英语论文-浅谈英汉语言文化差异对广告翻译的影响

”In this way ,there’s no solemnity at all.

1.4 Semantic contrast[5]

Language is an essential part as well as the carrier of a culture, which not only reflects its racial

history and cultural background, but also includes the views, life style, and thinking method.

Meanwhile, advertising language, one branch of the language, is also reflected by the culture. It is

not enough for advertising translators only to know the literal meaning of an ad, for it may be

endowed with extended meaning and cultural implication. Fully competent advertising translators

are supposed to have a good command of religions, traditions, ethnic attitudes, the spirit of

community, and purchasing habits of the target countries. Otherwise, the translated ads might go

against the original intention of the producers in the following four aspects.

1) Translation conveys a derogatory sense in the target culture. For example, the

Shanghai-

produced pen branded as“

白翎

” could receive welcome in English

-speaking countries,

for the brand is translated as White Feather

of cowardice in English. It derives the connotation from the belief that white feather in a

gamecock’s tail is a sign of a poor fighter. The Engl

ish idiom,

translation nullifies the strengths of the company on the international market and becomes a

disadvantage that fails to serve the interests of the producers or those of the distributors.

2) Translation happens to be politically inappropriate.

When introduced to foreign countries,

the Chinese brand of canvas shoes“

大鹏

”is rendered as

bird in

Arabic fables. However,

the translation stirs up inappropriate political associations.

3) Translation is not elegant enough. In English,

certain part of human body. If the brand name“

金鸡

” is literally translated into

the translated term will annihilate the good image of the products and leave the target audience the

impression of vulgarity. In fact, there is a bette

r version for“

金鸡，

’

-Golden Rooster.

4) Translation by using Chinese phonetic letters coincides with English words with derogatory

sense. The typical example is“

马戏扑克

”.The version

consumers of something revolting and unpleasant, for

indicates vomited food or drink.

1.5 Differences between character form[5]

It is self- evident that various countries, nationalities and regions use a variety of characters.

Furthermore, likes and dislikes for certain characters are widely divergent. It is reported that

Japanese are in favor of such Chinese characters as“

诚

”

、

“

梦

”< /p>

、

“

爱

”

、

“

愁

”and “

美

” while most

Chinese are accustomed to“

福< /p>

”

、

“

寿

”

、

“

喜

乐

”.In accordance with the American author

Irving Wallace, the most beautiful English words are chime, golden, lullaby

，

melody and

murmuring, etc. Since Chinese is a visual symbolic system with the most precise structure for

recording human speech, the pictographic and associative Chinese characters are not only

potential in transmitting message, but also offer great additional aesthetic function so as to arouse

consumers’ positive reaction. Unlike Chinese, English is an alphabetical system of writing and can

hardly produce artistic image only through its words. In consequence, it is by no means an easy

job to give accurate and elegant English versions for the Chinese ads.

In case of untranslatability arising from character differences, advertising translators have to

exert all strengths to seek other methods, for instance, to create a completely new ad for the same

product intended for the target market. When introducing its products to China, Japanese Toyota

Automobile Company ingeniously employs“

车到山前必有路，有路必有丰田车

”to stimulate

Chinese consumers into purchases.

1.6 Rhetoric contrast[5]

English is rapidly becoming the universal language for international business. It is inevitable

for Chinese producers to translate their ads into English to gain a place on the world market.

Rhetoric devices are the most commonly used tools in English advertising copywriting.

There do

exist differences in rhetorical figures between Chinese and English, and these differences may put

translators in a difficult position. For instance:

(4)

黄河冰箱，领

“

鲜

”

一步。

This ad adopts the rhetorical device of pun, which is difficult to translate. The translator can

hardly render the meaning without sacrificing the form, or maintain the original flavor without

distorting the meaning.

The translation of rhetorical devices in Chinese ads is a knotty problem,

which has blocked the way of many translators of Chinese ads. As stated in the previous part of

the thesis, what should be borne in mind is that communication becomes effective abroad only

after the message has been appropriately translated. Without this adequate and expressive

translation, it is very unlikely to produce an impact on the foreign consumer. Therefore, the author

tries to make a study of the rhetorical devices used in advertising English to pave the way for the

application of English rhetoric to the translation of Chinese ads.

1.7 The influence on the advertising translation

Translation is a bilingual and bicultural activity. The translator always seeks to strike a balance

between the two languages and two cultures involved in the activity. Any shift of emphasis from

the source language and culture to the target counterparts or vice versa may result in the difference

between literal translation and free translation, faithful translation and idiomatic translation,

semantic translation and communicative translation, word-for-word translation and adaptation. As

the major function of advertising is to encourage sales, i.e., to persuade the target audience to

make a purchase, advertising translation, which aims at promoting sales on the overseas market,

should necessarily lay its emphasis on the overseas audience, i.e., the target language readership.

What should be favored in advertising translation is the message rather than the form, the sense

instead of the words, the spirit and not the structure. In order to convey the original message,

render the primary sense and display the right spirit, the form, words and structure of the source

advertising text can be retained if possible, adapted and even converted if necessary. The

translator must try, by hook or by crook, to produce the corresponding effect, or in other words, to

create similar response from the target language readership.

tical Background

Two aspects of advertising language will be discussed in this part, the one is about cultural

differences and the other is concerning about the advertising translation.

2.1 Relation between language, culture and thought

According to Bernstein, language is something which both influences culture and is in turn

influenced by culture, with the second influence apparently stronger than the first. According to

Brown, culture is really an integral part of the interaction between language and thought. Culture

patterns, customs and ways of life are expressed in language; culture- specific worldviews are

reflected in language.

2.2 Culture and advertising language

Advertising language is reflective of literature, psychology and aesthetics of the cultural

community. It carri

es marks of influence of that cultural community’s tradition in its worldviews,

social values, religion and the like. For instance, American advertisements mirror Americans’

cultural psychology-quest for adventure and individuality. This is suggested

by

the

linguistic

preference

for

words

like adventure, different, fearless, exhilarating, bold,

new and innovative, whereas, the psychology reflected in Chinese advertisements tends to be

pursuit for, say, kinship, perfection and family unification.

The culture differences reflect on the language, especially on the advertising language.

Therefore, there are certain concepts which can be activates by an English word but not by its

Chinese equivalent. It is quite possible that a Chinese version of an American advertisement may

not trigger the intended response in the Chinese consumers, and what’s worse, it may not be

understood by them.

Hence, the more a translator knows about how a cultural group view such things as humor,

interpersonal relationship, life and work style, the more successfully he or she will be able to

produce an effective advertisement translation.

al Differences in Advertising Language

The faster the economy grows; the more exchange there will be. Because of the global economic

market, culture differences can be reflected everywhere. The advertisement is the active

constituent in the whole market, and the advertising language is full of abundant culture. So a

qualified advertiser should know clear about the basic cultural differences and he or she can make

a competitive advertisement, which can be well understood and arouse the sympathetic purchasing

action. Thus this chapter will explain the basic cultural difference from the six aspects.

3.1 Monism versus pluralism[6]

From the aspect of culture basic form, Chinese culture has the monism viewpoint

and

the

western

culture

has

the pluralism viewpoint.

one of Chinese philosophy concepts in Chinese traditional culture. It insists that nature and human

should be in harmony. Contrary to the Chinese culture, the western culture insists on the view of

pluralism. It emphasizes on the changes and differences of the matter, self-development, and

enterprising spirits.

Some Chinese advertisements meet the culture psychology of Chinese public, and create some

preferable advertising words. For example:

(5)

天堂 水沏的龙井茶，娃哈哈矿泉水茶饮料。

(Beverage)

(6)

天地间造化，动静皆风云。< /p>

(Car)

(7)

一份好奶，一片云

;

远在天边，

近在你我心间

……

天生的好奶，天山雪。

(Fresh Milk)

The three advertising examples take advantage of the idea

create imagining language in the way of empathy. The means of artistic expression attract the

readers’ attention and the advertisement gets its idea

l effect. The advertiser takes the Wahaha

beverage as the holy water from Paradise by using a metaphor.

from the five-thousand-year- old Chinese culture.

The myth makes the common water noble and

mysterious. The consumers feel it should be out of ordinary if they buy the merchandise. The pure,

the holy and the rich fragrant make the tea beverage be the essence of heaven and earth. So the

products fascinate the consumers so much that arouse the people’s enthusiasm and the str

ong

purchase desire. This advertisement gets it goal.

The English advertisements are affected by the pluralism viewpoint of western culture which

prefers the individual freedom, self- development and the creative ability. It also encourages

people to transform world and conquer the nature. These advertisements highlight the importance

of person self-development, and publicize their products from point of view of personality. They

show the ideas in western value system that people can change everything and people can create

everything.

The advertisements manifest the beliefs that people should pursuit the freedom and

the self-

development, and create the future. Theses expressions satisfy the consumers’ personality

development and arouse the sympathetic responses.

3.2 Collectivism versus individualism[6]

At the value aspect, the Chinese culture worships the selfless dedication.

Personal value lies in

the dedication. In China’s traditional culture, philanthropism, kind and justice always is the

society value in worship. To Chinese, personal happiness is in accordance with the collective

benefits. Consideration, care and love have been the state of mind that the people emphasize.

Therefore, Chinese people pay more attention to national affairs, family affairs, everything

concerned, and giving others with very considerate and concerning care is regarded as virtue. But

in the western society culture, people emphasize the character personal freedom, ego development

and personal spirit of enterprise, personal benefits are beyond on the collective benefits. The

different value will reflect by all means at each ad language. The examples listed below could

prove:

(8)

妈妈

,

我又梦见了村边的小溪

< br>,

梦见了

奶奶

,

梦见了您。妈妈

,

我给您捎去一样好东西。威力洗衣机

,

献给 妈妈的爱。

(

威力牌洗衣

机

(9)

让妻子从繁重的家务中解脱出来

,

这是每个丈夫的职责

.

The author of these Chinese advertisement places oneself among the consumers. We can easily

found something tender and affable. Adopting the empathy of feeling, arouse the consumer’s

family affection and friendship. Therefore, the ad read very human. Show consideration to the

others, the kind and justice universal love, respect the old and love the young, the peaceful family

have been the virtue that the our country publicizes in the traditional culture, But these

advertisement give these traditional virtues for product, with a thick affection color took into

exaggeration, making a claim that the product can be trusted and feel warm with it .On the

contrary, English advertisement emphasize the personal struggle, person freedom and ego

realization, encouraging character development is usually an English advertisement claim method.

Such as:

(10) Lufthansa

Our personal service will appeal to your individual taste.

( Lufthansa Airline)