On CE Company Profile Translation from Functional Equivalence Perspective

1、on c-e company profile translation from functional equivalence perspective從功能對(duì)等理論看公司簡(jiǎn)介的漢英翻譯abstractas the booming of our financial condition and the accelerating globalization, increasing numbers of companies are in or going into the participation of the international competition. the company profil

2、e plays an important role in propaganda, setting up a good and healthy company image and expanding foreign markets. so the c-e translation of company profile turns in to a new research subject. however, the functional equivalence theory which has established by eugene nida makes great sense of it fo

3、r its translation purpose. in nidas opinion, functional equivalence refers to the closest natural equivalence. and translation signified the cultural transfer, communicative interaction and a cross-culture event based on target language.this thesis studies on the definition, function and character o

4、f company profile, and the theoretical principle of company profile translation, aim at providing the viable translation tactics of company profile from the functional equivalence perspective. according to the functional equivalence principle, the main pursuit of company profile translation is the e

5、quivalent between the original text and target text, so that it can get the same react in a different cultural background.key words: company profile; translation principle; functional equivalence.摘 要隨著全球化的不斷推進(jìn)及我國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)的迅猛發(fā)展，越來(lái)越多的企業(yè)正在或即將參與國(guó)際競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。宣傳企業(yè)，樹(shù)立良好的企業(yè)形象，拓展國(guó)外市場(chǎng)，打造世界性名牌，企業(yè)簡(jiǎn)介起著舉足輕重的作用。由此，公司簡(jiǎn)介的漢英翻譯也漸漸成為

6、一門新的研究課題。而終其翻譯目的，美國(guó)語(yǔ)言學(xué)家尤金奈達(dá)提出的功能對(duì)等翻譯理論對(duì)公司簡(jiǎn)介的翻譯有著重要的意義。功能翻譯理論認(rèn)為，翻譯是一種文化轉(zhuǎn)化，一種交際互動(dòng)，一種以目的語(yǔ)功能為導(dǎo)向的跨文化活動(dòng)。本文詳細(xì)討論了公司簡(jiǎn)介的定義、功能和特點(diǎn)，以及公司簡(jiǎn)介翻譯的理論基礎(chǔ)，旨在從功能翻譯理論的角度為公司簡(jiǎn)介的漢英翻譯提供一些可行的翻譯策略。根據(jù)功能翻譯理論，公司簡(jiǎn)介翻譯的主要目標(biāo)是尋求原文與譯文的等效，使其在不同的文化傳統(tǒng)和語(yǔ)言習(xí)慣中達(dá)到同等的效果，為企業(yè)起到更好的宣傳作用。關(guān)鍵詞：公司簡(jiǎn)介；翻譯策略；功能對(duì)等acknowledgementsthis thesis is the product of

7、the author and the supervisors two months of efforts. it has been repeatedly revised under the guidance of professor . it was the joint efforts of both the author and the teachers in foreign languages department. i would like to express my heartfelt thanks to professor and the teachers who have help

8、ed the author in the process of the thesis writing. i will also give my thanks to my classmates and friends who have helped me revise the thesis. last but not least, i will give my heartfelt thanks to my parents who have been always supporting and encouraging me. contentsintroduction11 functional eq

9、uivalence theory21.1 brief introduction of functional equivalence21.1.1 the analysis phase in translation31.1.2 the transfer stage in translation31.2 the connotation of functional equivalence41.3 principle of functional equivalence52 analyses on the present company profile translation72.1 practical

10、translation problems72.2 cultural translation problems92.3 language translation problems103 company profile translation principles on functional equivalence basis113.1 cultural transfer and communicative interaction, core of functional equivalence theory123.2 strategies of company profile translatio

11、n123.2.1 posed layout in accordance with translation requests123.2.2 implementation strategy on the basis of text function13conclusion13bibliography14introductionrecently, there has been a spate of need in how to translate a company profile. as the booming economic globalize and the step forward of

12、our foreign trade, the english version of company profile becomes necessary in a company. however, there still has no rule to follow about how to translate the company profile or how to write a sterling english version company profile. obviously, most company has great problems on the english compan

13、y profile. such as literal translation, chinglish, the discrepancy between the translated text and the source language and the corporate culture translation always makes the reader confused. therefore, a standard principle of chinese-english company profile translation has already becomes an urgent

14、need.in the existing company profile translation texts, we can see that the translators tend not considering the non-linguistic factors such as the readers, target language culture, the idiomatic expression of target language and the availability of the translation text. but show a blindly loyal to

15、the source text in the linguistic level. as a result, it undermines the effect of the company profile. whats more, it has release its negative impact on the company image and the loss will outweighs the gain. based on the functional equivalence theory for guidance, the effect of the company profile

16、as the starting point, this thesis analyzes the phenomenon and put forward the corresponding countermeasures from two aspects of theory and practice, and find out the translation strategies for company profile translation.functional equivalence theory was put forward by eugene nida an american lingu

17、ist. the main academic activities of his life are all around the bible translation. in the process of bible translation, nida developed a set of unique translation theory based on the practice, and finally became a classic translation theory. the core concept of nidas theory is functional equivalenc

18、e. functional equivalence means to pursue a functional equivalence between source text and target text, but not a formalist literal equivalence. in the theory of functional equivalence, nida indicated that the aim of translation is to pursue the closest natural equivalence on both semantics and type

19、 of source text. in nidas opinion, the relevant definition of translation specifies the glossary significance in translation includes not only the equivalence of style, but also style and semantic equivalence, as well, translation conveys both of the information about surface vocabulary and profound

20、 cultural information. functional equivalence has four aspects, lexical equivalence, syntactical equivalence, section equivalence, style equivalence. in these four aspects, nida considers the meaning most important and form the next. the author will introduce the current status of company profile tr

21、anslation and the development and background of functional equivalence at first. find the contact between the two aspects, and point out the company profile translation can take up from the angle of functional equivalence. and then take the current english company profile for example, point out the

22、deficiency, and retranslate it on the theory of functional equivalence. by comparison of the two versions, we can summarize a new viewpoint.1 functional equivalence theory 1.1 brief introduction of functional equivalencefunctional equivalence theory was put forward by eugene nida. in the theory of f

23、unctional equivalence, the aim of translation is to pursue the closest natural equivalence on both semantics and type of source text. nida thinks it includes the following stage in translation process, analysis, transfer and reconstruct. first, translator analyses the information of the original lan

24、guage, and dissect the structure into the simple form. on this basis, they transfer the original text and reorganized it into normal translated text. 1.1.1 the analysis phase in translationthe analysis phase includes three aspects, they are, the grammatical relations between components, the extensio

25、n meaning of semantic units and connotations of grammatical structure and semantic units. 1.1.2 the transfer stage in translationtransfer means transfer the event-noun from one language into another language. in usual, we change it into verb form. and similarly, we change the abstract noun into adje

26、ctives and adverbs. nida thinks, there has generated four basic structure units when we transfer the various expression of surface structure into core structure, they are thing, event, abstract and relation. in addition, nida put forward the methods about how to restrict and establish the meaning of

27、 lexical units in certain context, namely, limited the meaning by the syntactic structure, and distinguish meanings by semantic structure. there have three relationships with similar meaning, proximity relation, connotation and overlapping relations. nida emphasized, we cannot be restricted to study

28、 the syntactic relationship and extensional meaning of the linguistic unit during the original language analysis, in information transfer, style is with more significance. in the transfer stage, nida puts forward translation countermeasures to the semantic non-corresponding vehicle difference, vehic

29、le and semantic default. the connotation and extension of the structure should be pay special attention during translation; nida presented three methods to transfer the extension content, recombination, decomposing and polysynthetic composition. as far as nida considered, recombination process invol

30、ves two main categories: form and function. the form category needs to recombination according to the styles and the literary form, and the function category requests for attention to the reception of the readers. therefore, the core of the translation countermeasures which has presented by nida is

31、the semantic contrastive analysis and semantic equivalence. 1.2 the connotation of functional equivalencein 1964, nida had published his toward a science of translating, in this book, he presented formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. he emphasis on the last one specially, because in his view,

32、 there has great different on form and content between every language, and dynamic equivalence pursues the closest natural equivalence between original language and target language. later, nida replaced dynamic equivalence with functional equivalence. as well, functional equivalence emphasizes that,

33、 the response of the target text and the original text should be generally the same by both of the readers. translation involves many influence factors, such as the reliability of the original text, text variations, expected readers and skopos, thus, equivalence in every aspect of translation is no

34、doddle. equivalence is relative, many different translation is actually reflects different degree of equivalence. its means that equivalence does not equal to identity, but only means proximity. from this, it can be seen that functional equivalence is absolutely not identity, but roughly equivalence

35、. so flexible handling is allowed to reparation the diversity of different language. it has different appropriateness according to functional equivalence.nida proposed functional equivalence has two levels: the highest and lowest levels of equivalence. the highest level, namely, means the readers of

36、 a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did. but it was just an ideal realm which could never been achieved, especially when the culture and aesthetic differences are obvious between the two language. the lowest level m

37、eans the readers of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it to the point that they can conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and appreciate it. this is the lowest practical significance of functional equivalence; the translated text which was

38、below this level can not be accepted. functional equivalence is an objective theory of equivalence translation; it pursues the effect of translated text, and emphasize the readers of a translated text should have essentially the same response as the original readers did, and the quality of the trans

39、lated text will be measured by it. therefore, in the process of translation, the translator should focus on the meaning and spirit of original text, but not the language structure. this is what nida had advocated meaning is the most important and form the next. 1.3 principle of functional equivalenc

40、eif literal translation can accomplish equivalence in function and form at the same time, it must be the perfect translation, and this is what nida has pursued. but language is different, each language has a unique productive, sequence, syntax, discourse markers and various special language forms. s

41、uch as poetry and adage, every language has rich vocabulary to express the characteristics of its nation and culture. thus completely equivalent of form and function are rare. when we cant make the equivalence on form and function at the same time, we should take account of the original content firs

42、t, but as the connotation of functional equivalence has reveals, we must adjust the form if we want to keep the original content. this is the principle which functional equivalence insisted. proper adjustment or change of the form need to following the principles as follow:1. if the literal translat

43、ion is likely to cause referential misunderstanding, translator must adjust the form. in most cases, the change of visual culture will be easily accepted by the readers of translated text. but sometimes we can take annotations on literal translation. the most simple example is the formulae when chin

44、ese greeting people, “吃過(guò)了嗎？”“到哪去？”“干什么去？” these are all formulaic speech, and they are not really wants to know the answer. it will be difficult to accept for the westerner, if translate it as “have you eaten?” “where are you going?” “what are you going to do?” they will consider it as interfere in

45、his private affairs. but simply translate it as “hi!” can put the meaning naturally and clearly. 2. if there has no significance and clear meaning in the literal translation, we must adjust the form. meaningless phrases in the translated text were uncomfortable works. the translator should make some

46、 speculation, choose a most likely meaning in the text, and enter a note to state the uncertainty of the original text. 3. if the translation beyond peoples average understanding in both semantics and syntax, the form must be adjusted. in nidas opinion, the needs of readers are superior to the tradi

47、tional form of language. 4. if the literal translation would cause misunderstanding of the original text, the form must be adjusted. in chinese, “農(nóng)民” has no derogatory, but if we literal translate it as “peasants”, it means uneducated and disadvantaged people, or “hillbilly”. in english culture, “dr

48、agon” is the symbol of evil, but in chinese is quite different. so when people explain “亞洲四小龍”, they always say it “four asian tigers”, but not “four asian dragons”.2 analyses on the present company profile translationthe author has analysis on some of the company profile, and found that the transla

49、ted text just blindly loyal to the original text in linguistic level without considering the skopos, culture of target language, regardless of the acceptance of the target readers and the practicality. this thesis analyzed this phenomenon from the two aspects of linguistic and extra linguistic, and

50、puts forward appropriate countermeasures. because the source text and translated text has different conditions, and affected by various factors which would influenced by the hypertext, we will have translation problems in translation process. this thesis classify the problems of company profile tran

51、slation into four aspects, they are cultural translation problems, practical translation problems, language problems and unique text problems. translators ignorance of translation problems will affect the function of the translated text, and the unresolved of translation problems will produce transl

52、ation errors. 2.1 practical translation problemsaccording to the theory of functional equivalence, translation process is a pursuit of equivalence effect between the source text and translated text. practical translation problems were caused by the disparity of these two effects. for example, 年初，公司為

53、滿足國(guó)內(nèi)市場(chǎng)對(duì)專用車的需要，及時(shí)調(diào)整產(chǎn)品結(jié)構(gòu)并成立專用車公司，在做穩(wěn)、做強(qiáng)客車的同時(shí)，投巨資實(shí)施專用車項(xiàng)目，精心打造有洛陽(yáng)宇通特色的專用車產(chǎn)品，本著“低端切入、高端占領(lǐng)”的原則，經(jīng)過(guò)精心籌備，四大系列產(chǎn)品即混凝土攪拌車系列、散裝水泥車系列、加油車系列、灑水車系列一經(jīng)投放市場(chǎng)，便以其全新的設(shè)計(jì)、優(yōu)美的造型、細(xì)膩的工藝贏得了市場(chǎng)的青睞。the initial version: in the early of 2003, in order to meet the demands for special-purpose car in domestic market, we adjusted our p

54、roducts structure and set up a new department dealing with special-purpose car. while steadying and strengthening the production of passenger car, we invest large amounts of money in special-purpose car to carefully make this kind of products with vivid luoyang yutong characteristics. with the princ

55、iple of “cutting in from the low end and taking possession at the high end”, our four series of products were put into market in april of 2003 after careful preparation. they are bowser series, water cart series, bulk cement vehicle series and concrete-mixing vehicle series. the products win for the

56、ir new designation, exquisite molding and techniques. modified version:in addition to its wonderful performance in the sector of passenger cars, luoyang yutong automobile co.ltd. moved forward with an aggressive campaign to stay at the forefront of transportation. in the early of 2003, we set up a n

57、ew sector to manufacture special-purpose vehicles including fuel trucks, spraying cars, bulk cement trucks and concrete-mixing trucks which are tailored to the needs of chinese market. they gained excellent reputation for their original design and state-of-the-art techniques among clients as soon as

58、 they were put into market in april of the same year. the underlined part of the initial version was vague and general, but the english company profile was particular about simple and unadorned. so the modified version deleted this part. the modified version was mainly adopts the delete method, remo

59、ve the needless contents of the original text, adjust the form and finally achieve the functional equivalence. 2.2 cultural translation problems cultural translation problems were caused by the difference of guidance verbal and nonverbal behavior standards between the two cultures. for example: 十多年來(lái)，公司一貫以優(yōu)質(zhì)的產(chǎn)品、卓越的服務(wù)為宗旨，備受國(guó)內(nèi)外廣大客戶的支持擁護(hù)及信賴。the in