valuable researches into English translation of Chinese publicity materials. Their researches are of great value in that they can shed light on and boost English translation of Chinese publicity materials. But their studies don't take the purpose, the participants and functions of the translation into full account. German functionalist approaches break through the previous equivalence-based linguistic translation theories, widen the research scope and offer new perspectives for translation studies. The Skopos or purpose of the translation plays a guiding role in the translation process. As far as the participants of translational action are concerned, functionalist approaches give priority to the roles of the initiator and target receivers. The intended target receiver in a specific cultural context is a decisive factor in translating. Of the guiding rules of translation, the Skopos rule and loyalty rule are the top ranking rules for a translation which may determine which strategy to be employed: documentary or instrumental one. Functionalists overthrow the traditional translation criterion—equivalence, and put forward a new one—adequacy. It is an adequate translation only if the target text fulfills its intended functions.Since the translation of the operative text is usually adapted to TT-orientation, it is necessary to do the comparative study between Chinese and English city introductions. A comparative study is made from the aspects of genre conventions, general style conventions and cultural conventions to find out the differences between them. The intended purpose of C/E translation of city introductions is to reproduce a communicative text for English receivers, introduce the information about China, promote the image of China and attract the English receivers to China for a particular aim. The intended functions of TT are informative and operative.As to the study of English translation of Chinese city introductions in this thesis, the author attempts to study from the aspects of text-specific level (genre conventions and general style conventions included), pragmatic level, cultural aspects (culture-loaded words and specific cultural conventions included) and linguistic level. Each category is subdivided into more detailed ones. Although there are great differences between Chinese and English city introductions, an optimal translation can be done as long as the purpose and function of the translation are complied with. Meanwhile, the conventions of English parallel texts and the intended addressees'socialcultural backgrounds, expectations, sensitivity or world knowledge should be taken into consideration. Plenty of adequate examples and translation errors are given to illustrate the point.This dissertation consists of six chapters. Chapter One is the introduction of the thesis, which presents the research background, significance of the study and the research methodology. In Chapter Two, a sketchy review of the previous researches related to English translation of Chinese publicity materials is presented with the purpose to identify the starting point of this research. In Chapter Three, functionalist approaches, employed as the theoretical foundation of the present research, is analyzed in detail. The detailed analyses include Reiss's theory of text typology, Manttari's theory of translational action, Vermeer's Skopotheorie and Nord's theory of function plus loyalty, of which the guiding rules of translation, the translation strategies and the concept of adequacy are also involved. Chapter Four is contributed to a comparative study of C/E city introductions. After a contrastive study from the aspects of genre, general style and cultural conventions, distinctive features of C/E translation of publicity materials are to be concluded for further research. Chapter Five, the main body of this thesis, is presented with the functional translation of city introductions. The functional translation is chiefly studied from text-specific level, cultural aspects, pragmatic and linguistic levels. Each category is subdivided into detailed ones with abundant examples to illustrate the point. In Chapter Six, a conclusion, based on the studies in the previous chapters, is made about English translation of Chinese city introductions.