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On Chinese Translation of Commercial Headlines
Tue, Feb 14th 2012, 17:46 Under Category Useful Information for the Public by actc

While commerce is becoming to touch every aspect of people’s lives in the postindustrial world, producers or merchants have been trying to grasp the attention of their potential customers by writing the most creative, eye-catching and persuasive headlines in the process of promoting products so as to maximize their economic benefits. Therefore, how to make the advertisement appealing is crucial for the success of a product. In the same way, producing the closest possible equivalent translation of its headline would definitely be beneficial for the producers' future promotion.

 Unlike traditional translation theories, which focus on verbal comparison between the original text and its translation, the concept of headline translation shifts from “the form of the message” to “the response of the receptor”. It is reader-oriented. In such a translation, the translator is concerned with a dynamic relationship, and this relationship between receptor and message should “be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message”, and it demands “complete naturalness of expression” and does not require the reader to understand the culture patterns of the source-language context in order to comprehend the message. A translation of dynamic equivalence aims at complete naturalness of expression, and tries to relate the recipient to modes of behavior relevant within the context of his own culture.

 The following examples are extracted from a commercial real estate project: 

 

Headline

Equivalent Translation

Allure of the sea & splendor of the hills

 

山之秀丽,海之风情

 

LOCATION: IT’S EVERYTHING.

TANJONG PAGAR: YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD

 

地理位置:应有尽有

丹戎巴葛:近在咫尺

 

AT THE HEART OF ALL THAT MATTERS

THE CITY, THE BAY, THE SEA

 

地处核心地带,坐拥都市繁华

 

城市、港湾、碧海

 

 

ONE OF ITS KIND

UNIQUE

HIGHLY NOTICABLE

ATTRACTIVE SILHOUETTE

ENVIROMENTALLY FRIENDLY

 

绝无仅有

无与伦比

万众瞩目

气度不凡

绿色环保

COMING TOGETHER

THE MELDING OF LOCATION, PURPOSE AND INTENTION

TIED TOGETHER BY ARCHITECTURE

MANIFESTED IN NATURE

 

兼而有之

位置、功能和理想的完美融合

通过建筑的形式凝结在一起

完美而自然的呈现

 

A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY

AS A HOME AND AN INVESTMENT

机遇千载难逢,精彩不容错过

自住投资皆宜

 

 As is known to all, the direct gains from a successful commercial headline should encompass the follows: (1) increase the level of awareness of the product; (2) develops knowledge of product qualities; (3) has limited influence on image aspects which are not directly related to use; (4) stimulates interest in, and learning from headline, so does its equivalent translation. It seems that a successful translation of commercial headline should possess the following qualities: (1) reads fluently; (2) with no cultural barriers; (3) fully reflect the product quality by digging into the hidden meaning behind the facade of words.

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