A Model For Assessing The Quality Of Chinese-English Advertisement Translation

The study on TQA is the central work in applied translation research, which helps improve translation quality and guide translation practice. Although many scholars have been active in exploring methods for TQA, the present research is far from satisfaction. There have been few studies in the field of TQA with a special reference to advertisement translation.In China Prof. Si Xianzhu is the first one who proposes a relatively systematic, objective and operative framework for TQA in the light of systemic-functional linguistics. Although adapted from House's model, his work is still a big and meaningful step forward. But there are some defects inherent in his model. For example, he does not clearly distinguish between genre and text type; the actual operation of his model seems to be a little cumbersome; what's more, the workability of his model for assessing advertisement translation is not convincingly justified.Based on the previous studies, a model for TQA of advertisements (excluding texts represented by a single word or sentence) is proposed in this thesis, which is adapted from Prof. Si's original model. In the revised model, the parameter of text type contained in his model is replaced by that of genre. Since a translation cannot be described merely as good or bad, a hierarchy of translation quality is added to achieve more objective and scientific assessment of a translation.The present study supports the idea put forward by House and Prof. Si that analysis of register and genre can serve as important steps in the process of TQA. Register analysis is the initial and basic step for the comparison between ST and TT, which helps explore the linguistic features in the micro level. Although belonging to the same genre, Chinese and English advertisements are different in their realizational patterns because of cultural factors. As a result, adaptation can be viewed as an applicable strategy in translation so as to produce a TT which conforms to the culture in the TL. Accordingly, in the process of TQA, genre analysis should be viewed as an indispensable step toward the overall judgment. The use of genre in the analysis and evaluation process can help better understand deeper textual structures and patterns. The thesis finally presents a case study to test the workability of the revised model in C-E translation of advertisements. The present study is meaningful in the field of TQA and is expected to give inspiration to the study of proposing models for assessing translation of other text types.