论英汉广告中的修辞与翻译_英文_

第19卷南华大学学报(自然科学版)Vol.19 2005年9月Journal of Nanhua University(Science and Technology)Sep.2005 Article ID:1673-0062(2005)0143-07

On Rhetoric and Its Translation in English and Chinese Advertising

LIU Miao,JIA De-jiang＊

(School of For eign Languages,Nanhua University,Hengyang,Hunan421001,China)

A bstract:With the deepening of economic internationalization,advertising as sales stimulus,

plays a cr ucial role in delivering information.Therefore it appears to be more important to un-

derstand、appr eciate and translate advertising language properly.The purpose of this paper is to

explore the basic advertising kno wledge,to explain features of advertising language by mainly

analyzing rhetorical devices in E nglish and Chinese advertising and to put forward several spe-

cific techniques on how to deal with rhetorical devices in advertising translation.

Key words:advertising rhetoric;communicative translation;readership

论英汉广告中的修辞与翻译

刘　苗,贾德江＊

(南华大学外国语学院,湖南衡阳421001)

摘　要:在经济高度国际化的今天,广告作为一种销售催化剂,已成为传播各种消息

不可缺少的有力工具和手段.因此,如何理解、欣赏并准确地翻译广告变得尤为重要.

本文的目的就是阐释广告语言的修辞特征及其翻译,并试图找出英汉广告翻译中处

理修辞语言的最有效方法.

关键词:广告;修辞;交际翻译;读者

中图分类号:H085.3 文献标识码:A

1　Generalization on Advertising

1.1　Definition

American Marketing Association(AMA)defines advertising as“the non-personal communication of in-formation usually paid for and usually persuasive in na-ture about products,services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.”Today,with the development of the technology and the diversity of the mass media,advertising has influenc ed us pervasively in our daily life.Ho wever,whatever the promotive strat-egies advertising takes,language is the main carrier of message.Schroder says,“Advertising takes many for ms,but in most of them,langua ge is a style of imme-diate impact and rapid persuasion.The point of an ad-vertisement is to persuade you of the merits of a partic-ular product or services,in order that you will take out some of your money.”

Biography:Lin Miao,undergraduate in2005,School of Foreign Languages of Nan Hua University.＊Instructor.

1.2　Functions of Advertising

Advertising is both applauded and criticized for its role in selling products and its influence on society.For years,critics have denigrated advertising for a wide range of sins-some real,and imagined.The result has been a steady growth in the number of consumer groups,business organizations and government bodies that now regulate virtually everything advertisers say and do.(Arens1996:39)Anyhow advertising does play a crucial role in both reflecting and shaping our society.Five different functions have been identified for advertising:

1)The marketing function.Along with sales pro-motion,public relations and personal feeling,advertis-ing is one of the vehicles employed by a business or an organization to c om municate with its customers.Al-though advertising is only one element in a company's overall promotional program,it is the most visible. (Wells-1995)

2)The c om munication function.Advertising trans-mits different types of market information to match buy-ers and sellers in the market place.Advertising both in-forms and transfor ms the pr oduct by creating an ima ge that goes beyond straightfor ward facts.

3)The economic function.There are two major schools.According to the marketing power school,ad-vertising is a persuasive communication tool used by marketers to distract consumer's attention from the price of the product.In contrast,the market competition school treats advertising as a source of information that incr eases c onsumer's price sensitivity and stimulus competition.

4)The social function.It informs us of new and improved pr oducts and teaches us how to use these in-novations.It helps us compare products and features and make decisions.It mirr ors fashion and design trends and contributes to our aesthetic sense.(Wells-1989:11)

5)The education function.Advertising as an edu-cator,speeds up the adoption of the new and untried and,in doing so,accelerates technological advances in industry and hastens the realization of a fuller life for all.

1.3　Classifications of Advertising

Advertising is complex because so many diverse advertisers try to reach so many different types of audi-ences.I would like to list classifications of advertising as follows:

1)B y target audiences:consumer advertising; business advertising.

2)B y geographic area:local advertising;regional advertising;national advertising;international advertis-ing.

3)B y medium:print advertising;broadcast adver-tising;out-of-home advertising;direct-mail adver-tising.

4)B y purpose:product advertising;non-product advertising;commercial advertising:non-commercial advertising action.

1.4　Advertising Objectives

The first objective of any advertising is to create a wareness-to acquaint some portion of the unaware people with the food,service or band that the company pr ovides.

The next task is to develop comprehension-to communicate enough information to develop conviction; to persuade a certain number of people to believe in the pr oducts value.Of those who become convinced,some can be moved to desire the product.Finally,some who desired the product will take action-request additional information,visit a store,or buy it.Advertising objec-tives determine the way of writing and translating ad.s.

1.5　Advertising Elements

A full print advertising is generally composed of two parts,na mely,the verbal part including headline, body copy and slogan;the non-verbal part consisting of trademark and illustration.

2　The Rhetoric in English and Chi-nese Advertising

Advertising is a style of im mediate impact and rapid persuasion.In general,whether the medium is print,radio,or television,the advertisers can only rely on your attention for only a ver y short time,and there-fore the sales messa ge must be short,clear,distinctive and memorable.Among the advertising factors,langua ge is the c ore of all successful advertisements.

Rhetoric may ser ve several functions in advertis-ing,like attracting attention,generating a positive mood,or communicating the essence of a message in a

144南华大学学报(自然科学版) 2005年9月