A Study on Food and Drink Advertisement Translation from the Perspective of “Functional Equivalence” Theory

李栋

摘 要：In modern time， the world has become more and more globalized， and foods and drinks between different countries have been exchanged more and more frequently. Proper and vivid translation of their advertisement is essential. Eugene A Nida's functional equivalence theory provides a proper perspective for food advertisement translation. This paper will discuss various food advertisement translation versions from the perspective of functional equivalence and explore proper methods of translating food and drink advertisement.

关键词：food advertisement； functional equivalence； translation strategies

1 Main Content of Functional Equivalence Theory

In The Theory and Practice of Translation （1969）， Nida pointed out： "Translation consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message， firstly in terms of meaning， and secondly in terms of style"（Nida，1969）. Nida's equivalence theory emphasizes closest possible approximation， instead of absolute equivalence. He paid more attention to the equivalent effect， not just the same form of language（Liu，2015）. In Nidas opinion， equivalence of translation lies in word， syntactic， discourse and stylistic levels， and meaning concerned with cultural things must be considered.

2 Analysis of Food and Drink Advertisement Translations from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory

2.1 Equivalence at the semantic level

One meaning of the word or phrases in one language may have several similar meanings in another language， and how to choose the best fitted one is very important for translators.The translation of Coca-Cola， namely 可口可樂， has always been regarded as one typical excellent translation example in the circle of food and drink advertisement. Coca-Cola in the US means one kind of delicious drink， which gives others pleasant feelings. When it was firstly introduced to China， its translation is 蝌蝌啃蜡. When people see the name， the impression that the drink must be disgusting will be left in peoples mind， because 蜡 cannot be related with delicious things in Chinese. Then， JiangYi used the method of transliteration and translated it into 可口可乐 meaning delicious and happy in Chinese， whats more， its English pronunciation has been kept by this way. Equivalence at semantic levels means that the word， syntax and discourse in one language can find its natural equivalence in another language. Then target language readers can feel features of language such as its brevity and creativity as source language readers do. As a result， the meaning will be transmitted properly.

2.2 Equivalence at the cultural level

People of different countries have different cultural backgrounds， and different cultural background may lead to different thought patterns. Translation regardless of cultural things may not make native people understand the purpose of the ad， or even leave them with bad impression. One advertisement by SheDe， a Chinese spirits company， is that 人生舍得道，乾坤珍酿中. The translation version is that no pains， no gains， the Nectar， just in this jar. Nectar means sweet liquid produced by flowers and collected by bees for making honey. No pains， no gains is the English idiom， which makes the ad vivid and makes English people understand the meaning in an easy manner. The realization of the social and cultural equivalence is beneficial to reduce cultural differences in the process of food advertising translation. By respecting the target language country's religious practices and ethnic customs and taboos， the translation version of the advertisement will arouse similar reactions of the target language speakers.

2.3 Equivalence at the stylistic level

There are various forms of food and drink advertisement， so are these styles. If the advertisement has prominent stylistic features such as alliteration， end thyme and poetic styles， those language features should be kept so that people in the target language country can feel the beauty of the language in the same manner.One advertisement by FenJiu is that 汾酒必喝，喝酒必汾. The former part of the sentence starts with 汾酒 and ends with 喝， while the latter part of the sentence is in the opposite order， which has prominent stylistic feature（Zhu，2018）. The advertisement was translated in this way： Fenjiu for long， long for Fenjiu. The sentence structure of English version is similar with that in Chinese， and people in the target country can feel the beauty in its form as native people do. Equivalence at the stylistic level makes advertisement of two languages be equivalent in its form. Thus target language readers can also feel the beauty contained in the language form.

3 Conclusion

Nida's functional equivalence theory mainly concentrates on the equivalence between the source language text and target language text. He stressed the importance of the same or similar responses of both the source language readers and the target language readers. And advertising is a marketing communication that employs an openly sponsored， non-personal message to promote or sell a product， service or idea. Same experience of both native people and target language people is essential for its sales. As a result， Nida's functional equivalence theory can be of great importance for the guidance of food and drink advertisement translation.

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