Abstract

With the development of international trade and the internationalization of products, advertising is playing an increasingly important role. The internationalization of commercial slogans has become a natural trend. In real life, many problems exist in the translation of commercial slogans, which causes great difficulties for people to understand the products and the enterprises. Therefore, the study on the translation of commercial slogans should be strengthened. 

This paper focuses on the translation of commercial slogans from the perspective of Jef Verschueren’s Adaptation Theory. First, it explores the definition, characteristics and functions of commercial slogans, and the current situation of commercial slogan translation. It follows to review the Adaptation Theory’s definition, derivation and contents. And then it applies the Adaptation Theory to the translation of commercial slogans and discusses the four aspects of adaptations, i.e. adaptations in terms of language users, social factors, psychological factors and cultural factors. Finally, it analyzes the problems existing in the translation of commercial slogans, and puts forward some corresponding strategies. 

Key words: the Adaptation Theory; commercial slogans; translation; strategies

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction-1

2 Commercial slogans-2

2.1 The definition of commercial slogans-2

2.2 The characteristics of commercial slogans-2

2.3 The functions of commercial slogans-5

2.4 The current situation of commercial slogan translation-6

3 The Adaptation Theory-7

3.1 The definition of the Adaptation Theory-7

3.2 The derivation of the Adaptation Theory-8

3.3 The contents of the Adaptation Theory-9

3.4 The Adaptation Theory and translation-10

4 The application of the Adaptation Theory to the translation of commercial slogans-11

4.1 Adaptation in term of language users-11

4.2 Adaptation in term of social factors-13

4.3 Adaptation in term of psychological factors-15

4.4 Adaptation in terms of cultural factors-16

5 Conclusion-17

References-19