An Analysis of Translation Strategies of Cosmetic Advertisements from the Perspective of Cross-cultural Pragmatics

Abstract

Advertising is everywhere in modern society. Cosmetics have appealed to a lot of female customers. Therefore, many cosmetic brands publicize and promote their products through advertisements. Effective advertising translation is good for communication and can bring huge economic benefits. In order to meet the aesthetic requirements and psychological needs of consumers, we need to apply appropriate translation methods and strategies accordingly. With the development of pragmatics, advertising language as a unique linguistic phenomenon has received increasing attention from the scholars.

This study has collected translation examples of cosmetic advertisements. It intends to analyze cosmetic advertisement texts from the perspective of pragmatics, and discusses translation strategies as well as their influences from the perspective of cross-cultural pragmatics by analyzing and comparing. This paper aims to deal with the problems of language and culture differences in the translation of cosmetic advertisements. 

There are four parts in this thesis. The first part is an overview of cosmetic advertisements and previous studies on cosmetic advertising translation; the second part is the introduction to pragmatic theories as well as domestication and foreignization; the third part is the analysis of language features of the cosmetic advertisements; the fourth part is the analysis of the translation strategies of cosmetic advertising from the perspective of cross-cultural pragmatics. This paper aims to explore various translation methods in cosmetic advertising translation strategies, including literal translation, word-by-word translation, free translation and creative translation and so on, so as to help readers interpret translation strategies in different countries or regions.

Key words: cosmetic advertisements; cross-cultural pragmatics; translation strategies