翻譯目的論角度下的廣告翻譯研究

摘 要：廣告是商家促銷的主要手段之一，但由于廣告往往與文化背景密切相關，因此翻譯起來難度很大。在本文中，筆者嘗試從翻譯目的論角度，通過具體廣告翻譯實例，探討廣告翻譯的策略。

關鍵詞：廣告翻譯、翻譯目的論、翻譯原則、翻譯策略

項目來源：本文為渭南師范學院院級重點科研項目（12YKS001）階段性研究成果

[中圖分類號]：H315.9 [文獻標識碼]：A

[文章編號]：1002-2139(2012)-03-0162-02

I. Introduction

With China’s foreign trade development， more and more Chinese products and services enter the international market， on the contrary， a great many of foreign products and services flow over into Chinese market. Advertising， always around us， is the main way to solve the problem. However， concepts and ideas in advertising are often embedded in the culture in which they originate， according to Clifford Geertz (1973:44). Therefore advertising translation should be guided by a new proper translation theory which could fulfill culture translation or culture conversion. Skopostheorie， put forward by Hans J. Vermeer in the 1970s， provides theory support， which consists of Skopos rule， coherence rule and fidelity rule.

II. Information about Advertising

The word “advertising” derives from Latin word “advertere” which means “a means draws people’s attention to something and induces people towards a particular direction” (Yao Xi， 2002:2). American Marketing Association (AMA) defines advertising as 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.

Advertising is considered as sub-literary genre. Advertising and literature both have similarity and difference. The similarity between advertising and literature is that they both emphasize artistic quality; while the difference is that advertising is more informative， expressive and persuasive. How to choose a proper translation theory to guide advertising translation is very important. Skopostheorie provides theory support.

III. General Introduction to Skopostheorie

Functional approaches to translation didn’t appear overnight， but was created and developed by a group of German scholars in 1970s. Katharina Reiss put forward functional category of translation criticism， Hans J. Vermeer researched on Skopostheorie and beyond， Justa Holz-Ma¨ntta¨ri concentrated on the theory of translation action， and Christiane Nord contributed to function plus loyalty.

Among these milestones， Skopostheorie is the core of Functional approaches to translation， which applies the notion of Skopos， a Greek word for “purpose” to translation， put forward by Hans J. Vermeer in the 1970s as a technical term for the purpose of a translation and of the action of translating.

In terms of Skopostheorie， three rules need to be explained—Skopos rule， coherence rule and fidelity rule. Skopos rule， the top-ranking rule for translation， says that overall translational action is determined by its Skopos， in other words， “the end justifies the means” (Reiss and Vermeer 1984:101). In Vermeer’s terms， the target text should conform to another important rule of Skopostheorie， the “coherence rule”， which is also known as “intratextual coherence”. It specifies that a translation should be acceptable in a sense that it is coherent with the receivers’ situation (Reiss and Vermeer 1984:114). Skopostheorie thinks that it is necessary to build a relationship between source and target text. The relationship is called “fidelity rule” or “intertextual coherence”. Fidelity rule is considered subordinate to coherence rule， and both are subordinate to the Skopos rule.

IV. Suggested Strategies for Advertising Translation from the Perspective of Skopostheorie

Advertising translation is not only constrained by the language level， it also related to the differences in religion， culture， tradition， and ways of thinking and so on. A large number of adverting translations， guided by traditional translation theories， either is obscure for foreign receivers to understand or weakening the advertising effects.

Literal translation， or direct translation， is the rendering of text from one language to another \"word-for-word\" rather than conveying the sense of the original. This translation method requires translators just to focus on factual information about the product or service. For example:

To me， the past is black and white， but the future is always so lour. (Hennessy) (Wang Shanshan， 2006:85)

對我而言，過去平淡無奇；而未來，卻多姿多彩。（軒尼詩酒）

Impossible is nothing! (http://www.adidas.com/cn/homepage.asp)

沒有什么不可能?。ò⒌线_斯）

The advertisements above are full of factual information about the company and its products， but not cultural difference. Considering Skopos rule， what the translator needs to do is to express these factual information in target language. Literal translation also includes transliteration. For example:

Coca Cola (Zhao Yongmei， 2010:90)

可口可樂

However the applicability of literal translation is very narrow in modern society. In some advertisements， literal translation method is not efficient. For example:

The offspring of spring. (Wei Yanzeng， Zheng Heming， 2007:75)

春天、泉水（皮瑞爾礦泉水）

According to the standard of “faithfulness， expressiveness， elegance”， the most loyal translation should be: 春天的后代. This translation version is possibly to mislead the foreign receivers， not mention to purchase the product. Therefore， other translation methods are needed.

Skopostheorie emphasizes the communicative purpose aimed at by the target-text in the target situation， and a successful advertisement in one nation without any adjustment is very likely to fail to perform its function in another nation. On this occasion adjustment translation is obviously necessary based on the exploration for the foreign receivers’ cultural background. For examples:

Audi Advancement through technology. (Zhao Yongmei， 2010:90)

突破科技，啟迪未來。（奧迪汽車）

The advertisements above both add extra but necessary information in their translation versions in order to satisfy Chinese receivers’ linguistic custom that is to use four-word-structure sentences and antithetical parallelism， and vice versa.

Parody translation is also known as simulation translation， which requires translators to simulate the existing phrases or expressions to create new expressions in target language to arouse strong reaction in foreign receivers. For example:

Where there is a way for car there is a Toyota. (Zhao Yongmei， 2010:90)

車到山前必有路，有路必有豐田車。

This advertisement is created by simulating a famous proverb in English that is “where there is a will， there is a way”. The English receivers are very easy to have a kind of sense of identity. There is a famous proverb in Chinese that is “車到山前必有路，船到橋頭自然直”， which is helpful to create a vivid image of cars for Chinese receivers.

V. Conclusion

As an effective marketing tool， advertising plays increasingly important role in modern society， therefore， advertising translation is the bridge between merchants and consumers as well as one nation and another. Lots of adverting examples prove that the traditional translation principles such as “faithfulness， expressiveness， elegance” are not enough to guide all advertising translations. Skopostheorie emphasizes the communicative purpose aimed at by the target-text in the target situation. According to Skopostheorie and characteristics of advertisements， it is necessary to follow three suggested strategies for advertising translation based on the analysis of ad translation examples.

References:

[1]、Geertz， Clifford (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures， New York: Basic Books.

[2]、Nord， Christiane (2001) Translating as a Purposeful Activity: Functionalist App roaches Explained [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press， pp.10， 27， 31-33.

[3]、姚曦：《廣告概論》，武漢：武漢大學出版社，2002。

[4]、張景華：“廣告翻譯的目的論”，《湘潭工業(yè)學院學報》，2003（3）。

[5]、王珊珊：“目的論指導下的廣告翻譯”，《鄭州航空工業(yè)管理學院學報》，2006（6）。

[6]、韋艷贈，鄭和明：“從翻譯目的論的視角分析英漢廣告的翻譯”，《時代人物》，2007（12）。

[7]、趙永梅：“目的論指導下的廣告翻譯”，《語文學刊》，2010（10）。

[8]、賈文波：《應用翻譯功能論》，北京：中國對外翻譯出版公司，2004。

[9]、張馨月：“從目的論的角度看廣告翻譯”，《科技信息》，2011（19）。http://www.google.com.tw/url?q=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertisingsa=Uei=r_LETs32GaqZiQef3o3vDQved=0CBYQFjAAusg=AFQjCNFK7Hu5wsYdW9WCiGrbWhxusKjrPg

http://www.adidas.com/cn/homepage.asp