A Practice-based Study Of Advertising Translation In Cultural Contexts

Advertising is both an economic activity promoting products and services, and a cultural conveyor affecting our daily life and consumption habits. Although the advertising language seems to have attracted scholarly inquires throughout the linguistic circle, it may be fair to say that less attention has been given to the specific features that affect the quality of advertising translation under the target language(TL) culture, such as value orientation, thinking mode and language aesthetics.This paper intends to investigate the influence of cultural factors on advertising translation.In the first place, the writer briefly analyzes the definition of advertising and advertising translation, guiding theories of advertising translation, and principles and strategies of advertising translation. Secondly, a number of advertising samples are picked out for the study. In the context of case analysis, the writer firstly begins with a personal translation practice directed in the traditional approaches. Next, the writer compares both the official and personal versions, looking for ways in which these translations or interpretations are differing. By assessing the similarities and differences in both versions, the writer argues that value orientation, thinking mode and language aesthetics is significant in advertising translation. Collectivism and individualism are the main differences in value orientation, and the differences of thinking mode mainly lie in distinctive language expression and thinking pattern. Additionally, in the aspect of language aesthetics, the translator are supposed to pay attention to the utilization of rhetoric methods in advertising translation.It’s believed that advertising translation is not just a practice of linguistic equivalence, but it involves much more than the language itself. In other words, it is sometimes beyond the principle of literal translation, and rather, it is very often manipulated by varied factors beyond linguistics.And some difficulties in advertising translation will be solved by analyzing the influence of value orientation, thinking mode and language aesthetics on advertising translation. And it is alsoviewed as a guidance for the advertising translation.