论文总字数：37508字

摘 要

本文着重探讨商务英语广告翻译之中文化转向的原因以及相关策略，用以达成商务英语准确翻译并应用的效果。在文化转向的基础上，将商务英语广告翻译作为依据进行讨论，通过具体描述商务英语在日常的翻译应用过程中所运用的翻译策略及方式，来分析描述不同文化的不同差异，从中发现一条新的途径，从而使商务英语广告的翻译效果能得到显著提高，达到文化转向的最终目的。根据不同的文化差异来进行翻译，使商务英语得到重视并广泛应用。

关键词：商务英语；广告翻译；文化转向

Contents

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………1
2. Literature Review…………………………………………………………1
3. Business English Advertisement Translation……………………………..2
   1. Definition and function of advertisement English…………………………2

3.2 Language features of business English advertisement……………………..4

3.3 Theoretical basis on translation of business English advertisement……..4

4. Cultural Turn………………………………………………………………..8

4.1 Definition and development of cultural turn………………………………9

4.2 The guiding significance of cultural turn……………………………………9

4.3 Reasons for cultural turn in business English advertisement translation…10

5. Strategies of Translation Based on Cultural Turn……………………..12

5.1 Adjustment of the vocabularies……………………………………………12

5.2 Cultivation of cross-cultural awareness……………………………………13

5.3 Literal translation plus flexibility…………………………………………13

5.4 Adjustment of Paragraph…………………………………………………13

6. Conclusion………………………………………………………………14

Works Cited………………………………………………………………….15

1. Introduction

Nowadays, in the wake of the acceleration of globalization and the continuous development of the global economy, economic and cultural exchanges between different countries are increasing. English, as the official language of communication, each country makes much account of English study. Especially, as an important medium of economic and cultural exchanges, business English occupies an important position on the International arena. However, on account of the differences between Chinese and western cultures and the cultural backgrounds between disparate countries, people have diverse perceptions of the same thing. Therefore, cultural turn should be brought to the forefront in business English translation. It is not easy to avoid mistranslation in business English translation, but it is necessary to analyze mistranslation so as to make fewer mistakes. Based on the theories of relevant experts at home and abroad, this thesis analyzes that mistranslation occurs in business English translation due to cultural differences are not noticed. In this thesis, based on the theory of cultural turn to business English advertising translation to discuss the basis, by expounding the differences between diverse cultures, this thesis analyzes the translation strategies that should be applied to in translating business English. To explore a new way to focus on cultural differences in business translation, achieve cultural transformation and ultimately improve the effect of business English translation.

This thesis mainly analyzes and discusses the reasons and relevant strategies for cultural transformation in business English advertisement translation, so as to promote the accurate translation of business English.

2. Literature Review

In 1972, Hurbin published Can One Translate the Language of Advertising, the word “advertising translation” was first mentioned. The article appeared in the period that linguistic study of translation equivalence based on the social functions. Hurbin points that there are a number of translation for any original, translators decided the best-matched words according to the equivalence of glossary. In 1995, the publish of The Translation and Advertising Going Global means the study of advertising translation began to receive widespread attention and emphasis on cultural factors.

Since the mid-1980s, the research on advertising language has been scattered in some foreign language journals, but the research on advertising translation in China regularly started in the early 1990s. In the early stage, the thesis mainly discussed the translation of specific advertising terms and the problems existing in the English translation of Chinese advertisements. Since then, the research contents have been deepened and the principles and standards of advertising translation have been involved. Since the late 1990s, although the discussion on translation principles and standards has continued, researchers have attached increasing consideration to the difficulties in advertising translation, such as the treatment of rhetoric in advertisement, the reproduction of brand image, the transmission of emotional factors, etc. There are remaining some shortcomings in our researches: the theory of advertisement translation is not firmly set up, it’s not balanced between practice and theory; the research topic selection lacks innovation, the repetition phenomenon is commonly; advertisement translation teaching has not been attached attention to by most colleges and universities, not to mention the popularity. The research methods of advertising translation in China are mainly induction and exemplification. But recently, researchers have begun to analyze various problems in advertising translation based on the theoretical achievements of pragmatics and other related disciplines, and then put forward some translation strategies. It’s a welcome development. Since then, with the in-depth study of advertising translation, the principles and standards of advertising translation have been involved. It"s still a hot topic, and it"s still going on.

3. Business English Advertisement Translation

3.1 Definition and function of advertising English

There are many definitions of advertising. The advertisement mentioned in China’s advertisement law refers to the commercial advertisement that directly or indirectly introduces the service it sells through certain media and forms at the expense of the commodity operator or service provider. The American marketing association defines advertising as: “advertising is the introduction and promotion of an idea, product or service through various media by an identifiable advertiser on the basis of payment”. As the definition of profitable advertising, this interpretation is accepted by advertising practitioners in many countries. (Li 3) As an applied language, advertising English has been gradually separated from ordinary English and developed into a non-standardized special language due to its special effects. There are also much diversity between words and sentences and ordinary English.

The most classic and accepted principle of advertising creation is AIDMA and Communication spectra. AIDMA refers to everything from advertisements to Revelations about people’s buying behavior. It can be divided into five stages: attention, interest, desire, memory, action. A successful advertisement must be able to attract people’s attention, prompt them to have the desire to buy, leave a deep impression in their mind, and finally take the consumption action. Communication Spectra is that the propagation, like the spectrum, can be divided into several stages: awareness, comprehension, assurance, action, these are called communication spectra. The advertisement receivers see the advertisement, first know the advertiser or the commodity name, by the well-known to understand, by understanding to convince, convinced to buy action.

The influence of advertisement on modern society, economic life and people’s lifestyle cannot be ignored. In general, the social function of advertising is mainly embodied in the following four points:

1. to give information

Advertising can provide information about a product or service to audience. It is the most effective method to gain information. Meanwhile, people’s consumption idea and consumption behavior are influenced by the advertisements in a way.

1. to persuade consumer

Advertisements provide information for the ideal object is to guide and induce the consumer. The primary function of advertisement is to assist in the sale of goods. No matter what media you use, the primary purpose of advertisement is to transmit the information of commodities through advertising art, especially language art, so as to change consumers’ consumption psychology and make them willing to buy the advertised commodities.

1. to promote the desire

Advertising can stimulate the needs of the audience in the process of persuade, stimulate their desire to buy, so as to promote the improvement of the consumption level of the whole society.

1. To influence the culture

Advertising embodies people’s values and cultural traditions, but also affects and guides people’s behavior patterns. Advertising culture as a particular cultural phenomenon has quietly shaped.

3.2 Language features of business English advertisements

As a commercial language, business English advertisement has already formed to be a relatively independent and unique applied language which differs from common language. It is a kind of practical literary style with unique charm, using clear words to express complicated implications. When it comes to business English advertisement, words are concise and implicit. Simple and colloquial words are often used to achieve concise and vivid effects. For instance, first, widely used of spoken English. “Is your microwave cooking fast? You bet!” “You bet” is oral language with the meaning of certainty amount to “of course”, “surely”. Second, widely used of monosyllable; Advertisement of Nestle ice cream “Take time to indulge” uses the word “take”, full of vitality and warm feeling which make the consumers have the desire to buy the products.

3.3 Theoretical basis on translation of business English advertisements

Since the mid-1980s, the research on advertising language has been scattered in some foreign journals, but the domestic research started in the early 1990s. As far as research content is concerned, the early thesis mainly discusses the translation of specific advertising terms and the problems existing in the English translation of Chinese advertisements. In recent years, researchers have begun to analyze various problems in advertising translation by using the theoretical achievements of pragmatics and other related disciplines, and then some translation strategies are put forward. Since then, with the in-depth study of advertising translation, the essences and standards of the translation of advertisement have been involved. The principles and methods of advertising translation are remaining a popular topic, and the discussion is continuing.

3.3.1 Nida’s dynamic functional equivalence theory

In 1964, Nida published a book called TOWARD A SCIENCE OF TRANSLATING, which is regarded as a representative work of modern translation theory in the field of translation. Its main contribution is the theory of dynamic equivalence. The book says that “the relationship between the recipient and the translated information should be basically the same as that between the original recipient and the original information” (Nida 13). In addition, the principle of information theory is used to explain that the receiving channel of the target text recipient is different from that of the original text recipient. Words that along with the rules of the original language is difficult to be expressed through the translation. Even if they can be expressed, such a translation is actually unable or difficult to complete the task of information transmission.

The historical merit of the concept of dynamic equivalence is to provide a convincing answer to the dispute between literal translation and free translation, which has been at loggerhead among western translators for two thousand years. Literal translation embodies faithfulness, but concentrates on the equivalence of language manners, thus ignoring the effect in reality. Free translation prefers beauty, but focuses on the effect, ignoring equivalence. The concept of dynamic equivalence resolves this seemingly insoluble contradiction by focusing on the equivalence between two effects. Later, Nida changed “dynamic equivalence” to ‘functional equivalence, but he explained that there was no change in the actual concept, just to avoid misunderstanding caused by the word “Dynamic” (Li 29).

Functionalist translation theory overturns the core and authoritative status of the original text, and advocates that the expected purpose or function of the target text resolves the entire translation process, containing the selection of translation strategies and methods, that is, “the end justifies the means”. The elementary principle of advertisement is to persuade the potential consumers to buy the goods or to take in the ideas, values and lifestyles concerned with it. The ultimate purpose of advertising is to promote sales. Therefore, only when the target audience fully understands and widely accepts the translation of advertising, its intended purpose or function can be fully realized. Therefore, advertising translation should adopt the target language-culture-oriented translation strategy and flexibly use various possible translation methods (including transliteration, literal translation, free translation, adjustment, rewriting, etc.) and text processing methods to maximize the realization of advertising and achieve the purpose of persuading consumers to implement the purchase behavior. This kind of translation strategy and method which focus on the communicative function of the target text in the target culture to the maximum extent is called functional strategy and method. This translation strategy and method is applicable to the translation of all components of a complete advertising text, including trademarks, advertising slogans and advertising texts.

The trademark is the commodity identification mark, is one of the propagandistic means which the producer sells the commodity. The translation of trademark names occupies an essential role in opening up the international market for commodities. Trademarks should have the following characteristics: first, consistent with the characteristics of the goods; second, can arouse people’s good association; third, short, eye-catching, and easier to read and remember. The special function and communicative purpose of trademark in the target culture decide that the translation of trademark should be oriented towards the target language culture, flexible use of English translation, literal translation, free translation, adjustment, imitation rewriting and other translation methods to adapt to the characteristics of the trademark itself, so as to maximize the development of new markets. Transliteration and literal translation are common and effective translation methods in trademark translation, such as the brand “Ford” is translated into “FuTe” in Chinese pinyin, the brand “LianXiang” is translated into “Legend” in English. This is the ideal state in translation, in many cases, due to the diversity between language and culture, complete transliteration or literal translation often causes the target audience’s confusion and deviation in understanding, and even conflicts with the cultural and social language conventions of the target audience. In this case, the translator must adjust or create appropriately and skillfully so as to maximize the expected persuasive function of the trademark.

Similarly, advertising slogan is an indispensable part of advertising, which plays an important role in promoting products, increasing popularity and establishing product image. The slogan should be concise, clear, lightly to remember, vivid and persuasive (Fan 279). Therefore, when translating advertising slogans, translators should fully consider the characteristics of the target language and culture so as to maximize the persuasive function of advertising in the target culture. For example:

Original text: Connecting people! (Nokia)

Translated text: Nokia, technology is people-oriented.

In the above example, it is difficult to discover the similarities between the original text and the translation. If the original text is literally translated, it can be translated into English “Nokia, connecting people!” Obviously, the translation lacks strength and intimacy. And the translation “Nokia, technology is people-oriented” gives up the original meaning and creates a new slogan in the target language. Even by the standard of traditional fidelity, such a translation may not be a good one at all. However, from the perspective of functionalism, this translation is undoubtedly very successful: it emphasizes Nokia’s humanism and high-tech content.

3.3.2 German functionalist translation theory

Functionalist translation theory was born in Germany in the 1970s, and its main advocates were K.Reiss, H.J.Vermeer, J.H.Mattarri, C.Nord, etc. Be a major breakthrough in traditional equivalence theory and a frequent supplement to translation theory. Functionalism initiates a bran-new chapter for the future research of translation.

The three core contents of functionalist translation theory are: the definition of translation and the explanation of its nature; analysis of the character of various participants during the course of translation; translation principles proposed by functionalists. These three meanings summarize the understanding of the essence of functional party translation, which can also be regarded as the interpretation of the translation nature: purposeful, communicative, human-oriented, and text processing.

Based on the above, a good translation should be able to achieve what is needed in the source language in a completely new language. The translator’s job is to enhance the communication of information, transform one language into another language form, and create an equivalent reception response of the audience. According to this criterion, a translated work can be regarded as a good translation if it meets the following requirements: it make sense; it can release the method and sprit of the original language; it has a natural ease of expression; It can produce the corresponding effect and make the translation have enough reasons to solve the conflict between form and content. Since advertising is a special kind of text, in order to achieve its special purpose, the main standard to measure the quality of advertising translation is to see whether it can produce the same reaction and effect among the target language audience, so that achieve the purpose of advertising translation, and finally make the target language audience get the same or better response as the target language audience. Such as:

Original text: Behind that healthy smile, there’s a Crestkid. (Crest toothpaste)

Translated text: A healthy smile comes from crest. (Crest toothpaste)

The expression of this translation conforms to the Chinese custom, smooth and natural, caters to the Chinese people’s psychology, and well conveys the spirit of the original. This kind of translation is to operate the common function in the audience as the original text in its cultural context, instead of translating according to the specific content of the original text, ignoring the form and emphasizing the equivalence effect.

Another successful example is car advertising “For the Road Ahead (Honda)” which is translated into “Broad Road” in Chinese. The translator adopts dynamic equivalence, which can well solve the translation difficulties caused by cross-cultural factors in translation.

All the successful examples above show that dynamic equivalence can be used as a guiding principle and method in advertising translation. Dynamic equivalence theory enables translators to translate flexibly under the guidance of certain principles. The advertising translation advocated by the dynamic equivalence theory does not require the translator to achieve the semantic, structural, social and cultural integrity of the original text, but only to achieve dynamic effect equivalence, that is, to make the audience receive and respond to the work equally or approximately.

4. Cultural Turn

4.1 Definition and development of cultural turn

Cultural turn is an important component of cultural criticism, originated from the rise of deconstruction, mainly based on the interpretation of philosophy. As increasing attention is attached to translation, the restriction of culture on translation and the phenomenon of cultural transformation are becoming more and more prominent. Therefore, people start to examine translation learning from the perspective of culture and promote the occurrence of “cultural transformation”. Specifically, cultural turn mainly refers to paying attention to the background of culture during the course of translation, and equivalent conversion of the original text and the target according to the characteristics of the communication and dissemination of different cultures, so as to reflect the ultimate purpose of translation.

In 1990, two translation scholars, Susan Bussnate and Andre Lefevere, announced that a cultural turn in translation studies was coming out. They demonstrate that culture is the center, neither the words nor texts. It means the center has been changed. The perspective of translation begins in the aspect of culture. They emphasize the status of culture in translation and the significance of translation to culture. Cultural turn brings translation to a broader and newer level, translation scholars and translators not only pay attention to the differences of words, but only emphasize cultural hints, language habits, format standards, religious and so on.

Translation scholars and translators not only pay attention to the differences of words, but only emphasize religions format standards, cultural hints, social customs, etc. Business activities are a process of translation, and cultural orientation should be noticed in business English translation. Cultural studies is inevitable in translation, with the development of globalization, the communication, in different areas such as business and education is more and more frequent between different countries, cultural conversion, directly or indirectly in the form of etiquette and so on, in the field of translation, more and more research on the cultural value, business English translation, also is a kind of cultural turn, so also should pay attention to the cultural factors.

4.2 The guiding significance of cultural turn

Cultural translation theory holds that the basic unit of translation is not words, phrases, sentences or texts, but culture. Translation is rewriting. (Zeng 178) Cultural turn emphasizes the translator’s mind but the author’s. During the translation, translators own more independent innovation that based on the cultural backgrounds served to translate to the target language. Cultural turn advocates the use of foreignization, domestication and other translation strategies to deal with the weakening and strengthening of cultural inequality of communication. Cultural turn with the theory of contemporary culture to investigation, analysis and new description of translation, with the case study to test their theory, from the cultural to the overall thinking of translation, it attaches more eyes to translation and the translation of social politics, culture and ideology, etc. More attention is put to the great influence and role of translation as a kind of cross-cultural behavior on the society of translation.

4.3 Reasons for cultural turn in business English advertisement translation

The main reasons for the cultural turn in business English translation can be attributed to the differences between Chinese and English cultures, which can be explored and studied from the following perspectives.

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