On the Translation of Puns in English Advertisements

Essay by guohongli November 2008

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AbstractAs an applied language, advertising English has its own linguistic style and features. Its language is original and beautiful and full of connotations. Its sentence structure is succinct. Advertisements, giving the charm of language full play, use the simplest language to express the most complex meanings. The purpose of advertisements is to stimulate people's desire for shopping. Therefore, many kinds of rhetorical devices are used in advertisements to create new meanings. English pun is one of the important figures of speech, and the skillful use of puns makes advertising language vivid and humorous. This paper explores punning and the translation of puns in English advertisements. It deals with various ways to form puns, and the techniques used in translating puns in English advertisements.

Key Words: advertising English, advertisement, pun, translation""ContentsAcknowledgementsiAbstractiiii1Introduction12The Characteristics of Puns Used in Advertisements22.1 Homophonic Puns32.2 Semantic Puns42.3 Grammar Puns52.4 Puns Derived from Proverbs or Idioms53Translation Methods of Puns in Advertising English63.1

Compatible Translation73.2 Respective Expression of the Double Meanings83.3 Domestication93.4 Emphasizing translation113.5 Compensation translation134Conclusion14BibliographyOn the Translation of Puns in English AdvertisementsPun is one of the common rhetorical figures in English. It not only makes the advertisement language succinct, vivid and humor, but also let the people pay more attention to the advertisement and remember it easily. The use of English pun can enrich the expression of language and prompt people to appreciate the beauty of language.

1IntroductionAdvertising is essentially persuasive communication. Advertisement language has a gigantic persuasive power, and can exert a great effect on society or psychology. Clearly it is closely associated with psychology and society, especially with linguistics. The same is true of advertisement English, which is employed in all kinds of English advertisements and commercials.

Advertisement English is part of the English language. The relationship between the two is that between part and...