German Functionalist Approach To The C-E Translation Of Chinese Liquor Corporate Profiles

Against the backdrop of economic globalization, Chinese enterprises are becoming more aware of their overseas publicity and promotion. With the wide application of the Internet and rapid development of information technology, an increasing number of Chinese liquor enterprises also set up English websites. The establishment of English websites creates platforms for domestic enterprises in the international exchange and cooperation. However, because of the poor quality of the translated Chinese liquor corporate profiles, most of the liquor enterprises have not achieved the desired effect of publicity but damaged their image. In order to improve the translation quality of Chinese liquor corporate profiles and improve the international image of the Chinese liquor enterprises, the thesis introduces the German functionalist approach to translation as the theoretical guide.In the literature review, the author demonstrates the theoretical system, the development history of German functionalist approach and the major academic achievements of its four representatives, namely, Katharina Reiss, Hans J. Vermeer, Justa Holz-M?ntt?ri and Christiane Nord. According to the German functionalist approach, any action has a purpose, and it is the purpose that determines the process of translation. That is, the end justifies the means. Besides, the German functionalists also hold that the translation method and strategy have to be determined by the expected function of the translated text. There are three rules in skopos theory, and the skopos rule ranks the top among the three with coherence rule and fidelity rule subordinate to it. The theories of German functionalist approach play a significant role in guiding the C-E translation of corporate profiles.Furthermore, the author makes a comparative and contrastive analysis of the similarities and differences between Chinese and English corporate profiles and finds out that they are similar in content, purpose and flexibility and different in linguistic, stylistic and cultural aspects. Through the analysis of the similarities and differences, especially the contrast of the differences, the author finds out that the ignorance of these mistakes usually results in translation mistakes and the traditional translation criteria of fidelity or equivalence can not realize the expected functions and purpose of the translation.Based on the common problems and errors found from the English-version websites of Chinese liquor enterprises, the author classifies them into three categories, namely linguistic problems, stylistic problems and cultural problems and put forward strategies to correct them accordingly. Through the analysis of the German functional translation theories, the author finds out that the translation-oriented text analysis and adaptation strategy can be employed to solve these problems. At last, the author chooses the corporate profile of Jiannanchun Group as a case for study to prove the feasibility and reliability of these two steps in the translation process and provide the revised translation of the corporate profile by taking the two steps.What is creative in the thesis is that under the guidance of German functionalist approach, the author studies Chinese liquor corporate profiles which have profound Chinese historical and cultural connotation as well as their translated English versions, and finally finds out an appropriate approach to translate the Chinese liquor corporate profiles and provides reference for the translation of corporate profiles of other industries.