English-ChineseAdvertisementCultureandTranslation英汉广告文化及翻译

1、English-Chinese Advertisement Culture and Translation 英汉广告文化及翻译 Abstract Advertisement is not only an economic activity, but also a cultural communication. In China, the authoritative definition of advertisement is the Advertisement Law of the People sR epublic of China. “ Advertisement r”efe rs to

2、“Any commercial advertisement, which passes certain media or forms, directly or indirectly introducing their commodities being sold or services being provided ”A.d vertisement culture includes the culture of goods and the culture of market. The advertisement is a propaganda form which is the sales o

3、f commodity of cross-nation and cross-culture. The translator is in a important position to apply advertisement languages. At the same time, they confront any kinds of difficulties, because of the different culture and language of different counties. In evidence, the translation of the advertisement

4、 is different from the other stylistics. The translator should have universal knowledge including language, culture of society, folkway, aesthetics, psychics, economics and advertisement s principle. At the same time, the translators also adopt new strategies when they translate. Key Words Advertise

5、ment; cross-cultural; communication; differences; strategy; 摘要 广告活动不仅是一种的经济活动，还是一种文化交流。在中国，广告的权威性定 义是指中华人民共和国的广告法。广告指的是通过特定的媒体或者其他形式来推 销产品或提供服务的商业广告，直接或间接的介绍他们的出售产品和提供的服 务。广告文化是从属于商业文化的亚文化，自身又包含了商品文化以及营销文化。 广告则是跨国界、跨文化的商品营销的宣传形式。中国的国际广告实施过程中， 在广告语言的运用方面，翻译工作者起着举足轻重的作用，同时也面临着由于各 国文化与语言差异所带来的各种困难。国际广告

6、的翻译显然不同于其它文体的翻 译，译者需具备语言、社会文化、民俗、美学、心理学、经济学、广告原理等多 方面的知识，翻译时也须采用新的策略。 关键词 国际广告 ; 跨文化; 交流; 差异; 策略 Introduction Chinese economy has already entered the world market. Advertisement which is a fundamental marketing tool plays an important role in Chinese economy. And it contributes much to the entrance

7、of products sale and services to the world market. As a phenomenon of the market economy, the study of advertisement in the West has a history of more than thirty years. In contrast, the study of it in China is still in its infancy. Though a lot of articles and works have been done on the research o

8、f advertisement these years, they are superficial. And the research of advertisement translation still remains blank except for several articles sparkling in journals. So it is necessary to do a study in this perspective. I will start with analyzing the differences of advertisement culture and the d

9、ifferences of language. Then continue to explore new strategies in the advertisement translation. I. The Overview of Advertisement A. The Definition of Advertisement There are various definitions of advertisement according to different perspectives or purposes. Albert Lasker, the father of modern ad

10、vertisement, said advertisement was “ salesmanshipin print. ”Th is saying indicates that the ultimate objective of advertisement is to sell. However, with the development of media and the expansion of the nature and scope of advertisement, this saying is quite limited. Encyclopedia Britannica define

11、s advertisement as follows: “Advertisement is a form of communication intended to promote the sale of a product or service, to influence public opinion, to gain political support, to advance a particular cause, or to elicit some other response desired by the advertiser. Advertisement is distinguishe

12、d from other forms of communication in that the advertiser pays the media to deliver the message.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume I, 1994) This definition extends the objective of advertisement to persuading people to do response. It indicates that advertisement is a form of communication, and it

13、further points out that advertisement is different from other forms of communication in that the advertiser pays the media to deliver the message. In this study, I shall use the definition put forward by William F. Arenas and Courtland L.Bov ee, which is a quite comprehensive one: “ Advertisemenits

14、the no personal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods and services) of ideas by identified sponsors through various media. We should comprehend this definition as below: (1) Advertisement is directed to groups of people rather than ind

15、ividuals (no personal). The groups of people are the intended or the target audience of the advertisement communication. (2) Most advertisement is paid for by sponsors, except some public service ads. (3) Most advertisement is intended to be persuasive to convince people to buy products or services,

16、 but some ads promote the images of enterprises. (4) The sponsor must be identified. It appears as trademark, brand name of products or services, or the name of an enterprise in the advertisement. (5) Advertisement reaches us through media. In China, the authoritative definition of advertisement is

17、in the Advertisement Law of the People Rs epublic of China. “ Advertisement re”fe rs to “Any commercial advertisement, which a commodity operator or service provider pays for, through certain media or forms, directly or indirectly introducing their commodities being sold or services being provided”

18、B. The Functions of Advertisement Generally speaking, the functions of advertisement fall into two categories: the economic functions and the ideological functions. The economic role of advertisement may be its primary role. It bridges markets, products and consumer goods to the public and thus to s

19、upport the free economy. It can help the consumers to identify and differentiate products and build brand preference and loyalty. To make an in-depth study, we find that advertisement involves social values and attitudes. Nowadays, more and more advertisement adopts the style of emotion appeal. They

20、 suggest our concerns about relationship, our sense of social status, happiness and contentment and many others. It may be said that advertisement is a mirror of ideology and culture. By imposing images on the products and services, advertisement can influence our attitudes and feelings and meet our

21、 ideological needs so as to persuade us to act. For instance, some advertisers claim that the consumption of their products will give youth, love, social acceptance etc. C. The Classifications of Advertisement Advertisement can be classified by media (newspaper, magazine, radio, television, internet

22、), by target audience (consumer, business), by geography (local, international), or by purpose (product advertising, non commercial advertisement, action advertisement). In this study, because of the limitations of materials, I will deal exclusively with print advertisement from the media of English

23、 and Chinese magazines and newspapers. And because consumer ads play an important role in all kinds of ads, and are most visible in our society, I mainly aim at the study of consumer advertisement. II. The Effects of Culture and Language With the development and deepen of specialization, and globe i

24、ncorporate tendency, the product circulation is frequent. In order to contest the world market, many companies want to sale their products. But the most important means is using advertisements makes goods and into world market. At the same time, because of the integration of China se conomy into the

25、 world market, the development and consummation of China esc onomy system, advertisement which is a fundamental marketing tool plays an important role in China s economy, and it contributes much to China s sales of products a nsdervices in the international market, and it is also the carrier of tran

26、smitting culture. Advertisement activity is not only an economic activity, but also a cultural activity. It likes an invisible hand to affect people mso de and consumer s habit. It cinludes the culture of goods and the culture of market. Goods, it is a cultural carrier. In China, in The Silk Rode Ti

27、mes, people transmit their culture by goods. The Silk Rode brings westward not only silk, but also the ancient culture. The substance of product culture contains design, produce, and packing and decorates of the products, and also the adding cultural value in the development course. It is a unity of

28、 times-spirit, national spirit and science spirit, and also a unity of using function and aesthetic function. It is the central content of advertisement culture. The market culture on the premise of culture concept refers to the market art and philosophy on the principles of being close to the needs

29、 of psychics of men, the spirit temperament and the aesthetic interest, which is the concentrated expressive form of advertisement culture. Commodity culture comes true ultimately through the achievement of market culture. Advertisement culture is obviously characterized by popularity and nationalit

30、y. A certain cultural tradition, belief, orientation of values affects the mind and action of business operator and consumer. The international advertisement is a propaganda form of stride-border and cross-culture of product s sell. Compared with domestic advertisement, the international advertiseme

31、nt faces many different problems which comes form language, traditional habit, regulation, education, environment, religion and economic condition, and so on. The translator is in a position to apply advertisement languages. The translator is a messenger who is good at communication in the sociality

32、 activity. The translation of business advertisement is different from literature, technology, news. A. The Effects of Culture. 1. Different Cultural Values The Chinese of cultural values possesses profound the spirits of humanism. People value is acted in ”i ntrospection an”d “ restrainingo neself

33、”Th e Confucians had advocated “ cultivate character, regulate the family and run the state, manage nation And they emphasis the ability of moral standard. Thus, it comes into being the introverted mind step by step. The professor Yang who is a Chinese American thinks: “theC hinese people pay attent

34、ion to the texts of products in the advertisement. Its cultural background is the ethic and religion which come from Taoist school, Buddhists and Confucians”. It has the fatalism tint. The relation is established on the positivism. C”o mpared with Chinese, the western people tse mperament is extrove

35、rted. They pay attention to the Out-form of advertisement. They request sensory effect. 2. Different Psychology Construction The Chinese people have steady psychology construction, so it comes into being characteristic cultural psychology, with “ humanity “”p ragmatic “”p atience T”he. y think much

36、of authority, but ignore fact. It is the group psychology; they think much of colony, but neglect individual; they think much of material benefit, but neglect impression; they think much of moral, but ignore effect. It is the egalitarianism. In opposite, the psychology construction of the western pe

37、ople is complex and loose, with “ humanism“”cognize ” “ action ” 3. Different Region Environment and Human Environment China is one of the four countries with an ancient civilization. It lies in the rich land. So family is very important in their mind. Compared with the west, China has a long histor

38、y. The western people have an area of narrow, and they often flight. The concept of the family has become less important in their minds now. Advertisement culture clings to the body culture. With the communication of the world economy is more and more. The tendency of the worlds developthmee nt is “

39、 globalv illage ”It .i s certain that advertisement culture is fused. The seeking of Chinese people trends“new, famous, penetrating, beauty”. The using functionality is instead of aesthetics step by step in china. If we know differences between the Chinese and the west, we can do with a definite pur

40、pose. BThe Effects of Language 1. Sound Difference The pronunciation of language can cause different aural effect, and inspire different reaction in psychics: softness or ringing. The onomatopoeic motivation, sound symbolism and echoism usually are used in advertisement language. Thus, it sounds bea

41、utiful. But it also brings many difficulties because of the differences of sound, onomatopoeic motivation, and rhyme between Chinese and west. For example, in order to increase the beauty of phonology, alliteration, assonance, rhyme and consonance are usually adopting in the English advertisement wo

42、rds. For example, the advertisement word “ never late on Father Day”,s t wo ei make it harmonious. But it is very different to reserve these kinds of musics beauty in Chinese. Otherw the translator should notice some pronunciations which maybe because bad effect in others language. For example, the

43、Toshiba company in Japan once used a advertisement word “东芝(Toshiba), 东芝(Toshiba),大家的东芝 (our Toshiba) ”. This is advertisement lyric. But some young people use partial tone to translate 偷 去吧，偷去吧，大家的东西”. It makes this advertisement in strict. And“Toshiba ” becomes “ goods” ; the impression of“ Toshib

44、a ” becomes weaker. Example: (1) “ Foileda gain? Try Dill ions. ”er otizes for the Dill ion bookstore. “ Foyle ” is the title of another bookstore. By adding a letter“d”, the advertise it sound the same as“ foiled ”. The whole sentence can be interpreted into“If y not find your books in Foyle, pleas

45、e come to Dillions.” (2) 天“罗地网一把罩 油烟一网打” is a Chinese ad for the Sakura grease pump. It uses two Chinese idioms: 天“罗地网” and 一“网打尽”. Here the word 网”“ implies the meaning 滤“油网”.(3) 梦想“的力量让广州 ACCORD3.0V6 脱影而出. ” is a car ad. The advertiser uses the Chinese idiom脱 颖而出”“, but changes颖 ” “to 影“” so as to

46、 attract the readers attention. 2. Semantic Difference Language is a part of culture, and also is the cultural carrier. It reflects national characters. It not only contains the background of history and culture, but also holds some opinions about life, life-way, and thinking-way. And advertisement

47、word is reflected by culture. The translator canot nly know surface meaning, but should understand the extended meaning and rich cultural containing. People usually like to extend idiom, saying and famous pomes in the advertisement. It makes semantic. vacant and conflictive. It is difficult for the

48、translator. Especially, if we dont other elements about language, culture, politics and custom. It isn fit for western culture. (1) The translation isn fit for western culture. For example, the “ Bailing ” pen made in Shanghai is “ WhiteF eather ”in English. But it isn ktn own by people who speak En

49、glish. Because in the idiom“to show the white feather”, (means flee o the eve of a battle).“ White Feather ” symbols craven. (2) The translation has political metaphor. For example, the sacking shoes of “ DaPeng”大(鹏) is translated “ ROC” . “ DaPeng” is a spirit in Chinese myth;“roc ” is also a big b

50、ird in English apotheosis. It is blameless. But it is similar to English abbreviation of “中华名族”b y chance. It isn t of couer sdone. (3) The translation isnt elegance. For example, the word“co usually is figured body apparatus. If the word with“ cock ” in the advertisement, we immediacy translate “ c

51、ock ”It . damages products figu re. It gives person a kind of caddish, illiterate impression. (4) Some Chinese spelling is English words by chance. For example, “ Pu扑ck克”牌(的汉语拼音 ) is the meaning of“ sickness ” in English. Example: (1) “ Money doesn t grow on trees. But it blossoms at our branches.”

52、i advertisement for Lloyd Bank. Here the advertiser employed the two meanings of “ branch ”?: the branches of a tree and the branches of a bank. (2) “Less bread. No traffic jam.” less is an advertisement for London Transport. From the surface meaning, we may see it is about foodstuffs. But for furth

53、er thinking and using our encyclopedic knowledge, we may remember that “bread i”s slang for “ money”w, hile “ jam ”ca n also mean “ trafficj am”;s o it can be decoded as “Less money, no traffic jam”. That is to say, if you travel by London Transp woriltl, citost less than traveling by car, and you w

54、ill not suffer in traffic jams. Above it is some common problems in the translation of advertisement. The translator should notice broad cultural connotation in the advertisement. 3. The Form of Character Differences The character which is used in different counties, nations and regions is different

55、. According to the investigation, “ true “”d ream”“ love “”w orry ”an d “ beauty is” t he best letters in Japan. Chinese more like “福”“ 寿”“ 喜”“ 乐”a nd so on. But the American author Irving Wallace selects the most beautiful English letters, these are: “ chime ” “ golden ” “ lullaby ” “ melody ” “mur

56、muring ” and so on. These characters not only graceful in implied meaning, but also beautiful in appearance. It makes person sweet in psychology. Especially, the character which has the only integrated system, and strictest construction. So we can interpret without real understanding. It gives perso

57、n visual impact, and starts up inspiration. Example:(1) “The Samsung Digital Experience” We design our products to bring joy to your world. Thats why our phone includes an MP3 player. And why our super-sharp monitors and high definition televisions glow with amazing color and clarity. Its the way ou

58、r YEPP MP3 player creates the perfect soundtrack to your life. And its how our fun features and practical solutions will make your day. Enjoy your Samsung Digital Experience. We made it just for you. (2) 想“象一下你未来的高品质新生活，身边一定离不了众多的新产品、新技术， 令你的生活更加舒适并充满乐趣。让你的梦想成真！三菱电机集团的领先技术正 是你的得力助手，把优质方便的产品送到你的身边，让你

59、每一天悠然自在，享受 无限。三菱电机集团先进技术始终着眼未来 不同领域共同心愿 您的三菱电机” Analyzing the two advertisements, we can see that the sentences in the English ad are constructed by some conjunctions and pronouns; while there are no conjunctions appearing in the Chinese advertisement. 4. Trope Differences In order to make content v

60、isualize and make the main words bright, the trope is used in advertisement. But it brings some difficulties to the translator because of the traditional trope differences between the East and the West. It contains comparison, symbolize and quibble, and so on. But the quibble is the most difficultie