[收稿日期]2009年9月8日
[作者簡介]李姬巍(1981~ ):男,空軍航空大學外語教研室助教。研究方向:英語語言學及英語教學法。張靜(1975~ ):女,空軍航空大學外語教研室助教,碩士。研究方向:英語教學法及翻譯理論與實踐。
[摘 要]Advertisements and slogans are very special language,with some common characteristics.The language of the advertisement also has some vivid features in form:neat writing,rhyming style,and so they make a great coup and find everything new and fresh.The author thinks lexical choice of the advertisement is the key to successful advertisements and their translation.In the process of translation,only when the linguistic characteristics are grasped,can the target text attain the purpose of the publicity.
[關鍵詞]advertising translation Lexical Features of the advertisement
[中圖分類號]H059 [文獻標識碼]A [文章編號]1009-5489(2009)11-0112-02
As an idiom says:\"a word is equal to a thousand pieces of gold\".The language of the advertisements is the conciser the better.The function of advertisements is publicity and the aim is to achieve certain economic effect.It not only introduces the products accurately but also saves spaces and time.So the words used in the advertisement need to be deliberated elaborately.Generally speaking,the words of advertisements have two main features.
Ⅰ.Using simple spoken language
The function of the advertisement is publicity,to convey the information of the products to consumers as soon as possible.To attain popularity and understandability,using spoken language,even some irregular idioms,is an effective way.Because spoken language that comes from the masses is memorable and active.
For example:My Goodness! My Guinness!
It is an advertisement of beer,which was written by simple spoken language.\"My Goodness\"is often used to expresses surprise.The structure of\"My Guinness\"is the same as that of\"My Goodness\".The whole advertisement is concise and attractive.It can stir up the imagination of the readers.
Ⅱ.Using a large number of verbs,adjectives,abbreviations,etc
The language of the advertisements should be concise and vivid.Therefore,a flood of adjectives and some particular verbs frequently occur,which make advertisements attractive; Abbreviations can make advertisements more concise.
Ⅲ.Lexical translation
1.The choice of the word
Advertisements should be concise and active in linguistic,clear at a glance in content.Therefore,in the process of the advertising translation,some verbs of monosyllable should be frequently used.Such as make,get,take,taste,help,save,bring,call,let,like,love,etc.
The final goal of the advertisement is to persuade readers into purchasing products.But in the process of the advertising translation,“買”can not be simply translated into\"buy\",because\"buy\"means\"obtain something by giving money\"that is an unpleasant associative meaning.So translators always try their best to avoid using\"buy\".They use some other words to express the meaning of\"buy\".\"Buy something\"is replaced by\"make something\",\"give you something\",\"serve something\",and\"let something solve your problem\"...These expressions can not only convey the same meaning as\"buy\"but also avoid unpleasant associative meanings.
About the choice of adjectives in the process of the advertising translation,according to the statistics of an English linguist G.H.Leech,\"new\"that is the most frequently used adjective can be used in many aspects.It can modify size,shape,surface and structure of the products.Additionally,in recent years,people pay much more attention to the health day-by-day,so\"natural\"frequently emerges in the advertisements of the food.
Because of particular characteristics of the words used in advertisements,translators should pay more attention to the choice of the word in the process of the advertising translation,especially some trademarks in advertisements.About trademark translation,translators usually use transliteration and free translation,but sometimes these two basic methods can't convey the information of the original advertisements accurately.At this time we can adopt another method-combination of transliteration and free translation.
2.Combination of transliteration and free translation
The trademark is of vital importance to a company or corporation,and to some extent,it represents the image of the enterprise itself.Therefore,the translation of a trademark in the translation of the advertisements is a very serious job,which allows no arbitrary assumption.The designer of a trademark would have spared no effort to achieve the best effect.And so should a translator.Transliteration is usually the most common method to translate trademarks,for instance,Coca-Cola 可口可樂、Canon 佳能、Xerox 施樂、Sharp 夏普、Sony 索尼、Lucky 樂凱,etc.But sometimes transliteration isn't effective.Thus the translators adopt combination of transliteration and free translation.Combination of transliteration and free translation is a translation method concerning both the pronunciation and the meanings of trademarks in the process of translation,when simplex transliteration or simplex free translation can't convey the information of the original text accurately.It suits the translation of trademarks in advertisements.
For example:(An advertisement of a florist shop)
Original text:Flowers by Interflora speak from the heart.
It was translated into“艷特總匯之鮮花—發自內心的表達”。In the target text,“艷特總匯”belongs to combination of transliteration and free translation,“艷特”is transliteration,“總匯”is free translation.Interflora,which is a concoctive word consisting of two parts.One is\"inter\"which is a prefix,the other is\"flora\"which means a group of vegetation in a certain place or period.As a name of a florist shop,interflora is a most suitable one.According to the pronunciation of\"inter\",the translator cannily translate it into“艷特”which shows the features of flowers at the same time.“總匯”comes from the meaning of flora which means\"get together\".
There are some other examples,such as“珞珈山”was translated into\"Lucky Hill\",“美通”was translated into\"Bestone\".They are perfect combination of transliteration and free translation.
In the process of the advertising translation,lexical choice is a very important part especially the choice of the words of trademarks.It is the first step of the advertising translation.Lexical choice is the basis of the success of the advertising translation.
[參考文獻]
[1]William wells,Advertising Principles and Practice,New Jersey Prentice-Hall,1995.
[2]曹順發:《廣告用語的翻譯》,《中國科技翻譯》2002年第15卷第1期。
[3]丁衡祁:《翻譯廣告文字的立體思維》,《中國翻譯》2004年第25卷第1期。
[4]劉法公:《論廣告詞的漢英翻譯原則》,《外語與外語教學》1999年第3期。