The cognitive poetics of English-Chinese advertisement translation

Abstract

Abstract Advertisements often use poetic methods to increase aesthetic value, evoke emotion, and strengthen recipients’ impression. This study explores the cognitive poetics of English-Chinese advertisement translation and investigates how poetic methods are treated in translation. It draws upon poetics, psychology, and translation to study a corpus of 198 English-Chinese poetic advertisements. Two major poetic methods in the advertising discourse – repetition and image establishment – will be outlined, as well as their functions in invoking an emotional response and lasting impression. Then, analysis of a representative example will demonstrate how the poetic elements are transferred across languages, and the results of two surveys confirm their effects. The discussion is intended to shed light on the audience’s reception and perception of advertisements and provide translators with practical reference regarding poetic methods and the importance of the audience’s emotion and impression.