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
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