A Study On E-C Translation Of Cosmetics Instructions From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

With the development of economic globalization,more and more foreign cosmetics companies have flooded into the Chinese market.In order to gain attraction of Chinese consumers and take a share in this intensely competitive market,cosmetics companies should lay emphasis on the Chinese translation quality of cosmetics instructions.A high-quality cosmetics instruction can not only provide accurate detailed information for consumers,but also stimulate consumers’ purchasing desire.Therefore,it is of great theoretical and practical significance to study the Chinese translation of imported cosmetics instructions.The author chooses Hans Vermeer’ Skopos Theory as the theoretical basis of this research and uses both quantitative and qualitative methods involving case study,questionnaire and face-to-face interview to analyze 120 cosmetics instructions from50 best-selling foreign cosmetics brands.And this study aims to address the two following research questions:1.How can Skopos Theory be applied in the E-C translation of cosmetics instructions?2.What translation strategies and methods are appropriate for the E-C translation of cosmetics instructions under the guidance of Skopos Theory?The case study reveals that Skopos Theory has a good guiding significance to Chinese translation of foreign cosmetics instructions.First,under the guidance of the skopos rule in the translation process of English cosmetics instructions,Chinese target text could better stimulate consumers’ purchasing desire and achieve the purpose of promoting sales.Second,under the guidance of coherence rule in the translation process,Chinese versions could fit Chinese reading habits and be understood and accepted easily by consumers.Third,under the guidance of fidelity rule,the translated Chinese cosmetics instructions could provide accurate information for potential consumers and gain their trust and recognition.After the analysis of questionnaire results,this thesis draws a conclusion that domestication and foreignization strategies are both appropriate for the E-C translation of cosmetics instructions under the guidance of Skopos Theory.When translating the efficacy of products,domestication strategy could make the translation be line with Chinese reading habits and aesthetic psychology;when translating product usages and warnings,foreignization could make the translation retain creative idea of initiators so as to convey information accurately.As for the interview,its results further verify the conclusion of the questionnaire.This thesis is divided into six chapters.The first chapter introduces the research background,significance and structure.The second chapter generalizes previous studies on Skopos Theory and translation of cosmetics instructions at home and abroad.The third chapter introduces the three rules of Skopos theory respectively,namely,skopos rule,coherence rule and fidelity rule.The fourth chapter is a research design.Research questions,research methods and data collection are mentioned in this chapter.The fifth chapter is the core of the thesis.Firstly,the author analyzes E-C translation of cosmetics instructions under the guidance of Skopos theory from three aspects,vocabulary,syntactic structure and reminders and then summarizes the results of questionnaire and interview.The last chapter is a conclusion.