Advertising Slogans: Features And DTS-based Translation

We live in a world of advertising. As potential consumers, we are endlessly bombarded with all kinds of product or service information from various media including newspapers, magazines, television, radio, posters and the Internet, etc. Among the four basic elements of an advertisement, that is illustration, headline, body copy, slogan and trademark, one of the most visible stimuli to which consumers are exposed is the advertising slogan. However, due to the unique styles and characteristics of advertising slogan, as well as its intimate relationship with society and culture, how to make a translation of a slogan both accurate and attractive is a great challenge to the translator. This thesis will probe into the problems in translating English advertising slogans on the basis of the theory of Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) proposed by Israeli Professor of Translation Gideon Toury, before offering suggested principles underlying the translation.The thesis is composed of five chapters:Chapter One illustrates the background of the thesis to introduce the implementation of further research. Then it will carry on a brief illustration on the motivation and significance of the study.Chapter Two introduces the definition and features of the English advertising slogan, reviews the representative scholars' views on advertising language as well. Plenty slogans are presented which shows there really a way to solve the problems.Chapter Three reviews the theory applied to the translation of English advertising slogans to support further analysis, including the rationale of Toury's DTS, Feasibility of applying his theory to the translation of English advertising slogans is reasoned as well.Chapter Four introduces translation strategies by applying Toury's DTS along two clues. Firstly, it provides translation strategies based on the linguistic differences between the two language communities. Secondly, it provides strategies based on the cultural differences.Chapter Five summarizes the whole thesis, stating the contributions of the thesis on the field of the translation of English advertising slogans and pointing out the limitations of the thesis with suggestions on future research efforts. The study, far from comprehensive as it were, is intended for translators of advertising slogans for further research in this field.