廣告英語雙關(guān)語的翻譯英語畢業(yè)論文

廣告英語雙關(guān)語的翻譯. IntroductionWith the deepening of the international division of labor, development and global economic integration increasing, the international circulation of commodities becomes more frequent. Each country is competing to sell their products in order to be the winner in the world market. Therefore, advertisements become prevalence."Advertisement" comes from the Latin word"Advertere". It means"Arouse public attention to some things, and used to import a certain direction as a means of." 1As a means of disseminating information, advertising language have brief, vivid, imaginative, appealing and other characteristics. The pun uses the pronunciation or the semantic condition, its meaning causes certain words, expressions or the sentence constitutes, the double meaning a rhetoric way in the specific language environment, namely on the surface is one meaning, in fact is another meaning, both are remarkable and can cause to association. Puns can make simple and concise language, subtle humor, novel, intriguing, this rhetorical tactic working in advertising has been widely used. And pun is a play on words, it increases the humor of advertising and makes the advertising pregnant with meaning. Appropriate application of pun can attract readers attention, make the body copy readable, memorable and arouse consumers interest and imagination.II. Definition and Classification of PunsA. Definition of PunsLooking at the same issue from different perspectives, we may often come up with different definitions of the thing under discussion. And, not surprisingly, pun can be thus defined in many ways. There is such a humorous explanation about pun by John Dryden:“punning to torture one poor word ten thousand ways”.2In Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, pun is defined as“An amusing use of a word or phrase that has two meanings, or words with the same sound but different meanings”.3According to The Oxford English Dictionary, pun is defined as“the use of word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings or different associations, or the use of two or more words of the same or nearly the same sound with different meanings, so as to produce a humorous effect”.4 In Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, pun is defined as“A figure of speech depending upon a similarity of sound and a disparity of meaning”.5From the above definitions, we can see that homonyms, homophones, and homographs all are available to construct puns with.B. Classification of English Puns1. Homophonic PunsIt is the use of words with the same or similar pronunciation but different spellings and meanings. It is also called phonetic puns, and phonetic pun is the basic form of English puns. In our daily communication, phonetic is the carrier of transferring information. According to psycholinguistics, speech communication is a process of psychological activities from encoding to decoding. When speakers employ the order ofthinking-meaning-voice to transmit outside, it is called encoding; when listeners employ the order ofvoice-meaning-thinking to process and try to understand, it is called decoding. The inter-processing only relies on hearing, lacking visual sense, and it will cause ambiguity in understanding. For example,(1) Goodbuy Winter!100% cotton knitwear$40It is an advertisement for the sale of winter clothes. The advertisement seems to people that it is good and cheap to buy cotton knitwear. But when the audience read“goodbuy winter” together, they will understand the good use of pun.“Goodbuy winter” sounds the same as“goodbye winter”. The advertisement use homophone to show two meanings: it is a good business to buy the cotton knitwear now, and winter has passed away. Naturally, people will associate the situation happening every year that when they say goodbye to winter, the clothes will have a great discount and it is good time to buy them.(2) Trust us. Over 5000 ears of experience.This advertisement is made for a hearing aid. Reading this line of words, one would probably think of this sentence“Trust us. Over 5000 years of experience”, because the word“ear” and“year” are both same in pronunciation, which leads to the pun device here.By using Homophonic Puns, this advertisement embodies that: these hearing-aid products have been tried and used by so many people over 5000. Moreover, the producer is such an experienced one to guarantee the quality, that you can“trust us” and buy the products.(3) More sun and air for your son and heir.The advertisement is for a bathing beach. The advertiser uses homophone skillfully, sun vs. son, and air vs. heir. The advertiser encourages people to bring their son and heir to the bathing beach to get sun and air to keep fit. Each couple hopes their son and heir will be healthy all their life. Pun makes the advertising language sound sweet, fluent and persuasive.2. Homographic PunsHomographic puns refer to those puns posed by a word of different meanings or more than one meaning. Generally, this type of puns is mainly made from homonym or polyseme. Though different in nature and constitution, homographic puns also have great rhetorical effects as homophonic puns do. Homographic puns are employed in the advertisements below:(4) A Deal with Us Means a Good Deal to You.In this advertisement, a homographic pun device is posed by the word“deal”, which contains three layers of meanings here in the text: firstly,“deal” refers to“business”; secondly, on one hand,“a good deal” means“a good business”, while on the other,“much”,“a lot(of)”,“a great amount”. Obviously, this advertisement indicates that: a business with us is a good business to you, which would gain you a lot good. What a trenchant advertisement it makes by homographic pun. It is persuasive enough to attract the audiences attention.(5) Spoil yourself and not your figure.This is a Weight-Watcher ice cream advertisement title, which is designed for dieters production. The phrase“spoil oneself” means“enjoy oneself to hearts content”, while“spoil ones figure” means“make a damage on ones figure”. In this advertisement, the punny word is“spoil”, the advertiser employs the homographic pun to persuade the Ice-Cream lover to eat to their heart content without worrying about their weight. It achieves a good effect.(6) The label of achievements.Black Label commands more respects.The example is an advertisement of whiskey,“l(fā)abel” has two meanings, one is“sign”, and another is the brand of wine“Black Label”. This advertisement let the people associate with drinking this brand wine when they render outstanding service and is famous by the means of pun. Simultaneity, it can help consumers to remember the brand conveniently by the pun made of brand tag, and then let them interested in whiskey.3. Grammatical PunsGrammatical puns refer to puns produced by grammar problems. Such as elliptical constructions, some words or phrase with two or more than two grammatical functions and so on. A lot of advertisers also use puns grammar problems to attract the audiences, such as ellipsis or word with different grammar functions. This type of pun is used rarely, but if it can be used properly, it will achieve an unexpected effect.a. Puns created by different collocationsEnglish words, especially phrasal verbs have very flexible collocations. In certain collocations, the meaning of a particular verb can be broadened in a certain way of course; verbs vary from one to another in collocation range. For example“l(fā)ost game and lost temper” are two relatively fixed collocations; while“press grape and press cloth” are free lexical phrases which means the two components in each phrase are not closely bound and can appear together with other words. No matter fixed or free lexical enable those to combine with other different lexical elements and thus create two or more different phrases having one word in common that make pun by repeating the word in common.b. Puns created by different understanding of the same wordsIt has been discussed that for many English words, different understandings of the same words resulting from its structure also attribute to the homographic. For instance,(7) Which lager can claim to be truly German?This can.It is an advertisement for Lager beer.“Can” is a modal verb. But in the advertisement, a can of beer beside it reminds people“can” has another meaningtin. Also“Lager” refers to the name of beer. With the illustration, the whole advertisement brings a humorous effect and impresses the audiences deeply.(8) Coke refreshes you like no other can.The Coca-Cola Company also uses“can” to do their advertisement. In this advertising,“can” maybe understand as a bottle for drink, and it also can be used as an auxiliary verb. So this sentence has two meanings: First is“Coke refreshes you like no other can(can refresh you)”. And second is“Coke refreshes you like no other(drinks) can(refresh you)” It implies their product is the best one. Of course, people like to buy the best one.(9) Impossible made possible.This is the printer of Canons advertisement. Obviously, this is the omitted structure and its hardly set up on grammar，but it can convey the meaning very clear. So taking account into the composition of syntax，this sentence could be understood as：The impossible can be made possible. Functions of Puns in English AdvertisementsThrough the above analysis, we can see that pun has a lot of advantages such as wit, humor, novelty and vividness. It produces a particularly rhetorical and pragmatic effect when people use the language creatively. The proper use can make the advertisement impressive and attractive.A. Making Wit and HumorDiderot said“Humor is extensive intellect, abundant imagination, and an active thinking.”6 Using ingenious conception and jocular language in the advertising language, it cans strength the languages convey and makes the customer receive the advertising message in the laughter. In the most cases of advertisements, punthe game of word, produces wit and humor effect to attract the audiences attention and inspires their association. These puns also enable the speaker or the writer to express his intention indirectly, improving the tension. Sometimes it can even relieve the embarrassed and create a light and happy atmosphere. In the age of rapid rhythm, advertisement with pun like a spice makes people enjoy themselves in the advertising atmosphere, and reduces their pressure in a relaxed environment. Such as the following examples,(10) Excellent Taste!It is a word in an advertisement for a whiskey productJamson. In the advertisement, when the hero drank the Jamson whiskey that the heroine introduced to him, he said,“Excellent Taste”. Generally speaking,“taste” means“favor”, but here, another meaning is“the ability to appreciate what is beautiful”. So the advertisement means: this kind of whiskey has a good flavor; the heroine who choose it has high appreciation. The advertiser uses pun to praise both the product and the consumers who choose their products. It caters for people vanity and induces them to buy the product.(11) Im more satisfied.This is an advertisement for the cigarettes of“More”. In this advertisement,“More” not only refers to this kind of cigarette, but also implies that this kind of cigarette can bring customers pleasure and a feeling of happiness and satisfaction. The advertisement composer grasped the characteristics of this kind of product and made use of the rhetoric devicepun. This advertisement has a strong humorous sense and attracts customers attention, strengthening the effect of advertisements.“More satisfied” means that this kind of cigarette can give customers more pleasure and happiness than the other kinds of cigarette. Thus this advertisement makes a sharp comparison between its products and the other products. By this kind of comparison, the customer will choose this kind of cigarette undoubtedly. It goes without saying that this advertisement sets a good example of using pun in English advertisement.B. Adding Vividness to Attract AttentionAs a pun is concise and striking, it is often employed in advertisements, news headlines, slogans, etc. Puns in advertising can hold the attention of the customers unconsciously over a period of time. The use of the pun ensures that the message is communicate with more“strength”. An advertiser is particularly concerned with the problem of attracting and holding an audiences attention. Solving a pun can arouse people with a pleasant feeling, springing from a kind of intellectual satisfaction. And puns function as the stimuli, which remain the most economical and efficient means to attract attention. For example,(12) Self-Testing Medical kitsNo Far-Fetched-Doctor.Here“Far-Fetched” can be interpreted as“(of a comparison) strained; unnatural” and also can be understood as“invite sb. from the distant place”. By using the homographic pun, one headline with double meanings, the topic sentence presents the best explanation to the headline.(13) One shop announced:“DARWIN is Right INSIDE(This was J.R.Darwins everything to wear store).Here DARWIN can be understood as“a person who owns the store” or“a great man who brings up The Theory of Evolution”. As an adjective,“right” means“true or correct”; as advertising,“Right” means“just, directly”. We can explain it in these two ways: a. The great man Darwin who brought up the“Theory of Evolution” is correct. b. The ownership called Darwin is just inside. He is waiting for you! Come in and buy! Welcome to our store! This headline is so different and eye-catching, that attracts the audience attention.C. Making the Product more Profitable and CompetitiveWith the increasingly fierce market competition, the competition of advertising languages has entered a white-hot stage. When designed the advertising language, the designers not only need to promote the goods, and to improve economic efficiency, but also pay attention to its social effects, and promote the healthy development of advertising language. The specialty of pun is useful in advertisement, and favored by people. If an advertiser can make full use of it to satisfy peoples requirement, the product may precede others and gain the market.(14) A deal with us means a good deal to you.Here, the double meanings of“deal” are: the amount and business. The meanings of the advertisement are that: do trade with us is a good business to you; doing business with us, you will get a lot. Advertisers use pun skillfully to inspire the audiences curiosity and attract their interest to do the deal.(15) Powe to influence others.It is an advertisement for a Hector Powe Clothing Company. They advocate that if you wear their clothes, you will have power to influence other people. Because“Powe” is like“power”. It satisfies peoples desire of power, so they like to have a try. Thus, it will bring great profit to the Powe Company. Maybe people with the clothes cant have more power, but the company has the power to influence the market.D. Satisfying the requirement of societyWith the rapid development of the society, people became busier and busier, so the requirement of short and easy remembered advertisement is increasingly popular. But how to impress the audiences is a question. The answer is using pun. Advertisement is paid message, with limited space and time, so it doesnt allow to waste any resources. Pun with double meaning has the characteristic of small carrier but plenty of connotations. So it is very economic, effective and money-saving to the advertiser. In a word, pun uses fewer words to express full message which is the content of economic principle, and it usually reaches the purpose of advertisement that is arouse consumers attention to a commodity and induce then to buy it. For instance,(16) Two beer or not two beer, thats a question.-ShakesbeerWhen reading this beer advertisement, people would associate it with the proverb“To be or not to be, thats a question” in Hamlet. Shakesbeer is the name of the beer, but it sounds like“Shakespeare” who is known nearly all over the world, so it is easy for people to remember the Shakesbeer. And the word said by Hamlet is also very famous, especially in western countries. The sentence is short and the pattern is famous, so people will remember the product naturally.(17) Go well, Go Shell.It is an advertisement for Shell Oil Company.“Well” sounds like“where”, so it implies that go to Shell company to buy oil. Only four words are used in the advertisement, but it expresses the meaning fully and impresses people deeply. Imagine that one day, when you drive your car, suddenly, the oil is run out. So you are wondering where to go, then, of course, you will remember the words“Go well, go Shell”. So you will go to Shell at once. The slogans impress the audiences deeply and persuade them to buy the product invisibly. Translating Methods of Puns in English AdvertisementsPunning is one of the most utilized rhetoric devices in advertising English. In order to produce a dynamic equivalent translation or a communication, we need first to identify the pun in the original language and try to turn it into the target language that interpret both the superficial meaning and the meaning hidden in the pun. Sometimes its hard to use only one phrase or sentence to include the double meanings of the original pun in the target language. So it is better to spill the translation into two semantic sections to retain the whole meaning of the advertisement in the source language.A. Nimble TranslationIn the process of translation, it is impossible that the translation is conducted strictly according to the sentence of original text and dictionary explanation. A big discrimination exists in Chinese and English cultural background and grammar structure. Therefore, it needs nimble translation by through the context. Nimble translation is an essential method in the translation of advertisement pun. Because there has the difference between the culture and custom language expression, in order to make appropriate translation, it is a better way to use the nimble translation in English advertisement pun rhetoric translation.(18) Better late than the late.譯文：慢行回家，快行回老家。It is a public service advertising of traffic. This advertisement is imitating the pattern of the idiom“Better late than never.” And it takes advantage of“l(fā)ate” with the pun function,“l(fā)ate” can be understand as“be late for” while“the late” refers to“dead”. Someone translates it as“遲到總比喪命好”, though the translation of this sentence is correct, it sounds not talking the traffic safety notice, and also hasnt reserved the pun meanings. Here uses the translation although has discrepancies slightly with the original text wording meaning, it keep the faithful original text basic meaning and retained the original text humor.(19) The driver is safer when the road is dry;The road is safer when the driver is dry.譯文：道路不沾水，司機(jī)更安全；司機(jī)不沾酒，道路更安全。This transportation advertisement highlighted“road, driver, safer, dry” these four words, two sentences neat are symmetrical, is the typical antithesis sentence, moreover,“dry” is also a semantics double meaning. The“dry” in first sentence refers does not have the water, the road surface is dry, and in the second sentence should be refers to the driver not to drink wine. Here use the nimble translations method to translate two“dry” as“does not get wet” and“does not moisten the liquor”, retained the primitive antithesis sentence form.B. Compensative Translation The methods mentioned last sections could translate most of the advertisement pun; however, when one meaning of