Features and Translations of Advertising English.doc

Features and Translations of Advertising EnglishContentsI. Introduction to Advertising EnglishII. Features of Advertising EnglishIII. Translation of Advertising EnglishIV. ConclusionI. Introduction to Advertising English 1. 1 Definition of Advertising EnglishAmerican Marketing Association (AMA) defines advertising as “the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.” Today, with the development of the technology and the diversity of the mass media, advertising has influenced us pervasively in our daily life. However, whatever the promotive strategies advertising takes, language is the main carrier of message all along. Advertising language is a style of immediate impact and rapid persuasion. The purpose of advertising is to guide consumers to access a variety of commodities in the world to stimulate their interest, encourage them to come into contact with you after the purchase will be able to generate a strong desire to achieve and then to consumers by the Attention -Interest -Desire Action and the gradual transition. To sum up, advertising English is an impersonal language of communication of information about products or ideas by an identified sponsor through mass media in an effort to persuade or influence peoples behavior.1.2 Classification of Advertising English Advertising English is classified into three types: medium product English, technique English and consumer English. According to different media English, advertising English is classified into advertising English in newspaper, advertising English in magazine, advertising English on radio, advertising English on TV, commercial English, direct advertising English, outdoor advertising English, transportation advertising English, point-of-purchase advertising English, telex advertising English, internet advertising English, etc.According to technique, advertising English is classified as the hard sell English and soft sell English.II. Features of Advertising English 2.1 Morphological Features of Advertising English As a means to disseminate information, advertising English must be compact, vivid, visual, emotional and attractive. Therefore, morphology in advertising is quite different from common English.2.1.1 Use of Verbs In order to make the advertising language concise and vivid, the English advertisement often uses some monosyllabic verbs. The most frequently used 20 verbs and phrasal verbs are: Try, ask, get, take, let, send for, use, call, make, come on, hurry, see, give, come, remember, discover, serve, introduce, choose, and look for. For examples: (1)Getting places in the business world is easier if your banker is there to meet you. (Security Pacific Asian Bank.) (2)Well make this quick. (Hertz Car Return)Although the ultimate purpose of advertising is to persuade consumers to buy its products, advertisements seldom use the word “buy” in it. Statistics show only two out of ten advertisements use the verb “buy” directly.2.1.2 Use of Adjectives In order to beautify the product, attract customers, advertising a large number of colors compliment use of evaluative adjectives aswell as the comparative of adjectives and the most senior to enhance the advertising appeal. See the following examples:Excellent daily specials and mouthwatering desserts. It is a restaurant ad, adjective words account for half of the entire ad, very tempting. See more examples:(1)What a Good time for a Good taste of Kent?(2)In just a few drops, this mans skin is going to feel Better.2.1.3 Use of Abbreviated Words and Compound WordsThe basic characteristics of advertising in a limited space within the transmission of information as much as possible, so in order to save cost, widely used in English advertising abbreviated words and compound words. As for abbreviated words, such as: To Let or For SaleFurnished Edinburgh Court, 426 Argyly st, 2nd floor, 1,630 sqft4 bedrooms with dining and living room, prive garage. Sale at 130,000.Rent 1,400. Tel, 38954 office time or 823748.This is an advertisement to rent or sell a house. There are many contractions, such as: st=street, sq=square, ft=foot, Tel=telephone. Compound words are more flexible, with highly expressive and full of vitality, suitable for English advertisement on the pursuit of novelty. Such as: best-seller, piping hot coffee, high-fashion knitwear and so on. 2.1.4 Misspelling and Coinage In some of advertisements, the advertising copywriter misspells some words on purpose, or adds some suffix or prefix to the common words. Although the new words still keep the original meanings, they are quite different from the original words in spelling, which will make the advertisement more vivid, interesting and attractive. For examples: We know eggsactly how to sell eggs. In this advertisement, “eggsactly” is the variation of “exactly”, and echo the word “eggs” at the end of the sentence. The Orangemostest Drink in the world. In this drink advertisement, the word “orangemostest” actually is “orange+most+est”. It uses this word to express the high quality and purity of the drink. In addition, some prefixes or suffixes like “super-”, “ex-”, “-er”, “-est” etc, are often used to stress the high quality of the product. 2.1.5 LoanwordsThe most frequently used loanwords are French and Spanish. For example: Order it in bottles or in cans. Perrierwith added je ne sais quoi. The meaning of “je ne sais quoi” is “I dont know what”. The purpose to use this simple French is to show the French flavor of this drink. The loanwords in some advertisement are good methods to express the exoticism of the products.2.2 Syntactic Features of Advertising English 2.2.1 More Simple Sentences, Less Complex Sentences It will get better effect to use simple sentences than compound sentences, because the readers will get bored on reading complex sentences. Another reason is to reduce the cost of advertising, and effectively stimulate the consumers. For instance:(1) Coke adds life.(2) Things go better with Coca-Cola.(3) Something cooler happens with Canada Dry. (“Canada Dry” is a wine.)2.2.2 More Elliptical SentenceElliptical sentences are actually incomplete in structure but complete in meaning. The adoption of elliptical sentences can spare more print space, and take less time for readers to finish reading. In addition, a group of sentence fragments may gain special advertising effectiveness. For example:Deliciously simple. Simply delicious.Although there are only two simple adverbs and adjectives repeated in this advertisement, it is imprinted deeply in the readers mind of the characteristics of the food. It is delicious and convenient.Safe. Easy. Quick and with Fun. (KITCHEN WONDER Vegetable Processor)Elliptical sentence are likely to render the style more concise and compact. They are rhythmical and forceful, so they are easy to remember and more appealing to customers.2.2.3 More Interrogative Sentences and Imperative SentencesAccording to statistics, in every 30 sentences there is one interrogative sentence. It is because interrogative sentences are quick and effective to arouse readers response. Whats in Womans Realm this week? A wonderful beauty offers for you. Imperative sentences are short, encouraging and forceful. They are used to arouse audiences wants or encourage them to buy something. Therefore, there are lots of imperative sentences in advertising, such as: (1) Enter something magical. (Oldsmobile) (2) Feel the clean all day. (ALMAY) (3) Bye one. (Honda motor) 2.2.4 Disjunctive Clause Disjunctive clause is unique for advertising English, which separates a long, complex sentence into several simple sentences by using full stop, dash, semi-colon, hyphen, etc. Those sentences are independent in form, but are related in the content. The use of disjunctive clause could add more information and save more space and money. The separated parts are usually the features of the product, so that they could emphasize the good points of the product. There is an example of Amtrak, which has successfully used the disjunctive clauses: Amtrak has created a new. nationwide passenger rail system. Literally from the ground up. A system that represented a viable alternative for people who fly. For business or pleasure. 2.2.5 Conditional SentencesIn English advertisements, conditional sentences introduced by if often occur in the first line so as to strengthen promotion and persuasion. The conditional sentences can be divided into two types: real conditional sentences and unreal conditional sentence. In advertising texts, real conditional sentences are generally preferred. For examples:(1) If you suffer from indigestion, there is something you want to know. (Advertisement of nutritional food)(2)Without vitamins, life itself would be impossible. (Advertisement of leechdom)2.3 Rhetorical Features of Advertising EnglishRhetorical devices are variations of literal or ordinary form of expressions. Their use is to make the thought more striking and effective, for they have the power to vivify and illustrate. A fresh, apt rhetorical device appeals to the imagination, creates mental pictures and makes the speech or writing vivid, impressive and interesting. For this reason, advertisers often use various rhetorical devices to increase the readability and appeal of an advertisement and to arouse consumers interest of buying the product. 2.3.1 Simile and MetaphorSimile is a figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as. (1)Light as a breeze, soft as a cloud. (2)Ride like a feather in your pocket. Metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison. (1)Go for the Gold (2)The brightest star in electronics.2.3.2 PersonificationPersonification is a figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are endowed with human qualities or are represented as possessing human form. The use of personification in advertising will endow the product with human emotion, and will make them amicable to consumers. (1)Flowers by Interflora speak from the heart. (Interflora) (2)We make other vegetables green with envy. Why would other vegetables be jealous of potatoes? (The Potato Board of U.S)2.3.3 PunPun is an amusing use of a word or phrase that has two meanings which is called Polysemy or of words with the same sound but different meaning which is called Homonymy. Pun, a play on words, will make a deep impression on customers by its readability, wit, and humor. Now come to the following advertisements with pun: (1)Ask for More. (More is a famous brand of cigarette.) (2)From sharp minds come Sharp products. (“Sharp” means both the brand itself and quick-minded.)2.3.4 RepetitionIn some advertisements, the copywriters often use the method of repetition to stress certain information.Mosquito bye bye bye. (RADAR)The use of three words “bye” put much emphasis on tone in form and high quality of the Radar in content.2.3.5 Rhyming Rhyming is correspondence of terminal sounds of words or of lines of verse. It will make the slogan of advertising much more fluent to remember. Pepsi-Cola hits the spot, Twelve full ounces, thats a lot, Twice as much for a nickel, too, Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you. III. Translation of Advertising English3.1 What is TranslationTranslation is a rendering from on language into another, i.e. the faithful representation in one language of what is written or said in another language. (摘自许建平著，英汉互译实践与技巧（第三版）)3.2 Principles of TranslationThe main principles of translation are faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance which were first proposed by Yan Fu. The English for Science and Technology (EST) emphasizes particularly the principles of faithfulness and elegance.3.3 Methods of Translation3.3.1 Literal TranslationLiteral translation does not mean word-for-word translation. Superficially speaking, it means “not to alter the original words and sentences”; strictly speaking, it strives “to keep the sentiments and style of the original”. It takes the sentence as the basic construction during the process of translation, and at the same time, trying to keep the construction of the sentences and figures of speech in it, in order to reproduce the form, contents and styles of the language. This approach plays an important role in the translation of English advertisement. For examples: (1)Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.          - A juice早餐中没有橙汁就像生活中没有阳光。              (2)Flowers by Interflora speak from the heart.                  -Inferflora flowers英特拂劳拉的鲜花倾诉衷肠。                     (3)Pepsi-Cola hits the spot. Twelve full ounces, thats a lot, Twice as much for a nickel, too, Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you.                                  -Pepsi cola百事可乐味道好，足足12盎量不少，五元钞票买24盎，百事可乐供您享。 (4)He cant talk, he cant walk, and he cant drive a car. Yet he could be the most important “person” in the world of automotive safety testing today. He is THUMS, the worlds first virtual human for crash testing.      - An advertisement text for virtual crash dummy他不能说话,他不能走路,他不能驱车。而他可能是当今汽车安全检测界最重要的“人物”。他名叫THUMS，是世界上第一个检测车辆事故的虚拟人According to the examples we can see that the translations are identical with the advertisement language in sentence structure, rhetoric and function. All the advertisements here are translated in the manner of literal translation. Obviously, in this way, not only can we reproduce the styles and contents contained in the advertisement language, but also we can widely read and remember them easily.3.3.2 Free Translation If the translation cant reproduce the meaning of the advertisement language or its very difficult to be understood or accepted by the readers in the approach of literal translation, we will have to abandon or change the style and rhetoric of the advertisement language. We have to use some words that can conform to the advertisement language and can be understood by the readers of the target language, or use some proper syntax to express the meaning and spirit of the same language. Usually, we have to use free translation to translate rhetorical structures in English advertisement.” Better late than the late.                       -Police advertisement宁晚三分，不抢一秒，别到阎王爷那去报到。3.3.3 Flexible TranslationThe flexible translation here refers to the proper, lifelike expression of both literal translation and free translation. Sometimes the translation of a word, a phrase or a senten