Abstract: Pun is one of the most common rhetorical figures in advertisements. Puns can be found everywhere in our daily life, and they have enriched our language and life. In order to provide a theoretical foundation for translation of puns in English advertisements, based on detailed research on literature documents, this paper takes Nida’s functional equivalence theory as theoretical basis and discusses the translation of English advertising puns from homophonic puns, homographic puns and grammatical puns. And the author takes into account the double meanings of puns together with the different styles of advertisements, through corresponding translation, separating translation, emphasizing translation and compensating translation to study the translation skills of English advertising puns.

   Key words: pun; English advertising; Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory; translation skills

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction.1

2. Pun and Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory2

2.1 Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory2

   2.1.1 Background of Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory2

   2.1.2 Main Ideas of Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory3

   2.1.3 Contribution of Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory.5

2.2 Relations between Puns and Functional Equivalence Theory.6

   2.2.1 Definition of Pun and Puns in English Advertisements6

   2.2.2 Puns and Functional Equivalence Theory7

3. Puns in English Advertisements.8

3.1 Homophonic Puns.8

3.2 Homographic Puns10

3.3 Grammatical Puns.13

4. Translation of Puns in English Advertisement from the Perspective of Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory14

4.1Corresponding Translation.15

4.2 Separating Translation.16

4.3 Emphasizing Translation.17

4.4 Compensating Translation.19

5. Conclusion19

References21