Stylistic Characteristics of Hotel Advertisements of Foreign Countries and Their Translation Methods

陳亮 云建輝 姜珊

【Abstract】With the boom of international tourism and of peoples demand of foreign hotels，the public in China needs to know them，so the advertisements of these hotels are the main source for them.However，there are few translations about this genre and so are the researchers.And translation should be done after knowing the stylistic features of the kind of advertisement，simply because the function of advertisements is to sell goods to consumers.As one type of functional text，advertisements of foreign countries should be translated under the theory of Scopos theory.So in translation of this type of text，translators are supposed to notice the need of the consumers and their expectations.That means translators，in translation，should discover the useful information and take advantage of the target language.Considering this is a typical cross-cultural activity，translator should also adjust the culture in original text to the one of target language.

【Keywords】advertisements passage of foreign hotels English-Chinese translation Scopos theory

【中圖分類號】H315.9 【文獻標識碼】A 【文章編號】2095-3089（2015）19-0001-02

1 Introduction

With the boom of international tourism and of peoples demand of foreign hotels，the public of China needs to know them，so advertisements of these hotels are the main source for them.As one important type of advertisements，hotels advertisements passages share some common characteristics.However，when Chinese hotels want to advocate their service to overseas consumers，they would not realize the task if they dont know the certain rules of this kind of text.

Until recently，advertisements，as the scopos theory rises，has been focused on.Experts，however，pays much attention to the slogans instead of the passages，not alone to the ones of hotels.Therefore，in order to make the cross-cultural activity more smooth，it is imperative to identify the linguistic features of this advertisements passages，and in turn we can have a better understanding of foreign advertisements with the increasing number of visitors going to other countries.

There is a well known principle of “AIDMA”，firstly proposed by E.S.Louis in 1898，which states the whole process of purchase of consumers.It is the basic principle and the target of writing a piece of advertisement，including A（attention），I（interest），D（desire），M（memory），A（action）.To fully represent this principle and successfully sell the products，the writers are very particular with the diction，syntax and passage structure，forming distinctive features of hotel advertisements passages.This paper focuses on the above stylistic features.

2 The Introduction of Scopos Theory

Scopos Theory is proposed firstly in 70s of last century，by K.Reiss，H.J.Vermeer，J.H.Mattarri and C Nord.As a major breakthrough and completion of traditional equivalence theory，Scopos Theory provides the academic circle with a whole new perspective to study the translation theory.

As far as Scopos Theory is concerned，the process of translation includes not only the author，the translator and the receptor，but also the initiator，the consignor，the user of the translation，among which translator，initiator and receptor play an important role in it.The two principles of the theory are the principle of “Scopos” and the principle of “fidelity”.The principle of “scopos” is the core，which says that the aim or the function of the original text decides the process，including the translation strategy and method.

As one of the typical text of functional texts，advertisements have their own distinctive linguistic features，which will be discussed in the following chapters.Realizing the linguistic features is the first step to translate them，because if we want to do translation，we should first know how it is different from Chinese and what we should be careful about during translation.The writers of advertisements，in order to sell their goods，must use some technics to attract the attention of the potential consumers.So in translation，we should measure if we should borrow the features from the original text or just abandon the original text and create a new version of the same product.

3 The Linguistic Features of Hotel Advertisements Passages

In order to find stylistic features of this kind text，the first step is to collect enough data from all kinds of media and channels.Among the vast media，the Internet contains the largest amount of information，especially this advertisements.Besides，many foreign magazines and newspapers，including The Economist，New York Times.etc，contain many hotel advertisements.Therefore，the author collect data，namely 30 pieces of advertisements from both the website and the magazines and newspapers.

This paper focuses on the following stylistic features of hotel advertisements：diction，mainly verbs；sentence structure，especially the sentence type，including simple sentence，complex sentence and compound sentence；tense；voice；the passage structure.

3.1 The diction

The lexical feature of these advertisements shares a lot with other commercial advertisement，which is very concise and simple.The audience of advertisements is the public，not some class or group in our society.So the audience is expected to easily understand them and know the characteristics of the product and the language，especially the vocabulary and grammar should be simple enough to be understood.The advertisements can be generally divided into 3 categories：brand，slogan and passage.Apparently，the passages are not as simple as brand and slogan，but the writers would spare no efforts to make them more readable.

According to the data analysis of more than 30 passages of hotel advertisements，the most frequent verbs used in the advertisements are：be，offer，enjoy，provide，decorate，embrace，design，create，locate and serve；the most frequent adjectives are：new，good/better/best，fine，delicious，spacious，grand，special，rich，clean and exquisite.We may notice that in slogans and brands，the writers tend to use single-syllable nouns and verbs，while the passages choose more two or more-syllable verbs，but they can all be recognized by most of us.The purpose is very clear：to persuade the consumers to buy.Besides，these simple words meaning is the first meaning in dictionaries，for example，“offer” can be translated into “服務” in Chinese.From this，we may conclude that when translating advertisements，we should also select simple words from Chinese to be concise and clear enough to attract consumers.

3.2 The syntactic features

Although there are three type of advertisements，we now here are more concentrated on the passages and slogans and brands are too short to run syntactic analysis.

English，as a hypotaxis language，is a complex language with complicated syntax structures.Nonetheless，advertisements should arose the attention of customers and lure them to buy the product，so they should be different from other types of texts，such as contract or legal documents.Based on this characteristic，simple sentences，positive voice and confirmative sentences should be the first choice for them.

3.2.1 More simple sentences and less complex and compound sentences

Advertisements are targeted to the public，and due to the different customers with uneven literacy level，so the advertisements are supposed to be concise and the customers can grasp the gist of them quickly.Besides，they should be easy to remember.Complex and compound sentences，with a lot of grammatical structures，are hard to be understood，thus the customers，especially those without enough vocabulary and grammatical knowledge wont read them.The compound sentences are formed by main clause and subordinate clause.Among the texts collected by me，most of the sentences are simple ones.But，of course，there are some complex sentences in them，especially the attributive clause，with the conjunction “where”.Those attributive clauses are used to state the location of certain hotel.Except for this purpose，the authors would rather simple sentences to express the same meaning.

Example：It also hosts the only cigar bar in town，where guests can taste Havanas，fine liquor and chocolate.

As for translating attributive clauses，we have many methods.However，in order to be functional equivalent，we should take advantage of Chineses characteristic of abound with simple sentences and translate them into independent sentences.So，the above English sentence can be translated into：

酒店里的雪茄吧是鎮子里唯一的一家，在這里顧客可以體驗一把古巴哈瓦那雪茄煙，品嘗美酒、巧克力。

3.2.2 More confirmative sentences and less negative sentences

Among the text studies in this essay，most of the sentences are confirmative ones.According to the sample-survey conducted by some organization，the percentage of negative sentences is 3%，with 97% of the sentences are confirmative.Among these confirmative sentences，most of them use positive voice.While，few of them use passive voice.Although some sentences are the double-negative sentences，the meaning of the sentence is positive.And the aim is to address the advantage and characteristics of the product，persuading the customers to buy them.The passive voice is used to introduce the inner equipment（is decorated with），or to introduce the location the hotel（is located），or to introduce the service（is served）.

Example：Accommodation is decorated in Empire.

帝國飯店的所有房間都是精心裝潢過的。

A rich breakfast and an international buffet lunch are served in our hotel.

本飯店提供種類豐富的早餐和各國風味的自助午餐。

When translating passive voice sentences，I tend to translate the passive voice into positive voice.Because Chinese sentences use passive voice less frequently than English and they should pay attention to customers feeling.

3.2.3 More imperative sentences.The use of many imperative sentences is clear，that is to encourage，advise and ask customers to buy the product and service at once.This is the function of vocative text.In order to realize the same effect，translation should take the same sentence structure to translate imperative sentence.

Example：Introduce your family to sea turtles.

快帶你的家人來見見海龜吧。

Take the vocative function into consideration，some modal particles should be added into the Chinese version.Not only will they represent the meaning of original text，but arose the interests of readers.

3.3 The characteristics of advertisements passages

Peter Newmark divides the passages into three types，taking style and function into consideration，namely expressive passage，informative passage and vocative passages.Obviously，advertisements are vocative passages，aiming at profits.To promote the product and service，the passage structure of this advertisement is of some distinctive features.For example，the “problem-solution” mode is widely used in the daily necessities.While，the passages of hotel would just introduce the basic information of them.And you will find，after careful study，that they often introduce the same aspects of hotels.To start with，these passages will introduce the location，then the services，and end up with vocative sentences.

Example：One of the most popular mountain destinations in North America，Whistler Nestles in Bristish Columbias coastal mountains，just ninety minutes fromVancouver.The resort，resting at The base of Blackcomb Mountain，with cozy wood interior，fire places and terraces of balconies，in every room，is one of the fines luxury mountain resort hotels in North America.Its awe-inspiring setting invigorates both body and spirit，with best-rated skiing，championship golf and natural wilderness adventures for all ages.

惠斯勒離溫哥華僅1個半小時車程，該度假勝地坐落于黑琉山山脈間，客房內均配備舒適的木質裝飾，壁爐及陽臺，是北美最豪華的度假勝地之一。在這里您可以體驗各種驚心動魄的室外運動，例如滑雪，高爾夫和戶外探險等項目。

During translation，translators should not only pick all useful information out and，at the same time，they may need to adapt，even delete some paragraphs that are meaningless in targeted languages.These can be done with the direction of Scopos Theory.

Conclusion

With the development of our economy and the exchange with foreign countries，the language of advertisements are changing.Business advertisements，especially hotel advertisements，have some distinctive features of diction，syntax and passage structures.Translators，under the direction of Scopos Theory，should translate this kind of practical passage and provide large amount of hotel advertisements with customers.Scopos Theory，as a famous translation theory，can be guideline for this practical translation work and translators should study more about the advertisements translation.