从严复信达雅浅析英语广告中双关语的翻译学士学位论文.doc

南国商学院
本 科 毕 业 论 文

题 目 从严复三字翻译原则“信、达、雅”浅析
英语广告中双关语的翻译
姓 名 梁 贤 贤
学 号 120110519
单 位 英文学院
年 级 专 业 2012级英语翻译
指 导 教 师 张 映 先
完 成 时 间 2016年 4 月

教 务 处 制

Analysis of the Translation of Puns in
English Advertisements from Yan Fu's Three - Word Translation Principle

Liang Xianxian

A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of BA in English

South China Business College
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
April, 2016

DECLARATION

The thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any institutions of higher learning and to the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person, except when due references are made in the text of the thesis.

Signature: Liang Xianxian 梁贤贤 Date: April 10th, 2016

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, my sincere gratitude must be extended to my supervisor Zhang Yingxian, for her dedicated commitment of time, efforts, encouragement. In the period of time from the preparation of this thesis to its completion, Miss Zhang kept in touch with me. And her useful and patient assistance can not be emphasized too much. Under her strict guidance, I have been able to doing my research work independently and successfully. Second, my appreciation should also go to my classmates and my families who gave me support and reasonable advice on my thesis.
Finally, many thanks must be given to my college for educating me, providing me with a lot of research materials from its library and local area network. Their earnest and comprehensive instructions have helped me complete this thesis smoothly. With their enlightenment, I will take efforts to be better.

Abstract

As the development of international trade progresses, the advertising industry is presenting us a scene of blooming. Successful advertisements have the effect of captivating the hearts of consumers and inspiring their desire to buy the products. To enhance the effect of publicity, advertising designers often use puns to reach the business purpose. Pun is concise, humorous and interesting so that the application of it in advertisements can easily and quickly attract the attention of people. Having a good command of the classifications, characteristics and functions of puns and improving the translation skills of puns in English advertisements will be of practical significance of understanding the original implied beauty and effect.
Many well-known translation theorists at home and abroad have summed up some guiding principles and standards for the translation process, of which is the most typical “Three-character Guide”, initiated by Yan Fu. Yan Fu thinks that translation has to do three difficult things: to be faithful, expressive and elegant. His translation theory influenced the translation circle deeply. A lot of scholars think it is an essential standard and regard it as the goal that a best translator will try his effort to reach. Combining with practical analysis of Pun Translation in English advertisements, six effective skills can be extracted from Yan Fu’s theory. They are selection, creation, addition and omission, division, rhetorical antithesis and rhyme, reduplication and repetition .Based on these approaches, this paper is expected to provide a new viewing angle for Pun Translation and offer inspirations to future translations in this field.

Key Words：Yan Fu ' s theory; English advertisement; translation skills; translation of puns

摘要

随着国际贸易的进一步发展，广告业呈现出一种繁荣的景象。成功的广告可以牢牢抓住消费者的心，激发他们购买产品的欲望。为了增强宣传效果，广告设计者经常使用双关语来达到商业的目的。双关语简洁，幽默以及有趣，它在广告中的应用可以很快地吸引人们的注意力。掌握好双关语的分类、特点和功能，提高英语广告中双关语的翻译技巧，将对了解原广告所要展现的审美效果以及作用具有现实意义。
当前，国内外许多著名的翻译理论家总结出了翻译过程中的一些指导原则和标准。其中，最有代表性的就是严复的“三字指导原则”。 严复认为翻译要做三件难事：信、达、雅。他的翻译理论对翻译界产生了深远的影响，许多学者认为这是翻译的基本标准，而一个好的译者则应尽最大努力去达到这个标准。结合英语广告中双关语翻译的实际分析，从严复的翻译理论中可以得出六个有效的翻译方法，它们分别是：选择法、再造法、增补法、省略法、拆分法、修辞性对偶、押韵、重叠和重复法。基于这些方法，本文希望可以为广告双关语的翻译提供一个新的视角，并给未来在这一领域的翻译带来启示。

关键词：严复的翻译理论、英文广告、翻译技巧、双关语翻译

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Contents
1.Introduction 1
1.1 Background of the Study 1
1.2 The Purpose and Significance of the Thesis 2
1.3 The Structure of the Thesis 2
2. Brief Survey to Puns in English Advertisements 3
2.1 Definition of Advertisements and Puns 3
2.2 Classification of Puns in Advertisements 4
2.3 Characteristics and Functions of Puns in English Advertisements 5
3.Introduction to Yan Fu ＇s Three-Word Translation Theory 6
3.1 Definition of “Faithfulness” 6
3.2 Definition of “Expressiveness” 7
3.3 Definition of “Elegance” 7
4. Application of Yan Fu＇s Three-word Translation Theory in Pun Translation 7
4.1 Introduction to the application of Yan Fu＇s Translation Theory in Pun Translation 8
42 Translation Skills of Puns in English Advertisement from Yan Fu＇s Three-Word Theory 9
4.2.1 Skills in“Faithful”Translation 9
4.2.1.1 Choice of Equivalent Meaning 9
4.2.1.2 Creation of Similar Meaning 10
4.2.2 Skills in “Expressive” Translation 11
4.2.2.1 Addition and Omission of the Original Meaning 12
4.2.2.2 Division of the Original Text 13
4.2.3 Skills in “Elegance” Translation 14
4.2.3.1 Rhetorical Antithesis and Rhyme 15
4.2.3.2 Rhetorical Reduplication and Repetition 16
5. Conclusion 18
6. References 20

1 .Introduction
Nowadays, people live in a world full of different kinds of colorful advertisements. In a short and simple sentence, advertisements are able to show the products′ charm and achieve business goals, featured by their great variety and interesting originality. As one of the most creative means of rhetoric, puns are excessively used in advertisements to strengthen the publicity effect. However, the translatability of puns arouses a lot of debates in translation circle. It is hard to translate the double meaning of puns in English advertisements because of different languages, cultures and habits of expression. Yan Fu’s translation theory, on the basis of loyalty and smoothness, trying to make the sound preservation of the taste and shade of the original, provides a novel perspective for Pun Translation.

1.1 Research Background
With the continuous development of economic globalization, international trade has further promoted the development of advertising industry. English advertising translation has become an important topic in the translation field. Currently domestic and foreign scholars have done extensive researches on the translation of puns in English advertisements, giving their translation methods by analyzing a lot of fresh examples. But so far the translation skills of pun still need to be specified and systematized .Moreover, some businesses are done for the purpose of quick and big profits so that the translation of English advertisements could be shoddy. Therefore, it is urgent to understand the characteristics of puns in English advertising and develop the translation strategies of puns in English advertisements.

1.2 The Significance and Purpose of the Thesis
Since China is connected with the world closely, more business opportunities are brought to china. In order to understand the puns translation in advertising English in the commodity economy better, I will study it from the perspective of Yan Fu 's Three-Word translation principle, analyzing it with specific examples and summarizing more thorough translation methods so that the translation of puns in English advertising can be further improved and refined , helping consumers better understand the meaning of advertising and identify deceptive advertisements effectively.

1.3 The Structure of the Thesis
This paper consists of five parts as following:
Chapter one is the introduction which illuminates the research background, purpose and significance of the topic.
Chapter two is a brief survey about the definition and classification of puns and its important role in English advertising.
Chapter three mainly presents the three translation principles of Yan Fu ,introducing the definition of “Faithfulness” ，“Expressiveness” and “Elegance” respectively.
Chapter four is the main part of this paper. It mainly discusses the application of Yan Fu＇s Three-Word translation theory in puns translation. The first half part is a brief introduction about the advantages applying Yan Fu’s translation theory to translate puns in English advertisements. The second half part is about some specific translation skills under the main guiding of “Faithfulness” 、“Expressiveness” and “Elegance” principles are adapt to the translation of puns in English advertisements.
The fifth part is a conclusion, in which the author makes a conclusion of the whole thesis and puts forward some suggestions of puns translation in advertisements in the future.

2. Brief Survey to Puns in English Advertisements
In today's fast-paced society, people pursue a life of high efficiency and convenience. As a result, short and easy remembered advertisement is a trend in today's media life. For the sake of making a concise and impressive advertisement, advertiser may often resort to all kinds of rhetorical devices. Among all the rhetorical devices, Pun has the feature which can catch people's eyes easily and quickly. With dual meaning, Pun acts as a small carrier, while having plenty of connotations. As a result, it is very effective and lucrative to the advertiser. In this chapter, three significant aspects of puns will be illustrated to strengthen the understanding of puns in English advertisements.

2.1 Definition of Advertisements and Puns
According to the Free Dictionary, the word “advertisement” is first derived from the Latin word “advertere”, which means to pay attention, to induce, and to spread. During the Middle English period, the word “advertere” evolves to “advertise” and the meaning accordingly changes into “to make sb. notice something”, or “to inform someone of something and attract the attention of others”. Nowadays, advertising is generally considered as a form of communication for marketing to convey information to the public, using persuasive language and exciting images to encourage people to buy a product or service or believe in an idea. Advertising has broad and narrow sense. The broad advertising includes non economic advertising and economic advertising. Non economic advertising refers to the profit for the purpose of advertising, also known as effect advertising, such as announcement, notice and statement making by governmental administrative departments, social institutions and individuals, whose main purpose is to spread information. The narrow sense of advertising also known as commercial advertising aims at the pursuit of pure profit. It is an important means for the producers, operators and consumers to exchange information, or an important form for the enterprise to occupy the market, promote sales and provide labor services. The main purpose of advertising is to reassure the employees or shareholders that a company is viable or successful, enhancing the economic benefits of a company (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising).
Pun originates from the word “paronomasia” in Latin, relating to the employment of a polysemous word which contains two or more meanings, commonly literal meaning versus figurative meaning or the use of homonyms .In other words ,it means different words which look or sound the same but have different meanings. Nowadays, the meaning of puns has further developed. Generally speaking, pun is a form of word play in a certain context that suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous and rhetorical effect. A pun is composed of three conditions: double context, hinge (multiple meanings of words or similar-sounding words) and the trigger (the key element that forms a pun). With puns the advertising language can become more concise so puns are commonly used in English advertisements (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pun).

2.2 Classification of Puns in English Advertisements
Generally speaking, puns can be classified into two major types according to its definition .They are Phonetic Pun and Semantic Pun. The Phonetic Pun, a common type, includes puns having the close sound and the same sound, which are words sound alike or the same but not synonymous, while the Semantic Pun often exploits words or expressions which possess different meanings in a certain context (Xu Zhang 99).
In English advertisements, there is another way to categorize puns more specifically. Homophonic Pun, Homographic Pun, Grammatical Pun, and Parody Pun, these four types of pun are actually expanded from the above two classifications. Homophonic Pun is equal to the Phonetic Pun, referring to words which are of the similar or same sound. Homographic Pun, Grammatical Pun, and Parody Pun are actually three branches of Semantic Pun. Homographic Pun means that words with different meanings have the same form in a particular circumstance. The second small type, Grammatical Pun, implies a grammatical equipped sentence with double meanings, such as omitting the phrase which has two or more structural or grammatical function for people’s further imagination. The last branch, Parody Pun, refers to apply the idioms which people are familiar with to construct the pun. Advertisements usually tend to apply idioms or famous sayings which reflect the local culture, which is a good way to strike a chord among consumers and enrich the content of advertisements.

2.3 Characteristics and Functions of Puns in English Advertisements
In this paper, three major characteristics corresponding to three significant functions will be discussed. The first big characteristics of puns in English advertisements are the wit and humor embodied in the language. For example, “Oh, I see.” is an ad coming from one optical company in America named “OIC”（Xu Zhang 100）. In this ad, homophonic puns are used tactfully and vividly. The pronunciation of this sentence “Oh, I see.” corresponds to the brand name “OIC” perfectly. At the same time, this ad humorously expresses the joy of weak-eyed people who has seen the world clearly since they worn this brand of glasses. In this perspective, we can see the function of creativity and originality that puns possess in English advertisements. The second obvious characteristic is the impressiveness of puns. “Coke refreshes you like no other can”（Gong Xiaobin 131）.This is an ad for Coke. The word “can” here implies two aspects of meaning. And the whole sentence tells us that the coke they produce is the be