Punning and the Translation of Puns in English Advertisements.docx

Punning and the Translation of Puns in English Advertisements.docx

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PunningandtheTranslationofPunsinEnglishAdvertisements

PunningandtheTranslationofPunsinEnglishAdvertisements

[Abstract]Punningisoneofthemostcommonrhetoricaldevicesusedinadvertisement.Therearevariouswaystoformpunsinadvertisements.Thetranslationofpunsisdifficultbecauseofthedoublemeanings,andthetranslationofpunsinadvertisementsisevenmoredifficultbecauseonemustkeepboththedoublemeaningsofapunandthestyleoftheadvertisementinmind.ThispaperisaboutthetechniquesofpunningandthetranslationofpunsinEnglishadvertisements.Itexpressesthetechniqueofpunbythewaysofhomophonicpun,homographicpun,grammaticalpunandidiompun.AndthispaperhassomepreliminarydiscussionsinpunningofEnglishadvertisementthroughthemethodsofconjuncttranslation,nimbletranslation,replenishmenttranslation,transliteration,compensatetranslations.

[KeyWords]advertisinglanguage;pun;translation

英语广告中双关语的运用技巧及翻译

【摘要】双关语是英语广告中一种较为常见的修辞手段。

双关语的翻译本身就是一个难点，而广告中双关语的翻译则更加复杂。

本文从语音双关、语义双关、语法双关和成语、俗语双关等几方面对双关语的运用技巧作了阐述。

并在考虑双关语的双重含义及广告语体风格的基础上，从契合译法、活译法、加注译法、意译法和补偿译法等方面对英语广告双关语的翻译作了初步的探讨。

【关键词】广告语言；双关语；翻译

1.Introduction

Whatisadvertising?

Advertisingisthenon-personalcommunicationofinformationusuallypaidforandusuallypersuasiveinnatureaboutproducts,servicesorideabyidentifiedsponsorsthroughthevariousmedia.[1]p4Whetheritisgoodsadvertisementorpublicserviceadvertisement,thecreationoftheadvertisementisacomprehensiveart.Thecreationoftheadvertisementinvolvessociology,aesthetics,psychology,soundofelectricity,literatureandlinguisticsetc.Theskillsneededinthisartaremorethanotherformsofwriting.Itshowsthevividandinterestingcharactersbytheprincipleofsalesmanship.Andithasspecialcommunicationtobringthereader'sattentioninamoment,stimulatesthedesireofbuyingandfacilitatesthebehaviorofbuyingfinally.Therefore,theusingofprecisionandappropriateinadvertisingliterarylanguagewillmaketheinfluenceofadvertisinglanguagefarbeyondtheadvertisementitself.Therhetoricalofpunisacommonskill,increatingadvertisement.Thepun,inItalian,“puntiglio”means“afinepoint,”henceaverbalquibble,andismostlikelythesourceoftheEnglishpunctilious.ApunisdefinedbyWebsteras“thehumoroususeofaword,orofwordswhichareformedorsoundedalikebuthavedifferentmeanings,insuchawayastoplayontwoormoreofthepossibleapplication;aplayonwords.”[2]Asthegameofwords,punwillleaveadeepimpressiononreadersbyitsreadability,wit,andhumor.Thereforeitisusedintheadvertisementwithalargeamount.

2.ThePunsinEnglishAdvertisements

TherearemanykindsofpunsexistinEnglishadvertisements.Inthispaper,fourmainlytypesofthemaretalked.Therearehomophonicpuns,homographicpun,grammaticalpunandidiompun.

2.1HomophonicPun

Homophonicmeanstwoormorewordsareofthesimilarorsamesound.

Because“Thereexistnoinformationchannelsofbilingualconversionatthesoundlevel”[3]thepartialsoundpunsarealwaysseeninthedailylife.Itconcludesclosesoundpunandthesamesoundpun.

2.1.1CloseSoundPun

Closepunmeanspairsormoreofwordshavingthesamesoundbutdifferentmeanings.

（1） ANidealmarriageisoneinwhichthewifeisatreasureandthehusbandtreasury.

理想的婚姻—太太是宝贝,而先生是金库.

（2） Nowadays,apairofdiceismadeaparadise

如今，一副股子就可以成为乐园

Inthetwoexamplesabove,boththetwoadvertisementssuccessfullyconveythesatiricaltonesofthetwoEnglishsentences.Nevertheless,neither“宝贝，金库”nor“股子,乐园”reflectthepartialtonesof“treasure,treasury”and“pairofdice,paradise”.ItjustputonelayerofthedoublemeaningintoChineseandthepunaffectdisappearswithoutanytrail.

（3） Centrumwithbeta-carotene

FromAtoZinc

MoreComplete[4]P15

富含胡萝卜的珍多美，

从A到锌，应有尽有，

营养更全，口味更新！

Thisisoneoffoodadvertisementnamedcentum.“FromAtoZinc”harmonicswiththeEnglishphrase“FromAtotheZ”,thelattermeaningrefers“comprehensively,complete”.Thepunherewantstoexplainthiskindoffoodnutritionrichinprominent,allcontainsfromVitaminA（namelycarrotelement）tothezincelement,hastheextremepowerofpersuasion..

2.1.2TheSameSoundPun

 Thesamesoundpunmeansthewordshavethesamesoundbuthavedifferentmeanings.

（4）Haveanicetrip,buy-buy!

[5]

 祝君旅途愉快，拜拜/快买！

“Buy-buy”isavariedspelling,anditunisonwith“bye-bye”.Airportstoresaysgoodbyetothepassenger,thepurposeisthatremindseverybodytobuyapresentorotherthingtobringwithjustbeforeleaving.“Buy-Buy”!

Formsinone'smindingeniously,humoroustobehumorous,makesonethumpthetableandshoutpraise.

（5）Forgethottaste

 OnlyKool,withpurementholhasthetasteofextracoolness

 ComeuptoKool.[6]P49

 忘掉辛辣的感觉，

 只有“酷”牌，纯正的薄荷口味给你特别清凉的酷酷感觉，

 想酷你就来！

Thisisoneofthecigaretteadvertisements,insentence“kool”isaunisonpun,itbothrefertocigaretteandthecoolfeeling.Inordertoprominentproductoutoftheordinarycoolcharacteristic,theadvertisementmakerfabricatsword“kool”totakethecigarette’sname,usingthe“cool”unison,andthe“hot”infirstsentencealsofurtherstrengthenedthis“cool”meaning,contraststheKoolsigncigarettebytheconsumerstothe“cool”feelinginthemouth.

（6） Foyledagain?

TryDillon.[7]

又失望了？

那就来Dillon书店看看吧。

Thisisadvertisementofthebookstorewhosenamecalls“Dillion”,While“Foyle”isLondon’sanotherbookstore’sname.Theadvertisementmakerintendstoaddon“d”,thencausesunionwiththe“foiled”,themeaningofitis“sufferssetbacks”or“getobstructed”,expandsthebookswhichcannotbefindbythereadersthemselvesneed.Therefore,thisadvertisementisactuallysaidtothereader:

Ifyouhaveanybookscannottofindinthe“Foyle”bookstore,welcometothe“Dillon”bookstore,thepunmeaningheregivesachallengetotheopponentandlethefeelsstress.

2.2HomographicPun

Homographicisoneofimportantmeanstocreatepuns.Easilyknowfromitsname,homographicpunisapuncreatedbythehomographicofaword.[8]Forinstance:

（7） Golfisnolongerarichman’ssport;therearemanypoorplayers.

“Poor”isahomographicword,bearingtwomeanings-“notrich”and“notgoodatsomething”.TheChinesetranslationconveysjustonemeaningofthesentence,andtherealmeaningthatthespeakerorthewriterintendstoexpressinthesecondclauseisnotconveyed-“有很多人的技术都很差.”

Fromthedataabovewecanseemethod“e”and“j”aremostlyusedindealingwiththehomographicpuns.Why?

ThisproblemneedstobeanalyzedthroughthedifferentsemanticcapacityofChineseandEnglishwords.

AsitisknownthattheChineselanguageisacompletelyanalyticallanguageandwordsareformedmainlythroughamalgamation.Intermsofamalgamationwemeanputtingtwoormorecharacterssoastomakethewordspreciseinmeaning.

Homographicpunisalsoseeninthebrandofgoods.Forexample:

（8） Thelabelofachievements.

BlackLabelcommandsmorerespects.[9]

酒是功成名就的标志。

黑色标志使您更显尊贵。

Theexample（8）isanadvertisementofwhiskey,“label”hastwomeanings,oneis“sign”,anotheristhebrandofwine--“BlackLabel”.Thisadletthepeopleassociatewithdrinkingthisbrandwinewhentheyrenderoutstandingserviceandisfamousbythemeansofpun.Simultaneity,itcanhelpconsumerstorememberthebrandconvenientlybythepunmadeofbrandtag,andthenlettheminterestedinwhuskey.

 （9） Spoilyourselfandnotyourfigure[10]

尽情大吃，不增体重.

ThisistheadtitleofWeight-Watcherice-cream,andthisice-creamisproducedfordieterparticular.Punexistsnotonlyinthebrandtagofproduct;the“spoil”inthetitleisalsoapun.Themeaningof“spoiloneself”is“toone’sheart’scontent”（尽兴）,butthemeaningof“spoilone’sfigure”is“someone’sfigureisspoiled”（破坏了体形）.Thisadvertisementmakesthedieteracceptitspontaneouslyintheeasyandhumorousmoodbyhomographicpunandmakethembuytheproduct.

2.3GrammaticalPun

2.3.1PunsCreatedbyDifferentCollocations

Englishwords,especiallyphrasalverbshaveveryflexiblecollocations.Incertaincollocations,themeaningofaparticularverbcanbebroadenedinacertainwayofcourse;verbsvaryfromonetoanotherincollocationrange.Forexample“lostgameandlosttemper”aretworelativelyfixedcollocations;while“pressgrapeandpresscloth”arefreelexicalphraseswhichmeansthetwocomponentsineachphrasearenotcloselyboundandcanappeartogetherwithotherwords.Nomatterfixedorfreelexicalcollocations,theybothlieonthelargesemanticcapacityofEnglishwords（verbs）,whichenablethemtocombinewithotherdifferentlexicalelementsandthuscreatetwoormoredifferentphraseshavingonewordincommonthatmakepunbyrepeatingthewordincommon.

.

2.3.2PunsCreatedbyDifferentUnderstandingsoftheSameWords

IthasbeendiscussedthatformanyEnglishwords,differentunderstandingsofthesamewordsresultingfromitsstructurealsoattributetothehomographic.Forinstance:

（10）Cokerefreshesyoulikenoothercan.[11]

没有什么能像可乐那样令您神清气爽。

“Can”inthesentencecanbethemeaningof“kettle”（罐，听），andalsobethemeaningofverb“can”（能），wecanunderstandtheholesentencewith“Cokerefreshesyoulikedrink）can（refreshyou）.Thisad’sfullofinterestandhumorsthatcanlivethelongtimeinthereaders’memories.

（11）Doubledelicious,Doubleyourpleasure.[12]

双倍地香甜，双倍地开心

Obviouslythisadvertisementrealizesthepunmeaningbythewordof “double”.Thefirstdoubleisanadverb,decorates“delicious”;thelatterisaverb,“pleasure”isanobject,thiswordgameplaysquiteappropriately.

（12）Theoffspringof