目的论指导下的企业简介翻译

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ABSTRACT

There is an increasing recognition among Chinese companies to explore the

international market via the Internet against the backdrop of globalization and

information explosion. As a brief description of the differentiating features of a given

company, a corporate profile (CP) represents an integral part of its advertising strategy.

An overview of the online CP translation from Chinese to English, however, reveals

that its quality, as a whole, is far from satisfactory. Apart from the common language

mistakes, one of the biggest concerns goes to the fact that a considerable number of

English CPs are nothing but a word-for-word translation of their Chinese resources

while such factors as textual features and changed readers are often ignored, leading to

the limited advertising functions of CPs. One of the root causes behind these

phenomena can be traced to the lack of an appropriate translation concept.

In this case, it’s recommended that Skopostheorie be applied, the core theory of

German Functionalist Translation Schools in recent history to the CP translation. In

Skopotheorie, translation is a purposeful activity and that the purpose of translation

determines the needed ways and means or “the end justifies the means.” This theory can

be further broken down into three rules—Skopo rule, intertextual coherence rule (or

coherence rule) and intratextual coherence rule (or fidelity rule). While intertextual

coherence rule is subject to intratextual coherence rule, both of which are in turn subject

to Skopo rule, the first and foremost rule in translation. Besides, the translator should

conform to the genre conventions, carry out the text classification, take the target

readers into account and judge his work by adequacy rather than equivalency. The

translator is an active agent in translation. He is supposed to act as an expert on the

translation brief by his clients, decide on the contents and means needed and hold

accountable for the function of the target text.

This thesis begins with a literature review of Skopotheorie, a research review of the

theory in China and an introduction of some basic concepts of Skopotheorie. Then, it

clarifies the advertising nature of a CP, explains the differences between a Chinese CP

and an English CP in terms of the textual features of an ad, the context cultures they

belong to and the general language features they have. This step is done by comparison

and contrast with ample examples from the official websites of Fortune 100 world

enterprises (2008) and Forbes 100 Chinese enterprises (2008). Accordingly, it is argued

that rewriting of the source text shall be called out before translation on the basis of

Skopostheorie, its three rules in particular, and the interactivity of the Internet.

Rewriting is usually divided into three ways: abridgement, addition and reengineering.

Rewriting is not in opposition to the traditional principle of fidelity but in the interest of

the function of the target text and therefore is loyal to the aim of the source text author

in the target culture in a real sense. Being an international advertisement, the English

version of a Chinese CP should be creative as well. Finally, the significance of

Skopostheorie to translation teaching and translator training is discussed and

suggestions in this regard are brought up. The limitations of the current research are

mentioned in an attempt to shed light on translation researches in the future.

Key words: Skopostheorie corporate profile advertising

text classification rewriting translator

iii

摘要

在全球化日益发展和信息爆炸的今天，通过建立官方网站拓展国际市场已成

为越来越多中国公司的共识。企业简介，作为对相关企业典型特征的概述，在其

广告宣传战略中占据着极其重要的地位。然而，纵观当前中国公司官网的企业简

介汉译英翻译市场，其现状总体上不容乐观。除了常见的语言方面的错误外，最

典型的不足是简介的“内稿外用”，即许多英文企业简介只是中文企业简介的语

码转换，译者常常忽视了简介的文本特点和读者对象的改变等因素，导致了英译

本企业简介没能发挥出应有的广告功能，而造成该现象的症结之一是缺乏正确的

翻译观。

因此，本文主张用德国功能学派的核心理论—目的论来指导此类文体的翻译

实践。该理论认为翻译是一项有目的的活动，翻译的目的决定了翻译的具体策略

（the end justifies the means）。目的论常可分为三大法则—目的法则 (Skopos

rule)，语内一致法则（intratextual rule）和语际一致法则（intertextual rule,也称忠

诚法则,fidelity rule）。语际一致法则受制于语内一致法制，两者又同时受到翻译

的最高法则—目的法则的制约。此外，该理论还认为译者应遵循目的语的“通用

法则”(genre conventions)、进行文本分析、充分考虑对象读者的特点并以适当原则

（adequacy）而不是对等原则（equivalence）为评价标准；译者应在翻译过程中

扮演积极角色，他是翻译过程的“专家”，根据客户的翻译指令，自由决定翻译

的内容和策略，并为译文的功能负责。

本论文首先回顾了目的论的发展历史和该理论在中国的研究情况，介绍了目

的论的主要观点。其次，论证了企业简介的广告功能，并从广告文本特点、中英文

语境特征以及中英语言差异等三个角度出发，以 2008 年财富 100 强企业的英文简

介和 2008 年中国 100 顶尖企业的企业简介为例，通过比较分析的方法说明了中英

企业简介的差异性。在此基础上，作者以目的论尤其是它的三大法则为指导，结

合因特网互动性的特征，提出了译前改写的主张。改写方式可分为缩写、扩写和重

新设计。作者认为：改写不是对原语的背叛，而是为了更好地实现原语在目的语

中的功能（目的），是更具实质意义的忠诚；此外，译文除了要遵循国际广告的

通用法则外，还应突出简介的创新性。最后，本文探讨了目的论对翻译教学和译

者培养方面的指导意义，并就此提出相关的建议，同时指出了本研究仍存在的不

足，以期为今后的深入研究提供一些启示。

关键字：目的论企业简介广告文本分析改写译者

Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...............................................................................................i
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................ii
摘要..............................................................................................................................…iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS…..……………………………………………………………………….v
Chapter One Introduction..............................................................................................1
1. Background Information and Significance of the Study…………..……………..1
2. Methodology.……………………………………………………………………..4
3. Structure of the Thesis……………………………………………………………4
Chapter Two Literature Review....................................................................................6
1. Background and Development of Skopostheorie………………………………...6
2. Research Review of Skopostheorie in China...………………………...…………9
3. Basic Concepts of Skopostheorie….…….……...……………………………….10
3.1. Translation as a Purposeful Activity….…….………….……..………….....10
3.2. Agents of Translation…....………………………………..…………...........11
3.3.Translation Brief……….....………...………….………..…………..….........12
3.4. Genre Conventions……...…..….…………….……………………………...13
3.5. Culture and Translation..........….…………….…..……………………….....14
3.6. Three Rules of Skopostheorie…..……...………….………............................16
3.6.1. Skopo Rule……………………………………………..………….........16
3.6.2. Intratextual Coherence Rule and Intertextual Coherence Rule……..…..17
3.7. Adequacy More than Equivalence....................................................................18
3.8. Role of Text Classifications…....…….….……………………………….…..19
4. Summary……..……………………….…….……………………………………...20
Chapter Three English and Chinese Corporate Profiles...........................................22
1. An Overview of a Corporate Profile…………………………………………….22
1.1. Advertising Feature of a Corporate Profile………………...…….………….22
1.2. Features of a Great Corporate Profile……………………………………......24
1.3. An Internet-based Corporate Profile in the Age of Globalization……………25
2. Native English and Chinese Corporate Profiles………………………………....26
2.1. Informativeness vs. Appellativeness….……………………………………..26
2.2. LCC vs. HCC………………………………………………………………..28
2.3. Language Styles……………………………………………………………..29
2.3.1. Lexical Differences……………………………………………………..29
2.3.1.1. Brevity vs. Heavy Modifiers…..……………………………………29
2.3.1.2. Stative vs. Dynamic………………………………………………....30
2.3.2. Syntactical Differences……………………………………….…………31
2.3.2.1. SV Structure vs. Flowing Chunks….……..………………….……….31
2.3.2.2. Simple and Colloquial Sentences vs. Long and Stylized Sentences….33
v

3.2.3.3. Diversification vs. standardization in Textual Framework……..………..34
3.3. Summary……………………………………………………….……….……….34
Chapter Four CP Translation from the Perspective of Skopostheorie....................36
4.1. Rewriting…………………………………………………….……………..……36
4.1.1. Abridgement………………………………………………………………...37
4.1.2. Addition……………………………………………………………………..39
4.1.3. Reengineering……………………………………………………………….40
4.2. Intratextual Coherence Rule and Good English Corporate Profile……………...42
4.2.1 Mistake-free Language………………………………………………………42
4.2.2. Simple and Sweet language of Corporate Profiles….....……………………43
4.3.Intertextual Coherence Rule and CP Translation ….……..………………………45
4.4. Summery……………………………..………………………………………… ...46
Chapter Five Conclusion..............................................................................................48
Appendix I CP of Baili Group......................................................................................50
Appendix II CP of Shell................................................................................................51
Appendix III CP of Xiuzheng Group...........................................................................52
Appendix IV CP of P&G..............................................................................................54
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................55
vi

Corporate Profile Translation from the Perspective of Skopostheorie

Chapter One Introduction

1.1. Background Information and Significance of the Study

Thanks to the implementation of the policy of reform and opening-up, China has

gradually become part of the world economy and its status in the world community has

been greatly enhanced as a result. This momentum gains speed following China’s entry

into WTO. Although the current global financial crisis has delivered a heavy blow to the

world economy, China included, leading to a great number of embattled companies. Yet

China by far is the top contributor of the global economic growth, 19.2% of the world

totals in 2007, up from merely 2.3% in 19781 and from a long-term perspective, opening

will continue to dominate the business life around the world.

In this context, how to secure a place in the world arena has been a major concern

of all Chinese companies as the globalization2, once only the subject of theoretical

speculation is now a reality. Even small and medium-sized companies find it necessary

to have some international expertise in order to survive. Not only are Chinese

companies faced with stiff competition from their domestic counterparts, but their

international rivals as well, multinational corporations (MNCs) in particular.

The information age, notably the introduction of the Internet, has made it crucial for

Chinese companies to make the most of this powerful medium. According to a survey3,

over the past two decades or more since the Internet came into being, the number of

Internet users worldwide has multiplied at an amazing speed. It was estimated 1.35

billion by the end of 2007. The number of Chinese netizens ranked second in the world

at 162 million following the USA. More and more Chinese companies have relied on

this channel to publicize news, enhance their customer service, showcase their new

products and technological advancement and above all to enhance their corporate image

(CI). As a matter of fact, the Internet is so vital that it was listed as the fourth major

medium by the UN Press Commission in May, 1998. Among the different and varied

features, this awesome communication tool may be best-known for its interactivity,

which suggests it is the netizens concerned who are given more power than customers

of newspaper, TV set and broadcast to decide the fate of an ad, including a corporate

1 Retrieved October 3, 2009, from http://www.chinadaily.com

2.Stegler, p. ix. (1999) defines globalization as “an unprecedented compression of time and space reflected in the

tremendous intensification of social, political, economic, and cultural interconnections and interdependencies on a

global scale.”

3 互联网应用发展的趋势. Retrieved Dec 1, 2009, from http://blog.sina.cn/s/print_4945191d1000bxb.html

Chapter One Introduction

profile. Therefore, how to present a high-quality text constitutes a major concern among

the main translation agents: source text producer (copywriter), translator and translator’s

clients.

Obviously, the stakeholders of translation cannot bring up a satisfactory text and

exploit the potential of the international market through the Internet by luck or accident.

It requires an insight of the changed readers, an actual understanding of the medium,

and a good mastery of conventional genres with regard to the source text and target text,

as well as good manipulation of language skills.

A review of the C-E translation market of corporate profiles, however, indicates

that there is still much work to do. Apart from such common language problems as

spelling, misunderstanding and Chinglish (Ding Hengqi, 2002), one of the biggest

concerns goes to the word-for-word translation of the Chinese resources. Among the

different and various causes lies the lack of an appropriate translation teaching concept

(Liu Jichun, 2007, p.287). That is to say, some corporate profile translators fail to see

the advertising purpose of a corporate profile, the features of the medium and the

changed readers (from Chinese to English). This may explain why they frequently seek

the criteria of equivalence which seems more appropriate in literature translation than

corporate profile translation due to its pragmatic function (ibid). Simply put, they fail to

change their means for their end.

The German functionalist translation theory (Skopostheorie), one of the most

influential schools of its kind in recent history, has proved instrumental in guiding the

CP translation. It advocates that translation is an intentional, interpersonal, partly

nonverbal intercultural interaction based on a source text (Vermeer, 1989, p.173; Nord,

2001, p.18) and that the purpose of the translation text determines the means it employs,

or “the end justifies the means”. In determining the purpose of the target text, the

translator should pay more attention to the role of the target readers than usual, who

justify the acceptability of a translated text. This school of translation theory is, in the

final analysis, one known for its reader-orientation and target-culture dominance (Jia

Wenbo, 2004, p.53). The Skopos theory can be broken into three rules: Skopos rule,

intratextual coherence rule (or coherence rule) and intercontextual coherence rule (or

fidelity rule). While the Skopos rule is the first and foremost rule, the intertextual

coherence rule is subject to the intratextual coherence rule and both of them are in turn

subject to the Skopos rule.

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摘要：

ABSTRACTThereisanincreasingrecognitionamongChinesecompaniestoexploretheinternationalmarketviatheInternetagainstthebackdropofglobalizationandinformationexplosion.Asabriefdescriptionofthedifferentiatingfeaturesofagivencompany,acorporateprofile(CP)representsanintegralpartofitsadvertisingstrategy.Anover...

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