Cultural Differences in EnglishChinese Advertisement Translation.docx

Cultural Differences in EnglishChinese Advertisement Translation.docx

《Cultural Differences in EnglishChinese Advertisement Translation.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《Cultural Differences in EnglishChinese Advertisement Translation.docx（9页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

CulturalDifferencesinEnglishChineseAdvertisementTranslation

学号：

密级：

TermPaperofEnglishPaperWritingCourse

CulturalDifferencesinEnglish-ChineseAdvertisementTranslation

College：

CollegeofForeignLanguagesandLiterature

Subject：

EnglishLanguageandLiterature

Name：

Directedby：

June2014

ABSTRACT

Advertisingisatypeofcommunicationusedbymarketingtopersuadeconsumersintoconsuming.Languageandculturedifferencescanbereflectedfromtheadvertising.EnglishandChineseadvertising,closelyrelatedtotheirownculture,conveydifferentculturalfeaturesandmessagesoftheirownnation,reflectingtheirownculture.Withtheboomingofeconomicglobalization,English-Chineseadvertisementtranslationplaysanincreasinglyimportantpartinmultinationaltrades.Underthecircumstances,thispaperiswrittentodealwiththedifferencesofChineseandEnglishcultureonadvertisementtranslationaswellassomemethodstomakeadvertisingtranslationinviewoftheculturedifferences.

Keywords:

culturaldifferences;advertisement;English-Chinesetranslation

Contents

ChapterOneIntroduction4

ChapterTwoTheRelationshipBetweenCultureandAdvertisementTranslation

2.1LanguageandCulture5

2.2AdvertisementandCulture5

2.3AdvertisementLanguageandCulture5

ChapterThreeHowtheCultureDifferencesInfluenceEnglish-ChineseAdvertisementTranslation

3.1TheDifferencesofSocialHistoryBackground7

3.2DifferentSocialEnvironmentsandSenseofValues7

3.3DifferencesinColorsandNumbers8

3.3.1Colors8

3.3.2Numbers8

ChapterFourThePrinciplesofEnglish-ChineseAdvertisementTranslation

4.1Faithfulness10

4.2Attractiveness10

4.3Acceptability11

ChapterFiveTheMethodsofEnglish-ChineseAdvertisementTranslation

5.1ObtaintheKnowledgeofTargetCulture12

5.2UseProperTranslationStrategies12

5.3AdoptTransliterationandFreeTranslation13

5.3.1Transliteration13

5.3.2FreeTranslation14

Conclusion15

References16

ChapterOneIntroduction

WiththeglobalprosperouseconomydevelopedandChina’sreformandopeninguppoliciescarriedout,advertisingindustryisbooming.In1979,Coco-coladrewintoChina’smarket,andsincewhennumerousforeignproductsswarmedintoChina.ProperandeffectiveEnglish-ChineseadvertisingtranslationswhichsuccessfultranslatethesourcelanguageadvertisementintotargetlanguageadvertisementarehighlydemandedonaccountofthezoomingofChina’sbusinesscooperationwithothercountries,especialEnglish-speakingcountries.

InternationaladvertisingtranslationisessentialfortheinternationalizingofChina’senterpriseandmade-inChinaproductstoshareworldmarkets.Consequently,varioussortsofviewsarecomeupbythetranslationexpertsandscholars.Bythelate1990s,somein-depthstudieshavefocusedonthemethodsandprinciplesofadvertisementtranslation,andanumberofexpertsandscholarsexpresseddifferentpointsofviewfromdifferentanglessuchastextmessage,aestheticsandconsumerpsychology.Meanwhile,thestudiesofadvertisingtranslationrequiremoreattentionthanthat.

Itisthepurposeofthispapertogivearelativelycomprehensiveaccountofwhathasbeenachievedonthissubject,sincetheinitiationoftheconceptofaculturalapproachtotranslation.Basedontheachievementsbyothers,thispaperwilltrytopresentamoredetailedanalysisoftherelationshipbetweenlanguageandcultureandthatbetweencultureandtranslationandthendevelopintotheculturalfactorsthatcarryoutgreatinfluenceontranslationandthetranslationstrategiesthatareemployedtodealwiththeculturalfactors.Firstly,thispaperwilldelveintotherelationshipbetweencultureandadvertisementtranslationthroughthreeaspects,namely,languageandculture,advertisementandculture,advertisementLanguageandCulture.Subsequently,acomprehensiveanalysiswillbepresentedwhatinfluenceculturedifferenceshaveonEnglish-Chineseadvertisementtranslation.Finally,tohighlighttheimplicationoflaunchingthisresearch,someprinciplesandmethodsofEnglish-Chineseadvertisementtranslationarespecificallyreferredto.

ChapterTwoTheRelationshipBetweenCultureandAdvertisementTranslation

2.1LanguageandCulture

Languageisapartofcultureandplaysanimportantpartinit.It’sbelievedthatlanguageisthebaseofculture—languageisthepremiseofculture.Inreverse,languageisinfluencedbycultureandreflectscultureaswell.Misunderstandingscanshowupbecauseofculturedifferencewhentwopersonsfromdiverseculturesaretalkingtoeachother.Fordifferentculturalbackgroundspeople,thesamewordorthesamewayofexpressionmayhavedifferentmeanings.Ifnotexpressproperly,onecanmaketheaudiencesburstintolaughterevenifheisreferringtoaserioustopic.Lazear（1995）proposedthatcommoncultureandcommonlanguagepromotethetradepeopleandthat’swhyminoritiesstrivetolearnandassimilatethelanguageofthemajoritytowinmorebusinesspartners.

2.2AdvertisementandCulture

Advertisementandculturearehighlyrelatedtoeachother.TomentionChinaandAmerica,culturevaluesarereflectedinU.S.andChineseadvertisingappeals.AccordingtoastudyofLin（2001）,subtlechangesinChineseculturevaluesandadvertisingstrategiesaredistinctdespitethefactthatitstraditionalculturevaluesremainsthepredominatepositionandthetrenddemonstratedinChinesetradesisdisplayedinU.S.tradesaswell.Whilepromotingproductsorservices,theadvertisementunconsciouslyoutputssomeculturalawarenessandchangespeople’sthinkingwaysorvalues.Coca-Colaadvertisementisonetypicalexample.Theoriginalmeaningofitsadvertisementis“Ican’tcatchthatfeeling”.However,Japaneseversionmeans“IenjoyCoca-Cola”andItalianversionmeans“Theuniquefeeling”.Thesameadvertisementmaychangeitsmeaningwhenit’sintroducedtocountriesofdifferentculturebackground.TheCoca-Colacasesuggeststhataproductcanreachitssalesexpectationonlyifitadaptsitselftothelocalculture.

2.3AdvertisementLanguageandCulture

Advertisementlanguageisinfluencedandevenlimitedbyculture;meanwhile,theadvertisementlanguagecontainsandreflectsthesocialculture.Peoplearemorewillingtobuytheproductsthatabutandembeddedintheirlife.Forexample,asforEnglishadvertisements,topropagandaaproductorservicecloselyrelatedtosexylife,theyoftendirectlyputwordslikecondomsorsexonittoachievebettersaleseffects.However,Chinesecustomerswillnotbuyit.Chinesepeopletendtoavoidsuchwordsforthereasonsthattheythinkit’simmoralandtheywillfeelembarrassedwhenbuyingthiskindofproducts.Thisiswhylocalcultureshouldbetakenintoaccountwhenchoosingadvertisementlanguage.

ChapterThreeHowtheCultureDifferencesInfluenceEnglish-ChineseAdvertisementTranslation

TheculturedifferencesinfluenceEnglish-Chineseadvertisementtranslationinmanyways.Inanempiricalstudy,Zhang&Gelb（1996）investigatedtheeffectsofdifferentadvertisingappealsusedintheUnitedStatesandChinaandtheresultsindicatethatproductuseconditionmoderatedtheeffectivenessofculturallyincongruentadvertisingappealsdespitethefactthatculturallycongruentappealsweremoreeffectiveingeneral.Astheculturalfactorssuchasmodesofthinking,beliefsandvaluesnotonlyleadtofailuresormisunderstandingsincross-culturalcommunicationbutalsoengenderobstructionsintranslationsinceculturalpresuppositionsmayvirtuallyandsystematicallyinfluenceinterpretationofthesubjectsandfactsinsourcetextswithoutknowingit.Thenitisofgreatnecessityfortranslatorstofullyrecognizethedifferencesandcrashesintheprocessoftranslation.

3.1TheDifferencesofSocialHistoryBackground

ThedifferencesofsocialhistorybackgroundmayinfluenceEnglish-Chineseadvertisementtranslation.Asforwesternpeople,theytendtopaymoreattentiononthepersonalvalueandself-interest.Itmaybringaboutdissimilarityinadvertisingtranslation.AsuccessfulexampleisJapanesecompanyToyota.ToobtainagoodreputationandsharetheChinesecarmarket,itcreatedanadvertisementslogan”WherethereisawayforcanthereisaToyota”whichstemsfromanoldChineseidiom.ButwhenitaccessedtheUnitedStates,itmadeuseofthesaying“allmencreatedequal”whichdeeplyrootedinAmericancultureandasaresult,ithassharedalargepartofAmericancarmarketandgaineditsreputationaswell.

2.4DifferentSocialEnvironmentsandSenseofValues

Whenatranslatordoestheadvertisementtranslation,hehastotakethesocialenvironmentandsenseofvalueintoaccount.Ahighlypraisedthinginacountrymaynotgetthesamerespectinanother.Theoriginalmeaningof“poison”isthesubstancethatcausesinjuryorillnessordeathofalivingorganism.Theperfumenamedafteritcanachieveaneffectofpursuingaexoticandwildlife.Andit’smuchsoughtafterbythewesternwomen.However,whenit’sintroducedtoChina,itwillnotbeacceptedifitcannotgetridofitsimageofpoisonwhichdeeplyrootedinthemindofChinesepeople.ToadapttoChinesesocialenvironmentandvalue,ithastocaterfortheChinesetastes.Thereisawayoftransliteratingitinto“百爱神”（BaiAishen）,whichmeansthisbrandofperfumeisfavoredbymanypeople.ThisadvertisingtranslationisacceptedbyChinesepeople.

3.3DifferencesinColorsandNumbers

Asaculturalphenomenon,advertisementmirrorsallrespectsofculturalfeatures,includingpeople’sattitudestowardsdifferentcolorsandnumbers.Advertisementprovidescon