纽马克文本类型理论下的进口化妆品英语说明书研究.docx

1、纽马克文本类型理论下的进口化妆品英语说明书研究纽马克文本类型理论下的进口化妆品英语说明书研究摘 要近十几年来,随着中国加入世贸后推广了一系列对外文化政策，化妆品也随之涌入国际市场。如何保证化妆品说明书的译文既要能准确有效地传达信息, 又要能切实满足消费者的需求, 这对化妆品说明书的译者来说是个难题。作者试图通过文本类型理论翻译视角来探讨化妆品说明书的翻译, 旨在通过文本类型理论探讨其在英译时应遵循的翻译准则和可采用的翻译手段。英国翻译家纽马克将文本类型划分为表达型文本信息型文本和呼唤型文本三大文本类型, 认为译者应根据文本所要体现的文本功能来采取相应的翻译策略。本研究作者基于纽马克文本理论，采

2、取定性的研究方法，对市场上的化妆品说明书文本及其英译本进行了研究分析。研究表明文本类型理论能指导化妆品说明书翻译，并具有一定优势。同时指出：化妆品说明书翻译并不仅仅是一个语言转换过程，还要考虑到译入语文化，接受者的审美心理等诸多因素。关键词：纽马克，文本类型理论，进口化妆品说明书，英汉翻译。A Study on English-Chinese Translation of Imported Cosmetics Instructions under Newmark Text Type TheoryABSTRACT In recent decades, as China joined the WT

3、O and then issued a series of foreign cultural policies, cosmetics begin to enter into the international market. instructions . Yet, it turns out to be a difficult issue for translators to deliver correct information effectively, to meet the real needs of consumers. In this thesis the author tries t

4、o study it from the point of text typology aiming at selecting basic translation criteria and available translation methods. Peter Newmark, the British translator, classifies all texts into three types: the expressive text, the informative text and the vocative text. He points out that the translato

5、r should adopt corresponding translation strategies according to different text functions that the text expresses. In this thesis, the author adopts a qualitative analysis research method on cosmetic instructions from the market and their English versions based on the theory of Newmarks text typolog

6、y. The theory and the case study of this paper prove that Text Typology Theory can provide guidance to cosmetics instructions translation, and has great priority. Whats more, the author points out that the translation of cosmetic instructions is not only a language decoding process, but also a proce

7、ss that involves many factors, such as target culture, aesthetic psychology and so on. KEY WORDS: Newmark，text typology theory，imported cosmetics instruction, English-Chinese translation.ContentsIntroduction 5Chapter 1 Introduction to Cosmetics Instructions Translation 61.1 Literature Review 61.2 Re

8、search Purpose and Significance of Cosmetics Instructions Translation 91.3 Organization of the Thesis 9Chapter 2 Theoretical Framework 112.1 Peter Newmarks Views on Text Typology 112.1.1 Text Functions 112.1.2 Text Types 132.2 Peter Newmarks Translation Methods 142.3 Text Types and the Choice of Tra

9、nslation Methods 14Chapter 3 Analysis of the Application Text Typology Theory to Cosmetics Instructions Translation 163.1 Accuracy and Economy Applied to the Cosmetics Instructions Translation 163.2 Coherence applied to the cosmetics instructions translation 173.3 Fidelity applied to the cosmetics i

10、nstructions translation 183.4 Relations among the Rules 19Chapter 4 A Case Study to Evaluate Cosmetics Instruction Translation 214.1 Basic Elements of the Questionnaire 214.2 Questionnaire 224.3 Analysis of the Responses 234.4 Suggested Strategies Adopted in the Translation of Cosmetic Instructions

11、244.4.1 Target-language-orientated Strategies 244.4.2 Target-culture-orientated Strategies 26Conclusion 30Acknowledgements 32Bibliography 33IntroductionThe recent decades witnessed Chinas rapid development in terms of trade and international exchange. With the entry into WTO, more and more foreign c

12、osmetic companies begin to come into the Chinese market. In 2003, foreign cosmetics, including the imported and joint-stock products, have taken up 68 percent in Chinese cosmetics market. The chief issue is how to make the consumers know these products very well. The most direct way is to show the c

13、onsumers the cosmetics instructions. Consequently, translation of cosmetics instructions is rather important. However, due to the insufficient attention to cosmetics instructions translation at home and abroad, studies in cosmetics instructions translation lag behind other pragmatic translation, suc

14、h as tourist translation, advertisement translation, etc. Besides, the quality of the translation of cosmetics instructions is far from satisfactory. Moreover, the prominent feature of cosmetics instructions is the integration of informative, aesthetic and vocative functions. It undertakes double ro

15、les of offering information to consumers and arousing their desire to make a purchase. Thus, the task of the translator is to offer the reader-expected target text in light of the clients requirement and make the target text fully perform the functions of cosmetics instructions. Chapter 1 Introducti

16、on to Cosmetics Instructions Translation1.1 Literature ReviewWith the development of social-linguistics, pragmatics and functional grammar, some researchers realize that there is a close relationship between language functions and text categorization, thus they attempt to classify texts according to

17、 language functions in order to find out the reason of forming this kind of relationship. The following introduction is about their major contributions to translation studies in terms of language functions and text typology.Hatim(1980) , as one of the representative figures of the Leipzig school, me

18、ntioned that a text might worth studying. However, Kade(1993) did not carry out the study from the perspective of language functions that are explored nowadays as the parameter to classify text types, but from the text genre Gentzler(2004:67) said that Kade “allowed for a rather broad scale Textgatt

19、ungen (not necessarily types, but categorized generically)”.Karl Buhler(2011:34), put forward that language has three main functions, namely, expression, representation and appeal in his “organon model of language”.Roman Jakobson(1960:363) further developed Buhlers theory and proposed his own model

20、of the functions of language, which is called communication model.Katharina Reiss(2001) put forward her text typology in her book Translation Criticism: The Potentials & Limitations as early as 1971.According to Hofstede(1995), the representational function means the function of reflecting objects a

21、nd facts; the expressive function refers to expressing senders feeling or attitude, while the appellative function implies that making an appeal to the text receiver. Peter Newmark, a famous British translation theorist and an experienced translator, proposed his text typology based on Buhlers funct

22、ional theory of language as adapted by Jakobson and Reisss text typology. Taking Buhlers and Jakobsons discussions on functions of language as the basis, Newmark divided language functions into six categories, including the expressive function, the informative function, the vocative function, the ph

23、atic function, the aesthetic function and the metalingual function.According to Newmark, although language has six functions, they do not occupy the same important position, because the expressive, informative and vocative functions can effectively meet the primary purposes of using language. In vie

24、w of this, the expressive, informative and vocative functions seem to be more important than the aesthetic, phatic and metalingual functions. In China, it is hard to find an authoritative record that mentions the earliest research of text typology explicitly, but it seemed that studies on translatio

25、n from the perspective of language functionsCong Li Jun(2004:43) held the view that, “functions of language production” plays a leading role in the criteria of translation, therefore, translators must convey the thought and content of the source language text accurately, meanwhile, keep the “functio

26、ns of language production” unchanged in the target language text. Taking G. Leechs five classifications of language functions as the basis, Cui Guo Qiang (2010:12) made a discussion on the “issue of translation shift” as well as different translation strategies from the perspective of informative fu

27、nction, expressive function, esthetic function and phatic function. No doubt, his study has operational significance in terms of translation strategy,F however, it seems that the objects of discussion concerned by Guan Xiao Jing(2010:) and Chen Ming Jing(2005) are limited to the sentence itself or s

28、entence groups, which is called “inner-textual level”, and have not reach up to the textual level . Chen Yu Min (2005) made a brief comment on the book Translation Criticism. He pointed out that the shortcomings of the book lie mainly in the fact that it is prescriptive by nature and it fails to tak

29、e full account of the cultural factor in the evaluation of target texts. Cui Jian (1993) indicated that based on Reisss model, Newmark made some adjustments on his model, which is more flexible, relatively complex in respect of translation strategies, and more detailed in reference to methods of lit

30、erary translation than that of Reisss.Fu Zhong Xuan(1993) discovered that there are great differences between both theories in terms of the definition and nature of translation, the criteria of translation, text functions and translation strategies, etc.He Chuan Sheng(1997) proposed that the approac

31、hes for translation criticism, whereas the similarities they share much in common reflect in the aspects of the classification of text types, the nature of translation and the relation between translation and culture. Guo Xing Yu (2007) applied text typology into legal translation with the aim of ex

32、ploring the characteristics of text types and legal texts. She held the view that identifying the typological features of particular texts correctly can bring convenience for translators to grasp the overall intention and function.Hu De Lon (2005) pointed out that the selection of translation strategy is directly related to text function largely. In his monograph A Functionalism View on Pragmatic Translation, he systematically explored and discussed the application of text typology in pragmatic translation from the perspective of western functionalist translatio