TheCulturalDifferencesinAdvertisementTranslation

1、中英广告翻译中的文化差异The Cultural Differences inAdvertisementTranslationAbstract: As the product of culture, advertisement directly reflects close relationship between language and culture. Prefect advertising language is good for selling the products. At the same time, the world is getting increasingly glob

2、alized, there are more and more communication and operation of cross-cultural, advertisement translation reflect the commercial activities. Therefore, translators have to convert the ideas and thoughts behind the sentences into the target language by applying the knowledge of the target culture. Thi

3、s paper studies the situation of culture differences in advertisement translation.Key words: advertising translation；culture difference； language摘 要：广告作为文化的产物， 可以更直接地展示语言和文化的关系。 精彩的广告语言有助 于产品的推销。 与此同时， 随着经济全球化的发展， 跨文化的交流、 合作日趋频繁， 广告翻译中存在的语言与文化的差异将影响着商业活动的发展。因此， 译者要充分利用目标文化知识， 把句子后面所承载的思想、 概念尤其是文化传递给

4、消费者。 本 文就广告翻译中出现的文化差异现象进行了探究。关键词： 广告翻译；文化差异；语言ContentsIntroduction 1A. Background Introduction .1B. The Relationship among Language, Culture and Translation Introduction.21. Different definitions of language 22. Different definitions of culture 23. The different definitions of translation 24. The re

5、lationship among language, culture and translation 3II. Translation of English Advertisement 4A. General Introduction of Advertisement. .4B. Basic Purposes and General Principles of English AdvertisementTranslation into Chinese .51. Basic purposesof English advertisement translation into Chinese.52.

6、 General principles of advertisement translation .5C. Linguistic Characteristics of English Advertisings and Relevant TranslationTechniques61. Lexical characteristicsof English advertisements .62. Syntactical characteristicsof English advertisements 7D. Cultural Differences in Advertising Language 9

7、1. The implicit way versus the direct way 92. The imagery pattern versus abstract pattern 103. Respect of authority versus respect of self-performance 114. Difference social history background .11E. The Makings of a Translator .121. A Translator must be well acquainted with the source language.122.

8、A Translator must be well acquainted with the target language 123. A Translator must be armed with professional knowledge needed.12III .conclusion .13Work Cited 14The Cultural Differences in Advertisement TranslationI. IntroductionA. Background IntroductionWith the development of our socialist marke

9、t economy since China opening up to the outside world, advertising has been developing at a speed no one could have imagined. Since Coco-Cola became the first America n product available in China in 1979, foreig n products have bee n floodi ng into China. With the rapid developme nt of intern ati on

10、al bus in ess in the world, there is a growing need for efficient international advertising translation in order that these products could be accepted by consumers easily. International advertising translation is of great sig ni fica nee in in ter nati on aliz ing of China s en terprises and ope nin

11、g the global market for made-in-China products under the circumstanee of globalization of world economy. Therefore, there has been a great many of scholars who have studied advertising translation from various perspectives. More and more books and articles about advertising translation have played a

12、n important role in how to promote the sales of commodities abroad. However, the studies of advertis ing tran slati on are not give n eno ugh atte nti on. There are two reas ons that the author makes a decisi on to study the topic: on the one hand, along with the fast developme nt of the internet an

13、d in formatio n com muni cati on tech no logy, the intern atio nal advertis ing would be promoted to a new step and the advertis ing tran slati on would enjoy un precede nted developme nt. The importa nee of advertising translation tells its own tale; on the other hand, the study of advertising tran

14、slation needs to be improved, for a great number of scholars have only analyzed the examples and strategies of advertising translation sketchily. In order to make the Chinese-English advertising tran slati on more satisfactory, this thesis focuses on the an alysis of cross-cultural pragmatic failure

15、 in Chinese-English advertising translation and examines appropriate strategies for doing the tran slati on well.Any country or n atio n has their own unique traditi onal cultures in clud ing values, modes of thinking, moral rules, customs, life styles, etc, which forms the differences among differe

16、nt n atio ns on culture. How to do the right ads? It is importa nt to know the culture of others. So we should study the relati on ship among Ian guage, culture and tran slati on in order to do the right choice whe n we choose. This paper is composed of three parts. In the first chapter, the author

17、will deal with the translation of English advertisements. It includes general introduction of advertisement basic purposes and general principles of English advertisement translation into Chin ese and lin guistic characteristics of En glish advertiseme nts and releva nt tran slati on tech niq ues. C

18、hapter two is expla ining some methods of in tercultural advertis ing tran slati on. The mak ings of tran slator will be men ti oned in Chapter three.B. The Relationship among Language, Culture and Translation Introduction1. Different definitions of languageWhat is Ian guage? The follow ing defi nit

19、i on in eludes any levels of Ian guage gen erally: Lan guage is a system of arbitrary vocal symbol used for huma n com muni eati on. (Zha ng 1). In the book “I nterculturaCommu ni eati on in En glish” (Yu,Lishe ng 2004), there are the follow ing defi niti ons:Lan guage is a purely huma n and non-i n

20、sti nctive method of com muni cat ing ideas, emoti on and desire by means of volun tarily produced symbols (Sapir 1921).From now on I will con sider Ian guage to be a set (fin ite or infin ite) of senten ces, each fin ite in len gth and con structed out of a fin ite set of eleme nts (Chomsky 1957 ).

21、In my opinion, Ian guage is just a way to com muni cate with other people in order to get the purpose for ourselves.2. Different definitions of cultureThere are some more tha n 250 kinds of defi niti ons concerning culture. There are some com mon defi niti ons about culture. In some ways of life, th

22、ere are the defi niti ons:1) The customs and beliefs, art, way of life and social orga ni zati on of a particular country or group.2) A coun try, group, etc. with its own beliefs, etc.3) Culture con sists of all the shared products of huma n society (Roberts on 1981)4) Follow ing the defi niti ons o

23、f sociologist and an thropologists, our team culture refers to the total patter n of beliefs, customs, in stituti on, objects, and tech niq ues that characterize the life of a huma n com mun ity.In my opinion, culture bel ongs to the history. It developed by the developme nt of history,3. The differ

24、ent definitions of translationTran slati on is one of the most complex and the most difficult activities of huma n.However, tran slati on, in a n arrow sen se, is the practice of finding the equivale nt both in form and esse nee betwee n two cultures. The two terms tran slati on and tran slat ing sh

25、ould be distinguished for a translator. Translation just refers to the act that the tran slator tran slates from one Ian guage into ano ther, and tran slat ing is the process in which the tran slator does his best to convey the messageof the source Ian guage. Furthermore, tran slati ng is not a word

26、-for-word conv ersi on, but a process of bili ngual com muni cati on betwee n two differe nt Ian guages. It expressesthe message of the source Ian guage from the receptor la nguage message,a nd the relatio nship betwee n receptor and messageshould be substa ntially the same as that betwee n the orig

27、 inal receptor and the messag”(He 1) There are other defi niti ons of tran slati on.Translation is the process to make the meaning which is taken a cultural Ian guage into ano ther cultural la nguageThe process of changing something that is written or spoken into another Ian guage.For purpose, tran

28、slati on is a process of cha nging somethi ng like words, picture or anything else in order to get the things that we want.4. The relationship among language, culture and translationLanguage is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it. It can not equate with culture. There is no cultu

29、re that has no Ian guage as its part. Lan guage is stron gly in flue need and shaped by culture as a mirror. Culture is reflected in Ian guage, and at the same time it exists in the in tellectual structures that a certa in group use their Ian guage. In this sen se, we ought to pay special atte nti o

30、n to cultural aspects whe n we are en gaged in the task of tran slatio n. However, the relati on ship betwee n them is not just that betwee n a part and the whole. It is much more complex tha n that. Lan guage is the carrier and container of culture and it also exerts its in flue nee on culture. Hum

31、a n kno wledge and experie nee are described and stored in Ian guage. Customs, habits and behavioral patter ns can be described and an alyzed in Ian guage. Social institutions, value systems, beliefs, world views can be described, analyzed and evaluated in Ian guage. Eve n the visual arts like paint

32、ing, sculpture, and dancing and auditory arts such as music and singing can be described and evaluated in Ian guage. To be sure, culture can exist in the form of materials. But Ian guage as the medium of com muni cati on is in dispe nsable in their product ion and use. It is con cluded that Ian guag

33、e and culture are closely related, in flue ncing and shap ing each other. To lear n a foreig n Ian guage implies to lear n the culture in which it is spoke n. A Ian guage can n ever be lear ned in a cultural vacuum. Culture is lear ned through Ian guage. Without Ian guage as the medium for formal or

34、 in formal in structi on, no culture could ever be learn ed. Some social scie ntists con sider it is the keyst one of culture. Without la nguage, they maintain, culture would not be possible. On the other hand, language is in flue need and shaped by culture; it reflects culture.Social scie ntists te

35、ll us that culture differs from one ano ther, that each culture is uniq ue. As cultures are diverse, so Ian guages are diverse. It is on ly n atural that with differe nee in cultures and Ian guages, differe nces ofte n arise in com muni cati ng betwee n cultures and across cultures. Un dersta nding

36、is not always easy. (De ng 3) Every one of us should know the fun dame ntal cultural differe nee betwee n Chin ese and n ative speakers of En glish. The team n ative En glish speaker in cludes people of many coun tries America ns, En glishme n, Australia ns. Can adia ns. New Zeala nders and others.

37、Each of these bel ongs to a culture that is somewhat differe nt from the others, in spite of their com mon Ian guage. So if we do someth ing about foreig n culture. We have to kno wledge someth ing about culture.Translation is an important part of Ianguage. How to translate well? In my opinion, it i

38、s necessary to know the detail of the Ianguage. If you feel studying Ian guage is a difficult thi ng, you will fail to tran slate. Whe n you do tran slati on you should pay atte nti on to follow ing thi ngs:First, to study the Ian guage you will use in order to make sure that you would not do some e

39、rrors about grammar and com mon sen se.Second, to know the cultures about the Ian guage you use so that you should do less cultural errors and make the reader accept.Third, to pay atte nti on to the right way of tran slati ng.Above all, we could get the in formati on: Ian guage is an importa nt part

40、 of culture. We can not separate Ianguage from culture. The view is important for learning com muni cati on by using Ian guage. Tran slati on is a part of Ian guage. Lan guage is the n ecessary con diti on of tran slatio n. Tran slati on is not only the cha nging of Ian guage, but also it is the cha

41、 nging of culture.Due to the relati on ship and characteristics among culture Ian guage, and translation, in other words, it is the processof rendering the culture underlying the Ian guage. It is not simple un derstood as an activity on lin guistic facet. We hold that to tran slate from one Ian guag

42、e into ano ther, i n a sen se, is to tran slate the culture of the Ianguage. (He 314 )U Translation of English AdvertisementA. General Introduction of AdvertisementAdvertisi ng is one of the marketi ng strategies in the intern ati onal bus in ess activities. Advertiseme nts exist everywhere and in f

43、lue nee us every day. Accordi ng to a statistics, one third of the prese nt-day n ewspapersspace is used for advertis ing inEn gla nd. Advertiseme nt is a widely used medium of com muni catio n in bus in ess activities in our modern society. Therefore, it is necessary for us to know advertiseme nts

44、characteristics.B. Basic Purposes and General Principles of English Advertisement Translation1. Basic Purposes of English Advertisement translation into ChineseTo do a good job in advertiseme nt tran slati on, we should first know the aim of advertisements. The goal of advertisements can be summariz

45、ed as follow: A. Attention, B. Interest, C. Credibility, D. Desire, E. Action. To be more accurate, advertiseme nts must attract peoples atte ntio n-for example, by using bold typr and eye-catch ing pictures. Next, advertiseme ntsmust arouse the prospective customers interest in the product and buil

46、d credibility for the product. Then advertisements should be able to arouse a buying desire that fin ally leads to a purchas ing action. If the tran slatio n of an advertiseme nt can not achieve these effects of the orig in al, it will be a failure.2. General Principles of Advertisement TranslationT

47、he general principles of advertisement translation should be: smoothness, precisi on and con cise ness.Smoothness means to use smooth and natural Chinese expressions that Chinese customers can accept togive the information about a product. Whether the tran slatio n of an En glish advertiseme nt is e

48、xcelle nt or not depe nds on the resp onse of its receivers. On ly whe n the Chin ese readesresp onse to the tran slati on is similar to the original readers response to the original advertisement, will the translation achieve its purpose. To achieve this, the first step is to translate the original

49、 with smooth Chin ese expressi ons.Precision” is also demanded by the advertisements function. If the meaning of the orig inal advertiseme nt were altered in the tran slati on, the con sumers would be misled by the Chin ese versi on.Con cise nes means the tran slator should use in formative and con

50、cise dictio n and sentence structure. The education levels of the reader are varied, so far too complicated or difficult dictio n or sentence structures in tran slati on may make it hard for its inten ded readers to comprehe nd its in formati on.C. Linguistic Characteristics of English Advertisings

51、and Relevant Translation Techniques1. Lexical Characteristics of English AdvertisementsThe words and phrasesof advertisementsare colorful and lively, and the only purpose of choosing a word in writing an advertisement is to promote products”. Therefore, these phrases are usually intriguing and appea

52、ling. The lexical characteristics of En glish advertiseme nts can be summarized in the follow ing aspects:a. The Abundant Use of ModifiersIn advertiseme nts, there is an abundant use of modifiers to highlight the merits of a product, to describe vividly the special features of the product and to enh

53、ance its appeal to the prospective customer.Famous world-wide gourmet cuisine. Excellent daily specials and mouth-wateri ng desserts.世界有名的美食烹调，精美的每日特色饭菜和令人垂涎的点心。This is an advertiseme nt of a restaura nt. We can see that the adjectives acco unt for one half of the word used in the advertiseme nt. Th

54、ey show the restaura nt s features to its customers.To attract more customers to buy their products, advertiseme nts ofte n highlight their unique merits with the use of comparative and superlative-degree modifiers, though they donbelittle other similar products directly.For the first time, theres a

55、 remarkable gel that can give your hair any look you wan t-sleeker, fuller, straighter, curlier, more n atural, and eve n wet-without a drop of alcohol or oil.一种前所未有，不同寻常的发乳问世了。它可以使您的头发随心所欲-更光 滑，更茂盛，更平直，更卷曲，更自然，甚至保持湿度-都不含一滴酒精或油脂。In this advertiseme nt, the use of five successive comparative-degrees

56、adjectives, i.e.,” sleefuler, straighter, curlier, more natural” , suggests that this kind of gel isbetter tha n other gels and meet con sumerdiffere nt dema nds.b. Intentional Wrong-spellingIntentional wrong-spellings in English advertisements can arousepeople sense of curiosity about the advertise

57、me nt and impress people deeply. For example:Drinka Pin ta Milka Day.This is a milk advertisement. The normal form of the expression should be: Drink a pint of Milk a Day. This intentional misspelling is intended to induce prospective customerscuriosity, and it reads rhy ming and rhythmic. Besides i

58、t uses four words that have no grammatical relati on with each other to express a complete con cept. This purposeful wrong spelli ng is used much to the adva ntage. However, it is not easy to translate this advertisement, or rather; it cannot be translated literally, because as for the Chin ese characters, we cannot add any stroke to them. So we can on ly tran slate its basic message as一 天请喝一品脱牛奶。c. The Use of New Coined and Strange WordsAdvertisements often invent new and strange words to highlight products characteristics: no vel, creative and orig in al, so that they can satisf