Abstract:Advertising is an effective means of international trade and have promoted the development of international economy. So the study of advertising translation has also caught people’s attention. What’s more, pun is often used in English advertisements to achieve the goals of advertisers. This paper analyzes the function and characteristics of puns in English ads and then studies the translation of puns in English ads based on the relevance theory. Advertisement translation examples are given to explain how ads translation can help the receivers understand the translator’s intention better and achieve optimal relevance. Then, some translation methods in translating advertisements are proposed , such as literal translation, free translation, creative translation and so on. So the conclusion is that advertisement translation can be guided by Relevance Theory, and the translator should use various effective methods in advertisement translation to achieve the ultimate goal, that is , the optimal relevance.            

Key words:  English advertisements; pun; relevance Theory; translation method

CONTENTS

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction1

2. Literature Review . 2

  2.1 The General Introduction of Puns 

  2.2 The General Introduction of Relevance Theory 

  2.3 Translation of English Advertisements at Home and Abroad

3. Puns in English Advertisements  4

  3.1 The Characteristics of Puns in English Advertisements 

  3.2 The Functions of Puns in English Advertisements

4. The Method of Puns Translation in English Advertisements Based on Relevance Theory .6  

  4.1 Literal Translation 

  4.2  Free Translation 

    4.2.1 Flexible translation

    4.2.2 Additional translation

4.2.3 Under Translation

4.2.4 No Translation

   4.3 Creative Translation

   4.4 Imitative Translation

4.4.1 Structure-borrowing Translation

4.4.2 Pun-to-pun Translation

5. Conclusion. 11

  Bibliography.12

  Acknowledgments.13