Studies on Barriers and Solutions of Advertisement Translation

周泳辛 黑龍江大學 黑龍江哈爾濱 150080

【Abstract】：With the rapid growth of world economy, the relations of global economy are becoming closely. China’s products, services, brands are increasingly spread in international market. Under the trend of market globalization，the cross-cultural advertisements are becoming more and more frequent,consequently the advertisement translations among different nations are playing a significant role in foreign trade. Due to differing in advertisement format and rhetorical device, Chinese translators encounter obstacles and trouble, in particular,translating Chinese advertisements to foreign language.

Under this circumstance, numerous translators study the influence of cultural differences on advertisement translation and the translating methods. The essay summarizes the common obstacles and makes a brief discussion on the translation of cross-cultural advertisements from the aspects of language features and cultural differences. It aims to help translators to solve the problems caused by cultural differences and help Chinese brands and products enter into the international market smoothly.

【Key words】： barriers translation advertisement cross-cultural difference

lntroduction

In contemporary society, advertisement,as the embodiment of commerce, is becoming an important part of daily life. It is not only supposed to be appealing, and is also used as a tool for manufacturers to improve their products’marketability. With China’s entry into WTO, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of Chinese enterprises and products flowing into the international market. To survive in the fierce market competition, China’s manufacturers have to make a lot of promotions for their products in foreign markets. In this situation, advertisement translation is increasingly showing its importance.However, unsatisfying translation is appearing in media, which not only means financial loss, but also impairs manufacturers’ public image as well.Hence, it becomes an urgent task for interpreters and translators to overcome the difficulties and obstacles.

Translation is a cross-language and crosscultural communication. Translators should not only consider the characteristics of advertisement English, but also pay attention to the problems caused by cross-cultural factors.[ Colin Lago. Race,Culture and Counseling[M]. University of California,Inc, 2005.] This essay tries to discuss the great importance of advertisement translations from Chinese to English and help translators avoid the potential obstacles in the process. It is necessary for translators to avoid numerous misunderstanding and conflicts.

l. The definition and purpose of advertisements

A. The definition of advertisements

Advertisement is a kind of propagandizing means which conveys products’ information to promote and persuade customers to buy. Advertising means advertising industry. Advertising is an audio or visual form of marketing communication that employs an openly sponsored, non-personal message to promote or sell a product, service or idea. Sponsors of advertising are often businesses who wish to promote their products or services. Advertising is also differentiated from public relations in that an advertiser usually pays for and has control over the message. It is differentiated from personal selling in that the message is non-personal, i.e., not directed to a particular individual. Advertising is communicated through various mass media, including old media such as newspapers, magazines, television,radio, outdoor advertising or direct mail； or new media such as search results, blogs, websites or text messages. The actual presentation of the message in a medium is referred to as an advertisement or “ad”.

The ultimate purpose of advertisement is to persuade consumers to buy the advertised products.Advertisement shows the nature, quality, function,and advantages of their products to customers in order to attract them, affect and change the concept and behavior of consumers, to sell the goods as many as possible. Advertisement plays the role of spreading information, leading consumption, and meeting the demands of consumers.

From the perspective of business management,advertisement is a kind of investment activity.Advertisement has certain economic costs, and some specific media and publicity tools. With the formation and development of modern ideas of advertisement,more and more people believe that advertisement activities should be regarded as the enterprise investment behavior. Advertisement is a communication process； it exchanges ideas and transmits information between information sender and receiver.Advertisement requires creativity and strategy. The production and publicity of advertisement should meet the demands, arouse the attention, and stimulate the desire of consumers, so as to achieve consumption.

ll. The language features of English advertisements

The features of English advertisement will be introduced from lexical and syntactic perspectives in this part.

A. Simplicity and popularity of words

The words used in English advertisements must be simple and popular. This is because it will be easy for audience to remember and understand the slogan.Therefore, using more popular words in oral English and giving up the obscure and difficult words are one of the lexical features of English advertisements.

In the English advertisements, the creator may spell the wrong words on purpose so that the words may become lively, interesting and attractive.Although the new words have different forms, the basic meanings still exist and some information about the goods can be added. At the same time, the consumers always think that if the advertisement has creative words, the goods will also be special.

我期待這一天的到來，我渴望早日回報父母的養(yǎng)育之恩，我要讓三爹和母親看到，我今生有幸做他們的兒子，是一件多么值得驕傲的事情。

B. Diversity of sentence patterns

Generally speaking, the most common sentence patterns are declarative sentences, imperative sentences and questions.

Declarative sentences are widely used in English advertisements. If the words are suitable and proper, the function of advertisements will be achieved. Declarative sentences illustrate facts,express emotions and create atmosphere. The most importantly, the commodities’ features, functions and effectiveness will truly appear before customers’eyes[ Jakob Nielsen. Designing Web Usability：The Practice of Simplicity[M]. New Riders Press,1998 (8)].Therefore, declarative sentences are popularly used in English advertisements rather than complicated and tedious sentences.

Imperative sentences play a role of persuading directly and advocating strongly. The advertisers always use the tone of requesting, suggesting and advocating to mobilize the consumers to buy the product in an advertisement.

Last but not least, using questions can easily arouse the consumer’s curiosity of the product in the advertisement and attract their attention successfully.When the consumers are answering the questions, they are participating actively rather than accepting passively, so that the consumers may enter the role which is created by the advertisement and immerse in the atmosphere created by the advertisement.

“Have you driven a Ford lately?” This is the advertisement of Ford. This question can attract the consumer’s attention at once. It implies that the Ford cars have some new changes lately and consumers should pay attention to this.

lll. The causes of barriers to English advertisement translation and solutions

This part aims to list the potential problems and obstacles that translators may face, and provide effective solutions in order to make Chinese brand and commodities enter into global markets smoothly.

A. The cause of barriers to advertisements’translation

1. Discrepancies caused by language and rhetorical devices

Firstly, the most obvious obstacle in advertisement translation is caused by the gap between languages. Every year more than 40,000 products are introduced into global marketplace,but about 85% of these products fail. Marketing communicating (advertisement) is language-oriented.The clarity of the message received by the target audience is greatly influenced by the accuracy of the wording of the marketing message. The culturally specific nature of word usage is a major problem international advertisers may face. They must be aware of the connotation of the words, signs,symbols, and expressions they use. An advertisement is not always translated well into other languages.This not only impedes communication but also results in embarrassing blunders that damage the credibility or image of a company or a brand.

Secondly, rhetorical device is another problem.Successful advertising should hide their business intention and the nature of the business； it will take advantage of culture, especially with clever rhetoric.

If the rhetorical techniques are used properly,they will arouse the readers’ great attention instantly and stimulate their desire to buy.

2. Differences between Chinese and western way of thinking

The deeper reason of obstacle to cross-cultural advertisement translation is the way of thinking.Actually, the way of thinking is the bridge between communications. It is closely related to language.Language is the main tool of thinking and the constituent elements of thinking.

The way of thinking naturally affects the use and acceptance of advertisement. Chinese and western advertisings are different, the Chinese advertising emphasizes on intuitive thinking, while the western advertisement stresses logical thinking.

The difference in ways of thinking is particularly evident in Chinese and western culture.Chinese way of thinking pays attention to the ethics,culture, nation, with strong intention. This is a kind of perceptual thinking； it pays attention to the intuitive experience, the experience of the process.So the way of thinking in advertisement will have a clear response.

Chinese people often put their feelings in the concrete objects and things. When a person sees an object, he or she will think of another familiar person. This is the common sense of Chinese people.So the advertisers often show a comparably concrete scene or an analogy, in order that the readers can think of the products easily.

The thought of western people is thoughtful. They prefer the abstract thinking pattern than the imagery pattern. So they often utilize the creative language,and give the readers a kind of novel ideas in order that the consumers can get a profound and favorable impression.

3. Cross-cultural influences on advertisement translation

To begin with, we shall put value into consideration. Chinese cultural value orientation emphasizes moral norms, conscious ability and introverted personality, but in the western society,individualism and equality are important. They stress personality freedom. Personality freedom is the most important value of American culture. While the most important values of Chinese traditional culture are“l(fā)oyalty” and “filial piety”, they pay attention to the harmonious relationship and focus on group benefits.

Last but not least, aesthetic concept is another factor that we need to pay much attention to. There is a very close relationship between aesthetic ideas and advertisement translation. Advertisement translation should respect the mass culture and aesthetic level.

From the aesthetic point of view, beautiful music, the moving pictures, wonderful words and beautiful image will give people pleasure and deep impression. Many ads executives understand this point； .they do everything possible to create visual and auditory sense of beauty to enhance the consumer’s impression.

B. The solutions to barriers of advertisement translation

It is of vital importance for translators to specialize in English and pay attention to their language habits and characteristics. Translators shall put the meaning in the first place, and then add the proper rhetorical devices to the advertisements to make the version better.

Furthermore, having known the western value,the translators shall adapt to their value or behavior in order to make advertisements’ translation successfully.

Translators should be familiar with the history of targeted country to avoid the unnecessary loss.They should also respect the local religions and relevant laws. Religion is a sensitive topic.The slightest mistake will lead to disputes and conflicts. So only with the deep understanding and respect for local religions, will the advertisement get the recognition and love of local consumers.To respect and obey the local law is also very important. Different countries have different policies and laws related to the implementation of advertising, when you create an advertisement,you must investigate and understand the local laws and regulations. For example, tobacco is banned to publish and broadcast in many countries.

When it comes to different aesthetic concepts, it is very important to achieve the cultural integration.Cultural integration is to integrate domestic culture into the culture of other countries. It not only promotes the spirit of enterprise culture and domestic cultural characteristics, but also allows other countries to accept product information and approve the enterprise and even the national culture.Many foreign brands make their own advertisement localization in the cross cultural advertising communication. The most typical advertisement is the “Coca-Cola”. In the international advertising to achieve cultural integration is very effective and successful, because the cultural integration can reflect domestic cultural characteristics, and combine the characteristics and expression of other cultures. And then it can achieve the ultimate goal of promoting sales.

Conclusion

With the development of economic globalization,the multinational advertising companies continue to expand, and people focus their attention on the international market, so the intercultural advertisements develop rapidly. There are both opportunities and challenges for advertising companies and businesses. Therefore, advertisement translation has become increasingly prominent.Practice has proved that successful advertisements’translation will bring huge economic benefits；nevertheless, unsuccessful translation has great harm to enterprises’ development. For this reason,many scholars research and explore the methods of advertisement translation. On this account, this paper is divided into three parts. The first part is the definition and purpose of advertisement. The second part is about the language features of English advertisement. After analysis and research, the author illustrates the causes of barriers to English advertisement translation and solutions. Above all,translators pay attention to language habits and characteristics and cross-cultural influence on advertisement translation. In this way, translator can avoid conflicts and make the version better. With the development of times, there must be numerous methods of Chinese advertisement translations, so the knowledge of translators should be updated and find a more reasonable approach to dealing with Chinese advertisement translation.

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