跨文化视角下英汉广告互译中的词汇翻译语用失误研究

论文总字数：40615字

摘 要

如今，我们几乎可以在任何地方看到广告。每个产品都需要广告来提高品牌知名度。广告形式多样，具有重要的研究意义。

本文从跨文化角度研究英汉广告文案，基于Thomas的两类语用失误即语用语言失误及社交语用失误，并结合语用学理论的两个方面，即语际语言；言语行为作为理论框架，通过实例进行深入分析。研究问题主要包括英汉广告语言中使用词汇的特点和英汉广告互译之间存在的词汇语用失误，并分析语用失误产生的原因和提出有效解决方法，帮助外语学习者减少失误，有助于广告业更好地运用语言获得成功。

关键词：英汉广告语言；跨文化；语用学；广告翻译；语用失误

Contents

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………1

2. Literature Review…………………………………………………………2

2.1 Concept of pragmatic failures abroad and at home…………………………2

2.2 Study on English-Chinese advertisements..………………………………...4

3. Lexical characteristics of English-Chinese Advertising Language…..6

3.1 Using puns and alliterations in English and Chinese slogans…................….6

3.2 Using emotional adjectives and verbs in English and Chinese slogans……..7

4. Pragmatic Failures in Cross-cultural Advertising Translation………….8

4.1 Types of pragmatic failures in translation………………………………….8

4.2 Causes of pragmatic failures in translation………………………………...10

5. Solutions to Pragmatic Failures in Cross-cultural Advertising Translation…………………………………………………………………….14

5.1 Understand the taboos of western countries……………….………………14

5.2 Handle the cultural factors………..….……………………………….……14

5.3 Focus on innovative translation……………………………………………15

6. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….16

Works Cited…………………………………………………………………17

1. Introduction

After the commercial advertising first appealed in the 17th century, the advertising language gradually developed and slowly proliferated. In the 20th century, advertising gradually developed into a large-scale modern industry, and it quickly enters into the family life, infiltrating into many areas of social development. Domestic scholars have been studying advertising language for a long time. Some of the well-known research experts on advertising language are He Zhaoxiong, Yang Yonglin and so on (He 109). At present, domestic advertising language scholars’ research on advertising language mainly focuses on the following aspects: the concept and connotation of advertising language, its origin and characteristics, innovation, genre and classification, language features and standards, etc. (Cheng 161).

Pragmatics is a new subject of language research based on the development of linguistics. Advertising language plays an important role in language use with its distinctive characteristics. Therefore, it will be a new field of advertising language research to combine the pragmatics and advertising language. Based on the theory of pragmatics, the interpretation of advertising language will regulate the application scope of language and improve people’s learning ability of language.

However, the existence of pragmatic failures in the translation of advertisements hinders the normal communication between people, causing misunderstandings between the two sides in communication. British linguist Jenny Thomas divided pragmatic failures into two types: speech act pragmatic failures and social pragmatic failures (Thomas 91).

This paper starts from the concept of the pragmatic failures abroad and at home, and then illustrates the studies on the pragmatic failures in the translation of E-C advertisements from the cross-cultural perspective, and summarize the lexical characteristics of E-C advertising language, combining pragmatics theory to explain the lexical pragmatic failures in the translation of English-Chinese advertisements, expounding the reasons for the existence of lexical pragmatic failures, and finally proposing solutions. It is necessary to be bold and innovative in the translation of English-Chinese advertisements, and should not be constrained by the pedantic translation framework.

The study of translations between E-C advertisements from the cross-cultural perspective is of great. This is a new field to study. E-C advertisements have many differences in many aspects. The advertising slogan is rich in content and diverse in form, and it also reflects the social and cultural background and bears certain social functions. The analysis of advertising language, based on the theory of pragmatics, not only contributes to empirical research, but also helps to avoid misunderstanding of language use and promote and regulate the application of advertising language.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Concept of pragmatic failures abroad and at home

2.1.1 Pragmatic failures

The concept of “pragmatic failures” was proposed by the British linguist Jenny Thomas in the early 1980s, and its connotation is “inability to understand what is meant by what is said” (Thomas 93). Thomas notes that pragmatic failure has occurred on any occasion on which the hearer perceives the force of the speaker’s utterance as other than the speaker intended he or she could perceive it. Chinese scholar He Ziran pointed out that pragmatic failure is not a mistake in the use of language in the general sentence construction, but inappropriateness of time and way in speaking, expression of disobedience of convention, etc., which leads to communication failures and unable to achieve the desired effect (He 101). It is different from a language error. The language error is related to the language itself. It mainly reflects the improper master of the language knowledge. The existence of pragmatic failures hinders normal communication between people, causing misunderstandings between the two sides in communication, affecting the communicative effect, and even failing to achieve communicative purposes.

According to the British linguist Jenny Thomas, the pragmatic failures can be divided into two types: Pragmalinguistic failure, namely, is that the first language cannot be applied to a foreign language or in a specific language environment. In communication, the use of language does not conform to the expression habits of the target language, or people use the mode of native language or inappropriate language expressions, which results in communication failures. Sociopragmatic failure, namely, is that pragmatic errors are made due to different cultural backgrounds, often involving the social status of the two sides, people"s relative rights and obligations (Thomas 92). The criterion for the division of this method is whether the pragmatics are misunderstood in the context of language or in the context of socioculturalism.

2.1.2 The formation of cross-cultural pragmatics research

The generation of cross-cultural pragmatics is based on many theories of pragmatics such as verbal behavior theory, politeness principle, relevance theory, and conversational significance (Cheng 162). With the continuous increase of international exchanges, communication from different countries and regions, different groups of people and different languages has become an inevitable trend of human life. In 1959, the American anthropologist Hall’s book Silent Language was published as a new discipline - a sign of the establishment of intercultural communication (Xia 10).

Since the 1970s, with the rise and development of pragmatics, cross-cultural issues in pragmatic communication have attracted the attention of pragmatic researchers. It is noted that the presentation and analysis of pragmatics are derived from Western linguists’ observations and studies of Western languages. These new thinking problems have prompted linguists to move to cross-cultural pragmatic research. Cross-cultural linguistic researches are complex, and dynamic, and at the same time full of vitality and value.

2.1.3 The main content of cross-cultural pragmatics research

The research focus of cross-cultural communication is on the various cultural issues involved in various communicative activities. It studied the deep connotation behind the surface, focusing on the comparison of its meaning and function and cultural system.

According to the domestic scholars such as He Zhaoxiong, he indicates that the main content of cross-cultural pragmatics research includes three aspects. First, cross-cultural pragmatic linguistics studies, such as the study of the differences in pragmatic functions of the linguistic forms in different cultures, and the differences in the choice of speech act strategies between different cultures. Second, cross-cultural social pragmatics studies, such as different interpretations of various cultural parameters for different cultures, differences in the principles and norms of different cultures, and politeness principles and their criteria in different cultures. Third, interlingual pragmatics studies, such as pragmatic behaviors in which people use a second language for intercultural communication, and pragmatic behaviors in which people use a second language for cross-cultural verbal communication and behavioral patterns in the acquisition of a second language (He 85-89).

2.2 Studies on English-Chinese advertisements

Nowadays, domestic scholars have conducted many researches in E-C bilingual advertising languages. The focuses of these studies are on translation skills, advertising language characteristics and rhetorical aesthetics. Liu Wei used the questionnaire survey method and speech act theory to explain the countermeasures of advertising language translation, and proposed that the language information should be kept authentic and the language transition should be innovated which enable people with different cultural backgrounds to accept universally (Liu 173-176).

Chen Yugu from the cognitive perspective, studied some commercial Chinese and English advertising language and translation methods through intentional mode, propositional mode, metonymy mode and metaphorical mode, aiming at cultivating people’s cognitive awareness of advertising language and help people to understand it more appropriately so as to master Chinese and English advertising translation skills (Chen 128-130). This study provides new ideas for Chinese and English advertising language translation. The research above expands the research horizon of advertising language translation, and provides reliable examples and clear enlightenment for the writer’s research.

In an article “A Contrastive study on English and Chinese advertising Language from the Perspective of Cross-cultural Pragmatics”, Xia fan compared with other scholars on the study of advertising language from the aspects of vocabulary, syntax, rhetoric, etc., and combined some theories of advertising linguistics to conduct cross-disciplinary research (Xia 22-24). Xia fan studied advertising language based on the cross-cultural pragmatics to verify the feasibility of this theory in E-C advertising language, and analyzed how to avoid pragmatics failures. She studied from different aspects including introductions, definitions, trademarks, titles, slogans and subjects of E-C advertisements in depth, and then contrasted the speech acts between E-C advertisements in the perspective of cross-cultural pragmatics to summarize the cross-cultural pragmatic failures that appeared in E-C advertisements, and explain the causes and solutions.

In another article “Comparative Study on Discourse of English and Chinese Real Estate Advertising from Cross-cultural Perspective”, Hu xiqian analyzed the characteristics of the advertising language, and studied the influence of cultural factors, using Halliday’s transitive system and Hofstede’s value dimension (Hu 24-30). Hu xiqian statistically analyzed twenty Chinese and English real estate advertisements to find out the differences in the expression of advertising. Through the analysis of the tabular form, Hu xiqian concluded that there were three main differences. Firstly, it was the difference in thinking. Chinese paid more attention to objective facts, natural humanities, and applied more mental processes in the form of language. Western cogitation was more rational and objective so that most real estate advertising emphasized the objective and plain description. Secondly, it was the difference in the value system which was analyzed using Hofstede’s value dimension. Chinese advertising had obvious power worship, while American advertising was highly committed to equality for all. Finally, it was the context in language. Hu xiqian analyzed the different contexts of Chinese and English advertisements, and finally summarize what was discovered.

In summary, the two articles are both analysis of E-C slogans from the perspective of cross-cultural pragmatics. However, in the process of writing two articles, the focus of analysis is completely different. The former focuses on analyzing pragmatic failures, while the latter mainly analyze what the differences are. However, the two articles still have something to improve. The first article describes the content of the advertisement too much, such as what is the advertisement, what is the content, and there is no significant analysis of the pragmatic mistakes. The last strategy proposed is not systematically tested. The second article only studies the differences between E-C- advertisements, but does not analyze how to avoid misunderstanding caused by such differences.

3. Lexical characteristics of English-Chinese Advertising Language

An advertisement mainly consists of two parts: images and language. The image contains the content of the advertisement, and the language highlights the content. The superior advertising language can leave an indelible impression on the consumer, and make sense to arouse the consumers’ desire to purchase and achieve the ultimate goal of advertising. In order to adapt to the contemporary cultural context, advertising language has become a packaging method for products (Lin 144-148). It not only brings people spiritual pleasure, but also stimulates the audience’s consumption interest, and guides the audience’s consumption fashion, and even itself becomes the object of audience language consumption. There are two main lexical characteristics of Chinese and English advertising language. They will be illustrated in the following sections.

3.1 Using puns and alliterations in English and Chinese slogans

A pun is an interesting use of a word or phrase to express two meanings. This usage is also called homonymy. The readability and humor of pun will impress the reader. However, it is not an easy task to use a pun that is both successful and impressive. In addition to its own meaning, a pun is often closely related to the characteristics of a product or brand. This rhetoric can be concise and refined, with a subtle rhetoric effect. In advertising, this rhetoric often makes it humorous, concise, and deeply intimate, thus deepening the memory of advertising and playing a very good publicity role. For example:

Give your hair a touch of spring. “给你的头发一缕春风.”

Ask for more. (More is a famous brand of cigarette) “要求更多.”

Many domestic commercial organizations use English translations to correspond to their Chinese names. Especially in visual media, Chinese and English advertisement names are often accompanied by viewers. If people misunderstand the English meanings, they will feel at a loss. In turn, there is a resistance to the products advertised by the advertisement. This phenomenon is more common in real life. In the process of Chinese and English advertising language translation, people often have different understandings of the same advertisement made in Chinese and English, that is, the difference in pragmatic meaning. Therefore, we often encounter Chinese and English slogans with a mixture of puns and multilingualism. So, people need to distinguish them in daily work.

Apart from the puns, which are commonly used in English and Chinese advertisements, the alliteration appears in the slogans as well.

Alliteration is one of the important forms in phonetic rhetoric. The alliteration, originated from poetry, has been popular for centuries and has been widely used as a unique phonetic rhetoric. It can make the language have phonological beauty and increase the actual sound of oral or written expression. The word “alliteration” comes from “Lettera” in Latin, meaning “repeating and playing upon the same letter”. Using alliteration needs a vocabulary that begins with the same pronunciation which can produce a special communicative effect. Often these words are very pleasing to the eye because of the savvy selection of the advertisers. In addition, the repetition of the pronunciation in words also emphasizes the literal meaning of the advertisement. For example:

“……, everything you need for that big bargain basement special.”

“……, 你需要为那间大而廉价的地下室准备一切。”

“……, and vitamin E to leave skin soft and smooth.”

“……, 而且VE能使皮肤柔软和光滑。”

“The Citi never Sleeps.” “花旗银行。”

“Maybe She’s Born with it Maybe It’s Maybelline.” “美宝莲化妆品。”

“Tide’s in, Dirt’s out.” “有汰渍，没污渍。”

3.2 Using emotional adjectives and verbs in English and Chinese slogans

At present, persuasive advertising has become more and more popular. Soft marketing means selling products more favorably and using less instructions. This approach focuses on building brand image. Therefore, many of these emotional words are adjectives that please the heart.

There are many commonly used adjectives as follows:

“Fresh, special, wonderful, great, delicious, free, clean, safe, sure, full, crisp, real, and rich.”

“新鲜的，特殊的，极好的，好的，美味的，自由的，干净的，安全，当然，齐全，脆的，真正的和丰富的。”

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