A Study Of Chinese-english Translation Of Commercial Advertisements From The Perspective Of Translation Norms

Nowadays, the rapid development of international exchanges and the fiercecompetition create a growing need for advertisement and thus for advertisementtranslation. Advertisement translation is becoming increasingly important and playsan indispensable role in the international market. However, many translations ofChinese advertisements cannot fulfill the persuasive function in foreign market atpresent. This thesis seeks to study the Chinese-English translation of commercialadvertisements from the perspective of translation norms.The translation norms theory, which regards translation as the norm-governedactivity, lays a solid theoretical foundation for this study. Gideon Toury suggested theconcept of “adequacy” and “acceptability”, which provides rational explanations fortranslator’s tendency during the process of translation. And the classification oftranslation norms put forward by Andrew Chesterman applies to the case analysisabout the English translation of Chinese commercial advertisements for exploringproper translation norms and strategies.The data used in this research are collected from academic monographs andpapers in journals on advertisement translation, and mass media, includingnewspapers, magazines, TV, radios, and websites. After finishing the literature reviewabout translation norms theory and advertisement, this thesis proposes fouradvertisement translation norms, ie. norms of custom and cultural image, norms ofpolitics and law, norms of value and national psychology, norms of religion and moral,through describing and analyzing the translated products and the process oftranslation systemically. And literal translation, liberal translation, transliteration,omission, addition, and borrowing are suggested as the translation strategies under theguidance of translation norms theory. What is more, suggestions for translators aregiven by the author to solve the translation problems and improve the translationquality of Chinese commercial advertisements.