Advertisement Translation From The Perspective Of Skopostheorie

Advertising, the embodiment of commerce, is becoming an important part of our daily life. The intensification of international exchanges and severe competition involve a growing need for advertising and advertisement translation. However, the traditional translation theories seem increasingly inadequate and the study of advertisement translation is far from satisfactory. Advertisements are of a very practical type of writing with high commercial value, and the ultimate purpose of all advertisements is to promote sales. If the translator rigidly adheres to the original form and content in advertisement translation, the translation may not produce the persuasive effect and may lead to the failure of promoting sales in the target market. Therefore, a more practical theory and translation strategy are called for.As a break with the traditional translation theories and an important complement to translation studies, the functionalist concept of translation put forward by some German scholars has opened up a new perspective to the study of advertisement translation. According to Vermeer's "skopostheorie", any form of translational action 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 translational action, and translation strategies and methods are determined by the purpose and the intended functions of the target text. Within the framework of skopostheorie, the skopos rule is the top ranking rule for any translation. In general, a good advertisement is undoubtedly successful in persuading its audiences. When an advertisement is designed, the advertiser is sure that the source audiences can understand it and accept it in the source language and cultural background. However, due to the barriers of language and culture, when translated, the advertisement may not be successful to the target audiences. That is because when the situation is changed, the persuasive effect in the source culture may not be produced in the target culture. Only when the original advertisement is adapted to the target language and cultural standard, can the target audiences easily understand what is advertised and be more likely to accept the persuasion and buy the advertised product. Therefore, in order to achieve the special purpose of advertisements, and develop the special persuasive function at its best, aparticular translation strategy-- the target-language-culture orientedstrategy should be taken as the basic strategy in advertisement translation.Since the target-language-culture oriented strategy requires that the translation of advertisements should be adapted to the target language and culture, this thesis makes further studies into the language and cultural features of English and Chinese advertisements.The author advocates that the target-language-culture oriented strategy is the basic strategy of advertisement translation and then under the guidance of the strategy does a practical study of advertisement translation by quoting some authentic examples.