A Study Of Profile C-E Translation Of Guangxi Companies:A Skopo Approach

Company profiles presented on company websites are an important marketing tool targeted at the whole world. They deliver information on the companies and trigger readers’ action. In the context of economic globalization, a successful translation of a company profile will help to build a good image for the company. However, due to divergences in culture and language norms, it is quite demanding to produce quality translations.Based on a study of profile C-E translation of Guangxi companies, this thesis explores the effective strategies for C-E translation of company profiles in the light of Skopostheorie. Different from previous translation theories, Skopostheorie has provided a new insight in pragmatic translation. According to Skopostheorie, the Skopos is an indispensable and dominant factor in any form of translation. Every decision made in the translation process is determined by the Skopos. Under the guidance of Skopostheorie, the translator is advised to steer his translation work on the Skopos and take into account target readers’ needs so that he will be able to produce the most adequate translation by using his language proficiency and creativity. A company profile is a pragmatic text which has a clear purpose to draw the attention of target readers and call on their actions. In order to make the translations in line with target readers’ habit of reading and appreciation, the translator must have a good knowledge of both Chinese and English company profiles. For this reason, the author carries out a comparative analysis of English and Chinese company profiles as well as the C-E translations of Chinese company profiles to demonstrate their layouts, linguistic and cultural features. Based on the results of the comparative analysis, this thesis offers a translation example of the C-E translation of company profiles for reference. In addition, guided by the Skopos, this thesis provides translation strategies in the light of core concepts of Skopostheorie including deciding the layout of texts according to the translation brief, selecting the content of translation according to the Skopos, maintaining factual and informative expression based on text typology, resorting to imitation to make translations idiomatic and adequate, and employing omission or adaptation to live up to the expectations of target-text receivers. Based on the study, the author believes that Skopostheorie is of great significance in guiding and improving the C-E translation of company profiles.