On vague language and its translation in cosmetic advertisements from the perspective of functional equivalence theory 从功能对等理论看化妆品广告中的模糊语言及其翻译 Introduction 1.1 Research background In human language, the concepts expressed by many words are not precisely defined, which is closely related to the ambiguity of many things in nature. Taking time and space as an example, Hawkes used to say: "Space and time are in fact a continuum, there is no fixed immutable boundary or division, and each language divides time and space according to its own special structure." (Hawkes, 1977: 31) Space and time are objective existences that are not transferred by human will. Although people's understanding in the process of understanding the world and transforming the world is deepening, due to the fuzziness of this concept of the objective world, the fuzziness of human language is also inevitable. Because everything that exists objectively is in motion, it is difficult for people to give precise definitions of things that are unclear or transitional in the objective world. It is the ambiguity inherent in objective things that directly leads to the emergence of vague language. The ambiguity arises from the process of people's cognition and communication. Faced with the inconsistency of the objective things and the inconsistencies in the senses, people have to use abstract generalization or vague language to express the maximum amount of linguistic information with fewer language units, which is also in line with the economic limitations of language. In addition, in the real communication process, the interpretation of a sentence depends to a large extent on the context, and the psychological factors such as the personal character of the communicator also influence the semantic interpretation. Therefore, when people use language as a communication tool, the ambiguity of language is indispensable. In social communication, people use vague language sometimes for the flexibility of communication, and maintain a good social relationship with a special social purpose, which is particularly evident in the vague euphemism. In order to make the conversion between the source language and the target language have a standard and reduce the difference, Eugene A.Nida proposed a famous"dynamic equivalence"translation theory from the perspective of linguistics, according to the nature of translation. That is, "functional equivalence." In this theory, he points out that "translation is the reproduction of the source language from semantics to stylistics in the most appropriate, natural and equivalent language"(Guo Jianzhong ,2000, P65). Nida's definition of translation indicates that translation is not only the equivalent of lexical meaning but also the equivalence of semantics, style and style. The information conveyed by the translation has both surface vocabulary information and deep cultural information. The equivalence in"dynamic equivalence"includes four aspects:1.lexical equivalence, 2.syntactic equivalence, 3.chapter equivalence, 4.stylistic equivalence. In these four aspects, Nida believes that”meaning is the most important and form is second”(Guo Jianzhong, 2000, P67). Forms are likely to hide the cultural meaning of the source language and hinder cultural exchanges. Therefore, in literary translation, according to Nida's theory, the translator should accurately reproduce the cultural connotation of the source language in the target language by using the four aspects of dynamic equivalence as the principle of translation. In recent years, with the improvement of people's living standards and people#8217;s awareness of becoming beautiful, cosmetics have become an indispensable part in our daily life. Many cosmetic companies have noticed the development trend of cosmetics, thus investing a lot of time and money to advertise their cosmetics on various platforms. Besides, a variety of studies show that foreign cosmetics are more favored by Chinese consumers. In today#8217;s society, vague language is widely uses in various fields, which is also used by large amount in advertising activities to reach the goal of delivering information of products, attracting consumers, promoting products and enhancing image of enterprises. Faced with the cultural differences behind two languages, translation of cosmetic advertisements is not only important but also difficult. 1.2 Research purpose This paper combines Nida's functional equivalence theory to analyze the translation of vague language in cosmetic advertising. The purposes of this research include three levels. First, the most simple and direct, is to show the advantages of vague language in cosmetic advertisements through concrete examples. Second, the purpose is to investigate the translation of vague language in cosmetic advertisements through specific examples and put forward some strategies of vague language translation in cosmetic advertisements. The last is to illustrate that it is feasible to apply functional equivalence theory to vague language translation in cosmetic advertisements in certain circumstances. 1.3 Significance and value of research The application of vague language is an art in cosmetic advertising. Because vague language has the characteristics of vividness, as well as the features of implicit euphemism, suggestiveness and flexibility, vague language is widely used in cosmetic advertising. Using vague language properly can make a deep impression on consumers and increase the effectiveness and intensity of publicity. The research on the application of vague language not only describes the vagueness of language in various fields, but also summarizes the rules of vague language. This is also the development trend of fuzziness research in vague language. Last but not least, Nida's functional equivalence theory plays a very important role in the translation of cosmetics. From the perspective of sociolinguistics and language communication functions, Nida believes that translation must be the central object of the reader. To judge whether a translation is correct or not, it must be measured by the reader's reaction. If the response of the target reader is basically equivalent to the response of the original reader to the original, the translation can be considered successful. Advertising is the direct communication between the original text creator and the target reader. A successful advertisement has the following characteristics: it can attract the attention of the reader, evoke the reader's interest, stimulate the reader's desire, and let the reader remember the product and promote the reader's action to purchase the product. Because advertising has these characteristics, in the translation of advertisements, the original text is only a source of information about the product. The translator should focus on the reader's reaction on the basis of grasping the main information of the product, because creating an easy-to-read, and easy-to-remember advertisement is more important than a faithful and elegant translation. Functional equivalence theory coincides with the purpose of advertising, which is the focus of this article. Literature Review 2.1 Previous studies of vague language at home and abroad For a long time, vague language has not received much attention. Until 1965, L. A. Zadeh, a motor engineering cybernetic expert at the University of California, Berkeley, published a paper ”Vague Sets” in the journal Information and Control. The concept of "Vague Set" was first proposed, which marked the birth of vague theory. The creation of a new type of scientific thinking method has caused the general attention of the linguistic community to vague language, and vague linguistics has emerged. Chad pointed out more deeply about the nature of vague language: ”Most of the perceptual process and the thinking process of human beings are immersed in ambiguity. Language description is vague in its essence, because this description is usually a summary of complex situations.” Max Black believed that ”the ambiguity of a word is expressed in that it has a limited area of application, but the boundaries of this area are not clear.” Lakoff interpreted hedges, which are an important part of vague language, as ”words that make things vaguea”, the most common and typical vague language in language. These explanations of the definition of linguistic ambiguity, the benevolent sees benevolence, the wise sees wisdom. But no matter what circumstance it is, people have had a general understanding and understanding of the formation of vague language through these definitions. Chad pointed out more deeply about the nature of vague language: ”Most of the perceptual process and the thinking process of human beings are immersed in ambiguity. Language description is vague in its essence, because this description is usually a summary of complex situations.” In China, in 1979, Professor Wu Tieping from Beijing Normal University published a paper on ”vague Language” in the fourth issue of Foreign Languages in 1979. This was the first paper in China to use vague theory to study language ambiguity, marking the birth of vague language in China. Nowadays, the definition of ambiguity is ”the ambiguity of people's understanding of the boundary or nature of things, and also the nature of each other, that is, the inter-transitional nature.”(Li Qiang 2006: 37) In his ”Idioms of Chinese Ambiguity”, Mr. Zhao Yuanren pointed out, ” he boundary condition of a certain symbolic object is unclear, so it is vague. For example, ”brown#8217; and ”chair#8217; are highly ambiguous words. And the word ”vague#8217; is pointed out. It is quite vague in itself.” (Li Qiang 2007: 11) Nowadays, the definition of ambiguity is ”the ambiguity of people's understanding of the boundary or nature of things, and also the nature of each other, that is, the inter-transitional nature.”(Li Qiang 2006: 37) That is to say, a word has both the characteristics of this attribute and the characteristics of another attribute, between the two attributes. 2.2 Previous studies of translation strategies of vague language Obviously, translation strategy must be analyzed in many studies of vague language translation. Yu Fubin (2000) concentrated on the discussion of the relationship between vagueness and translation, namely, from vituality to reality, from reality to virtuality and from virtuality to virtuality, aiming to explore the possibility of translation theory that helps to discuss literal translation and free translation. The study of Zhang Jinlan (2004) shows that in order to effectively achieve the translation purpose, the translator should select the appropriate translation strategies according to functions expected in different texts and decide the strategies on the basis of the needs of the readers, such as literal or free translation, even delete and rewrite. Wang Xinjie (2005) put forward two translation methods of vague language. One is to pay attention to the differences of thinking mode between Chinese and Westerners. The other one is to follow your heart but don#8217;t break the rules, which means that attention should be paid to the cultural connotation contained in a language by the translator. Based on the features of vague language and the analysis of English advertisements, Sun Ran (2010) proposed some translation strategies, including from vagueness to vagueness, from accuracy to vagueness, variation and corresponding translation. Works Cited [1]Achilles C Varzi, Vagueness. Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, 2003. [2]Bovee, C.L＆Arms, W.F. Contemporary Advertising. Illinois: Irwin, 1986. [3]Channell, J. Vague Language. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2000. [4]Geis-G, Advertising Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982 [5]Newmark, P. Approaches to Translation. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2011 [6]Nida, E.A. Language and Culture: Contexts in Translating. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2001 [7]陈鸿雁. 英语化妆品广告的语言特点[J].科技致富向导, 2011(6):46 [8]黄晓. 浅析化妆品商标名的翻译策略[J].西南民族大学学报, 2011. [9]华英. 《广告英语教程》. 北京: 经济管理出版, 2002 [10]诸葛巧媛. 化妆品商标的翻译原则及方法[J].安徽文学, 2008. Outline 1.Introduction 1.1 Background of the research 1.2 Research purpose 1.3 Organization of the research 2. Literature review 2.1 Overview of vague language 2.2 Previous studies of vague language at home and abroad 2.3 Previous studies of translation strategies of vague language 3. Vague language in cosmetic advertisements 3.1 The characteristics of vague language in cosmetic advertisements 3.2 The special functions of vague language in cosmetic advertisements 4. The translation of vague language in cosmetic advertisements based on functional equivalence theory 4.1 Introduction of functional equivalence theory 4.2 Examples of vague language translation in cosmetic advertisements 4.3 Strategies of vague language translation in cosmetic advertisements 5. Conclusion 6. Reference