On The Translation Of Puns In English Advertisements From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Currently, when the translators deal with the translation of puns in English advertisements, some puzzles rack their brains. Many original English advertisements puns can catch the hearts of the original audience and make them feel fresh and new. However, after translated, the puns have gone sour, even have no taste. This phenomenon runs counter to the aims and functions of advertisements in which aims and functions are to attract the audience’s attention and to lure the audience to purchase the products promoted on the multimedia without social taboos and high cost. In order to realize these aims and functions, keeping the original features and tastes of puns is becoming a translating problem. The key reason is that there are differences in different languages and cultures.In this thesis, this problem will be explored from the perspective of relevance theory. Through analysis of the relevance theory, the features&principles of advertisements and puns, some more appropriate translation techniques can be discovered to solve this problem of translation of puns in English advertisements. These techniques come from the comprehension and inference of original puns. Meanwhile, they come from the understanding and usage of the principles of advertisements and relevance. In fact, it is also a process of relevance, that is, culture relevance, context relevance and audience relevance.In this thesis, there are six parts:an introduction, four chapters and a conclusion. In the Chapter One, review about the major development of the translation of puns in English advertisements home and abroad has been stated, meanwhile, Ernst Gutt pointed out that in the relevance theory the relevance of the text and its context should be emphasized enough. The source text and the context are interacted with each other. The correct skill of puns translation is able to discover the relevance between the source text and its context. If the translator wants to make an excellent translation of the advertisements, the advertisements translation should have good effects in the target language context. In the Chapter Two, the definition, characteristics, types and functions of puns in English advertisements have been stated and illustrated; In the Chapter Three, the relevance theory is regarded as a new and practical methodology from the perspective of the relevance theory, which is regarded as an ostensive and inferential process. The relevance makes communicative parties have a good match in the communication and find the optimal relevance between langue and context. So, whether the contents of translation deliver the optimal relevance has been a criterion. In the Chapter Four, the relevance theory will play a major role in guiding the translation of puns in English advertisements. According to the discussion of the relevance, the principles of the translation of puns in English advertisements will be classified into four types:fidelity reduction principle; relevance principle; aesthetic principle and economy principle. Meanwhile, some derived techniques are born according to the principles mentioned above. These techniques include making reservation&recreation, making compensation, making emphasis, making well established translation and making dynamic translation, meanwhile, some examples of translation of puns in English advertisements have been sited to illustrate the properties of these techniques.In a word, the relevance theory has offered an important theory evidence for the translation of puns in English advertisements. On this basis, through the analysis of the original advertiser’s purpose and context, the translators can hold the right purpose and context; through the analysis of the target audience’s language, culture and social backgrounds, the translators can deliver the purpose to the target audience efficiently with a suitable target context.