A Study Of Chinese-English Translation Principles For Evaluative Terms In Product Introductions

Nowadays, more and more product introductions have been translated from Chinese into English, aiming at promoting commercial sales and earning reputations in the international market. Product introductions are written to offer information to readers, the potential consumers, then to stimulate their desire for purchasing. Of the six language functions classified by Peter Newmark, informative and vocative functions are dominant in product introductions. Evaluative terms, referring to the expressions with subjective evaluation of products, account for a big part of product introductions and are essentially important to the realization of the two main functions. However, three such typical problems are commonly found in C-E translation of evaluative terms as: (1) failure to convey essence of source texts; (2) failure to meet expectations of target readers; (3) failure to reveal facts of products. This thesis attempts to explore Chinese-English translation principles for the evaluative terms in product introductions.It is a study of translation theories and practice combined. Based on overseas and domestic translation studies, this theoretical exploration is conducted as an attempt to propose two working translation principles. The first principle is purpose-oriented realization of functions, proposing that translators should do their endeavors to achieve informative and vocative functions in target texts to realize the ultimate purpose of sales promotion. The second principle is target-reader-oriented lexical adjustment, prescribing that adjustment in many cases is bound to be made to realize the two main functions in target texts for different target readers. Translators are required to have careful analyses of source texts, expectations of target readers and factual information of products before they do any adjustment in some aspects. Therefore, the second principle is subject to the first one. After making a careful analysis of about 50 examples and presenting various specific translation strategies under the guidance of the working principles, the author has justified the applicability of the two principles.This research is not only theoretical but also practical for the improvement of the C-E translation of product introductions in China. With the creative principles as theoretical contributions to the development of Chinese-English practical translation studies, the achievements in this research are proved applicable to the solution of those C-E translation problems in product introductions and helpful to increase the translation quality as a whole in China.