文化差异对商业广告翻译的影响_英语论文

The Influence of Cultural Differences on Commercial Advertisement Translation   

摘要

经济全球化的发展使得商业广告的翻译日益重要。而跨文化因素在商业广告传播中扮演着关键的角色，它对商业广告的翻译有重要的影响。商务广告翻译人员若是不熟悉英汉语言文化差异，很难针对不同目标群体翻译出吸引对方的广告词，从而降低广告效用。本文基于霍夫斯泰德的跨文化维度理论（Hofstede, 2005），从权利距离、个人导向/集体导向、男性度/女性度、不确定性规避以及长期/短期观念五个方面来分析商业广告的文化差异，以上几个维度对商业广告的翻译都有着重要的影响，为减少和避免这种影响，本文提出了意译、音译和增译几种具体翻译方法。

关键词：商业广告； 文化差异； 商业广告翻译

Abstract

The development of economic globalization makes the translation of commercial advertisements become more and more significant. Cultural differences between China and America have an important impact on the translation of commercial advertisement. If the interpreter of the commercial advertisement is not familiar with the cultural differences between English and Chinese, the translation of advertisement can’t be approved by the target customers. Based on Hofstede's cross-cultural dimension theory（Hofstede, 2005）, this paper is mainly about the cross-cultural differences in commercial advertisement regarding the following five aspects: power distance, individual / collective orientation, masculinity / femininity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term oriented/Short-term oriented, contributing to their impact on commercial advertisement translation. The paper also discusses some translation strategies including liberal translation,transliteration and amplification for the smooth entry of goods into foreign markets and the recognition of potential customers in new markets.

Keywords: commercial advertisement; cultural differences; commercial advertisement translation

Contents

Acknowledgements ⅰ

Abstract & Key words in English ⅱ

Abstract & Key words in Chinese ⅲ

Introduction 1

1. Overview of commercial advertisement 1

1.1 Definition of commercial advertisement 1

1.2 Functions of commercial advertisement 2

1.3 Linguistic features of commercial advertisement 3

1.3.1 Lexical feature 3

1.3.2 Syntactic feature 3

1.3.3 Rhetorical feature 3

2. Aspects of cultural differences on commercial advertisement translation 4

2.1 Power distance 4

2.1.1 Small power distance culture 4

2.1.2 Large power distance culture 5

2.1.3 Cultural difference 6

2.2 Individualism versus collectivism 6

2.2.1 Individualistic culture 6

2.2.2 Collectivist culture 7

2.2.3 Cultural difference 7

2.3 Masculinity versus femininity 7

2.3.1 Masculine culture 7

2.3.2 Feminine culture 8

2.3.3 Cultural difference 8

2.4 Uncertainty avoidance 9

2.4.1 Low uncertainty avoidance 9

2.4.2 High uncertainty avoidance 9

2.4.3 Cultural difference 10

2.5 Long-term orientation versus short-term orientation 10

2.5.1 Long-term orientation culture 10

2.5.2 Short-term orientation culture 11

2.5.3 Cultural difference 11

3. Strategies of commercial advertisement translation 11

3.1 Liberal translation 12

3.2 Transliteration 12

3.3 Amplification 13

Conclusion 13 

References 15