A textual and strategic analysis of slogan translation : with the C-E rendering of Shanghai World Expo Slogans as an exemplar

Abstract

在功能主义翻译观的影响下,强调意 译、强调翻译效果而不注重形式的翻译策略通常认为是标语翻译的最适合方法。本文认为,当今的不少标语越来越呈现出独特的文体特征,它不仅帮助标语实现语言 的"呼唤功能",同时亦实现"表现功能",而后者正是Reiss所倡导的翻译策略在译文中无法复制的。本文以上海世博会标语的翻译为例,根据文体驱动型和 非文体驱动型两种标语,提出一种更为精细的标语翻译策略模式,说明不同类型的标语需要用不同的翻译策略处理。 The functionalist view of translation pioneered by Katharina Reiss maintains that free translation,with its emphasis on retaining the effects rather than the form of the original,is the most suitable strategy for slogan translation.Yet more and more contemporary slogans are stylistically motivated to achieve both the appellative and the expressive function,the latter of which cannot be reproduced in the target text by using the free translation strategy alone.With the translation of the Shanghai World Expo’s slogans as a case in point,this article proposes a new translation typology featuring finer distinctions of translation strategies and argues that different translation strategies should be adopted for rendering different types of slogans.