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LiteratureReviewFunctionalEquivalenceTheoryandItsApplicationtoAdvertisingTranslationAndrew200885062042008级英语2班指导老师：XNAbstract:WiththerapiddevelopmentofinternationalbusinessandmultinationalcompaniesoftheworldaswellasChina’sentryintoWTO,thereisagrowingneedforefficientinternationaladvertisementcommunicationandtranslation.Asabranchoftranslationstudy,advertisementtranslationhasitsownlaws,uniquepurposes,functionsanddemandsasystematicstudy.Keywords:advertisementtranslation;functionalequivalence;Nida;translationstrategies1.IntroductionWithChina’sentryintoWTO,globalizationhasalsoaffectedtheworldofadvertising.Companiesdonotlimittheirambitionstothedomesticmarket.Theyarededicatedtoexpandinternationalmarketaswell.Advertisementtranslation,beingatypeofinterculturalcommunicationandasaresultofinternationalbusinesscommunication,graduallyattractsthetranslator’sattentionandappearsasafieldofstudy.Thisphenomenon,inturn,promotestheimportanceofadvertisingtranslation.Traditionalequivalence-basedlinguisticapproachestoadvertisementtranslationfailtoachievesatisfactoryeffectmainlyfortworeasons.Firstly,throughtheanalysisoftheintrinsicmechanismoftheChineseandEnglishlanguagesandcultures,considerablediscrepanciesinlanguageusearefoundespeciallyinthefieldofadvertising.Thustherehardlyexistsanabsolutecorrespondencebetweenthetwolanguages.Secondly,equivalence-basedapproachesalwaysseektoachieveformalequivalencebetweenthesourceandtargettextsandneglectcommunicativefunctionsofadvertisementtranslation.Functionalistapproachtotranslationhasopenedupanewperspectivetotranslationstudies.Itprovidesatheoreticalbasisforsomeunconventionaltranslationstrategiessuchasadditionandadaptation,soitisparticularlysuitablefortranslatingadvertisementswhichhavespecificfunctions.Undertheguidanceoffunctionalisttheory,translatorsareencouragedtomakefulluseofvarioussourcesofinformationandtheyareentitledtochoosewhateverappropriatetranslationstrategiestoachievetheexpectedfunctionsofthetranslation.2.1TheOriginofFunctionalEquivalenceIntranslationhistory,FunctionalEquivalenceisavariantofthecomparableeffect.Tylter,Britishtranslationtheorists,wasthefirstpersonwhoproposedthecomparableeffecttheory.In1790,inhisbookOnthePrinciplesofTranslation,hegavethegoodtranslationadefinition:Agoodtranslationistocompletelyconverttheadvantagesoftheoriginaltexttoanotherlanguage,enablethosepeopleintargetlanguagecountriescanclearlycomprehend,strongfeelings,justaspeopleusingtheoriginallanguagecomprehension.Thismeansthatagoodtranslationshouldbeabletomakethesameeffectindifferentlanguagesocietiesasthatintheoriginalone.TheGermantranslationtheoristsKaulcalleditcomparableeffect(sameeffect)inthebookArtofTranslationin1896.Theconceptoffunctionaladequacyintranslatinghasbeendescribedinanumberofbooksandarticlesas“dynamicequivalence”．ItwasfirstputforwardinTowardaScienceofTranslating(1964)andelaboratedinTheTheoryandPracticeTranslation(1969)ingreatdetail.FunctionalEquivalenceisthesamethatofdynamicequivalence．．Thusdynamicequivalenceisdefinedas‘‘thatintermsofthedegreetowhichthereceptorsofthemessageinthereceptorlanguagerespondtoitissubstantiallythesamemannerasthereceptorsinthesourcelanguage”(Nida＆Tabet,1969).2.2EquivalencestudiesinChinaAttheendofthe19thcentury,YanFu,putforththethreeprincipleoftranslation—faithfulness,expressivenessandelegance.Faithfulnessmeansequivalence,mainlyconcerningthecontent.Expressivenessreferstotherelationshipbetweenthemessageandthereceptors.Elegancerelatetostyle.Inaword,YanFumadegreatcontributionstothedevelopmentoftranslationofChina.Afterwards,thereisagreatnumberoftranslatorsandtranslationtheoristsuchasLuXun,QuQiubaiandJiXianlin,etc.Theyalsoputforwardalotoftranslationtheoriessimilartoequivalencetheoryinthewesterncountries.Allofthemhavecontributedtothedevelopmentofequivalencetheory.2.3EquivalencestudiesintheWestFunctionalequivalenceisoneofthemostsuitabletranslationtheoriesforadvertisingtranslation.Theterm“equivalence”intranslationfirstappearedinJ.R.Firth’swriting(1957)whenhestatedthat“theso-calledtranslationequivalencebetweentwolanguagesareneverreallyequivalent”(Snell-Hornby,1988).Briefly，J.R.Firth，Nida,Catford,Baker,NewmarkandWilss，allofthesetheoristshaveendeavoredtointerpretthenotionofequivalence，approachedequivalencefromdifferentanglesandperspectivesandallhavecontributedmuchtothisareaofresearch.2.3.1Wilss’sConceptofEquivalenceFunctionalistapproachputforwardin1970sbysomeGermanscholarsincludingKatharinaReiss,HansJ.Vermeer,andChristianeNord,shedslightonadvertisementtranslation.Thistheoryemphasizesthefunctionalityofthetargettextinthetargetculture.Inordertofulfillthecommunicativefunctionsofthetargettext,formsofthesourcetextcouldbechangedtoadapttothetargetsettings.Inthismodel,thesourcetextservesasonly“anofferofinformation”,butcertainrelationshipshouldbemaintainedbetweenthesourcetextandthetargettextatthesametime.Wilssstatesthat“theconceptoftranslationequivalencehasbeenallessentialissuenotonlyintranslationtheoryoverthelast2000years，butalsoinmodemtranslationstudies．Nevertheless-ormaybeasaresultofprolongedr