Chinese—English Translation of Publicity Documents of Alibaba Group from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory

郭欣　丁啟紅

【Abstract】In the tide of the economic globalization， China and the world have more economic exchange. The publicity documents of enterprises， as a bridge of external communication， play an increasingly important role. Alibaba Group is the representative Chinese enterprise， and its translation of publicity documents cannot be underestimated. This thesis investigates the Chinese-English translation of publicity documents of Alibaba Group from the perspective of functional equivalence， and puts forward some techniques in publicity documents translation to improve its quality.

【Key words】Publicity documents； Functional Equivalence Theory； Alibaba Group

【作者簡介】郭欣，丁啟紅，成都理工大學。

Introduction

With the development of reform and opening policies， we have witnessed the booming of the economy in China. In this business environment， Chinese companies are quite eager to walk out the outside world and attract business partners. And the publicity documents as a bridge of external communication play an increasingly important role of the enterprises. Currently， some Chinese enterprises have produced high-quality bilingual publicity documents. However， there are still some corporations whose translations of publicity documents need to be improved before broadening the oversea markets.

Many scholars do the researches about the publicity documents and get insightful results. Based on these thought-provoking studies and many theories， functional equivalence theory of Eugene A. Nida is quite directive to the enterprises publicity documents. Functional equivalence theory has a significant impact on the whole translation world， even in the translation of publicity documents. Therefore， it is a better choice to analyze the translation of enterprises publicity documents from the perspective of Nidas functional equivalence theory.

Alibaba Group is the representative enterprises in China， whose role of the external window of business and information exchange cannot be underestimated. The publicity documents of Alibaba Group have strong significance for researching and some references for other enterprises.

1. Introduction of Functional Equivalence Theory

1.1 Definition of the Functional Equivalence Theory

Eugene A. Nida puts forward functional equivalence theory. Functional equivalence experiences a changing process constantly， from“dynamic equivalence” to “functional equivalence”. Eugene A. Nida raises the important theory， “formal equivalence” and “dynamic equivalence” in Toward a Science of Translating. Then， Nida changed the dynamic equivalence to the functional equivalence and emphasized on the source and the translation should be equivalent as much as possible.

1.2 Four Levels of Functional Equivalence Theory

Functional equivalence theory has four levels. Eugene A. Nida shows that “the translation is not only the definition about a word in the sense of equivalence including semantic， textual and stylistic equivalence. The message of translation is not only the surface lexical information， but also the deep cultural information. ”

For the lexical level lies in words usages in translation.

For the syntactic level， the translators should understand the structure and the frequency of this structures usage.

For the discourse level， the translators should focus the language itself， and understand the meaning and function in a specific context.

For the stylistic level， the translators should grasp the characteristics of both source language and target language and truly reflect the style of the source language.

2. Introduction of Publicity Documents

2.1 Definition of Publicity Documents

In Chinese， publicity documents are called “外宣資料”. The definition of “publicity” in Webster New World College Dictionary is， “any information， promotional material， which brings a person， place， products or cause to the notice of the public”. A Chinese scholar also thinks the aim of oversea publicity document is to promoting the international communication and publicizing it to the outside word.

2.2 Characteristics of Publicity Documents

Four-word structure

Four-word structure is characterized by conciseness and richness， and is a unique form in China.

Curved thinking mode

It is the Chinese thinking mode， which reflects in the structure of publicity documents.

A third-person perspective

It can highlight the subjectivity of the enterprise.

3. Suggested Techniques about the C-E Translation of Publicity Documents of Alibaba Group from Functional Equivalence Theory

The main function of publicity document of enterprise is to publicize the enterprise. Therefore， the target readers response should be regarded as the first principle. Functional equivalence theory has a strong guidance and cultural orientation. Doing a better publicity documents， choosing the right translation techniques is important. Alibaba Group is the representative company in China and its publicity documents are outstanding with a strong reference.

3.1 Annotation from Lexical Level

Due to the differences of culture， some statements or words do not have totally equivalence in the target text. A large amount of daily expressions in Chinese may be confused the target readers， who have grown up in a completely different cultural environment. Therefore， the readers of target language sometimes do not understand what the mean is. Under this circumstance， according to the lexical level of functional equivalence theory， annotation is a better way to translate the publicity documents.

One of the distinctive features of Chinese publicity document is the use of Chinese characteristics terms and statements frequently. The quick development of social and economic in China has been producing the new policies， and a lot of new political terms have come into existence as a result. So the translation of policies term is a great challenge for the translators to make the foreign readers know and understand the political term.

Example 1：

“互聯網+”

“Internet Plus （Internet Plus is the integration of the Internet and the traditional industries through online platforms and IT technology）”

3.2 Omission from Syntactic Level

A major feature of Chinese enterprises publicity documents is listing many awards and titles in hopes of demonstrating their quality， products and services. However， this is not convincing for English readers. According to the syntactic level， the structure of a sentence is important. Therefore， we can omit them when translating into English.

Example 2：

2017年 阿里巴巴集團獲BrandZ最具價值全球品牌100強第14位

2016年 阿里巴巴集團獲2015年中國企業國際傳播力第二名

2015年 阿里巴巴集團獲ENCORE獎

Alibaba Group， with its advanced technology and outstanding contribution， has won many awards and titles from national to international level.

In the above example， if listing the awards or titles received by the company， English readers must be ignorant， and it will make the translation redundant. Therefore， we can summarize the above awards in one sentence.

3.3 Adaptation from Discourse Level

Chinese uses less explicit connection means and the meaning of the context is the basis for the contextual understanding. According to the discourse level， when the translators analyze the source texts， they can not only focus the language itself， but also understand how the language embodies meaning and function in a specific context. In this situation， adaptation is a great technique for translation.

Example 3： 在阿里巴巴集團不斷發展壯大， 創世界自主品牌的進程中， 弘揚中華民族的優良傳統， 展現阿里巴巴集團作為民族品牌的社會責任， 繼續關注并鼎立支持社會公益事業，環保事業， 做出更大的貢獻！

Alibaba Group will continue carrying forward the virtue of Chinese nation and displaying the social responsibility as a national brand and continue paying attention to and giving support to the public welfare and environment protection in the process of developing and establishing the world proprietary brand.

If these sentences are literally translated into English， they will not conform to the habit of English expressing. Therefore， we can adjust the structure of the sentence. This is consistent with the habits of English， and English readers read such translations would have the same feelings as Chinese readers， thus embodying the guiding role of Nidas functional equivalence theory.

3.4 Amplification from Stylistic Level

In the Chinese language habits， the four-character structure are seen as the part of the Chinese culture. If the translator translates the Chinese four-character structure or the gorgeous rhetoric into English literally， the foreign readers will feel incomprehensible and tedious， even unacceptable. Amplification is a practicable technique when translating the text with Chinese characteristics.

Example 4： Culture and values of Alibaba Group

“擁抱變化--迎接變化，勇于創新”

EMBRACE CHANGE--In this fast-changing world， we must be flexible， innovative and ready to adapt to new business conditions in order to survive.

“激情--樂觀向上，永不言棄”

PASSION--We expect our people to approach everything with fire in their belly and never give up on doing what they believe is right.

Based on the functional equivalence theory， the translator needs to ensure that the reader of the source text and the reader of the target text should have the same understanding. In the process of translation， the culture background should be focused.

Conclusion

In this paper， the author briefly introduces Nidas functional equivalence theory， and the publicity document. And concludes， and selects some translation techniques to improve the translation quality of publicity documents guided by the Nidas functional equivalence theory to give other enterprises some references to produce high-quality bilingual publicity documents.

References：

[1]Nida A. Eugene. A Language， Culture and Translating. Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2001.Print.