论中西方文化差异对商务广告翻译的影响
论中西方文化差异对商务广告翻译的影响
摘要
中国加入世界贸易组织后，商务广告在我们的日常生活中更是频繁出现。广告的创意来源于文化，中西方文化的差异导致了广告人的文化价值观和思维逻辑的不同，因此广告的创作方式与表达方式也有差异。广告作为一种信息传播手段，需要考虑到公众对信息的接受心理和习惯。把握中西文化的差异并加以利用是广告成功的本质和关键。如何通过翻译把一个商务广告准确而又贴切地传达给拥有着不同文化的受众，这个课题值得研究。
关键词：文化差异；广告；翻译
On Cultural Differences in Advertisement Translation
Abstract
We are embraced by all kinds of commercial advertisements in our daily life since China has entered into the WTO. The idea of an advertisement comes from culture, so the culture difference may lead to different cultural values among different advertisements. As a widely used medium of communication in modern society, an advertisement needs to take the cultural differences into consideration. How to communicate a commercial advertisement to people of different cultural backgrounds correctly and appropriately deserves to be investigated.
Key words: cultural difference; advertisement; translation.
On Cultural Differences in Advertisement Translation
论中西方文化差异对商务广告翻译的影响
1. Introduction
There is more and more acute marketing competition today. Under this circumstance, an advertisement of good quality will be necessary if you want to make your products competitive and attractive to the consumers among millions of other competitors. Besides, a successful advertisement is also a very important part in world-wide business.
Chinese economy has already melted into the world market.
A good translated advertisement will not only convey the information in accuracy and reap a good advertising effect, but also stimulate receptor’s cultural and appreciating association, which will be of much help to the cultural communication, thus it is also an impulse in cultural diffusion.
We can't deny that most of the private enterprises haven’t realized how to create an English advertisement and searched for help from an inexpert translator instead of professional agency. This leads to a poor quality of the advertisement translation. Some of the translation principals know little about English; therefore the quality of the translated advertisement will not be assured. Many translators do a very poor job with various intolerable mistakes.
With the development of economy, trans-national advertising will become more and more frequent. Therefore, successful advertising language must be able to impress people and create a lasting and strong memory in people’s mind. Writers and translators of advertisements should pay attention to the features of advertising language, cultural differences and translation principles.
This article mainly focuses on the influence of advertisement translation due to the cultural differences between China and western countries and what we should do if we are dealing with an advertisement translation job.
2. The Overview of an Advertisement.
In this section, I will mainly focus on the topic about the functions, the features and the standards of an advertisement. How to classify so many kinds of advertisements will be mentioned too.
2.1 The definition of an advertisement
The word “advertise” stems from the Latin “advertere”,meaning “to make known to the public”.
We live in a world full of advertisements. What on earth is an advertisement?
One of the famous definitions is that “An advertisement is a message or an announcement that informs or influences people. It can use words, pictures, music or film to convey its message. Advertisements are not only made and paid for by business, but also by individuals, organizations and associations that wish to inform or educate the public.”①
The other one is that “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 distinguished from other forms of communication in that the advertiser pays the media to deliver the message.”(Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume I, 1994)，
2.2 The functions of an advertisement
They tell people about new products and help promote sales.②:95
They provide us with a good collection of goods and service, from which we can make our best choices.②:95
Advertisement bridges markets, products and consumers together. It can help the consumers to identify and differentiate products and build brand preference and loyalty.②:95 Advertising has to create new demands and they should educate the people about more and more new things coming up in the market.
And another important function of an advertisement is the identification function, that is, to identify a product and differentiate it from others. This creates an awareness of the product and provides a basis for consumers to choose the advertised product over other products.
2.3 How do we classify so many kinds of advertisements
Advertisement can be classified by medium (newspaper, TV, magazine, etc)
Advertisement can be classified by target audience (consumer, business)
Advertisement can be classified by purpose (profitable, non-profitable)
2.4 The features of advertising language
The language of advertisement should be clear and easy to understand in general. There are some distinct features of advertisement.
(1) Puns are widely used in advertisement, such as homophonic puns or grammar puns;
(2) Using adjectives and adverbs in Hyperbole-exaggeration;
(3) Using a limited range of evaluative adjectives including new, clean, white, real, fresh, right, natural, big, great, slim, soft, wholesome, improved, etc.;
(4) Influencing the readers by using short sentences. This influence is especially clear at the beginning of a text, often using bold or large type for the “h eadline” or “slogan” to capture the attention of the reader;
(5) Being humor. This can be verbal or visual, but aim at showing the product positively;
(6) Simple and Colloquial language;
Example 1:“It ain't half good”
This advertisement appeals to ordinary people, though it is in fact often complex and deliberately ambiguous.
(7) Present tense is used most commonly, though nostalgia is summoned by the simple past.
(8) Long noun phrases, frequent use of suffix and prefix for descriptions.
(9) Use Imperative, such as “Buy Brown's Boots Now!”③:21
2.5 The standards of a good advertising translation
A good advertisement translation is one that reproduces the effect as closely as possible.
A good advertisement translation is one that elicits the desire of the consumers to buy things. There are some basic standards for a good advertising translation:
It should contain the original spirit.
It should be easy to be understood.
It should be vivid and persuasive.
3. Cultural Differences in Advertisement Translation
The target of advertisement writer is the native reader who has same values, thinking ways and living habits, so the advertisement translator needs to face the people whose cultural background, tradition and social values are utterly different. Therefore, as an intercultural activity, advertisement translation requires the translator to put acceptance degree of target reader in the first place and to consider adequately the specific details of a culture in advertisement.
Advertisement can influence people’s values, traditions and customs.
We don’t need to worry about the cultur al difference in our own country while we are making an advertisement. We Chinese people underestimate the communication situation when we prepare for readers, listeners, or viewers from western countries somehow.
A qualified advertisement translator should know clearly about the cultural differences, thus, he or she could be able to make a good advertisement and arouse the customers’ purchasing desire.
In this section, I will focus on 6 aspects to illustrate the influence of cultural differences on advertisement translation as follows:
The different values can influence advertisement translation.
The different social background can influence advertisement translation.
The different traditions and customs can influence advertisement translation.
The different taste for beauty can influence advertisement translation.
The different courteous principle can influence advertisement translation.
The different ways of thinking can influence advertisement translation.
3.1 The different values can influence advertisement translation.
Every country has its own cultural values. What advertisers and translators should do is to make the advertisement consistent with values of the targeted people. If not, they are likely to be rejected.
There are lots of different values. For example, worshipping the individualism is a typical value of western countries. We can see it very often in western advertisements.
In western countries, people pursue independence. Everyone tends to be independent. Everyone is unique (why should I do the same as others?). So advertisements there never advocate people to follow the public to show admiration to the so-called authority people. What is reflected in the advertisement are “individuality”, “independence” and “privacy”.
Example 1: “obey your thirst-spirit” (服从你的渴望). “impossible made possible” (使不可能成为可能).③:21
Example 2: “孔府家酒，叫人想家”
Chinese people put more emphasis on collectivism while western countries value individualism more. From this advertisement we can see the typical spirit of Chinese people.
Example 3: Western countries value the spirit of innovation while Chinese people follow the spirit of mediocracy. And p eople in western countries don’t feel like run ning only in one groove. Take the slogan of Apple as an example: Apple thinks different(苹果电脑，不同“凡”想).③:21
3.2 The different social history background can influence advertisement translation.
Western people treat the official position as the very common thing. Western culture pays more attention to the personal value and self interest. It may lead to the dissimilarity in advertising translation. Just look at these following examples of brand name translation in advertisement translation.
Example 4: Western people treat the official position as a pretty common thing. Western culture pays more attention on the personal value and personal interests. Such as the trade mark “白熊”. There are two versions of translation: “p olar bear” and “white bear”. Which one is better? This is something related to politics. “Polar bear” ha s another meaning in the political field in western countries, so people could get confused easily. In this case, “white bear” would be a better choice.④:195
Example 5: “金龙食用油，绿色的食用油”
Dragon is definitely a sign of lucky and fortune in China, but in western countries it is just an evil creature, so this is so inappropriate if you translate the brand name “金龙”to “golden dragon”.
Example 6: Southern Comfort— the spirit of New Orleans since 1860.
Actually, this advertisement is total a success in America because it relies on native people’s un derstanding of American traditional culture. “Southern Comfort” wine just like the American Jazz all comes from New Orleans. Due to the cultural identity, we can easily figure out its pun meaning which means a lot in a good advertisement translation. “Southern Comfort” wine has become widely familiar in America from middle period of 19th century when people began to create Jazz music. It presents the spirit of New Orleans somehow－deploitation, innovation and optimism. However, due to the lack of related cultural background, it is hard for Chinese reader to perceive cultural connotation in the original text. So, the translation should be based on Chinese audience’s point of view an d mainly focus on cultural apprehension.
Example 7: “Fresh Up with Seven-Up” (七喜广告语)
Numbers in an advertisement is an important factor that we should pay much attention to.
The word seven is a positive word in these areas: America and Europe. Seven is equal to the number eight in China which stands for a good luck.
3.3 The different traditions and customs can influence advertisement translation.
It is well known that if you want to learn a foreign language you should get to know the local traditions and customs first. The influence of traditions and customs is so obvious in people’s daily life. For example, every language and corresponding cultural system contains specific constrains in speech such as taboo words. We should pay attention to this aspect.
Example 8: Take the word “lady” as an example, you never translate the word “lady” in an English advertisement into “小姐”cause “小姐”is a taboo word in China.④:196 Example 9:金鸡鞋油（Golden Rooster shoes polish）
In this example Rooster can not be replaced by the word “cock”, because “cock”has another meaning in English slang which is also a taboo word.④:196
3.4 The different taste for beauty can influence advertisement translation.
The word “aesthetic” means the taste for beauty.
To reach elegance in sound, appearance and meaning, Chinese advertisement language tends to use lots of couplet, parallel structure or four-character structure. You have to admit that this has something related to the unique aesthetic of Chinese people. Just look at this advertisement below.
Example 10：A divorced man advertises an advertisement like this: “寻寻觅觅，韶华转眼飞逝；犹犹豫豫，知音再度难逢”. “寻寻”and “觅觅”and “犹犹”and “豫豫”do have the same meaning. They sound good in rhyme and are natural and harmonious in meaning. While In English, “synonyms repetition” is always avoided. Thus the translation would be better if we erase the unnecessary words.
From the aesthetic perspective, symbolizing the beauty and shaping beautiful characters can help people shape a better psychological reaction and visual effects.
Example 11: “Coca-Cola” is translated to“可口可乐”.
Example 12: “Cola Cao” is translated to“高乐高”.
Example 13: “Clean C lear” is translated to“可伶可俐”.
Example 14: “C olgate” is translated to“高露洁”.
Example 15: We often see that“增白”is translated into“white the skin” in Chinese skin care product.“增白”is a commendatory term in China. However, in western countries, people believe white is not beauty. “White” means poor ness and sickness. From this example we can see that different aesthetic means a lot to advertisement translation.④:197
3.5 The different courteous principles can influence advertisement translation.
Courtesy is the common conducting norm for people to act or communicate in a more appropriate way in public. Harsh tone is not so easy for people to accept.
Example 16: In China, public advertisements often start with “禁止...”(“Do Not (i)
English). Such as “Do not pick the flower” and “Do not Pee around”. These two stiff and harsh slogans are a commanding tone. People from western countries will feel offended so easily and it will not help anyway. They believe they are not getting enough respect from these kinds of slogans.
To change “Do not pick the flower” into a mild er slogan “Take care of those dedicate flowers, please” would be great because it arouses people’s sympathy for them.
3.6 Different ways of thinking can influence advertisement translation.
People have different ways of thinking or reasoning due to different cultures. If we do not pay attention to this, it may cause a misunderstanding in advertisement translation.
Example 17: “开袋即食，食用方便。”
Translation version: “opening and eating immediately”.
It describes how convenience the food is.
However, there is a problem of this translated version. Foreigners may think this food
will go bad immediately if you do not eat it in time. This is totally a disaster to the reputation of this product.
Advertisements translation should not only keep literal coincidence with the original but also reach the accurate closeness with the connotation of information and language.
4. Some Basic Methods and Principles in Advertisement Translation
All above, cultural differences are big barriers for advertisement translators. So it would be great if the translators can be fully aware of these differences. A good translator should know the traditions, values, language, beliefs and customs well. If we just transfer the literal meaning of the advertisement, the product is impossibly accepted in international market.
So, in this chapter, some basic methods and principles advertisement translation will be discussed.
4.1 Use both transliteration and literal translation.
Literal translation refers to the method retaining the structure and rhetoric of the original sentence and striving to reproduce the form, content and style of the original language. That is, the grammatical structure of the original language must have the corresponding structure in the target language and the vocabularies are translated correspondingly. Let’s see the following examples:
Example 18: 英雄金笔厂是公司主体，创建于1931年，经过60多年的开拓发展，建树了“英雄”，“博士”两大品牌，产品享誉海内外，成为我国重大国事活动的专用笔。
Translation version: The Hero Pen Factory the main subsidiary of Shanghai Hero Co. Ltd, was founded in 1931. After more than 60 years of growth, the company has become famous in China and aboard for its Hero and Doctor Brand Pens and for its Hero golden Pens which are used for important national affairs.
In this example, the fact is put into an important place and no cultural background information is supplied in the original version. Literal translation is applied for the purpose of conveying the function of the original version.
Example 19: the brand name “Goldlion” is translated into“金利来”.
Translators want to translate it into“金狮”at first, because“狮”represents the power and the authority in royal Britain. Unfortunately this product was not so welcomed when it entered in Hongkong for the first time because“狮”sounds like“输”(lose) in Cantonese.
However, when it is translated into“金利来”again，it became so popular at that time and earned its reputation eventually.
Example 20: When LG first introduced the KG 90 smart phone, they used the“I chocolate you” as the slogan. Chocolate is a gi ft which a girl sends to a boy on a valentine’s day. In this case, the slogan would be great if it is translated to “我爱你”.④:196
Example 21: “Challenge the limits.”（“挑战极限”）This is an advertisement of Samsung product. The order of Chinese characters is in full accordance with the English words in the translated version in which has a “verb-object” structure.
Example 22: Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.
Translation: 没有桔汁的早餐犹如没有阳光的日子
4.2 The using of homonyms
Example 23: We often use transliteration for a transnational product, but sometimes we need to use homonyms to translate an advertisement more accurately. Take BENZ as an example, if we translate it into “笨死”following the transliteration rule, this would not meet the aesthetic view of Chinese people. So it has been changed to“奔驰”and it has become a success ever since.
4.3 Target-language-culture-oriented principle
The special purpose and function of advertising requires that the translation of an advertisement should adapt both to the target language and the target culture. It means due to the purpose and function of advertisements, advertisement translation must be target-language-culture-oriented. Here are some examples
Example 24:喝孔家酒，做天下文章。
Version 1: Kongfu down, case done.
Version 2: Confucian spirit provokes your mind.
Look at those 2 versions, we both know that the second version is better than the first one. The second one is more close to the west culture and the psychology of the audience. The word “provoke” is frequently used in advertisements, such as “thought-provoking exhibition” in New York Museum of Fine Arts. So it is more easily to be adopted by the western people. The “Confucian spirit” is associated with the “British Spirit” which is mo re familiar to them. So the second version is better than the first version.
4.4 Not always restricted by language form and realize the communication purpose of advertisement
Advertising language should be simple, vivid, clear and appealing. To express information and intrigue the audience, an important principle of advertisement translation is not to be restricted by the structure of the original advertisement. In order to reorganize the advertising language into a form that the audience can accept and realize the communication purpose, it’s important to make some creative ideas sometimes. The followings are typical examples:
Example 25: We lease too, honestly. (汽车租赁广告)
Version 1:老实说,我们也做租赁。
Version 2:诚信租赁。
In this advertisement “honestly”refers to “naturally”and can be the adverb of “honest”. Therefore, the double meaning in this advertisement is that “We lease cars and our business is honest”. Version 1 is a direct translation of the original one but it does not process the translation from the communication perspective. Version 2 smartly uses some Chinese business mottos like “Honest Business” and “Based on Honesty”. It expresses the product in nature and realizes its publicity purpose. So this version of translation is more acceptable to the audience.⑤:80
4.5 Using the metaphrase and paraphrase in balance
Since translation is a process that recreates the language information by the most suitable and natural equivalent. H ow to deal with the relationship between “most suitable and natural words” and “equivalent” becomes quite important. Advertisement translation is the process of recreation other than simple duplication.
Example 26:“Good to the last drop”.
Translation version:“滴滴香浓，意犹未尽”
It is an advertisement for a brand of coffee(雀巢). The translator gets rid of the restriction of original language and conveys connotation of the advertisement by paraphrasing the original text. However, the key is that we should readjust the original advertisement on the basis of analyzing and understanding connotation of the advertisement.⑤:80
4.6 Using a refining and brief sentence
According to the research, the decrease in memory of the quantity of material can help people memorize things more easily. So a successful advertisement sometimes needs a brief and impressive slogan. Remember, the ultimate purpose of an advertisement is to convince people or provoke people to buy their products
Example 27: Ask anyone who owns the car(问一下有这种车的人吧).
It is an advertisement slogan of a car. This is an imperative sentence. People would be attracted by it so easily.
4.7 The using of naturalization
Using of naturalization sometimes attracts a people’s attention so easily.
Example 28: To smoke or not to smoke, that is a question（吸不吸烟是个问题）.⑤:80
This advertisement slogan benefits from the famous remark “To be or not to be, that is a question”from William Shakespeare’s works. It makes us feel warmer and we are most likely to buy this kind of cigarette after viewing it.
4.8 The using of comparative and superlative of adjective words
Adjective words are very emotional and appealing. The common function of the adjective words is to modify the nouns. By using the adjective words we can make a real material product more vivid. To sell a product, the advertisement should beautify the product first. Here are two examples.
Example 29: Minolta, finest to put you finest.（第一流的美能达，第一流的你）.
This advertisement makes us feel we are the finest if we got a Minolta camera even if we know the fact that this kind of feeling is just a fantasy. This advertisement realizes its goal to persuade people to buy it.
Example 30: Let’s make things better.（让我们做得更好）.
Philips is a world-famous domestic appliance company. This slogan is more like a promise and a commitment. Philips does not brag about the good quality of its products but to express the idea in a more gentle and appropriate way. How are we going to say no to such a gentle and honest Philips? ⑤:80
4.9 The using of puns
A pun is a phrase that deliberately exploits confusion between similar-sounding words for humorous or rhetorical effect. It is a game of words. Puns can make an advertisement more interesting and can help you to memorize things and open your mind. Pay attention to these two advertisements below.
Example 31: Ask for More(摩尔香烟，再来一支）. Here, “M ore” is a brand name of a cigarette and it also means what it means literally.
Example 32: I am More satisfied（摩尔香烟，让我满意）. Here, “M ore” represent s the name of the brand and also modifies the word “satisfied” in function.
4.10 Using idioms correctly
We should never abuse using idioms while we are making a trans-commercial advertisement since we barely know anything about the target people or their culture. The translator should possess universal knowledge including language, the culture of society, folklores, aesthetics, psychics, economics, etc. Here are two good examples of idioms using.
Example 33: Where there is a way, there is a Toyota.
Translated version: 丰田汽车，风行天下。⑦:64
Example 34: Tasting is believing（美食广告）
Translated version: 百闻不如一尝⑦:64
Conclusion
Advertisement is a tool for business communication. We can not ignore the cultural differences between China and Western countries. In order to attract more potential customers, it is an urgent task for all adve rtisers to make clear of each other’s culture. Thus, we can provoke those potential consumers to buy our own products.
Advertisement translation is a transfer of language and also a transfer of culture.
It is necessary for us to know something about advertisements’ features if we want to do a good job on advertisement translation. We should pay more attention to the relationship between language and culture. To be an adequate advertiser we also need to fully handle the culture differences and get to know the basic standards of a good translation of advertisement.
This paper tries to make people know how important a transnational advertisement can be in today’s business world at first. And then it explains the definition of an advertisement and shows us an advertisement in general. It has also shown us that cultural differences can influence on advertisement translation in so many ways.
At last this paper offers us some useful methods and skills in advertisement translation.
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