Abstract:The globalization of world economy makes English advertising and its translation more significant. English Advertising is exerting great influence on every aspect of social life, and the main function and ultimate purpose of advertisements is to promote sales. A good advertisement is undoubtedly successful in source language and culture background. However, the translated advertisement may not be successful in the target language and may sometimes cause misunderstandings. As a special-purposed style, advertising discourse has its distinctive features. Advertising translation not only deals with languages, but also cultures. In English advertising translation, the linguistic and cultural features of the target language have to be observed carefully in order to cater to the customer’s cultural features and expectations. And there should be a set of principles, standards and strategies for its translation.
Thus, this thesis attempts to combine all these relevant factors to make a comparatively comprehensive and systematic study of English advertising and its Chinese translation. It starts from the significance, goal and literature review of the present study. Then the basic knowledge about advertising is followed. The unique linguistic features of English advertising language at level of lexis, syntax and rhetoric will be analyzed. In addition, sociological features, such as cultural background and standardization of language are included. The principal parts of the thesis, namely the focus of research, will propose the basic requirements and principles of English advertising translation. The most frequently used techniques of English advertising translation are clearly presented by means of detailed analysis and comments.
Key Words: English advertising; characteristic; function; Chinese translation; strategy
中文摘要:世界经济全球化使广告和广告翻译显得越来越重要，广告以其独特的魅力影响着社会生活的方方面面，广告的主要功能和最终目的就是使消费者接受并购买它所宣传的商品和服务。一则优秀的广告在原语言和文化背景中是成功的，然而，翻译成目的语后则未必可行，其效果可能与翻译初衷相差甚远，如果翻译不当，甚至让人产生误解。广告语作为一种特殊的有专门用途的语言，有其独特的文体特征。广告翻译不仅仅是语言翻译，还包含着文化信息的转换。在广告翻译过程中，译者必须考虑到目的语的语言和文化特色，努力使译语符合消费者的文化特征和认知习惯。因此，广告翻译应该有自己的一套原则，标准和策略。
为此，本文试图把这些因素结合起来考虑，对英语广告及其翻译进行较为综合、系统的分析研究。本文从英语广告特色分析及翻译的研究意义、现状和目的入手，然后介绍了广告的基本知识。接着从词汇、句法、修辞等层次对英语广告的语言特色进行分析；此外，文化背景等社会性特征也涵盖其中。在文章的主体部分，也是研究的重点，从英语广告翻译的要求、基本原则等方面来考虑翻译的策略，通过具体的英语广告实例以及其翻译的详细评述，清晰地展示了广告语汉译的翻译策略。
关键词：英语广告；特点；功能；汉译；策略
