浅谈目的论对中英文广告翻译的启示

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摘 要

随着中国加入世界贸易组织以及改革开放的深入开展，大量国外产品涌入了中国市场。与此同时，国内企业也越来越渴望开拓更加广阔的国际市场。这使得跨文化广告传播成为必然，也对广告翻译提出了更大挑战。由于广告是一种具有很高商业价值的实用文体，广告翻译的关键就在于实现广告的预定功能。费米尔的目的论认为翻译是有明确目的的跨文化交际行为，它对译者和译文都具有重要的指导意义。本文旨在通过介绍目的论，中英文广告的特点以及目的论在广告翻译中的运用来说明目的论对中英文广告翻译的启示。

关键词：目的论；中英文广告；广告翻译

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. Skopostheory 4

3.1 Definition 4

3.2 Three Rules of Skopostheory 4

4. Advertisement and Its Translation 5

4.1 Advertisement 5

4.2 Chinese and English Advertisement Translation 6

5. Implications of Skopostheory on Chinese and English Advertisement Translation 8

5.1 Implications for the Translator 8

5.2 Implications for the Translation Strategies 9

6. Conclusion 12

Works cited 13

1. Introduction

Today one can hardly escape advertisements as we are living in a very commercial society. Advertisements are not only a means of economic activity, but also of cultural communication. It is like a kind of invisible force which leads the living styles and consumption habits of the people.

The advertisement is a sort of practical writing which has high commercial values. It aims to stimulate people’s emotion, to inspire their imagination, and to persuade customers to purchase certain commodity. The ultimate goal of all advertisements is to provide the information about products or services and to persuade the potential consumers to buy them. The advertising language is only a means to achieve this purpose. Therefore, what translators need to do is to adjust the translation according to the target language and the target culture so that the target audience could accept it and get action.

Throughout history, translators usually observed that different situations called for different renderings, texts with different functions and purposes demand different translating standards and principles which cannot easily be resolved by “faithfulness” or “spirit alike”. Consequently, the translators are expected to make adaptation and modification in consideration of the acceptance of target receivers. Many translators found that the process of translating should involve two procedures: a faithful reproduction of formal source-text qualities in one situation and an adjustment to meet the needs of the target audience in another. They believed that it was more important to adjust to the needs and expectations of the target audience.

Skopostheory, which was developed by Hans J. Vermeer, is defined as the main principle of German functionalist translation theory. “Skopos” is from Greek, which means purpose. The skopos translation theorists took the process of translation as a communicative action, and they believe that the translation purpose justifies the translation process, i.e. the end justifies the means. (Lu and Zhao, 2011: 521)

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the implications of Skopostheory on Chinese and English advertisement translation. Specifically, the thesis will introduce three rules of Skopostheory which may give guidance for the translation practice. The features of Chinese and English advertisements will also be discussed in the thesis. The main argument of this thesis is the advertisement translation strategies based on Skopostheory.

2. Literature Review

The modern advertisement studies argue that the functions of advertisements include: provision of information, persuasion, maintenance of demand, creating mass markets and insuring the quality. In order to achieve these purposes, the language should be appellative. (Wang Le, 2009:117) In Wang Le’s paper Functionalist Approaches to Advertisement Translation, he concludes that the target text in advertisements should not only remain the original appellativeness of the source text but also adjust to the culture of the target language to make the translation acceptable to the target consumers. (Wang Le, 2009:117)

However, translation is a difficult task. The famous English scholar and poet Ivor Richard once said in his article Toward a Theory of Translating that translation was one of the most complicated activities in the evolution of the universe. (Richard, 1953:250)

As a break of the former translation theories, the German functionalist translation theory, with Katharnia Reiss, Hans J.Vermeer, Justa Holz-Manttari and Christiane Nord as representatives, had opened up a new perspective to translation studies and bridged the gap between theory and practice, just as the Nord said that the functionalist view of translation is intended to solve the eternal dilemmas of free vs. literal translation, adaptation vs. alienation, good interpreters vs. slavish translation and so on.(Lu and Zhao, 2011:521)

Vermeer developed Reiss’ idea with the proposal of the famous Skopostheory, which is defined as the main principle of German functionalist translation theory. In the framework of this theory, one of the most important factors determining the purpose of a translation is the addressee, who is the intended receiver or audience of the target text with their expectations, their cultural-specific word knowledge and their communicative needs. Every translation is directed at an intended audience, since to translate means ‘to produce a text in a target setting for a target purpose and target addressees in target circumstances’. (Vermeer, 1987:29)

It is generally agreed that translation behavior cannot be adequately explained within the framework of traditional theories and traditional principles of translation such as “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” which are no longer valid in expounding and guiding advertisement translation which is of a unique text. Skopostheory, which emphasizes the function of target texts, maintains that translation is a purposeful intercultural activity and that translation follows the skopos rule, the coherence rule and the fidelity rule. (Zhang Jinghua, 2003:64)

Christiane Nord summarizes three possible kinds of purpose in the field of translation: the general purpose aimed at by the translator in the translation process, the communicative purpose aimed at by the target text in the target situation and the purpose aimed at by a particular translation strategy or procedure. (Nord, 1997:315)

Translation activities are conscious behavior of human kind. In order to achieve the translation goal, the translator can use any strategies and methods. This is the essence of Skopostheory. (Li Kexing, 2010:34) In the second volume of Advertisement Translation: A Theoretical and Practical Approach by Li Kexing, he compared Skopostheory to other three principles: functional equivalence, communicative translation, and domestication or foreignization and he found that Skopostheory is the most appropriate principle in advertisement translation process.

Many scholars have made numerous researches on the advertisement translation. There are many helpful papers, articles and other resources, such as Function-oriented Approaches in Commercial Advertisement Translation by Lu Wang and Zhao Guodong, The Basic Strategies of Advertisement Translation by He En, Applications of Skopostheory in Advertisement Translation by Fang Weiwen, and On Translation of Advertisements from the Perspective of Culture by Zhan Jianhua and Dong Zhiyun.

After reading so many articles, the author has her own opinion. Advertisement translation is an intercultural activity which is targeted to the target language readers. The center of advertisement translation is to achieve the expected aim and functions of the source text. With the instruction of Skopostheory, the advertisement translation can operate from a whole view, with the target receivers as the most important factor. Only by this way can translator create a good advertisement vision.

3. Skopostheory

3.1 Definition

The famous ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle discovered that all human behavior has purposes, which means all human actions are pursuing some goal or result. But he pointed that the ultimate goal is to live. Correspondingly, the primary proposition of Skopostheory of the German functionalist translation theory is that all human conscious behavior has purposes. In order to achieve this goal, human can resort to every expedient. The founders of Skopostheory, Katharina Reiss and Hans J. Vermeer denoted that Skopostheory is a general translation theory which applies to all texts. Vermeer developed Reiss’ idea with the proposal of Skopostheory, which is defined as the main principle of the German functionalist translation theory.

“Skopos” is the Greek word which means the aim and was introduced into translation theory as a technical word for the purpose of a translation and of the action of translating. In the framework of this theory, one of the most important factors determining the purpose of a translation is the addressee, who is the intended receiver or audience of the target text with their cultural-specific word knowledge, their expectations and their communicative needs. Every translation is directed at an intended audience, since to translate means ‘to produce a text in a target setting for a target purpose and target addressees in target circumstances’. (Vermeer, 1987:29)

3.2 Three rules of Skopostheory

There are three rules in Skopostheory: the skopos rule, the coherence rule and the fidelity rule. The skopos rule is the core principle，the other two rules are subordinate to it.

The skopos rule means that a translational action is determined by its purpose, i.e. the end justifies the means. Vermeer once pointed that each text is produced for a given purpose and should serve this purpose. The skopos rule thus reads as follows: to translate in a way that enables your text/ translation to function in the situation in which it is used and with the people who want to use it and precisely in the way they want it to function.

The coherence rule is also called intratextual coherence. The target text should be meaningful and acceptable in a sense that it is coherent with the situation where it is received. The receiver should be able to understand the target text and it should make sense in the communicative situations and cultures in which it is received. More specifically, a translation should be acceptable in a sense that it is coherent with the receiver’s situation.

The fidelity rule is also known as intertextual coherence. It should exist between source and target text. The form it takes depends both on the translator’s interpretation of the source text and on the translation skopos.

4. Advertisement and Its Translation

4.1 Advertisement

“Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.” We can see from the definition that advertisements are practical texts with high commercial values. Its final purpose is to make the addressees (the consumers) accept the commodities or services advertised. The functions of advertisement include: provision of information, persuasion, maintenance of demand, creating mass markets and insuring the quality. So the target text in advertisements should not only remain the original appellativeness of the source text but also adjust to the culture of the target language to make the translation edition acceptable to the target language consumers. (Wang Le, 2009:117)

Compared to factual English advertisements 100 years ago, modern ones are full of hyperbolic words. Except for the personal pronouns (especially you), the most widely used words are various verbs following adjectives and adverbs. Among the adjectives, the descriptive ones are more frequently used. What’s more, the sentences of advertisements tend to be short and with strong tone, avoiding long and complicated sentences. There are some good examples as follows:

Ask for more! 渴望无限！(Persi-cola 百事可乐)

Anytime.随时随地，准时无误。(Global Express, Logistics amp; Mail TNT 快递服务)

We race, you win. 以实战经验，令你一路领先。(Ford 福特汽车)

4.2 Chinese and English Advertisement Translation

4.2.1 Cultural Factors in Chinese and English Advertisement Translation

Due to different cultures, different perspectives and ideas of Chinese and English people observing things and treating things, the translation might have contrary meanings. Translation is a sort of inter-culture and inter-language communication activity. American famous translation theorist Eugene A. Nida points out, “Translation consists in producing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent to the message of the source language, first in meaning, and secondly in style.” Here, the closest natural equivalent is constrained by cultural factors to a large extent.

1. The values

Every nation and every person will conform to some certain idea of value. People having different ideas of value will consider the same thing differently. The advertisements which are the transmission carriers of products information and cultural information, will surely integrate with ideas of value in a certain culture. And in the inter-cultural advertisement transmission, the factor which affects the influence of the advertisement greatly is the differences in ideas of value in different cultures because it will determine the attitudes, the moral principles and the psychological ideas. So once the advertisements convey the different ideas of value, they will be against with. The famous advertisement of NIKE ,“Just do it”(想做就去做) is famous and favored by the people in America . But the idea of value that it declares is not acceptable in Hong Kong and is lodged complaints over for a few times because it is thought to have lured the teenager to be irresponsible and to do something bad. And at last the Nike Company is forced to change this advertisement. (Zhan and Dong, 2010:120)

2. The language

Language is a part of the culture and the carrier of it as well. And every kind of language has its own conventional meaning according to its culture. Culture is the general environment of different activities in language. The culture which reflects the characteristics of a nation, not only includes the historical and cultural background but also imply the attitude of the nation of life, their way of thinking as well as their living style. Therefore, advertisements as a part of the language are reflected by culture. So when the translators are doing the translation, their understanding of the advertisements can not be delimited to the literal meaning of them. Instead, they must know the deeper meaning and try to understand the advertisements from the cultural angle. So it is difficult for the translators to do a good job when their work concerns the different cultures because what can be accepted or even valued sometimes can not be accepted in other cultures.

3. The customs

Every country has its own taboos. We cannot change the customs and the taboos that have come into being for thousands of years. What we must do is to comprehend them and to show our respect to them. Advertisements are influenced by different traditional customs greatly. So for cross-cultural advertisement transmission, we can make our advertisements fruitful only in the condition that we know and respect the local customs. To respect the local customs means that the advertisements can not offend the local taboos, otherwise some avoidable problems will be caused and sometime even the rejects. There is an example, the Chinese brand “玉兔”should not be translated into “Jade Rabbit”, but the“Moon Rabbit”. This translation reflects not only the ancient culture of our country, but also avoiding misunderstanding.

4.2.2 Comparison of Chinese and English Advertisement Translation

1. Quality

In order to illustrate the superior quality, Chinese advertisements usually list some certifications such as “awarded the superior quality produced by the provincial government and the Ministry concerned” or “awarded Gold Cup for quality”. The English advertisement focuses on the authority as well, but it pays more attention to the fact. The date is the most persuasive evidence. For example, “The results were both dramatic and conclusive and have now been published. The half who had rined with new formula Plax showed a 24% reduction in plaque overall. Those rinsing with the other liquid showed no reduction at all.” (Fang Weiwen, 2008:130)

1. Expression

Chinese advertisement usually comes straight to the point. The name of the enterprise or the product is usually indicated in the advertisement title.

家有三洋，冬暖夏凉。（三洋空调）

农夫山泉有点甜。（农夫山泉矿泉水）

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