A Study Of E-C Translation Of Cosmetics Instruction Based On Skopos Theory

With China s entry into WTO and the strengthening of opening up policy, more and more foreign productsflood into Chinese markets, among which there are foreign cosmetics. Therefore, how to make the consumersknow their products very well is the main issue. Advertisement sometimes is not the best way to learn about aproduct, since exaggeration often contained in the ad to make the product seem more attractive. One of the mostdirect ways is to show the buyers the cosmetics instructions. Owing to the severe competition between differentcosmetic brands, every cosmetic company racks their brains to promote sales. A well-localized instruction withaccurate and clear information not only enables the consumers acquire the usage and notes of the product quality,but also satisfy the consumers and enhance the image of the company. Otherwise, a poor-localized instructiontranslation with incorrect and obscure information will arouse consumers complaints and damage the reputationof the company.As a special kind of advertisement and bridge between consumers and companies, cosmeticinstructions play a crucial role. So the translation of cosmetic instructions has become important and urgent, andthe focus is on translation quality. A review of translation studies in China has shown that research on thetranslation of cosmetic instructions is quite weak and limited. Besides, the theory applied is inadequate andunsystematic in the actual process of translation.Nobody can deny that instruction translation is a branch of technology translation, but it has its own uniquelanguage features and text types, which deserves a deep and systematic analysis. A review of translation theoryhas shown that theories applying to the translation of cosmetics instruction are quite limited. This thesis tries toapply the Skopos theory of the Functionalist approach to English instruction translation. According tofunctionalism, translators are encouraged to make full use of all the sources of information of the source text andare entitled to choose whatever translation strategies they think appropriate to achieve the functions of thetranslation.That is what is called the end justifies the means. It is hoped that by applying Skopos Theory, which is themajor theory in functionalist approach, the English-Chinese cosmetics instructions translation can better fulfillthe purpose of promoting the purchase and achieving the functions of cosmetics instructions.This paper chiefly studies cosmetics instructions translation from the perspective of Skopos Theory. At thebeginning of the thesis, it focuses on English cosmetics instruction as its object of the research and analyzes itsclassification, components, functions and linguistic features systematically. The author generalizes previousstudies on Skopos Theory and cosmetics instructions at home and abroad. What is more, this thesis offers a rough description of Skopos Theory and its three rules. According to Skopos Theory, in the process of translationthree principles should be abided by: Skopos rule, coherence rule and fidelity rule. Finally, the article discussessome translation strategies in the application of three rules, and a case study to evaluate cosmetics instructionstranslation.The theory and the case study of this paper prove that Skopos Theory can provide guidance to cosmeticsinstructions translation, and has great priority. What s more, the author points out that the translation of cosmeticinstructions is not only a language decoding process, but also a process that involves many factors, such as targetculture, aesthetic psychology and so on. In addition, the thesis aims at enriching the study of the translation ofcosmetic instruction, and arousing more attention and interest in the study of it in the community of translationstudies.