The early study advertisement translation lays particular emphasis on the study of the skills of translation and compares the language and literary form of advertisement between Chinese and foreign advertisements from a perspective of rhetoric, and, based on this, puts forward a solution. With the introduction of western study methods and theories such as pragmatics, function linguistics and intercultural communication, the study of advertisement translation focuses on pragmatic differences caused by social and cultural differences instead of simple language differences. And then it is found that the differences of point of view towards things and aesthetic standards form the obstacles of the language equivalence and social pragmatic equivalence of advertisement translation.(Jiang Lei, 2002)
The famous scholar Wang Zuoliang (1989) said that the biggest problem of translation is the different culture. The translator is the real intellectual to some certain extent. In fact, advertisement translation is also an intercultural activity as the same as other kinds of translation. Nida (1993) once said that “Bilingual competence has almost always been regarded as an essential requirement for translators. For truly successful translating, biculturalism is even more important than bilingualism, since words only have meanings in terms of the cultures in which they function”. A successful advertisement translation can cross cultural barriers and be accepted and recognized by the customers of the target language culture, so it achieves the principles of advertisement translation, that is, attention, interest, desire, memory, and action. 来~自^751论+文.网www.751com.cn/
This paper mainly deals with the food advertisement translation from the perspective of intercultural communication, attempting to find out what kind of food advertisement translation can be a successful one and how the food advertisement translation can be accepted. The paper emphasizes the food advertisement translation and gives some examples to show principles of food advertisement translation.
2. Standards and principles of advertisement translation
2.1 Standards of advertisement translation
There are two representative views towards advertisement translation standard: the first view, based on similarities of the advertising language and distinguishing features, stresses the original work, the translation should pursue for “the effect of same meaning, excellent likeness and similar forms”.(Ding Hengqi, 2004) The second view is that, based on purpose-driven functional principle and centered on target language readers, the translation that can achieve the main purpose of advertisements is a good translation.(Li Kexing, 2004)
Of course these two standards have certain specifications and guidance to advertisement translation, but have some shortcomings at the same time. The first kind is called ideal translation standard which can hardly achieve the advertising function of the original advertisement due to the big differences between the two language cultures. And purpose-driven functional principle can help translators free from the shackles of the original language and get the most creative freedom. This translation principle guided only by functional purpose seemingly gives the translators enough freedom, but confuses the boundaries of creation and translation. The standard that the translation which can achieve the main purpose of advertisements is a good translation is fully equal to unlimited freedom and produces deviations to the practice of translation.