A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Magister Artium in Applied Linguistics and Literary Theory

(with specialisation in translation)

ILZE BEZUIDENHOUT
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Introduction Background and Problem Objective Scientific Instrument Application Practical application Scientific application Focus Chapter Outline CHAPTER 1 A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements Introduction Advertisements as Discourse The Act of Communication Translating the Message The Study of Signs The Sign Metaphors and Metonymy Codes and Systems into which Signs are Organised Levels of Meaning: Connotation and Denotation Intertextuality

Translating the Signs - Translating the Culture Questions: To Have and to Hold Conclusion CHAPTER 2 The Role of Culture in Persuasive Advertisements Introduction Definitions of Culture What Constitutes Cultural Identity? Cultural Signs in South Africa Ideology and Signs in Advertisements National Symbols and Ideology The Influence of One Culture on Another Blurring Cultural Parameters Influence of the American Dream on Cultural Identities Towards a Translation Theory of Culture Cultural Gaps Values and Moral Issues Conclusion CHAPTER 3 Finding a Translation Theory Introduction Translating Persuasive Advertisements Towards Translation Equivalence Translating Culture Specific Cultural Items Role of Semiotics in Translation Theory Conclusion CHAPTER 4 The Instrument in Action Introduction International, Multinational Advertisements Absolut Coca-Cola Belgian Advertising Industry Analysis and Discussion of Belgian Advertisements Television Advertisements Analysis and Discussion of South African Advertisements Conclusion CHAPTER 5 Translating the Culture, Translating the Discourse Introduction Shared South African Symbols Television Advertisements Conclusion CHAPTER 6 Conclusion Bibliography Media Gallery ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Anton and my parents for support beyond words. My supervisor, prof. Ronel Johl, for patience and guidance. In South Africa: Wilna Liebenberg, Herman Engelbrecht, Johan Roux, Magriet Krger, Zirk van den Berg, Wilna de Bruin, Ian Smith. In Belgium: prof. Jos Lambert, prof. Marcel Jansens, Sophie Frre, Ann Peetermans, Bart Broodcoorens, Mia Hamels. The Human Sciences Research Council for a bursary.

i@ilze.org

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

INTRODUCTION A discursive-semiotic approach to translating cultural aspects in persuasive advertisements. BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM Advertisements are a reflection of society. During the past fifty years advertisements have become an inseparable part of the life of consumers, which means everyone who has ever spent money in order to survive. The phenomenon of advertising exists in all market systems. The way it is regulated and thus impacts on the receivers varies from system to system, but it undoubtedly influences society to behave in a certain way. In a capitalist society, such as South Africa, advertising creates the need for products and services that could be rightfully so indispensable or, more probably, just to enhance your lifestyle. Secondary functions include the transmission of information and entertaining. However, advertisements never exist merely to fulfil these functions, the overriding function is to persuade the consumer to do or think something. Advertising has infiltrated every sphere of society: arts, culture, sport, fashion, politics and even religion, the reason being that no discipline can survive in a competitive market without advertising itself or being used by products/companies as a vehicle to promote itself. It stands to reason that advertisements yield great economic and cultural power and significance in dictating norms, values, lifestyles and consumer trends. Advertisements have become a mirror of consumer needs and aspirations, but also a generator of higher ideals and wants. Advertisers and marketers thus "generate systems of meaning, prestige, and identity by associating their products with certain life-styles, symbolic values, and pleasures" (Kellner: WWW). Advertisements are no longer just transmitters of functional product information but of social symbolic information that contributes to the shaping of cultural tendencies within society. Kellner (WWW) points out that "goods function as communicators and satisfiers they inform and mediate social relations, telling individuals what they must buy to become fashionable, popular, and successful while inducing them to buy particular products to reach these goals". From the above one can surmise that advertisements are cultural markers. Leiss, Kline and Jhally (1986: 7) are of the opinion that "advertising is not just a business expenditure undertaken in the hope of moving merchandise off the store shelves, but is rather an integral part of modern culture". However, currently the global trend is towards multinational, culturally nondifferentiating advertising that has had a significant impact on society. Advertisements are not created in a cultural void; they are anchored within a certain culture with all its sub-cultures. The language used in the advertisement is not a direct indication of the culture, but a sign system used to communicate in that culture. Signs and symbols particular to a specific culture add to the meaning in advertisements. Behaviour, customs, habits, beliefs and norms form the basis of a culture, and differentiate one culture from another on the basis of this. A problem arises when advertisements created in one culture have to be translated for use in another culture. It does not merely imply finding linguistic equivalents in the target language. A social frame of reference has to be recreated in another culture. The problem is further complicated when the translation takes place in a country where the cultural boundaries have been blurred. Such a problem exists in South Africa, where there are eleven official languages but many more cultures. Historically, English has been the language of commerce and industry in South Africa and thus also the advertising industry. Up to 1994, when the first democratic elections took place, English and Afrikaans were the two official languages. Advertisers were forced by law to produce advertisements for a product in both languages. Because money was a constraint, most advertisers created advertisements in English and then had them translated to fulfil the legal requirements. Since the inception of the new government, Afrikaans has lost much of its political power and consequently fewer advertisements appear in Afrikaans, despite the fact that Afrikaans is the third largest spoken language in a country with an approximate population of 42 million. This point is illustrated by Afrikaans copywriter Johan Roux (1998: 22): "By Ogilvy & Mather, die grootste agentskap, word sowat 12% van die reklame in Afrikaans gedoen." In other words, the rest of the advertisements are conceptualised in English and then translated. However, the problem of translating English advertisements into Afrikaans is complex. The situation not only demands linguistic and cultural skills from the translator, but s/he has to bear social and demographic issues in mind. Firstly, a specific and demarcated English or Afrikaans culture cannot be clearly defined. Secondly, people from various cultural orientations (black ethnic, naturalised immigrants) have English or Afrikaans as a mother tongue, but still cling to their own culture and customs. The language, Afrikaans, offers cultural signs born of the frame of reference of the white Afrikaner, including concepts, idiomatic expression, customs, norms, famous historic figures and general descriptions that have become embedded in the Afrikaans culture and vocabulary. Also, Afrikaans has been treated as the language of the oppressor: white Afrikaners, and thus culturally speaking many people (the so-called coloureds) who could be classified as Afrikaners, chose to speak and educate their children in English. The white

(Afrikaner) and coloured cultures share many cultural traits but, more importantly, a language that acts as the binding factor between these two groups. However, the attitude towards Afrikaans is changing, and more and more Afrikaans speakers (across the board) are unifying to support and celebrate Afrikaans as a language and a culture. A new term has been coined by Punt Radio, an all-Afrikaans talk radio station, namely Afrikaanses. The new status of Afrikaans can be attributed, to a large extent, to the power and idiomatic expressiveness of the language, and to the fact that Afrikaans is a product of the people and the country. But the new status of Afrikaans compounds the problem of translating advertisements into Afrikaans, and the transference of cultural aspects. The same can be said for transferring certain Afrikaans cultural aspects and idiomatic expressions into English. South Africa is not unique in having to deal with the transference of cultural aspects in the translation of persuasive advertisements. Belgium has three cultural groupings: French, Flemish and German. The two official languages are French and Flemish (a Dutch dialect in the spoken form, but standard Dutch in the written form). The south of the country is called Wallonia and is French-speaking, and the north is called Flanders and is Flemish-speaking. An imaginative and symbolic border divides the country. A small German population resides in the eastern part of the country, on the border with Germany. The situation in Belgium concerning translation and cultural transference in persuasive advertisements offers some insights and possible solutions to the situation in South Africa. An instrument has to be found to deal with cultural aspects when translating from one culture into another. In addition to this requirement, the instrument should be able to isolate foreign influences (whether cultural aspects or language) and assess the appropriateness in the South African context. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

OBJECTIVE The objective of this dissertation is to investigate whether a discursive-semiotic approach in the translation of persuasive advertisements will enable translators to (1) identify and describe cultural aspects in persuasive advertisements and, (2) by using translation theory, present translators with an instrument that will assist them in transferring cultural aspects in the translation process. SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT The two main aspects of this approach involve discourse analysis and semiotics, and the respective roles they play within the translation of persuasive advertisements. Semiotics is derived from the Latin word "semios" which means sign, and studies signs and their derived sign systems and generated meanings. In a communicative event such as a persuasive advertisement, meanings are created, interpreted and transmitted to receivers, who belong to a cultural community and have a specific cultural identity. Patrick Vyncke (1996: 2) describes man (in other words all receivers) as "een wezen dat bij uitstek zijn handelen baseert op betekenissen, en dus op communicatie- en cultuurprocessen". These processes create a semiotic world, or a symbolic reality, which exists independently from the physical world (Vyncke 1996: 16). Man constructs social meaning by using the signs and sign systems known to him which he also uses to define himself, his reality and the world around him. Culture provides the signs and mechanisms to accomplish this. By using semiotic analysis, the translator is empowered to isolate signs and their meanings within a culture for purposes of transfer in a persuasive advertisement. An overview of classical insights from the semiotic pioneers, Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Peirce, is given to describe concepts and models. Their insights and theories contribute to isolating and defining cultural aspects within a given discourse and communication event such as persuasive advertisements. In this communication event meanings are created and exchanged (sender to receiver) that have to be transferred to a new communication event (the target text) in the translation process. The codes and levels of meaning into which signs are organised form the basis of semiotic analysis and act as pointers towards a pragmatic application in the translation process. Discourse analysis is an ambiguous term and thus means different things to different people. Brown and Yule (1987: 1) state that "the analysis of discourse, is necessarily, the analysis of language in use. As such, it cannot be restricted to the description of linguistic forms independent of the purposes or functions which these forms are designed to serve in human affairs".

Discourse is thus described as language actively functioning within a social context. In terms of persuasive advertisements, the linguistic elements form the text and all non-linguistic elements form the context. In this dissertation discourse is defined as the text occurring within a context. Text is viewed as any stretch of spoken language or written language within one specific context, in other words, linguistic signs used in a spoken or written form within one communicative event. This definition enables the translator to deal with linguistic signs in terms of the properties and functions of written and spoken language as they occur in advertisements in different media. Text is embedded in its contexts whether these are social, cultural or cognitive (Schiffrin 1987: 3). The (poetic) function of language in a persuasive advertisement is to communicate a message to a receiver (immediate or eventual). Because of the various factors playing a role in this discourse, a translation method is needed that can deal with the requirements of the source text and context. Translation theory as proposed by Nida, the dynamic equivalent method, seems to meet the demands and provide a framework within which semiotics also plays an important role in the translation process. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

APPLICATION Practical application The American Marketing Association defines advertising as any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor (Bolen 1984: 4). Advertisements are the tools used in this process "to inform and persuade the selected market" (Bolen 1984: 6). In the broad domain of advertising, the most basic function of advertisements is to communicate; the communication must inform, persuade or do both (overlap occurs in some advertisements). A persuasive advertisement can be defined as an advertisement whose main function is to persuade the potential customer (receiver) that s/he needs to buy a product, use a service, support a cause or take specific action. This type of advertisement is the most widely used form, because its main function is to persuade receivers (consumers) to change, or modify their buying behaviour in favour of the product or service advertised. Informative advertisements inform the consumer (receiver) about goods, services or ideas and then tell them how to get them by means of the identified sponsor. Some advertisers classify advertisements as being either image/prestige or commercial advertisements. In both cases, however, the informative or persuasive function is at work. For the purposes of this dissertation, the functionality of the message in the advertisement is of the utmost importance. The means used to construct the message will be analysed by means of discursive-semiotic instruments to provide solutions when dealing with cultural aspects in the translation of persuasive advertisements. Persuasive advertisements appear in all media forms: radio, television, cinema, print (newspapers, magazines, billboards, outdoor hoardings), and on the Internet. It is not limited to any medium and can therefore appear anywhere in any situation. In this dissertation English and Afrikaans radio, print and television advertisements will be analysed. Scientific application Persuasive advertisements present the translator with problems and challenges specific to the discourse and the medium in which they appear. Because the text is driven and often dominated by the context, the translator needs a theory of translation to deal with matters pertaining to the context, such as cultural aspects. The medium in which the advertisement appears can limit the translation of text in terms of choice of words and extent (length), which could impact on the context. Eugene Nidas (1964) theory of equivalence (formal, cognitive and dynamic) gives valuable insights into dealing with persuasive advertisement discourse by leaning strongly towards semiotics and signs within a text. The most suitable form for these purposes is dynamic equivalence, because it focuses on the function of the source text, and how to achieve an equivalent effect in the target text. Nida offers guidelines that can be used when translating cultural aspects (language, customs, habits, beliefs, etc.) in the text and the context. Cultural aspects manifest themselves in the form of signs that generate meaning individually or in conjunction with other signs. It is argued that translation is a semiotic practice in that it also deals with the use, interpretation and manipulation of messages (Gorle 1994: 11). Focus

Cultural aspects inherent in most persuasive advertisements demand special attention. They are embedded in the text (language) and context and are not always obvious at first sight. Newmark (1988: 10) points out that translation is not only the transmission of knowledge and the creation of understanding, but also the transmission of culture. The translator has to address these aspects with sensitivity and great care, the reason being that the cultural identity evident in the persuasive advertisement encompasses issues such as ideology, and the frame of reference of the receivers (their view of the world and themselves). By giving attention to cultural aspects in an advertisement, the translator bestows a certain value on the discourse by addressing the receivers in that culture on their own terms. The advertisement will appear in the target language as an original creation and not merely a translation of the original. Thus the language is awarded credibility and a right to existence. The strengthening of the own culture fends off dominance of foreign cultures and influences. Furthermore, if cultural aspects are not appropriately translated, the text will read like a translation. However, sometimes it seems that certain cultural aspects (words, concepts, idioms) are untranslatable. By applying the discursive-semiotic approach, these obstacles can be addressed more adequately. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

CHAPTER OUTLINE Chapter 1 This chapter deals with the discursive-semiotic approach to the cultural aspects present in persuasive advertisements. Certain elements of discourse analysis are discussed to illustrate its importance in the translation process. Selected semiotic theories of de Saussure and Peirce are compared in the light of their application for the translator. A synthesis of both disciplines provides the translator with instruments to approach the cultural elements in persuasive advertisements. Chapter 2 In this chapter the focus is on culture and its importance in advertisements. Cultural identity and its role are discussed in terms of its semiotic significance in generating meaning. The situations in South Africa and Belgium are compared with a view to finding possible solutions to deal with cultural matters in the translation of advertisements. An additional problem is that of the impact of the American culture on smaller cultures and finding a way to prevent total domination of one world culture. Examples of multinational products and their advertisements will be discussed to illustrate their impact on other cultures. Chapter 3 This chapter deals with translation theory relevant to the problem of difficulties in advertisements arising from cultural differences between the source text and the target text. A suitable theory is chosen to meet the nature of the requirements presented by persuasive advertisements. The interrelated nature of translation and semiotics helps the translator to apply the theory in practice. Chapter 4 In this chapter examples of persuasive advertisements from various media will be discussed and analysed. Belgian and South African advertisements and their existing translations will be compared. Problems and possible translational difficulties in terms of cultural aspects will be isolated and discussed. Chapter 5 Chapter 5 deals with the instrument in action. In this chapter the discursive-semiotic approach in the translation of persuasive advertisements is applied to a selection of advertisements to isolate and describe cultural aspects and assist in the cultural transference into the target language and cultural situation. Chapter 6 A critical discussion of the usefulness and applicability of the approach is offered. The impact on and value of this approach on the South African and Belgian advertising industries are pointed out. Proposals for further research and investigation in the field conclude the dissertation. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

CHAPTER 1 A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements INTRODUCTION The combination of discourse analysis and semiotic analysis brings together two disciplines that have not traditionally been used by translators to deal with the transference of cultural aspects in translation. Much confusion still prevails amongst theorists regarding the exact definitions of discourse and semiotics. Discourse is often seen as only referring to the spoken word. Stubbs (1983: 9) differentiates between text and discourse: "one talks of written text versus spoken discourse". Semiotics is often confused with semiosis. In both cases a distinct definition will be presented for these terms to avoid any confusion or ambiguity. These two disciplines will be discussed separately, starting with discourse. Definitions of Discourse Various views on the term "discourse" will be compared, as well as various views on discourse analysis. Often theorists use text and discourse interchangeably; others define discourse as spoken words only, and text as written words. In both instances context is seen as a separate function. A distinction is made in this dissertation between these terms and their function, and a working definition of the different terms will be formulated for use and application. Traditionally, discourse has been treated as "a continuous stretch of (especially spoken) language larger than a sentencea discourse is a behavioural unit which has a pre-theoretical status in linguistics" (Crystal 1991: 106). According to this definition discourse is primarily seen as spoken language (a language act: parole). Discourse covers a vast field and definitions abound. This can be illustrated by the opinions of various theorists. Yule and Brown (1987: 1) state that "the analysis of discourse, is necessarily, the analysis of language in use. As such, it cannot be restricted to the descriptions of linguistic forms independent of the purposes or functions which these forms are designed to serve in human affairs". It becomes clear that the production of discourse is a social act and therefore written discourse is the representation of this social act. This social act implies that communication takes place. This feature will be further discussed under the communicative function of discourse. Some theorists distinguish between text and discourse as two separate terms and concepts, an opinion that will be later refuted. Salkie (1995: ix) states that "text or a discourse is a stretch of language that may be longer than one sentence. Text and discourse analysis is about how sentences combine to form texts by means of cohesiveness and coherence". Widdowson (1983: 9) also distinguishes "textual cohesion, recognizable in surface leixis, grammar and propositional development, from discourse coherence which operates between underlying speech acts". Newmarks (1988: 54) definition is similar to Salkies definition, in that he states: The analysis of texts beyond and above the sentence the attempt to find linguistic regularities in discourseits main concepts are cohesion the features that bind sentences to each other grammatically and lexically and coherence which is the notional and logical unity of a text. Two important aspects (standards of textuality), coherence and cohesion, are mentioned in the above definitions. Coherence refers to those elements that make a text hang together, and refers to textual and contextual aspects of discourse. A coherent text is "a text whose constituent parts (episodes, sentences) are meaningfully related so that the text as a whole makes sense, even though there may be relatively few markers" (Fairclough 1992: 83). Cohesiveness or cohesion refers to "how clauses are linked together into sentences, and how sentences are in turn linked together to form larger units in texts" (Fairclough 1992: 77). This can be achieved by repetition, conjunctive words, nearsynonyms or vocabulary from a common semantic field. Cohesion deals with the textual aspect of discourse.

The relevance of these two aspects is that they are important in text production, and thus in discourse analysis. Should one or both of these features be absent, the text would not be able to function as a meaningful whole. This in turn would have an impact on the context of the discourse, and thus have many ramifications for the translator of the text who would have to make sense of disjointed elements in the advertisement to be translated. A shortcoming in Salkies definition is that it does not account for texts that are shorter than a sentence and consist only of one or two words, or spoken language. In the case of advertisements, especially print advertisements, there is often little or no text and the emphasis is on the visual material supported by very little text. For instance, a print advertisement could consist of only visual material and one word, such as a brand name or an exclamation. This proves that discourse does not necessarily have to consist of lengthy sentences. The coherence would be brought about by the interaction between the word(s) and the visual material, but there would be very little or no cohesion due to the lack of text. Newmarks definition suggests that discourse is an all-inclusive term for the written and spoken language used in a social act. Stubbs (1983: 1) points out "that language and situation are inseparable". The situation forms the basis of the context. It follows thus that context and text are two inseparable aspects that work together to constitute the discourse. Thus a working definition for discourse as perceived in this dissertation can be formulated. Working definition of discourse Text refers to all linguistic aspects in written or spoken natural language, i.e. the words used to form the utterance or written text. It could be a word, a sentence, a paragraph, or a longer stretch of language, in other words any length of words used to create text. In semiotic terms language represents a sign system. In other words, language is a linguistic sign system creating meaning in a given context. The information provided by the text must be related to the discourse as a whole; that is with the text as coherent collection of semantic relations, in other words "the quality of perceived purpose, meaning and connection" (Cook 1994: 25). The text takes place within a given situation or context. Context consists of various factors, not all of which always appear at once in a given situation. According to Cook (1992: 1) context includes: substance - the physical material which carries or relays text; music and pictures; paralanguage - meaningful behaviour accompanying language, such as voice quality, gestures, facial expressions and touch (in speech) and choice of typeface and letter sizes (in writing); situation - the properties and relations of objects and people in the vicinity of the text, as perceived by the participants; co-text - text which precedes or follows that under analysis, and which participants judge to belong to the same discourse; intertext - text which the participants perceive as belonging to other discourse, but which they associate with the text under consideration, and which affects their interpretation; participants - they are described as senders, addressers, addressees and receivers; and function - what the text is intended to do by the senders and addressers, or perceived to do by the receivers and addressees. (This element will be dealt with separately.) For the purposes of this dissertation this definition of context suffices and can be used as such. In persuasive advertisements, usually more than one of these aspects works together to form the context in which text production takes place. In semiotic terms, the different aspects create or represent signs (context) that generate meaning to perform a persuasive function together with the linguistic signs (text). Therefore, advertisement discourse is defined as text occurring within a specific context. Discourse analysis It is vital for the translator to keep in mind that text cannot exist without context and vice versa. The main assumption is that, in persuasive advertisements, the text (language) is subject and sensitive to the context. Context includes knowledge of elements existing outside the text (knowledge of the world) as well as how these elements contribute to create a certain frame of reference and/or a cultural identity.

The culture in which a certain advertisement is created forms part of the context. Schiffrin (1987: 4) confirms this view by saying that " language always occur(s) in a context, but its patterns of form and function, and at surface and underlying levels are sensitive to features of that context". When translating a persuasive advertisement, the translator has to be sensitive to this because "language is potentially sensitive to all of the contexts in which it occurs, and, even more strongly, language reflects those contexts because it helps to constitute them" (Schiffrin 1987: 5). Advertisements always rely on the relation between the text and its context; the one cannot survive without the other. The receiver senses this relationship and decodes the message accordingly. The context of the advertisement determines how the receivers will perceive the message. The context is embedded in a specific culture, whether it is a language-related culture or a sub-culture. The task of discourse analysis is to identify the cultural aspects and determine their role in the persuasive advertisements in view of transferring them in the translation process. Knowledge of discourse analysis is important for the translator to: identify the text and context; isolate and describe the inherent elements in the text and context; determine how these elements interact in the discourse; identify cultural aspects; and determine how the above-mentioned points function in the communication process.

ADVERTISEMENTS AS DISCOURSE Advertisement discourse challenges the translator more than any other discourse because of its very nature and the multitude of elements that constitute its existence. Cook (1992: 4) states that there are hundreds of discourse types "which merge into each other and defy exact definition". This is particularly relevant to the nature of advertisements: an advertisement could be several types at once. For instance, a persuasive advertisement could display characteristics of a joke, a song and cartoon at the same time. In an attempt to deal with the translation of cultural aspects in advertisements, the characteristics and the function of this communicative event have to be discussed. However, it would not be reasonable or justified to formulate one definitive meaning of what constitutes advertisements: the definition would be limiting - a contradiction in terms. Characteristics The various characteristics of advertising as identified by Cook (1992: 214) apply to the broad spectrum of advertisements, in whatever form. These characteristics cover the most important characteristics inherent to all forms of advertising. The translator can use these guidelines to determine whether a discourse is an advertisement if it displays one or more of these characteristics. The features below are prototypical of advertisements rather than definitive. (They have been arranged in order of importance as viewed by the study. The characteristics from number 26 are the authors additions.) 1. They have the typical restless instability of a new discourse type. 2. They seek to alter addressees behaviour. (Persuasive advertisements are prime examples.) 3. They change constantly. (Advertisements for a specific product change intermittently.) 4. They are a discourse on the periphery of attention. (Advertisements are not regarded as being "serious".) 5. They are unsolicited by their receivers. (Advertisements appear in the media, e.g. on television.) 6. They are parasitic: appropriating and existing through the voices of other discourse types. (In magazines, newspapers and on television and radio.) 7. They merge the features of public and private discourse, and the voices of intimacy and authority, exploiting the features common to both. (Private conversation and public addresses can be used.) 8. They use various substances for discourse (e.g. a perfume strip in a magazine). 9. They are embedded in an accompanying discourse (e.g. in a newspaper). 10. They provoke social, moral and aesthetic judgements, either positive or negative. 11. They are often heard in many contradictory ways simultaneously. 12. Advertisements provoke controversy (e.g. Bennetton advertisements).

13. They are multi-modal and can use pictures, music and language, either singly or in combination (e.g. television commercial). 14. They are multi-submodal, in their use of language and can use writing, speech and song (e.g. radio advertisement). 15. They contain and foreground extensive and innovative use of paralanguage (e.g. body language in a television commercial). 16. They foreground connotational, indeterminate and metaphorical meaning, thus creating fusion between disparate spheres (e.g. Mercedes-Benz with luxury). 17. They make dense use of intra-modal and inter-modal parallelisms. 18. They use a heteroglossic narrative. 19. They make extensive use of intra- and inter-discoursal allusion. 20. They are presented in short bursts (e.g. television commercial of 30 seconds). 21. They follow a principle of reversal, causing them to change many features, as soon as they become established, to the opposite. 22. They are identified by their position in an accompanying discourse. 23. They use their space and time to give pleasure. 24. They use code-play. 25. They answer a need for display and repetitive language. 26. Advertisements, as verbal art, are detrimentally constrained by the need to fulfil the wishes of their clients. 27. They infiltrate new technology and media (e.g. on the Internet). 28. They (unnecessarily) create need. 29. They sell a lifestyle. (Fun-loving people smoke Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes and visit exotic holiday destinations.) 30. They are a form of mass communication. A persuasive advertisement could contain one, all or a combination of these characteristics. There are no set rules which determine that persuasive advertisements that use a specific medium should display certain characteristics. Advertisements are in a constant state of flux. Although the message of two products might be the same, different mediums could change the characteristics of the two advertisements. Function In the broadest sense advertisements either persuade or inform receivers in terms of their functionality. The main function of a persuasive advertisement is to persuade the receiver to take a specific action, in other words the receiver is directly manipulated to change or modify his/her (consumer) behaviour. Elements of information can also be present. The intended function can only take place if the discourse fulfils its communicative role. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

THE ACT OF COMMUNICATION Advertisements are marketing tools used in a communication process to send a message to receivers (consumers), who will react or respond in a certain way. Communication is derived from the Latin word communis, which means common. Communication is the process of commonness of thought between a sender and a receiver of a message: Both sender and receiver must be active participants in the same communicative relationship in order for thought to be shared (Dunn, Barban, Krugman & Reid 1990: 51).

Meaning can thus only be achieved when the sender and receiver share a thought or idea. In persuasive advertisements it is assumed that both parties share this thought. In order to understand the communication of advertisements, three basic concepts have to be taken into account: field of experience, meaning and signs and symbols (Dunn et al 1990: 51-52). These aspects will be elaborated upon in the section on semiotic analysis. The field of experience refers to the receivers total life experiences. Contextual and textual elements are used by the advertiser to refer to a specific group of receivers experiences. This is closely linked to culture and cultural identity where certain elements such as customs or idiomatic language are used to send a message to the receiver. Meaning is created by signs that evoke certain meanings. Again cultural orientation plays a role here. Stubbs (1983: 8) states that "the general vision is of culture as comprising interlocking systems of meaning". These signs can either be textual or contextual elements such as a poem or music. One can distinguish between connotative, contextual and denotative meaning. Denotative meaning refers to the literal association with objects or words. Connotative meaning refers to the derived connotations of the individual towards a concept or word. Contextual meaning refers to the surroundings in which the advertisements message takes place (Dunn et al 1990: 54). In order to place the above-mentioned in a frame of reference, one should look at the communication model and the functions of the different elements. Model of communication One of the classical models of the communication process is that of Roman Jakobson. According to Jakobson (1960) in every concrete speech act the addresser sends a message to the addressee; the message uses a code (usually a language that is known to both the addresser and addressee); the message has a context (or referent) and is transmitted through a contact (a medium such as live speech or writing). Each one of these aspects has a linguistic function in the communication process. If the emphasis is on the sender's role in the process, an emotive function would be apparent (which would for example emphasise the role of the narrator); if the emphasis is on the receiver, a conative function would be involved; if the context is of importance, the referential function would be at work; emphasising the used code involves a meta-lingual function, while emphasising the contact gives preference to the phatic function (Seldon & Widdowson 1993: 4). If the orientation is towards the message, the poetic or aesthetic function will be at work. This function will be the focus of discussion in this section. Diagrammatically the communication process looks like this: CONTEXT

SENDER

MESSAGE

RECEIVER

CONTACT / CHANNEL

CODE The function of the message of a persuasive advertisement is the reason for its existence. The message is as successful as the desired response elicited from the receiver; the symbiosis is inevitable and necessary. The communication situation in which discourse is produced and processed can be broken down into the various factors which can influence the possible aims of the discourse. According to Halliday and Hasan (1989:12) the "act sequence" is of great importance as is the relation between form and content of a message, the place where the communication takes place, the social role of the participants and the norms attached to it. It follows thus that culture plays an inevitable role in the communication situation. Culture is "what everyone knows, and part of this knowledge is conversational competence" (Stubbs 1983: 8). It can be said that language (together with its different functions) is embedded in the culture due to the shared knowledge. TRANSLATING THE MESSAGE

Eugene Nida (1964: 120) notes that the production of equivalent messages is a process of matching different part of speech, but also reproducing "the total dynamic character of the communication". In other words, the text and the context have to be considered. The message of a persuasive advertisement relies on the text and the context to interact and thus produce meaning. Language and context are based on the culture and its sign systems in which the advertisement was created. Language (as a sign system) is a cultural vehicle that reflects the society and its values in which a communicative event takes place. Non-linguistic signs (which form part of the context) determine the cultural framework in which linguistic signs function. The task of the translator is to find a translation theory to deal with cultural aspects in the transference of sign meaning into a target language. The message consists of two different aspects: (1) the signal, including all the formal features of the message; and (2) the content, that is the meaning of the signal. Together with these the channel must also be considered: whether it is in spoken or written form or a combination as in the case of television advertisements (Nida 1964: 122). In semiotic terms the message could consist of the signs generated by the language used (signal), and of the meaning generated by these signs (content). The meaning of the message could be altered or influenced should any change be made to the signal or content. The message is dependent on the generating of signs, by whatever means, to convey and strengthen its function. Nida (1964: 120) suggests five important phases of communication that have to be considered when translating. These phases are of the utmost relevance to advertisements. They are: the subject matter, in other words the referents that are talked about; the participants who take part in the communication; the speech act or the process of writing; the code used, that is the language, including all its symbols and arrangements; and the message, that is the particular way in which the subject matter is encoded into specific symbols and arrangements.

According to Nida (1964: 129) all messages can normally consist of a maximum of 50% redundancy in terms of the communication load. This limit of unpredictability is often exaggerated when a translator uses rare forms of words, unusual syntax, strange combinations of words and unfamiliar themes. As a result, the receiver will have problems in decoding the message. In the case of translating advertisements between different cultures which are not closely related, there could be an added problem of new concepts being created that are not accessible to the average receiver. A further problem would be that the receivers differ in their capacity to decode the message, in other words some could be highly educated adults, while others might be newly or partially literate teenagers. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

THE STUDY OF SIGNS BRIDGING THE GAP/MEETING POINT: DISCOURSE AND SEMIOTICS Norman Fairclough (1992: 65) states that: Discursive practice contributes to reproducing society (social identities, social relationships, systems of knowledge and belief) as it is, yet also contributes to transforming society. This statement sums up the role of discourse analysis in the translation of cultural aspects in persuasive advertisements. It can be inferred that society, as defined by Fairclough, points to cultural identity. Discursive practice, like a persuasive advertisement, changes or manipulates the receivers in a society or culture to alter their behaviour or "transform society". But the same can be said for semiotics, where verbal and non-verbal signs produce meaning, which lead to the creation of social relationships, systems of knowledge and thus cultural identity. The individual signs and their combinations are manipulated to perform a persuasive function in advertisements (in the text and context), which alters the behaviour of the receivers accordingly.

Introduction to semiotics Humans, like most animals, are able to communicate verbally and non-verbally. Humans use language in verbal communication and signs, symbols, sound or paralinguistic means to communicate a message. However, humans, unlike animals, have cultural identities. The semiosis (sign processing) takes place within this cultural orientation. Patrick Vyncke (1996: 2) describes this phenomenon as follows: Nu is er recent een wetenschap tot ontwikkeling gekomen die zich in het bijzonder, en op een bijzondere manier, met deze communicatie- en cultuurprocessen inlaat. Het bijzondere van deze wetenschap schuilt hem onder meer hierin dat zijdeze communicatie- en cultuurprocessen zondermeer als vergelijkbare fenomenen bestudeert, namelijk als betekenisprocessen: processen waarbij betekenissen worden gecrerd en/of genterpreteerd, processen via dewelke betekenissen worden overgedragen tussen mensen en via dewelke betekenissen circuleren binnen een cultuurgemeenschap, processen waarbij we m.a.w. aan onszelf en onze leefwereld betekenis toekennen. Semiotics analysis provides the translator with means to deal with signs in a persuasive advertisement which reflect a cultural identity. Winfried Nth (1990: 476) emphasises the usefulness of semiotics by saying: semiotics provides the theoretical tools for the analysis of signs and communication process in advertisingsemiotics expands the analytic horizon from the verbal message in the narrower sense to the multiplicity of codes used in persuasive communication. By analysing the signs and semiosis in the source culture, the translator can identify their functions and transfer them into a target language (and culture) by finding equivalents in the target culture. This section will focus on the theories of Charles Peirce and Ferdinand de Saussure regarding signs and semiosis that will enable the translator to apply aspects of discourse analysis in conjunction with semiotic analysis in dealing with cultural aspects in persuasive advertisements during the translation process. It should be noted that Peirce provides insights and theories that serve as theoretical background information, but are difficult to "translate" into practical ideas. De Saussure provides one with more tangible and applicable information and theory that can be used to examine an advertisement semiotically and then translate it. Semiotics defined In order to establish the use and necessity of semiotics for translation purposes, one needs to provide a background against which the concepts and terminology as well as the tools of the trade can be discussed. The framework can be summarised into the following three fields of study: 1. The sign. This entails the study of the various types of signs, and the different ways they have of conveying meaning, and the way they relate to the people who use them. 2. That to which the sign refers. In other words, the codes or systems into which signs are organised. This includes the ways that various codes have developed to meet the needs of a society or culture, or to exploit the channels of communication available for their transmission. 3. The users of the sign. In other words, the culture within which these codes and signs operate. (Fiske 1982: 43). Ferdinand de Saussure (cited in Hawkes 1977: 123), father of the study of semiotics, defined this phenomenon in what was to become a very well-known statement: A science that studies the life of signs within a society is conceivable; it would be a part of social psychology and consequently of general psychology; I shall call it semiology (from the Greek semeion sign). Semiology would show what constitutes signs, what laws govern them. Since the science does not yet exist, no one can say what it would be; but it has a right to existence, a place staked out in advance. Linguistics is only a part of the general science of semiology; the laws discovered by semiology will be applicable to linguistics Saussure used the term semiology, whereas Peirce used the term semiotics. Confusion can occur between these two concepts. In this dissertation, semiotics will be used, whereas the process of semiotics or sign-processing will be called semiosis. Peirce defined signs as follows: Signs in general [are] a class which includes pictures, symptoms, words, sentences, books, libraries, signals, orders of command, microscopes, legislative representatives, musical concertos, performances of these (cited in Gorle 1994: 50).

From this statement it can be inferred that Peirce intended the scope of semiotics to extend beyond the linguistic signs used in human communication. For Peirce semiotics involved the systematic study of signs, sign systems or structures, sign processes, and sign functions. From a Peircean perspective, signs transcend linguistic barriers and would thus include verbal and nonverbal signs. Daniel Chandler (WWW) is of the opinion that semiotics seeks to analyse media texts as structured wholes and is rarely quantitative. Persuasive advertisements (which are discourse that appears in media) function as structured wholes. It is important that the different elements and their position within their context are studied as a whole and not merely as different parts of the bigger picture. Individual elements have significance and will generate certain meaning, but it is imperative that the context and the collective meaning of the signs are examined and translated. Woollacott (in Woollacott, Gurevitch, Bennett & Curran 1982: 93) confirms this by stating that: semiotic studies focus on the system of rule governing the discourse involved in media texts, stressing the role of semiotic context in shaping meaning. THE SIGN As said before, Ferdinand de Saussure was the founding father of semiotics, but his views on semiotics focus on linguistic aspects of signs and semiosis. Charles Peirce, on the other hand, offers a broader plane on which to work. In order to find practical applications and hints to use for the semiotic translation, the differences and similarities between the views held by De Saussure and Peirce have to be compared. De Saussures dyad De Saussure described a language as a system of signs which have meaning by virtue of their relationships to each other (Cook 1992: 61). Every sign consists of (1) a signifier (the form which the sign takes), and (2) the signified (the concept it represents). The relationship between the signifier and the signified is called "signification". Thus the signifier is the term for the sign itself (the image); and the signified refers to the mental concept. Diagrammatically it would look like this: Sign: chair Signifier: the letters c-h-a-i-r Signified concept: the category chair Sign: signifier signified

(Chandler: WWW) De Saussure emphasised that the signified and the signifier were inseparable; and referred to the signifier in terms of a "sound image", and to the signified as a mental image. Each sign has meaning by virtue of its place in the system. This model excludes any reference to an object in the world, as opposed to Peirces view. De Saussure, a linguist, was mainly interested in language, and the way signs (words) related to other signs (words) rather than to an object. To him the signified would be common to members of the same culture who share the same language. He stressed the arbitrariness of the sign by saying that there is no necessary connection between the signifier and the signified. If semiotic principles are to be applied to advertisements, this would pose a problem, the reason being that within a persuasive advertisement, the signified and the signifier must be connected in some way for the reader to be able to generate meaning from the signs and to act upon that message. Therefore one would need a reference to the world, a social context. Peirces triad Peirce had definite views on what a sign is:

A sign is anything which determines something else (its interpretant) to refer to an object to which itself refers (its object) in the same way, the interpretant becoming in turn a sign" (Peirce 1931-1935: 228). In contrast to De Saussure, who focused on language, Peirce casts his net wide by including the following under the term sign: every picture, diagram, natural cry, pointing finger, wink, knot in ones handkerchief, memory, dream, fancy, concept, indication, token, symptom, letter, numeral, word, sentence, chapter, book, library (Gorle 1994: 50). To him everything can be a sign, in other words anything that is perceptible, knowable or imaginable. But for it to act as a sign, "it must enter into a relationship with its object, be interpreted, and thus produce a new sign, its interpretant" (Gorle, 1994: 50).

Peirce sees the sign, its interpretant and object in terms of a triangle. Each element is dependent on the other and can only be understood in relation to the others. The sign refers to something other than itself the object, and is understood by somebody: in other words, it has an effect in the mind of the user - the interpretant. One can see similarities between Peirces sign and De Saussures signifier, and Peirces interpretant and De Saussures signified, but De Saussure is not concerned with the relationship of Peirces object or external meaning (Fiske 1982: 47). Types of signs and meaning The primary function of signs is to create or generate meaning. A specific sign will generate different meanings depending on the culture in which it takes place. A sign can create multiple meanings or a single one; the relationship between signs can generate a different set of meanings; a sign is active and always generates some meaning. Fiske (1982: 49) is of the opinion that meaning is the result of the dynamic interaction between sign, interpretant and object: it is historically located and may change with time. In terms of persuasive advertisements communicating with its receivers, this opinion is very relevant. The receiver has to generate meaning from the sign (whether verbal or non-verbal), and its relationship with its object and interpretant, and react to that by doing what the advertisement asks of him. Peirce produced three types of signs, each of which conveys meaning, and has a different relationship between the sign, its object or that to which it refers. He wrote that: every sign is determined by its object, either first, by partaking in the character of the object, when I call the sign an Icon; secondly, by being really in its individual existence connected with the individual object, when I call the sign an Index; thirdly, by more or less approximate certainty that it will be interpreted as denoting the object in sequence of a habit when I call the sign a Symbol. (in Fiske 1982: 51). Icon This type of sign resembles its object in some way: it looks or sounds like it. Visual sign are good examples of icons, such as a photograph, map, and diagram; in the case of language onomatopoeia (verbal) is iconic. Symbol For this sign there is no resemblance or connection between it and the object. A symbols connection with its object is a matter of convention, rule or agreement between the users. Words are a symbol. Examples include a red traffic light or the word Stop. Index This sign is directly connected in some way (existentially or causally) to its object. For instance, a sneeze signifies a cold or smoke is an index of fire. These signs are not mutually exclusive: something can be an icon and a symbol, or any combination. Film and television, and thus advertisements that use these media, use all these types of signs: icon (sound and image), symbol (speech and writing), and index (the effect of what is filmed) (Chandler: WWW).

Types of messages Signs generate meaning individually and as a structured whole in a specific context. As indicated, there are different types of signs that, as a result, can create different types of messages in the communication process, such as a persuasive advertisement. Roman Jakobson (1970: 33) is of the opinion that semiotics is the pivotal science of communication. Communication is concerned with the formulation and encoding of messages by senders; these messages are then transmitted via mediums, and the "decoding and interpretation of these messages by destinations and their signification". The communication process (and semiosis too) takes place within a context that affects its receivers, and in turn is affected by its context. Central to the communication process is the message that is encoded within a certain context; the context can influence the decoding of the message. There are different types of semiotic messages. They are iconic, indexical or symbolic. According to Jakobson (1970: 26): Most messages are a combination of two or three aspects, stacked in contextually appropriate hierarchy, which shifts over times as the context alters. An iconic message resembles some agent of the real world to which it refers. An indexical message "points to" an object or is a sample of that object. A symbolic message's relationship to the state of affairs that it purports to represent is arbitrary; in other words it is understandable because of a pre-existing social convention which specifies that the message will, to all who concur, stand for thus-and-so (Sebeok 1976: 121). Organisation of signs De Saussure organised signs (or units of meaning) into codes by means of two methods, namely paradigms and syntagms. These two dimensions are often presented as axes, where the vertical axis is the paradigmatic and the horizontal axis the syntagmatic. According to Chandler (WWW) the plane of the paradigm is that of selection, while the plane of the syntagm is that of combination. All messages involve an amount of selection (from the paradigm) and combination (into a syntagm). Paradigm and paradigmatic analysis A paradigm is a classification of signs which are all members of some defining category, but in which each sign is significantly different. An example is the alphabet that forms the paradigm for written language, or the vocabulary of any natural language. The medium or genre used by a particular media text is also a paradigm that derives meaning from the ways in which it differs from alternative media or genres. Paradigms must have these two basic characteristics: All the units/elements in a paradigm must have something in common: they must share characteristics. Each unit/element must be clearly distinguished from all the others in the paradigm (Fiske 1982: 61). The paradigmatic analysis of a text examines patterns other than the surface structure of a text. The use of one paradigm rather than another is also of great significance as are underlying thematic paradigms such as binary oppositions (nature/technology). Syntagms and syntagmatic analysis A syntagm is a combination of interacting signs which forms a meaningful whole (also called a chain) (Chandler: WWW). When a unit/element from a paradigm has been chosen and combined with other units, a syntagm is formed. According to Fiske (1982: 62) the important aspect of syntagms is the rules or conventions (explicit or inexplicit) by which the combination of units is made. In the case of language it would be called grammar or syntax. From the above one can see two forms of structural relationships forming: paradigmatic, in other words a relationship of choice; and syntagmatic, a relationship of combination. A syntagmatic analysis of a media text involves the study of its narrative sequence. According to Griffiths (WWW), syntagmatic analysis gives on overview of a media text as a narrative sequence or a sequence of signs, while paradigmatic analysis studies patterns other than those classed as sequential, within that media text. For the purposes of this dissertation it is not essential to discuss narratology. In the case of television or advertisements made for television or films, the syntagmatic analysis would involve the analysis of every shot, scene or sequence and how these relate to each other. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

METAPHORS AND METONYMY Semiosis or generating meaning can be done in a text by using metaphors and metonymy; it is most often used to create connotative meaning. Metaphor expresses the unfamiliar (also called the "tenor") in terms of the familiar (the "vehicle"). The tenor and vehicle are usually unrelated: the reader/receiver must make an imaginative leap to understand a fresh metaphor (Chandler: WWW). Fiske (1982: 96) notes that the metaphor simultaneously exploits similarity and difference. It works paradigmatically because the vehicle and the tenor must have enough similarity to place them in the same paradigm, but enough difference for the comparison to have the necessary element of contrast. Metaphors are often used, and very successfully, by advertisers to sell products. In the advertisement an event or object will be used as a metaphor for a product or idea. In the case of Coca-Cola, the good life, fun and youth will be used as a metaphor for the soft drink. Metonymy is the term used to describe the invocation of an object or idea using an associative detail; thus a syntagmatic dimension. Metonymy is based on continuity: it does not require an imaginative leap (transposition) as metaphor does (Chandler: WWW). In other words, a part of an object or idea stands for the whole. For instance, a policeman could be a metonym for the law. Fiske (1982: 97) notes that the selection of metonym is crucial because from it the reader/receiver constructs the unknown remainder of reality. It is thus important for the semiotician and translator to take the whole context into consideration before deducing what a metonym stands for. If the translator deduces a meaning not intended by the source writer/creator, the signification of the other signs and the text as a whole will create a different meaning and effect in the target text than in the source text. For the purposes of advertisements, metonyms are powerful indicators of reality because they work indexically. A shot of a street strewn with bodies and blood, shown on television, is an index (metonym) of violence and murder. CODES AND SYSTEMS INTO WHICH SIGNS ARE ORGANISED Semioticians organise signs into systems, which are governed by rules or conventions that are agreed upon by all the members of the community who use that code (Fiske 1982: 68). These rules represent a social dimension: the code is a set of practices familiar to the users of the medium operating within a broad cultural framework. Members of a specific culture will understand the codes that operate within that culture. Codes are dynamic systems that change all the time and are therefore historically and socio-culturally influenced. Due to the fact that codes and culture inter-relate dynamically, the translator must be very sensitive to the codes operating in the target culture so that the linguistic choices made during the translation process reflect the culture at that point in time. Some codes are unique to a specific medium or to closely related media (e.g. fade to black in television and film); other codes are shared by several media (e.g. scene breaks); and some are drawn from cultural practices which are not tied to a medium (e.g. body language) (Chandler: WWW). For the purpose of this dissertation, only two types will be discussed. They are broadcast and narrowcast codes. The reason for this is that these two types of codes are defined by the nature of the audience. All advertisements are aimed at specific target audiences, and although the focus has not been on the receiver as such, but more on the message, it is important for the semiotician and translator to be aware of the codes at work in an advertisement. Members of a mass audience share a broadcast code; it has to cater for heterogeneity. (This is most evident in international persuasive advertisements for soft drinks such as Coca-Cola or Levi jeans.) (See gallery for examples.) This type of code is simple; has immediate appeal and does not require an "education" to understand them (Fiske 1982: 78). Used in advertisements, for example, this type of code binds people within a certain culture together; they communicate by means of things they have in common. In South Africa codes such as rugby, soccer and cricket, or the "sunshine and braaivleis culture" in advertisements would appeal to a wide audience.

Narrowcast codes are aimed at a specific audience. In an advertisement, for instance, a narrowcast code (having a defined, limited audience) would be opera music, whereas a pop song would be broadcast (having a wider appeal). Fiske (1982: 81) notes that they do not rely on a shared communal experience but on a common educational or intellectual experience. Narrowcast codes can be seen as elitist or socially divisive and for this reason the translator has to be especially sensitive when translating within this type of code. The receivers will be educated; and if misguided choices are made in terms of style, register, vocabulary, etc. the receivers could be alienated and not respond as the receivers in the source language. Fiske (1982: 81) makes a valid observation when he says that: Narrowcast codes have acquired the function in our mass society of stressing the difference between "us" (the users of the code) and "them" (the laymen, the lowbrows). Broadcast codes stress the similarities amongst "us" (the majority). The creators of advertisements are fully aware of these two types of codes and use them according to the aim of their marketing campaigns. An exclusive product such as a Rolls Royce motor car is aimed at a very specific group of people in terms of status, income, etc. A persuasive advertisement aimed at the prospective buyers of these cars would be addressed in a way that will emphasise the receivers social status, individuality and the exclusivity of the product that is a reflection of the owner of such a vehicle. LEVELS OF MEANING: CONNOTATION AND DENOTATION The primary function of signs, namely to generate meaning, has been discussed but now the levels of meaning (or signification) have to be investigated. One can distinguish between denotation (what a sign stands for) and connotation (a signs cultural associations). Denotation It can be said that denotation refers to "first order" of signification generated by the relationship between the signifier and the signified within the sign; or the initial, common-sense and obvious meaning of the sign (Fiske 1982: 91). According to Roland Barthes (cited in Fiske 1982: 91) the referents of the sign have their referents in the external reality. Connotation Connotation refers to the "second order" of signification. Hall (cited in Chandler: WWW) sees this as the associative meaning, since it describes the interaction that occurs when a sign meets the feelings or emotions of the users and the value of their culture. Connotation describes the interaction that takes place when the sign meets the emotions of the user and the values of his culture. Connotation is directly related to the inner reality of the user/receiver and is thus highly subjective. According to Fiske (1982: 91): This is when meanings move towards the subjective, or at least the intersubjective: it is when the interpretant is influenced as much by the interpreter as by the object or the sign. Connotation involves emotional overtones, subjective interpretation, socio-cultural values and ideological assumptions (Chandler: WWW). In terms of advertisements made for television, connotations can be created from the tone of voice of the actor, that is, what he feels about a product or a situation; for the translator of text the choice of words involves connotation. Connotation is linked to emotions and our view of the words concerned and their associations. The translator can assume to a certain degree that other users of a specific language and cultural group would have similar connotations with certain words and concepts. Because signs on the connotative level are more open to interpretation, the translator must pay attention to the choice of words (and signs) used to translate a text into a target language and culture. Fiske (1982: 92) is of the opinion that connotation is largely arbitrary, specific to one culture, but often has an iconic dimension. It can, however, be said that certain words, for instance words referring to bodily functions or genitals, would have similar connotations across a broad spectrum of languages and cultures. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

INTERTEXTUALITY Intertextuality is one of the standards of textuality in discourse analysis but is also relevant and applied in semiotic analysis. Intertextuality refers to those characteristics known to the reader because s/he has came across them in other texts before. The semiotic notion of intertextuality as introduced by Julia Kristeva is associated primarily with post-structuralist theorists (Chandler: WWW). Texts are framed by other texts in various ways. For example, within a film (one frame) an advertisement (another frame) of a product can be shown, such as a billboard in scene. The film, in turn, is part of the genre film or movies. Within semiotics genres can be seen as systems or codes. Each example of a genre utilises conventions that link it to other members of that genre (Chandler: WWW). Advertisements, as an example of media texts, cannot exist without other discourse types. One can say that it is parasitic in that it borrows elements from all discourse types, and then uses it for its own purposes. Chandler (WWW) supports this view by stating that texts provide contexts within which other texts may be created and interpreted. Advertisements are not islands unto themselves. They exist in various genres and media. Cook (1992: 29) supports this by saying that "ads typically occur together with, or embedded in, other discourses, to which they make no direct reference". Advertisements appear in all mass media, and are ever expanding into hitherto unknown territory such as education. In some cases a company sponsors educational projects in return for displaying their product name in various forms. Advertisements, especially on television, often allude to other advertisements of the same product (such as a series of advertisements for the same product) or are created as spoofs of films, or television personalities or programmes. They could also indirectly refer to advertisements of competitive products such as the competition between Pepsi and CocaCola. (In South Africa, however, this type of overt comparative advertising is not allowed.) Finally, mention should be made of Barthes concept of anchorage (Chandler: WWW). Linguistic elements can serve to anchor or constrain the preferred reading of an image, and conversely, the illustrative use of an image can anchor an ambiguous verbal text. For the translator this could be useful, in that the meaning attached to an image is limited and thus it is easier to translate the text. In other words, it limits the options for interpretation. TRANSLATING THE SIGNS - TRANSLATING THE CULTURE Semiotic theory provides the translator with tools and a non-linguistic perspective when dealing with persuasive advertisements. However, the translator needs a translation method/theory to carry out the transference of cultural elements from one language into another in order to achieve an equivalent message in the target language and thus an equivalent response from the receivers/consumers. Gideon Toury (1980: 12) explains translation in terms of the above statement as follows: The type of process which I have in mind involves transfer operations performed on one semiotic entity, belonging to a certain system, to generate another semiotic entity, belonging to a different system. In other words, this category of processes is inter(or, rather, cross-) systemic. A specific culture (for instance Flemish) would represent one semiotic entity or system. This entity would incorporate linguistic and non-linguistic elements. Translating an advertisement from culture 1 to culture 2 would thus entail the transfer of signs between two systems. Toury (1980: 12) points out that the transfer situation involves certain relationships, namely: between each one of the two entities and the system within which it is situated (in other words, how acceptable is this entity to the norms of the system); and between the two entities themselves (in other words, the level of equivalence or correspondence).

In a translation situation this means that (i) the signs in the target text must be acceptable to the users in that sign system, i.e. the culture, and (ii) the meaning (and thus the message) generated by the signs in the target text must have an equivalent effect on the receivers, i.e. the same effect as on the source text receivers. In order to aid the translator in achieving these goals, guidelines have to be drawn up to provide the necessary assistance. QUESTIONS: TO HAVE AND TO HOLD

When a translator is confronted with the task of analysing an advertisement (whether printed, television or radio) s/he has to set out to achieve one objective: to have an equivalent effect on the receivers in the target language and culture. This means that the advertiser had certain aims in mind that s/he embedded in the message of the source text/advertisement. The proposed questions to analyse advertisements semiotically should serve as guidelines and not as rules cast in stone. The approach is to set questions and then to find answers based on the questions posed, which will be done in the chapter on the application of the theory. The first set of questions deals with linguistic matters. The questions marked with an * are freely adapted from Jib Fowles (cited in Chandler: WWW). Language-oriented questions What precisely is being advertised? * Who is the intended audience? * What suggests this? * What part is played by words (choice, typography/voice-over, number, sentences or not)? * What inferences must the reader/viewer/listener make to understand the advertisement? * What intertextual references are made? Is humour used? How and what? What do you think is the preferred reading/understanding of the text? What are the alternative interpretations, if any? What is the source text message? Are there any language irregularities (e.g. play on words, incorrect/adjusted spelling)? Are there any neologisms or archaisms? What cultural references are made? What assumptions and values prevail? Are there ideological names, events or people? Are there national symbols? What do they signify? What are the references to time, place, people, and historic events? What is the style? What is the register? What is the tone? Is the text written/spoken in the first, or third person? What is the length of the sentences? Do they vary? Any poetic devices such as rhyme and rhythm?

And in the case of radio and television advertisements: When and where are the voice inflections? Are accents being used? What are they? Does the choice of language reflect a specific sub-culture or group, e.g. teenagers?

Questions for semiotic analysis The questions marked with an * are freely adapted from Daniel Chandler (WWW). Identifying the sign

Determine what the sign is, what medium was used, the genre to which the text belongs and the context in which it was found. * What are the signs, the objects and the interpretants? What do they signify? What is their relationship? What reality claims are made? * Does the advertisement allude to being fact or fiction? *

Paradigmatic analysis What paradigms are evident? What do they have in common? What is the context of the advertisement? To which class of paradigms (medium, genre, theme) does the advertisement belong? How might a change of medium affect the message and meanings generated? What paradigms are noticeably absent? * What contrasted pairs are evident? What connotative meanings are suggested? Substitute one paradigm with another and assess the effect. *

Syntagmatic analysis Identify and describe syntagmatic structures that take forms such as narrative, argument or montage. * What is the relationship between the signifiers? Are some more important than others? What is the text used? What is the relationship between the text and the context? How does the sequential or spatial arrangement of the elements influence meaning? *

Metonyms and metaphors What metaphors and metonyms are used? How do they shape and influence the meaning of the text? What influence do they have on the context?

Intertextuality Does the advertisement refer to other genres? * What are they? How does this influence the reading/understanding of the advertisement? Does it allude to or compare with other texts within the genre? * Does one code within the text (for instance a caption to an advertisement) serve to "anchor" another? If so, how? *

Semiotic codes Which codes are specific to the medium? * Which codes are shared with other media? * How do the codes involved relate to each other (e.g. words and images)? * Are the codes broadcast or narrowcast? What relationship does the text seek with the readers/receivers?

What is the mode of address? What cultural/ideological assumptions are made? To whom are these assumptions directed? What is the preferred reading in the source text? Why? How far does this reflect or depart from dominant cultural values? * How open to interpretation does the sign seem to be? *

Benefits of semiotic analysis What insights has this analysis offered? What is the use of this for the translator? What other strategies should the translator use to ensure a dynamically equivalent translation of an advertisement?

Communication test For the translator the choice of one paradigm over another in a specific context has great significance. The choice of a specific paradigm will influence and determine the meaning generated by the sign. John Fiske (1982: 62) argues that "the meaning of what was chosen is determined by the meaning of what was not". The choice of paradigms is based on factors such as code, connotation and style. One could apply the "communication test", which is used to determine distinctive paradigms and define their significance. A specific paradigm in a sign is selected, and then alternatives that are appropriate to the context are considered. Every alternative must be able to occupy the same structural position as that which appears in the sign. The effects of each substitution must be considered in terms of how this might affect the sense made of the sign. This might involve a substitution in age, sex, class or ethnicity, substituting objects, etc. (Chandler: WWW). The translator could use this test when translating an advertisement from one language and culture into another. On the linguistic level s/he would have to identify the paradigms of the natural language used in the advertisement; then s/he must consider the possibilities and alternatives in the target language which would be appropriate to the context. The translator has to make various choices regarding the choice of words, word functions, style, register, tone, etc., all of which must fit into the context of the advertisement. The final choice must be considered in terms of how the meaning of the sign in the source language was translated into the target language and with what effect. Syntagm/paradigm discursive axes De Saussure organised signs into codes: paradigms and syntagms. The dimensions of paradigms and syntagms are often presented as axes, where the vertical axis is paradigmatic and the horizontal axis syntagmatic. Advertising discourse can also be presented on two axes: that of text and of context. If we apply these two dimensions to the discursive elements of text and context, it will look as follows:

We equate context with a paradigm, and text with a syntagm.

Why? Because a paradigm is a set of associated signs which are all members of some defining category, for instance the vocabulary of the source text (natural language). The sentences in this text is the syntagm of words, in other words the orderly combination of interacting signs (words), which form a meaningful whole. Therefore, in semiotics the paradigm is chosen first (and thus the context), and thereafter the syntagm (and text). The task of the translator would thus be to identify the paradigms (and thus the context), and then the syntagm (and the text). The translator must ask himself why one paradigm (and context) was chosen rather than another. Once this question can be answered, s/he should look at the syntagm (and text), the reason being that the syntagm is created by the choice of paradigm (e.g. vocabulary). The choice of vocabulary in a persuasive advertisement would give the translator certain information when having to translate the advertisement into another language and culture. CONCLUSION In this chapter an effort was made to illustrate the relationship between discourse analysis and semiotics, two seemingly divergent disciplines. By combining elements from both disciplines, the translator can approach cultural elements in persuasive advertisements in conjunction with a suitable translation theory that fulfils the requirements set by the synthesis of discourse and semiotic analysis. Internationally the trend is towards minimizing linguistic and maximizing non-linguistic elements. There are numerous reasons for this. One very prominent reason is that advertisers are moving towards global campaigns. One campaign is used in various countries because it is cheaper than changing the advertisements into different languages. The second reason could have social implications. The Italian clothing manufacturer Bennetton uses shock tactics to bring about social awareness in the world and consequently to market their products. They associate themselves and their product with such issues as Aids, poverty and violence. The emphasis is usually on the non-linguistic elements, such as a shocking photograph with little or no text. (See gallery for examples.) Cigarette companies, for instance the manufacturers of Peter Stuyvesant, sell a lifestyle. Their advertisements concentrate on "beautiful" people in exotic places doing exciting things that normal mortals would not usually do. This approach assumes that all people aspire to this glamorous lifestyle and that this would transcend language and culture. As a result many of these advertisements are kept in English and not translated. (See gallery for examples.) However, this trend is most prevalent among multinational companies. There is still a need for culture-specific advertising. According to unconfirmed statistics on the Internet, the growth of Websites in languages other than English is much larger than that of English Websites. One can surmise that there is a move towards acknowledging different cultures and languages in technology-driven media. Cultures are unique due to their distinguishable identities that evolve over time and change constantly. The mass media play a significant role in the exchange, demise and dominance of cultures. The role of the translator is to isolate the cultural codes and find equivalents in the advertisements, but also to be sensitive to emerging cultures and sub-cultures. In the following chapter culture and its role in the translation of persuasive advertisements will be discussed.

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A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

CHAPTER 2 The Role of Culture in Persuasive Advertisements INTRODUCTION Culture plays a central role in persuasive advertisements. Objects, ideas and concepts are created in a cultural context and conveyed by linguistic or non-linguistic signs. Brislin (1990: 9-11) defines culture as recurring patterns of behaviours. These patterns of behaviour are employed by advertisers to manipulate and persuade the receivers to simulate consumer behaviour depicted in the advertisements. The South African society consists of various cultures and sub-cultures, bound by ethnic, religious or language similarities. In addition to these various cultures, there is also a polarisation between "white" and "black" cultures. These two so-called cultures cannot be defined as such, but broadly points to African and Western frames of reference. Within the "white" culture there is a further division, namely between Afrikaans and English speakers, who traditionally represented two different cultural groupings. The reason for al the divisions can largely be attributed to the political dispensations in South Africa since its founding, and the resultant political parties and their ideologies. (Initially ruled by the Dutch, later by the British, then independent and ruled by a white-only government and eventually, since 1994, a democratic government.) South Africa is populated by people from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds and cultures that include a vast number of indigenous people as well as people from across the globe who arrived here as a result of political and socio-economic situations. For instance, Jan van Riebeeck, a Dutchman, started the first refreshment station at the Cape, slaves were imported from inter alia India and Malaysia. British Settlers, French Huguenots, Chinese farmers and German orphans also moved to South Africa. All the above-mentioned divisions are to a greater or lesser extent fading or changing. Traditional divisions no longer apply and new cultural groupings are forming. One of the most prominent but also neglected cultural groupings currently in South Africa is the Afrikaans-speaking community. This neglect is apparent in the advertising industry, where the trend is to advertise in English rather than in Afrikaans because it is reasoned that most Afrikaans speakers are able to speak and understand English, but not vice versa. According to a sales manager at Sarie, an Afrikaans womans magazine: Die uitgangspunt is dat almal tog Engels verstaan. Maar intussen besef hulle nie watter trefkrag dit het as jy iemand in sy eie taal aanspreek nie" (Duvenhage: 1996). Johan Roux, copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather, the largest advertising agency in South Africa gives an example of this trend by saying that "sowat 12 persent van die reklame [word] in Afrikaans gedoen" (1998: 22). In other words, only a small percentage is written in Afrikaans, although it is estimated that the largest language groupings are Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans. A total of 75% of the population can speak, read or understand Afrikaans. This brings one to the question of the role of culture in language and the significance of culture in advertisements. McCarthy and Carter (1994: viii) state that any experience or interpretation is preceded by meanings already given within a culturally relative tradition and mediated through language. The individual is defined by her/his culture; no single person exists in a void. The person might belong to one culture or more (for instance where the parents of a child belong to different cultures). The individuals cultural identity anchors him/her psychologically and within society. Von Humboldt (1988: 41) states that individuals are always linked to their nation, their race and their species. This forms a connection to sociality, which is understood by means of language. According to Askegaard (1991: 11) the importance of culture has become more and more recognised within the field of marketing during the past decade. If this is the case, advertising as a marketing tool has to pay special attention to the cultures of consumers. The assumption is that any cultural identity is expressed in signs (whether verbal or non-verbal). Thus, "these signs form a system of different identity demarcations which can be considered cornerstones in the construction of a sociocultural identity" (Askegaard 1991: 11). In this chapter the importance of culture for the translator of persuasive advertisements, as well as the role that culture plays in the translating of texts from one culture into another will be discussed. Popovi (1970: 78) defines the aim of translation as the transference of "certain intellectual and aesthetic values from one language to another. This transfer is not performed directly and is not without its difficulties". When a translator has to translate a text from one culture into another a number of problems can arise. Signs in one culture might not exist in the target culture or could generate different meanings. For instance, the signs of the Voortrekker Monument and a game such as blikaspaai have an Afrikaans origin. These words were taken over by the English language users in South Africa, because the concepts and words did not exist in that language and culture. Problems such as cultural gaps can arise.

The translator must be aware of the cultural factors when dealing with an advertisement because it is always created in the context of a specific culture. For instance, a dialect of Afrikaans called flaaitaal, which is spoken on the Cape Flats, refers to life in that milieu in typical Afrikaans idiom such as "Lekka lekka ywe/laat die ghantang nader skywe" (with apology to I.D. du Plessis). An added facet to the multicultural situation in South Africa is the influence of multinational advertising. Naturally societies, such as in South Africa, change due to their dynamic character, but the role that foreign cultures, mostly American, play is increasing and marginalising the identity of indigenous cultures. The advent of mass communication and technology, such as satellite dishes beaming television programmes to the furthest corners of the world, has led to cultural boundaries becoming blurred. And so much more so in the case of multinational organisations and companies who advertise across the globe. The main cultural culprit is the American advertising industry. American ideals are sold across the world, as is the American Dream Culture. This influence can be seen across the world and impacts negatively mostly on smaller cultures. In the course of this chapter the following aspects will be examined: the phenomenon of culture; facets and elements of culture which play a role in advertisements; and how these insights will lead to a translation theory suitable for transferring cultural elements.

DEFINITIONS OF CULTURE Brislin (1990: 9-11) is of the opinion that culture consists of "ideals, values, formation and uses of categories, assumptions about life, and goal-directed activities that become unconsciously or subconsciously accepted as right and correct by people who identify themselves as a society". These cultural ideals are evident and prevalent in the reality of an individual in a specific society. But when a product of this society, such as a persuasive advertisement, has to be translated into another language and culture, tension can arise. South Africa is a point in case regarding English and Afrikaans. Lefevere (1987: 4) argues that there is always a tension inside a culture between different groups, or individuals, who want to influence the evolution of that culture in the way they think best. Translations have been made with the intention of influencing the development of a culture." Vyncke (1996: 38) confirms this opinion by saying that "culturen zijn daarbij geen statische entiteiten, maar voortdurend in ontwikkeling, vaak complex en intern tegenstrijdig. Vandaar ook dat men dikwijls spreekt van culturele formaties". The term culture refers to the mental and intellectual space in a humans mind. The individuals thoughts and inner being are formed at a very early stage within this space. The culture to which s/he is exposed would then help create her/his patterns of thought; the way s/he sees and experiences the world; the way s/he interacts with other people from the same or other cultures and the way s/he forms relationships with other people, and the way s/he discovers aspects of her/his personality and surroundings. These actions take place by using language. This view is supported by McCarthy and Carter (1994: viii): Language is not itself a model of reality, it is rather a sigmatic fixative of a model of reality which any individual carries in his/her mind. Since every individual is a member in a given speech community, it follows that the model of reality differs according to the cultural conditions in the individual communities. Words and language are embedded in a culture. McCarthy and Carter (1994: viii) are of the opinion that language (as a system of signs) is a cultural vehicle in which the collective experiences of the speakers in the their surroundings is reflected and where the communitys patterns of social values crystallize. Words are not loose entities drifting in space, but belong to a language system, which in turn belongs to a specific culture. Culture includes aspects such as rituals, habits and customs, expressions, forms of etiquette, manners of speech such as the way to address a person, or register and tone, literature, music, dance, theatre, clothing and dress code, religion and ceremonies. However, this does not mean that language A equals culture A. In the case of South Africa, numerous black people speak Afrikaans or English, but belong to a specific cultural group such as Tswana or Zulu. The reason for this is that in the time of the National Party government, Afrikaans and English were compulsory school subjects and learners were taught in these two languages. Many people were exposed to these languages and are consequently able to understand and/or speak them. Theorists such as Lambert and Van den Branden (1997: 2) define culture vaguely: "The term culture refers in general to views, values, norms, expectations and conventions for behaviour that is typical for a specific society or community."

This definition is limited in the sense that is does not give an indication of the practical examples of how culture manifests itself in everyday life, which is relevant to the translator of advertisements. If the term culture is viewed from an anthropological point of view, the definition below gives the translator an idea of what to expect when dealing cultural elements in a persuasive advertisement. The American ethnologist, Ward Goodenough (1988: 39-40) defines the concept of culture as follows: As I see it, a societys culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and do so in any role that they accept for any one of themselves. Culture, being what people have to learn as distinct from their biological heritage, must consist of the end product of learning: knowledge, in a most general, if relative, sense of the term. we should note that culture is not a material phenomenon; it does not consist of things, people, behaviour, or emotions. It is rather an organisation of these things. It is the form of things that people have in mind, their models for perceiving, relating, and otherwise interpreting them. As such, the things people say and do, their social arrangements and events, are products or by-products of their cultures they apply it to the task of perceiving and dealing with their circumstances. Role of culture in society Culture is a concept that is broad it includes aspects of everyday life to cognitive and social structures - and complex. For this reason it is linked to the concept of socialisation. In this broad sense, culture then refers to communities which have different attitudes towards political and social issues, different cultural practices and references in their private lives, different social background, etc. (Huber 1990: 241-261). Cultural communities may correspond with country frontiers; cultural differences do exist between countries. In the case of Belgium, the country is geographically and culturally divided into Flanders (in the North) where Flemish (a dialect of Dutch) is spoken and Wallonia (in the South) where French is spoken, and a German region (in the East). In South Africa different cultural communities live among one another; it is therefore more difficult to group these cultural communities together. As a result, a high percentage of cross-cultural pollination takes place. Language differences often go hand in hand with cultural differences. Language is, at a macro-level, one of the most important determining factors with regard to cultural diversity. Cultural differences exist also on a micro level, ranging from disciplinary cultures in academic communities (Huber 1990: 241-261) to working environments (company culture, professionals vs. the unemployed). People and advertisements communicating within the same culture share a common pool of experience, frames of reference and cultural perspectives. But if an advertisement was created in one culture and is then translated into another culture and language, cultural gaps and barriers will arise. The reason for this is that people in one culture tend to interpret and judge people from other cultures and their behaviour through their own framework of cultural norms. Communication with someone who speaks a different language, subscribes to different values and belief structures and maintains a different outlook on life, may lead to misunderstanding and miscommunication, which in turn will lead to an undesired reaction and behaviour by the receiver or consumer in the case of advertisements. Understanding the culture of the target receivers or consumers of a persuasive advertisement is not only important for the advertiser, but also for the translator, who has to identify cultural markers in one language (source) and transfer these markers to a target language and thus receivers. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

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WHAT CONSTITUTES CULTURAL IDENTITY? The cultural identity of a specific group or society is an image referring to external as well as internal characteristics of that group. However, a culture must be located in time and space to "anchor" it in terms of its past, future and place and to indicate or compare changes that took place within that culture. According to Askegaard (1991: 12) " the domestication of space consists in the creation of a fixed point in the universe" which in turn becomes the centre of that cultures activities.

Mans cultural identity is constituted of four different elements ("mirrors"): past (retrospective), future (prospective), interactive and coalescing (Askegaard 1991: 12). The retrospective element refers to the past through which the meaning of the origins and the history is made clear. The prospective is used to view the purpose and the meaning of the continued existence of society. The society reflects itself in the interactive mirror, and discards elements that do not belong to a specific cultural identity. The coalescing mirror is used to see how the members of a specific cultural group relate to the identity of the culture and whether there is consensus regarding the internal organisation of that specific culture. The retrospective element represents the stability of the culture in the past. Symbols such as sport emblems often serve as "demarcations or as condensed symbols of a particular culture"; these instituted symbols "anchor" the sign in a certain space in time (Askegaard 1991: 16). In contrast, there is the prospective element that points to the future and change where new signs can be produced. Askegaard (1991: 16) maintains that "Western society explicitly leaves room for the questioning and the development of itself". The interactive element refers to collective man and her/his signs, and her/his organisation thereof. The semiotic function of this mirror is the "diversification of worlds, ours from theirsso as to locate the culture in its environment" (Askegaard 1991: 19). One of the most widely used organising systems is that of language (also a sign system). Man uses language and words to make sense of her/his world and expressing himself in the cultural group. As Askegaard (1991: 17) puts it: This field is the field of Taxonomy, creating a fundamental semantic order of society and at the same time also taking steps toward an ontology because the taxonomy partially answers the question: What is this? The counter-element of collective interaction is the individuals coalescence. For the coalescence of cultural identity there must be signs which define the "we" internally and not just externally. The semiotic function of congregation defines the internal human relations in a culture. These four elements or mirrors form the dimensions of the semiotic structure of cultural identity (Askegaard 1991: 19). CULTURAL SIGNS IN SOUTH AFRICA The cultural identity of a society entails many elements and concepts. All the elements that constitute a specific culture work together and separately to signify and create meaning in that culture. Signs (linguistic and non-linguistic) create meaning for every member of a given cultural group. However, a sign might have a different meaning for different members of the given cultural group. For instance, the old South African flag might signify political oppression to a white South African (if we assume that all white South Africans belong to the same cultural group), while for another this flag could signify a period of prosperity. The meaning generated by such a symbol depends, in this case, on the persons political beliefs. Members of the same cultural group also create their own signs and symbols in order to establish unity and conformity. These are binding elements. As a result, sub-cultures form within already existing cultures. For instance, on the Cape Flats, members of different gangs have a tattoo to indicate to which sub-culture they belong, such as skulls or daggers. For the semiotician South Africa provides an interesting but also confusing society in terms of the different cultural groupings. Broadly one can divide it into the white, coloured, black and Asian population. Within each of these populations, many different cultures and ethnic groupings are represented. As a result, a homogeneous society cannot exist and there is a huge amount of cross-pollination and cultural cross-over. General Hertzog ensured the protection and the survival of English and Dutch by means of the constitution of the Union of South Africa. Later constitutions kept the wording, thus ensuring the protection of these two languages (Beukes, as cited in Postma 1995). For the past 40 years, under the National Party government, English and Afrikaans were the official languages. But among those opposed to the predominantly Afrikaans government, Afrikaans was seen as the language of the oppressor. In this way the language as a sign system within a broader Afrikaans culture was seen as a symbol of oppression. Language was made the representative of a culture and an ideology. As a result, many coloured Afrikaans families sent their children to English schools. These children would grow up between cultures, not having a cultural heritage associated with the English language, and experiencing a home situation where Afrikaans is spoken and the habits of the white, Afrikaans-speaking culture are practised. In a sense, a new culture evolved, but this culture has very little that defines it, it borrows from different cultures but does not create its own symbols and signs. The negative views held by those opposed to Afrikaans are ironic. Afrikaans evolved and grew from Dutch, and the first people who started the trading station at the tip of Africa. Later the country (the Colony - Cape Province - and Natal) came under British rule. The development of the Afrikaans language was an act of rebellion, but also of the growth of the new culture, developing what was later to become the Republic of South Africa. Afrikaans and the Afrikaner culture were acts of defiance and against

the British rulers, and created cultural unity; until 1948 it was the language of the oppressed, and not the oppressor as it was later held. A culture cannot exist without signs, whether in the form of natural language, rituals or symbols, signifying a specific meaning within a specific context. Culture means different things to different people even within the same cultural grouping. In a multicultural society as South Africa, there is even less agreement between the members of certain cultural groupings. For instance, all mother tongue English speakers do not belong to the same cultural group. There is a large community of coloured people who chose English as their mother tongue rather than Afrikaans, which was traditionally more commonly spoken by the coloured community. Then there is the white community that can broadly be divided into English and Afrikaans speakers. Members from both groups share cultural customs, values and habits, but so retain, to a certain extent and depending on the demographic position, their own defining cultural signs. Semiotics of culture looks at similarities and convergences between different systems of signification in historically existing cultures. A good example would be South Africa and the multilingual and multicultural Belgium. Officially Belgium has three languages - and thus a German, French and Flemish (Dutch written and Flemish spoken) region. These different cultural groups are demographically separated. Geography demarcates the language and cultural groups. Despite some efforts of the government and cultural groups, Belgium is divided into these cultural groups, with very little of a Belgian culture evident. Brussels, the capital, is the closest one would get to a multicultural society due to the fact that it is the seat of the European Community, where nations from across Europe are represented. However, it is interesting to note that restaurants advertise Flemish or French cuisine. Distinction is made between the cultures, with very little cross-pollination taking place. Language (Flemish) is one the sign systems which borrows from another sign system (French words). Meaning shapes culture, and culture shapes meaning. Meaning given by members of a cultural group to elements that define that group will invariably shape the culture, either by accepting or rejecting an element (such as a value or ritual). If a meaning is attached to a cultural element that has a negative connotation, the members of that group will view that element in a negative light; and vice versa. But by the same token an existing culture could give new meaning to existing cultural elements or decide upon meaning for newly acquired cultural elements. IDEOLOGY AND SIGNS IN ADVERTISEMENTS The main aim of persuasive advertisements is to manipulate the consumer/receiver into taking a certain action. The advertisement reflects the time and spatial setting of its origin. It also reflects the social relationships prevalent within that culture, and forms values that establish a range of ideological references. The term ideology was first used in 1796 to refer to a science of ideas (Nth 1991: 377). Three versions of the concept exist: the value-neutral concept, the pejorative sense and the universalistic sense. The first concept refers to ideology as any system of norms, values, beliefs or Weltanschauungen directing the social and political attitudes of a group. The second type refers to a system of false ideas, representing the false consciousness of a social class. The third concept identifies ideology with the sphere of ideas in general (Nth 1991: 377-8). This view coincides with the view of psychologists that ideology is the way that attitudes are organised into a coherent pattern (Fiske 1982: 144). Bahktin (1990: 378) links ideology with semiotics when he writes: Everything ideological [] is a sign; without signs, there is no ideology. The domain of ideology coincides with the domain of signs. Wherever a sign is present, ideology is present too. Everything ideological possesses semiotic value. Advertisements become a vehicle for ideology by reflecting ideas, beliefs and opinions that are a reflection of the society within a specific culture. This idea is echoed by semioticians such as Fiske (1982: 145) who argue that ideology is determined by society, not by the individuals set of attitudes. According to Maria Campos (1983: 978) "ideology attains material existence. It becomes concretised, it acts surreptitiously, it never presents itself as being ideological". The ideology is generated by the signs that represent the advertisement and its message. In other words, the ideology-semiotic relationship is established when the ideology makes use of signs to convey its message; thus the ideology precedes the signs. "It becomes communicable as it is turned into a code" (Campos: 1983: 978). This code then relates the ideology by portraying certain deeds, habits or institutions. On the one hand, advertisements make the consumer/receiver believe that they reflect reality, but in fact they only create a world which makes allusions to reality. The same can be said for ideology. Ideology becomes the category of illusions and false consciousness according to Fiske (1982: 145). As Campos (1983: 978) says, "Ideology takes certain elements as a starting point but changes them at the moment of expression." The falseness of the ideology is used by the ruling class to maintain dominance over the working class. This can clearly be seen in African countries, of which South Africa is no exception, and the advertising campaigns used.

Multinational companies propagate their products and the virtues and lifestyles of the capitalist, American Dream by reflecting this and many other values and ideologies in their advertising. Examples include motor cars ( Ford), clothing (Levi) and perfume (Calvin Klein). The underlying message is that all that is American is good and should be followed. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

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NATIONAL SYMBOLS AND IDEOLOGY Every culture has its own set of sign systems. As shown and discussed, South Africa is a mixture of many cultures which have not yet gelled into a unanimous shared South African culture; it is fragmented. Also, there are conflicting interpretations of what constitutes South African nationhood. The closest to this is the (now coined) "rainbow nation" idea. Concretised manifestations of the ideologies prevailing within a society (within a broader culture) include national symbols. Due to South Africas chequered political history, many such symbols exist and new ones are created within the new democratic regime. In order to understand the relationship between national symbols and ideology in South Africa, one must look at the different shifts of power in the history of the country up to the democratic elections in April 1994. 1. Early monuments erected in the Cape Colony reflected the achievements of British colonial control over the region. 2. Between 1880 and 1908 the emphasis was on the expansion of British imperial control. Significant events include battles such as Majuba and the Anglo-Boer War of 1899 to 1902. 3. Symbols encoded in South Africas monuments between the two World Wars reflect a jingoistic elevation of British imperial achievement. 4. The rise and entrenchment of Afrikaner Nationalism reveals a vigour of purpose (Tomaselli, Shepperson & Mpofu 1993-1995). In 1994 April the first democratic elections took place, with every person over the age of 18 being allowed to vote for a new government. The Afrikaner Nationalists who took over power in 1948 left the monuments of the previous era intact. (This action contrasts with what the Government of National Unity did after the 1994 elections.) The reason for this could be that the new government wanted to create unity among the white population of the country, despite the differences in cultural backgrounds. In semiotic terms this would reflect the prospective mirror where new signs and symbols would be anticipated, and also the interactive mirror where emphasis is placed on the collective identity that needed to be created. The policy of separateness as implemented by the Nationalist Party contributed to the problematic symbolic status of nation and nationalism. This was compounded by the implementation of homelands, where people from the same ethnic group were given their own homeland. Other factors that played a part in the fragmentation of the nationalism included memories of British imperialism, Afrikaner self-determination, ethnic nationalism, and African nationalism. Tomaselli et al. (1993-1995) suggest that many differing aspirations have to be re-deployed into a common, wider vision of the future. However, the answer is not that simplistic. There are not enough national symbols that could unify the nation all inclusively, but the divide between different cultural and ethnic groups is too wide to bridge within one or two generations. A possible solution to the problem could be the creation of common signs and symbols, matters of national relevance and importance, and broad humanistic issues that would address the whole nation, including all the different cultures in the country. However, in terms of signs used in advertisements, it would be best to address the different cultural groups in their own idiom, and produce the best results. Significant nature of national symbols In the emerging New South Africa, national symbols are received in an emotional way. Old ones are being discarded (currently there is a renewed debate about the old name "Springbok" for the national rugby team). When a new symbol is created as an intended national symbol, the creators thereof decide upon a meaning and interpretation that these symbols must generate. However, this interpretation is for the benefit of generations to come. The meaning must be preserved for the future in order to achieve its original intention of unifying a nation or whatever other reason. Tomaselli et al.

(1993-1995) are of the opinion that "for a future generation, the monuments will be a focus around which children will be expected to develop specific emotional attachments (emotional interpretants) in respect of their identity beyond the family". For those interested in semiotics, South Africa under the new dispensation offers many challenges and opportunities to establish new signs and national symbols. But for the translator or cultural mediator this could prove a nightmare. There are many national symbols, which often represent opposing political views and expectations. The challenge is to find common symbols for "new" nations, a process that is slowly taking place. The area in which it is most publicly seen is the sport scene. Sport, being a national obsession, has started to transform its exclusive image to that of a cultural barrier breaker. The national rugby team is called Amabokoboko, a new African name. The national soccer team is called Bafana Bafana, also a new name. A further example is the renaming of public buildings and amenities, dams, roads and airports. D.F. Malan Airport has been changed to Cape Town International, Jan Smuts to Johannesburg International, and the H.F. Verwoerd Dam to Gariep Dam. These names all refer to National Party politicians under the old regime and have been replaced by indigenous plant or place names, or the names of politicians who participated in the struggle for democracy. It is clear that one political party and ideology has been replaced by another and, as a result, the names of places too. In the new, democratic dispensation the shackles of the past have been cast off and more and more people in the white community are confronting their heritage and cultural values. Symbols of the past as embodied in objects, such as the old South African flag and paintings depicting historical events like Blood River, are displayed and seen as collectors items reflecting the past but not the future; these do not hold their original significance and meaning for the new, emerging generation. As a matter of fact, many of these objects and symbols such as Tretchikof paintings and three ducks in a row, have curiosity value but no cultural identity value, and are regarded as "kitsch", thus in a condescending way. THE INFLUENCE OF ONE CULTURE ON ANOTHER New cultures and changes within existing cultures influence language by creating new words, new concepts and new ways of expression. When different cultures come into contact with each other, the creation and migration of words (lexical items) between languages and cultures take place. Also, when a concept is lacking within one culture and is then taken over from another culture, the word is absorbed into that culture. The reality of the absorption is that the language that is increasingly being absorbed by other cultures and languages is English. The Dutch call it "de Engelse ziekte" (the English disease), for it is eating like a cancer into the fibre of their language and culture (Anon., 1997:36). The American culture is one of the main culprits, infiltrating the whole world, especially Europe, Eastern countries and Third World continents such as South America and Africa. New cultures develop within existing cultures, for instance the yuppie culture, which referred to a specific socio-economic group characterised by certain material possessions. The word yuppie is an acronym for "young and upwardly mobile professionals" and originated in the eighties during a period of economic prosperity. This phenomenon appeared in various cultures across the world. Changes within a culture continually take place. When new technology develops in a culture, new words and concepts also develop, which are added to the vocabulary and language system. This technology with its vocabulary will inevitably migrate to other cultures and languages. The "other" cultures and languages will be expanded and influenced by the new additions. These new concepts and vocabulary will be absorbed in their original form or translated. New technological vocabularies contribute largely to the influencing of cultures, outside the language of origin of these words . For instance a word such as cyberspace in English translated into Afrikaans becomes kuberruimte. When cultures differing vastly from one another come into contact, an exchange of concepts takes place. This is usually due to the fact that there is a lack of a concept within culture one, but culture two has this concept and term within its language system. Words borrowed from other languages and cultures and accepted in English and Afrikaans include perestroika (from Russian), geisha (Japanese), and Weltanschauung (German). These words have migrated from their languages into other cultures and languages, taking the concepts and ideas that they express with them into the new culture. We can thus say that words are agents of cultural transfer. This phenomenon is ever increasing, especially in the computer field. As more and more concepts, programs and technology come into being, more terminology is needed. These terms usually originate in the USA (American-English), the centre of the worlds computer industry. The speakers and users of many nonEnglish languages find it difficult to create these terms in their own languages, or are lazy to do so, or find it confusing to use their own terms instead of the widely used and accepted English terms. In Flanders, words such as computer and e-mail are used instead of Dutch words. Afrikaans, on the other hand, has created its own words or translated the English words into rekenaar and e-pos, for example. Although there is a growing trend to mix English and Afrikaans in radio advertisements, creators of print and television advertising use the Afrikaans version of a computer term or create their own term or concept. (This is mainly to save money. By having the radio advertisement in Afrikaans and English, the advertisers reason that they would get the attention of the majority of listeners. This is a false presumption because the advertisement sounds unprofessional and shoddy and confuses the audience.)

Business people from different cultures conduct business differently, communicate differently and perceive and construct their realities in different ways. The translator of advertisements has to be very careful when translating simple words and concepts because their apparent similarity might belie different visions of reality. For instance, the concept of honour in Muslim religion and culture could involve killing someone to protect the familys honour, whereas other cultures might not view honour in the same light. BLURRING CULTURAL PARAMETERS Influence of Multinational Advertising The future of existing cultural symbols and signs in South Africa is being threatened by the infiltration of foreign ideology and ideas, reflected in the signs used in multinational advertisements. The world is becoming a global village where anyone can meet everyone or anyone in cyberspace. People from different cultures across the globe have access to information and make contact with people in the furthest corners of the world. This is made possible by the ever-developing wonders of technology such as high-speed computers that are all connected to the Internet and the world-wide web (WWW). Satellite technology is another point in case, beaming information around the world and accessed by millions each day. South Africans are no exception in this regard. The world is getting connected, but this has serious implications for the individual and his cultural identity. The world market is becoming homogeneous and thus cultural diversity is gradually disappearing. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, multinational corporations use mass media to convey their message and advertising. Secondly, multinational companies use advertising and marketing strategies that infiltrate overseas markets (Kim 1995: WWW). In other words, the nature of the advertising is such that it uses universal concepts and ideas to convey its message such as love, needs, etc. rather than culturally specific references. This means that advertising campaigns are standardized and transplanted from country to country instead of creating specific campaigns for specific cultures. Multinational advertising (one could say, advertising with its roots in American culture) is influencing the spirit of other cultures by replacing models, customs and products with the universal or global ideal. Multinational advertising as a vehicle for multinational companies constitutes social and cultural shapers and organisers of cultures. It presents all cultures in a similar form, by introducing the same products to everyone in the world in the same context and manner -- showing very little or no cultural adaptation. Thus the culture of a nation is weakened by the foreign culture by offering foreign values and traditions instead of reinforcing the cultures own. A point in case is that of cigarette companies such as Marlboro that portray a typically American icon, namely that of a cowboy living in rugged country and smoking this brand of cigarettes. The underlying message is that tough, rugged action men such as cowboys in the American Midwest smoke these cigarettes, nothing else will do to satisfy their needs after a hard days work. In cultures other than the American, these signs project a certain lifestyle that seems to be desirable to people who identify with the role model depicted in the advertisement. In the case of South Africa, which is a combination of First and Third World conditions, as well as being a developing country, tension arises between multinational global advertising and local advertising. Multinational advertising wields great power over markets due to its vast financial resources. In a developing country such as South Africa, multinational companies realise that there are vast markets to develop. By having little or no competition from local manufacturers or companies, the multinational companies can move in with their advertising campaigns. So consuming culture is standardized by means of a standardization strategy (Kim 1995: WWW). Not only are consumer and product culture cultivated, but also consumers' lifestyles and cultural behaviour. According to Kim (1995) multinational advertising uses the technique, symbol and social relations that have developed around the gains and needs of its own country rather than local needs or environment. Western culture has thus been spreading disproportionately. Coca-Cola is a prime example of a multinational product. This company has been accused of trying to "recolonize" the world with a Coca-Cola type western culture (Kim 1995: WWW). The advertising is produced by an advanced western multinational advertising agency, and for this reason it holds the cultural and social message of the producing country. The objective of the company is to sell a lifestyle, a way of living and the good life. It personifies the American Dream as represented by a can of cold drink. However, the company is increasingly moving towards embracing diverse cultures within its marketing and advertising campaigns. Examples of this include billboards seen in Belgium in French and Dutch, and jingles in Afrikaans in South Africa. According to Kim (1995) multinational advertising is blamed for portraying American values as universally desirable, raising aspirations excessively, and persuading rather than informing. The own culture gets less emphasis and is thus overshadowed by foreign notions and ideas. 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A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

INFLUENCE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM ON CULTURAL IDENTITIES The USA is a super-power not only in monetary terms, but also as a purveyor of a new culture, a world culture, based on the American Dream. This influence is evident in the advertisements for various products, ranging from clothing ( Nike) to food (MacDonalds) to entertainment (films and music videos), where international campaigns are based on American attitudes and lifestyles. The values and morals of the worlds leader in so many fields are also infiltrating the world via technological means to convey a world culture based on their own and spreading it to the detriment of the cultural identities of many smaller cultures. What is the American Dream and how does it manifest itself in advertising? According to Jack Soloman (WWW) the American Dream has two faces: the one communally egalitarian and the other one competitively elitist. The American myth of equality celebrates the virtues of wholesome living, but it also lures one to believe that one has to achieve and rise above the crowd and bask in the glory alone. In order words, it breeds desire. This desire finds a vehicle in their advertising. This contradictory nature of the American Dream is used by advertisers to manipulate consumers into buying items. As Soloman (WWW) so succinctly puts it "advertising campaigns are exercises in behaviour modification". In other words, morals and values are imposed upon the unsuspecting consumer and woven into his life as if gospel. These persuasive or manipulating advertisements are used to unearth and exploit the discontent fostered by the American Dream, constant desire for social success and material rewards (Soloman: WWW). This is a culture that runs on materialism and the desire to own, to have, even if it is unnecessary or useless. It is a cultural identity built on image, not substance. In other words, signs or symbols of wealth and power and social mobility or status are used in advertising to establish morals and values. Ordinary objects become signs that will bestow superiority upon them. Soloman (WWW) is of the opinion that American companies manufacture status symbols because American consumers want them. It could, however, be argued that this desire was created by advertisers to sell their products. This desire for status symbols has spilled over to Europe, the East and Third World countries, where everything American is seen as desirable, irrespective of the true value and use. The demand for status symbols is particularly strong in developing nations, where the individual wants to rise above her/his lowly beginnings and wants to be regarded as a success in order to gain social status. Status symbols are signs of the possessors place in the social hierarchy. This is particularly evident in South Africa where designer labels abound in poor communities, especially black communities. Designer clothing, whether fake or real, distinguishes people from others, they give social status which would be denied otherwise. But what is a status symbol? It could be something that is very expensive or difficult to obtain. The object does not matter that much, but its sign value, which generates a specific meaning within the culture, does indeed. In other words, the signal it sends should say that it is a sign of power. In South Africa these signs of power are often displayed by means of designer clothing, expensive cars and homes. TOWARDS A TRANSLATION THEORY OF CULTURE What does the translator have to take into account? It has been established thus far that cultural elements play an important role in advertisements. Gorle (1994: 189) states that the translator as communicator has a dual role. S/he embodies "both the addressee of the original message, and the addresser of the translated message; both interpreter and utterer; both the patient interpreting the primary sign, and the agent uttering the translated meta-sign" (Gorle 1994: 189). The role of the translator in the translation process is to bridge the differences between cultures and languages, which are symbols of that specific cultural identity. So what does the translator have to bear in mind when dealing with advertisements that have to be translated between different cultures? According to Lefevere (1992: 100) languages are different, but translators should be taught the relativity of translation poetics as well as strategies that could bridge the translators view of the source image, projecting an image that the target audience understands in a similar manner. In other words, translators should strive towards a method where dynamic equivalence takes place in the translation process, especially when dealing with persuasive advertisements where the message is the most important function. The translator must assess which elements constituted the message in the source language, and then ask herself/himself the following questions before embarking on the translation process. What cultural signs were used to convey the message? How effective were they? Why were they used and not similar signs? What underlying ideology do these signs represent?

Once these questions have been answered, the translator can embark on her/his journey to bridge the cultural signs and their meaning by translating them into the target language and culture. The translator is also an instrument in the process of translating between cultures and not the be all and end all; the translator is the mediator who provides the signs (in the target language and culture) that are used by the receivers to generate meaning. In other words, the translator is an element in the process of semiosis. The translator must be familiar with the elements active within the identity of the culture of the target language sign system into which he translates. Even more, the translator must familiarise herself/himself with the changes taking place within the culture and the new sign systems developing or old ones disappearing. The translator stands within one culture (her/his own) but must have the ability to ascertain what the elements of the cultural identity of the source language (and thus culture) are if s/he aims to achieve dynamic equivalence at all in the target language (and culture). Translating in a multicultural society New cultures develop and existing ones change all the time. In South Africa this phenomenon is continuously taking place. The translator, dealing with an advertisement, must be aware of the changes taking place in the culture of the source and target languages because s/he has to be able to create dynamically equivalent signs in the target text. Mary Snell-Hornby (1988: 42) maintains that "if language is an integral part of culture, the translator needs not only proficiency in two languages, he must also be at home in two cultures". This "at homes"-ness would refer to a thorough knowledge of the culture and its nuances. Nida (1982: 9) differs from Snell-Hornby by maintaining that certain aspects of culture are universal and are not culturally bound. human experience is so much alike throughout the world. Everyone eats, sleeps, works, is related to families, experiences, love, hate, jealousy, is capable of altruism, loyalty, and friendship, and employs many facial gestures which are almost universal. In fact, what people of various cultures have in common is far greater than what separates them from one another. Nidas assumption that people are so alike that their cultural differences would not pose many problems for the translator can be proven wrong. The fact that people are alike in the sense that they all eat, sleep and drink represents human traits as opposed to the behaviour of wild or domestic animals. But within this similarity of human beings, cultures distinguish human beings from one another. New cultures develop and existing cultures change. Improved technology has increased the awareness of foreign cultures and, in turn, brought along its own cultures such as cyber culture and digital culture. People across the world have become more aware of little known and dying cultures. The knowledge of cultures is especially relevant for translators, because they have to know their own culture (source language culture) and related sub-cultures very well, as well as other influencing cultures before they can attempt to translate advertising texts. Translating national symbols Translating a national symbol in South Africa can be a tricky and sensitive matter. Due to the political history of the country, national symbols evoke strong emotions from different members of different cultures. Many national symbols are associated with a specific political era and thus seen as signs expressing an ideology. The translator has to ask herself/himself what the aim/objective of the sender of the advertisement was when it was created. A meaning and message are embedded in a specific cultural or national sign, which has to achieve a certain reaction or action from the receivers. The translator has to establish whether the national symbol could be transferred culturally, in other words to an equivalent symbol in the target language, or whether the symbol has to be retained in the target language with only a verbal translation. In the case of a translation in South Africa between English and Afrikaans, most national symbols could be retained. But in the case of translating a text between English/Afrikaans and any black language (and thus the culture) the translator would have to be very careful, because of the associated meanings of the black/white polarisation towards symbols of the old regime (which consisted only of whites). Even within the different black ethnic groupings, the translator would have to do research into the customs of a specific culture so as not to make misjudgements. The translator has to assess whether it is possible to transfer cultural symbols to another culture or language. In the case of countries with more than one national language, this could be possible, for instance in South Africa and Belgium. However, the translator must be sure that these linguistically transferred symbols are accepted and used by the broad spectrum of users and the media in that country as a national symbol and not just by a few. When faced with a text that requires the translation of cultural aspects, the translator has to orientate herself/himself in terms of the target culture. Victor Khairullin (1992: 155) has the following to say about the translators approach towards cultural translation:

The process of translation is a creative kind of activity, based on both linguistic and culturological rules. Every language is unique. The language pattern of the world is accounted for by culturological peculiarities, i.e. peculiarities of ethnic, [and] social, norms and economic achievements of a nation in a certain stage of development. Culturology in a language pattern is essential, so some specialists tend to believe that in effect one does not translate language, one translates cultures. The idea of the necessity of the culturology translation parameter is very strong in the above quotation, but still its presence is beyond doubt. In order to translate an advertisement, the translator has to isolate the different cultural references, whether explicitly or implicitly stated. Only after having identified them and the signs used to represent them, can the translator attempt to find dynamic equivalents in the target culture. For instance, when faced with translating a Marlboro cigarette advertisement into Afrikaans, the translator has to find a corresponding cultural setting/milieu to that depicted in the American advertisement, as well as the meaning created by the signs used in that advertisement. The milieu in the original advertisement is that of the American Midwest, rough and demanding environment. In the South African milieu, the Great Marico (reminiscent of Herman Charles Bosman descriptions) area would evoke associations similar to the American Midwest, the reason for this being that the landscape, the people and the social setting generate similar meanings and signs in the Afrikaner culture to those it would for the Americans familiar with conditions in the Midwest. Specific cultural references One can approach specific cultural items by asking what cultural references are. The simple answer would be that everything and everyone can be a cultural reference within a translation situation, in other words elements of ideal and material culture as well as natural facts and objects. Jain (1988: 12) claims that it is not entirely possible to identify the cultural content, but that it is interwoven in the texture of the language. But it is possible to identify the symbols or markers that are part of the culture. One way to identify specific cultural items is to relate them to those items belonging to the most arbitrary part of each linguistic system such as its local institutions, historical places and figures, street names, persons, periodicals, works of art, etc. Aixel (1992/1993: 113), on the other hand, maintains that a specific cultural item does not exist in itself, "but has to be viewed as the result of a conflict established by any reference in a ST which, when transferred to another language (TL), poses a translation problem due to the non-existence or to the different value (in terms of ideology, frequency, usage, etc.) of the item in the TL culture." An example of this is the custom in black cultures where lobola is paid. When a man wants to marry a girl, he has to pay lobola to her father. This entails a fixed number of cows and some alcoholic drink. This concept might appear in the target culture, but could be called something else or share characteristics of the custom. A word or concept acquires a cultural value during the translation process when the translator has to recreate or rewrite the ST into the TT. If a generic word in one culture and language such as lamb (with the connotation of innocence) is translated into a culture where it is not common and does not have the same connotations as in the ST, the translator will have to translate the word with an equivalent word that has the same cultural and intertextual load. In other words, in one culture a word or item will be generic and not culturally loaded, but in another language the opposite could be true. The translator has to have a sound knowledge of both cultures and language systems to prevent him from using archaisms, anachronistic or unfamiliar words. If the source culture differs vastly from the target culture, it becomes more difficult to recreate a linguistic expression totally in the target language. This statement is supported by Mary Snell-Hornby (1988: 41) who says that the "extent to which a text is translatable varies with the degree to which it is embedded in its own specific culture, also with the distance that separates the cultural background of source text and target audience in terms of time and place". The reason for this is that the structure of an expression in the source text creates a meaning that is contextualised; this meaning will then have to be translated and re-contextualised in the target language to ensure that a similar response is elicited from the receivers in the case of advertisements. In an advertisement connotations and denotations are created by means of the text (words) and the visual material which places the advertisement within a certain cultural setting. Context is thus created, as is a frame of reference that the receiver uses to create the meaning of the message. The translator has to recreate connotations, denotations and meaning so that the TL receiver can create her/his own frame of reference within a re-organised context pertaining to her/his own culture. When translating from one language into another, the translator acts as a facilitator between two languages and, to a lesser or greater extent, two cultures. This act involves the transcending of two sets of norms as personified by the source language and the target language. The act of translating involves interpreting the source language, and rewriting and recreating the text in the target language. One could say that a translation is a balancing act where the translator has to balance two cultures and languages in the translation process. Inevitably, this situation is unbalanced. Subtle nuances and references get lost in the translation process, but by the same token the target language receivers could gain more from a dynamically equivalent translation than from a literal translation

As Gideon Toury says, limiting himself to the field of literary translation (1980: 52-3): Literary translation is a product of a complex procedure, inevitably involving two languages and two literary traditions, that is, two sets of norm-systems. Thus, the value behind the norms of literary translation may be described as consisting of two major elements (which may easily be subdivided further): being a worthwhile literary work (text) in TL (that is, occupying the appropriate position, or filling in the appropriate slot, in the target literary polysystem); being a translation (that is, constituting a representation in TL of another pre-existing text in some other language, SL, belonging to another literary polysystem, that of the source, and occupying a certain position within it). Thus, this value contains requirements deriving from two essentially different sources often incompatible, if not diametrically opposed to one another. (In this connection, one might recall the semipopular formulation of this opposition as being between reading as an original and reading as the original.) The above statement could be applied to the translation of persuasive advertisements. The demand of double loyalty manifests itself on four levels: Linguistic diversity. Linguistic codes are arbitrary systems; their function and the meaning of each sign depend on their differential relations with other signs, and not on a supposed objective relation of equivalence with the continuum called reality. The idea of arbitrariness precludes the possibility that two linguistic codes would place every sign on the same point of their respective scales. The importance attributed by the different societies to the incompatibility for language pairs is an important guideline for the translator to understand societys attitude towards translation and translatability (Aixel 1992/3:110). Cultural diversity. Every linguistic community has its own set of customs, values and habits; these communities convey and shape these by means of their linguistic code and conventions. Historical diversity. The horizontal or geographic distinction is linked with another vertical or historical nature which will always occur in translation, due to the fact that the ST precedes the TT. Modes of communication and value systems are continuously in a state of flux and evolution. Therefore, the intertextual value and/or connotations of the lexical items and the communicative strategies change constantly. Interpretative diversity. The bilingual and bicultural competence of the translator would play a role in the interpretation of the ST and the consequent translation into the TT. As Mary Snell-Hornby (1988:1-2) puts it: The text cannot be considered as a static specimen of language (an idea still dominant in practical translation classes), but essentially as the verbalized expression of an authors intention as understood by the translator as reader, who then recreates this whole for another readership in another culture. This dynamic process explains why the perfect translation does not exist. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

CULTURAL GAPS Specific cultural references and elements create problems and challenges for the translator. When two cultures differ vastly, it is very likely that many concepts and words will occur in one culture and thus in one language but not in the other. This will cause cultural gaps between the source and the target texts, which can be solved to a certain extent. Dagut (1978: 49) echoes this notion by saying that cultural gaps are caused by community-specific referents in one community and their absence in the other culture. Cultural objects, beliefs, customs and institutions are determined by the cultural history and traditions of the specific language community. A language community creates "designators" to symbolise referents which do not occur in the other language community. The resulting gaps are then (a) more, (b) more language specific, and (c) "more translation-resistant than the environmental type" (Dagut 1981: 52). He goes on to say that (1978: 52-53) people have only a "superficial and rather incredulous interest" in other cultures. However, this is not wholly true. One could rather attribute this to a lack of knowledge or cultural isolation. To a lesser extent this might apply to non-translators. If not, the translator should not attempt to translate a text that is culturally loaded. When the translator is faced with an untranslatable cultural element, s/he could use certain methods to deal with it. S/he could keep the word/term or translate the concept literally and add a footnote or explanation within the text. S/he could also leave it out but this would be to the detriment of the text and the message, unless s/he uses a substitute concept or word that would evoke a vaguely similar response. In the case of an advertisement, the advertisement would have to be recreated from the start

(including visual and/or audio material) in the target language in order to create a similar message, and reaction from the receiver. VALUES AND MORAL ISSUES Specific values and morals are particular to a culture, and constitute the fibre of the individual. They provide her/him with a cultural identity, which in turn anchors her/him to the norms and beliefs of her/his culture. What are the implications of this for the translator of advertisements? Advertisements are created against a cultural background. The translator then has to immerse herself/himself in the complexities of this culture, source text/culture, and be able to assess the ideologies portrayed in the advertisement. Lastly, s/he has to transfer an ideology from one culture into another culture and language. S/he has to ask herself/himself whether the effect on the target receivers would be the same as on the source receivers. Often it is not. In South Africas case, it could be one of two possibilities. If an ideology is transferred from English to Afrikaans or vice versa, the effect would be very similar, but when translating it into a black language, and thus culture, the effect would be vastly different. Especially in the case of advertisements between vastly differing ideological cultures, the transfer of one ideology in a culture to another could be impossible or could lead to great difficulties. The translator has to find an alternative solution. One option could be to find analogous values, morals and ideologies within the target culture and language. In theory another option would be to make the meaning of the original ideological message in the source text accessible to the target text receivers by giving extra or explanatory information. In practice this would not work for an advertisement, the reason being that most advertisements are limited in terms of space or time. A lot must be said in a few words. When dealing with vastly differing cultures, moral issues and values in one culture (say the source text culture) could have an adverse or no effect on the target culture receivers, and could lead to a conflict of values, which in turn will influence the message and its perception. The translator must therefore be aware of the norms and values of both cultures before setting out to translate and use semiotic means to deal with an advertisement. The translator also has to decide whether s/he will choose signs which are unique to the target culture or global signs (in other words, signs that are universally accepted to have a certain connotation and denotation). In other words, is the code broadcast or narrowcast? As discussed in the section on the influence of American culture on world culture, one can see that existing morals, values and beliefs can be broken down in the translation process. If the translator uses signs that represent different values (which are dominant in the target culture), the intended message of the source text and its signs will be lost in the newly translated text. For example, a capitalist model as represented by the McDonalds hamburger chain, an all-American company, opening a restaurant in China is a prime example of conflicting ideologies. A capitalist ideology is advertised in a socialist society. One culture, one set of values (America: land of the free) impeaches upon the status quo in oppressive China. CONCLUSION Cultural orientation and identity play important roles in the life of every individual and shape thought and views of the world. Persuasive advertisements are important creators and transmitters of values and morals in society and thus also of cultural orientation and identity. Culture can be seen as a system of meanings (made up of signs), that has been created by means of the communication process. The identity of a culture provides the background against which a translator has to work when translating a persuasive advertisement into another culture. Language as a sign system of a culture is most commonly used to convey a message. In the case of persuasive advertisements visual and audio-visual signs are also used to generate meaning. S/he has to make a cultural assessment of the source text and culture, and then recreate the effect on the source culture in the target culture by using signs and sign systems which will enable him to get the advertisers original message across to the consumers (receivers). However, a translation theory is needed which can accommodate the requirements set by a discursive-semiotic approach to identify cultural aspects in persuasive advertisements to achieve equivalence in the target language, and thus an equivalent effect on the target receivers. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

CHAPTER 3 Finding a Translation Theory INTRODUCTION

Advertisements present the translator with challenges and problems specific to the discourse such as its function, and cultural elements represented by signs used to convey a message. The aim is to find a translation theory that would meet the functional requirements of persuasive advertisements (i.e. to persuade and manipulate), and transfer cultural elements in the source language to the target language, and thus achieve the same effect on the target receivers as on the original receivers. Note that the same meaning is not necessarily sought, but the same effect. Christiane Nord (1991: 92) touches on the subject of cultural difference and translation by saying that: This is why there will never be a common translation code for all cultures. What we can achieve, though, is agreement on a general theory of translation which allows for specific variations when applied to particular cultures, taking into account the culture-specific conventions of translation and the expectations the members of a particular culture have of a translated text. It becomes clear that language and cultures are different. Lefevere (1992: 100) recommends that translators should be taught the relativity of translation poetics as well as strategies that could bridge the translators view of the source image, projecting an image that the target audience understands in a similar manner. Regarding the role of translations, Cluver (1988: 4) maintains that every culture reflects the categories its speakers have developed to classify phenomena in the external world. By translating a text, a certain honour is bestowed upon the target culture and receivers. The translation bridges cultures, differing view points and frames of reference by introducing new ideas and/or ideology to the target receiver. In the case of persuasive advertisements a lot more is at stake. The translator has to decide to what extent cultural transfer will take place or not. TRANSLATING PERSUASIVE ADVERTISEMENTS Definition of persuasive advertisements Bolen (1984: 9) defines advertising as "paid, nonpersonal communication through various mass media by business firms, nonprofit organizations, and individuals who are in some way identified in the message and who hope to inform or persuade members of a particular audience". Persuasive advertisements are thus the instruments used by advertisers "who have defined their target audiences and determined the effect they hope to achieve through persuasiveads [advertisements] in the media" (Bolen 1984: 9). Persuasive advertisements can appear in and on any media form: television, radio, film, print (magazines, books, newspapers, newsletters), Internet, and outdoor formats (billboards, bus and taxi shelters, dust bins, placards, posters, kiosks, buildings, display towers, and private and public vehicles such as buses, trains, taxis). Broadly speaking, advertisements have one of two functions, namely informing or persuading, although overlap can take place. An informative advertisement informs "the customer about goods, services, or ideas and then tells how to get them by means of an identified sponsor" (Bolen 1984: 6). Examples of informative advertisements include flyers and loose insertions in magazine and newspapers, which advertise new products/services or special prices on their products/services. This type of advertisement gives basic, factual information and sometimes shows a photo or drawing of the product/service. A persuasive advertisement "should try to persuade the potential customers that they need to buy the new product" (Bolen 1984: 6). The persuasive function is not limited to manipulating the potential customer only into buying on object, but also includes the selling of services, ideas, norms and values. Examples include advertisements of beauty products ( Elizabeth Arden), clothing (Nike), and alcoholic beverages (Jim Beam). Functional requirements The main function of a persuasive advertisement - to persuade and manipulate the receivers - is carried out by means of the message. This message communicates meaning by using signs. These signs can use verbal (linguistic signs) and/or non-verbal (non-linguistic) codes. In terms of the verbal signs Nida (1964: 120) states that "language consists of more than the meanings of the symbols and the combinations of symbols; it is essentially a code in operation, ora code functioning for a specific purpose." An important prerequisite for this communicative event to take place is the existence of a situation which is fixed in time and space, and which has at least two participants who are willing and able to take part for a certain purpose and by means of a text (i.e. combination of communicative signals). This situation creates the context, which "also includes the wider cultural context of the addresser and addressee, and the knowledge which they share about their total situation and their culture" (Vestergaard & Schrder 1985: 15). Non-linguistic signs play an important role in the creation of context and determine the choice of the linguistic signs. Linguistic signs (or language) perform different functions, among others the poetic function, which is oriented towards the code and meaning (in other words the message). According to Jakobson (in Innis 1986: 153) "the poetic function is not the sole function of verbal art but only its dominant, determining function".

By stating the functional requirements of persuasive advertisements, the translator has to find a theory that would accommodate the requirements and be flexible enough to deal with the transfer of cultural aspects between languages and cultures. The translation should be able to fulfil its role as a persuasive advertisement in the target language and be regarded as authentic by the receivers in the target culture, in other words "reproducing the total dynamic character of the communication" (Nida 1964: 120). What is a message? In terms of translation theory relevant to this discussion the message can be described as "the total meaning or content of a discourse; the concepts and feelings which the author intends the reader to understand and perceive" (Nida & Taber 1969: 205). TOWARDS TRANSLATION EQUIVALENCE What is translation? Defining translation seems simple at first glance. However, theorists and laymen alike differ on what constitutes translation. The translator of persuasive advertisements has to know what is expected of him/her in the process of dealing with an advertisement that has to be transferred to another language. Bell (1991: 20) defines the phenomenon as "the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a representation of an equivalent text in a second language". This definition refers to an important aspect, namely equivalence, which will be discussed in the course of this chapter. However, translation is not strictly limited to language. Some theorists such as Lambert are aware of this shift in translation theory. Lambert (1997: 60) is of the opinion that translation is an activity which involves "a kind of verbal, but never strictly verbal communication," and is "norm-bound and culture-bound". This statement is relevant but limiting as far as non-linguistic aspects in advertisements are concerned. The definition of discourse for the purposes of this dissertation includes text and context, i.e. linguistic and non-linguistic elements. But Lambert acknowledges that translation cannot be restricted to language alone and notes that the phenomenon of translation is communicational and cultural, in which language plays a key role. Lambert (1997: 63) points out that: Semioticians, literary scholars, and specialists in translation studies realize that traditional text strategies do not necessarily reduce written texts to their language component. The semiotics of space and gesture plays a key role in translated communication as soon as the representation of a real or possible world is involved. It becomes clear that the act of translation involves more than language, it involves non-verbal signs, and is culture-bound. The "representation in a second language" would have to adhere to certain requirements in order to be a successful translation. In the case of persuasive advertisements, the translation would have to fulfil the function of the original advertisement and have a similar effect on the receivers. Description of equivalence A translation theory that can deal with the above-mentioned requirements of persuasive advertisements must focus on achieving equivalence in the target language. This is not an easy task because "no two languages are identical, either in the meanings given to corresponding symbols or in the ways in which such symbols are arranged" (Nida 1964: 156). Halverson (1997: 207) maintains that equivalence can be defined: As a relationship existing between two (or more) entities, and the relationship is described as one of likeness / sameness / similarity / equality in terms of any of a number of potential qualities. The two entities are the source language and the target language between which a certain correspondence or equality has to be achieved in the translation process by means of the transfer of meaning and signs in the target language. In the translation process some detail may be lost, but the total impact of the message might be more powerful than in the original due to the choice of signs and their meaning. Constance B. West (cited in Nida 1964: 156) states the problem as such: "Whoever takes upon himself to translate contracts a debt; to discharge it, he must pay not with the same money, but the same sum." Types of equivalence Different theorists use different terms for describing equivalence in translation theory. A few of these approaches will be examined in order to find a working methodology for translating persuasive advertisements.

Newmark (1981: 10) uses the term dynamic equivalence and describes it as "the principle of similar or equivalent response or effect, or of functional equivalence". Aspects, that can be equivalent include the content (in other words cognitive aspects) or the form (such as formal aspects). Nida (1964: 165) makes a further distinction by stating that every aspect could either be formally or dynamically equivalent. One could thus speak of formal or dynamic lexical equivalence, or formal or dynamic cognitive equivalence. In the case of formal correspondence the focus is on the message itself in form and content. The basic premise is that the message in the receptor language should match as closely as possible the different elements in the source language. This approach is often applied to the translation of poetry. In contrast to this, there is the dynamic translation approach, which is based on the principle of equivalent effect. In this type of translation "one is not so concerned with matching the receptor-language message with the source-language message, but with the dynamic relationship, that the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message" (Nida 1964: 159). This type of translation aims to achieve the following: naturalness of expression, and to relate the receptor to modes of behaviour relevant within the context of his own culture. Important for my purposes is that this type of translation does not insist that the target-language receptor understand the cultural patterns of the source-language context in order to comprehend the message (Nida 1964: 159). Nida is of the opinion that all translation should be concerned with the response of the receptor. He quotes and echoes Leonard Fosters definition of a good translation as "one which fulfils the same purpose in the new language as the original did in the language in which it was written" (cited in Nida, 1964: 162). A successful translation must capture the sense of the original rather than merely the words and could only be regarded as a successful piece of communication if it makes sense to the receptor. In semiotic terms that would mean that signs, connotations, denotations and references in the source text would have to be translated or recreated in such a way in the target text that the response of the target language receivers would be equivalent to that of the source language receivers. If a translation can meet the following basic requirements of (1) making sense; (2) conveying the spirit and manner of the original; (3) having a natural and easy form of expression; and (4) producing a similar response, it stands to reason that some conflict between form and content will result (Nida 1964: 164). Most often content will have priority over style. But in the case of persuasive advertisements, this matter depends on the genre used. If an advertisement was written as a poem or song, the form would be kept, and the content translated bearing the form in mind. If a childrens rhyme such as Mary had a little lamb is used and/or adapted for use in a persuasive advertisement, and the advertisement has to be translated into Afrikaans, the translator would have to keep the form (namely the rhyme). The signs generated in the advertisement would determine how this rhyme would be translated in terms of cultural elements, their meaning and the message the advertisement communicates. Because the meaning and form are an inseparable unit, the translator should attempt to find a compromise by giving the one aspect total dominance over the other within a given situation. The form and genre of the advertisement would dictate to the translator which aspect should dominate in the translation process. The translator has to decide which aspects of the source text he wants to transfer equivalently to the target text. These choices will determine what type of translation will be used, as well as the procedure, namely a formal equivalent or dynamic equivalent. Nida (1959: 13) points out that the issue of untranslatability occurs when absolute equivalence rather than relative equivalence is required. "If one is to insist that translation must involve no loss of information whatsoever, then obviously not only translating but all communication is impossible." One could therefore say that the main object is concerned with conveying the meaning of the original text: "Translating must aim primarily at reproducing the message. To do anything else is essentially false to ones task as a translator" (Nida & Taber 1969: 12). It is, however, not enough just to comprehend the original message: It would be wrong to think, however, that the response of the receptors in the second language is merely in terms of comprehension of the information, for communication is not merely informative. It must also be expressive and imperative if it is to serve the principal purposes of communication" (Nida & Taber 1969: 24). According to Newmark (1988: 48) the communicative translation of vocative texts such as advertisements not only requires an equivalent effect, but views it as being essential to the success of the translation. He notes that "it is the criterion by which the effectiveness and therefore, the value of the translationis to be assessed". A translation that attempts to be dynamically equivalent is based on the principle of bringing about an equivalent effect. The dynamic relationship between the receiver and

the message (of the translation) must be more or less the same as the relationship between the receivers and the message of the original text. Similar approaches Beekman and Callow (cited in Gutt 1991: 68) developed the idiomatic approach which is similar to the dynamic equivalent approach in that it rejects form-orientated translation and emphasises that a translation should convey the meaning of the original. It also demands that the translation be faithful to the "dynamics" of the original message. It differs from Nidas approach in that it looks at the dynamics in terms of naturalness of language use and ease of comprehension rather than receptor response. Beekman and Callow (cited in Gutt 1991: 68) explain their definition of a dynamic translation: A translation which transfers the meaning and the dynamics of the original text is to be regarded as a faithful translation. The expression transfers the meaning, means that the translation conveys to the reader or hearer the information that the original conveyed to its readers or hearers The expression, the dynamics, means that (1) the translation makes a natural use of the linguistic structures of the RL [receptor language] and that (2) the recipients of the translation understand the message with ease. The prerequisite of understanding "the message with ease" is not of paramount importance in persuasive advertisements. For instance, if the original advertisement contains obscure or confusing signs for a specific reason (i.e. to confuse or disorientate the receiver), this element must be recreated in the translation. An example is that of an Afrikaans advertisement for the Pendoring Awards. A well-known expression was used as a heading, namely "kry jou gat in rat". But the letters were presented in a jumbled form. The receiver had to figure out the disguised expression. The sign was an Afrikaans expression represented in a linguistic form. The aim of the message was to confuse the receiver, and then force her/him to discover the meaning of the signs. Larson (cited in Gutt: 1991:68) extends the idiomatic approach by including the aspect of audience response in her definition of dynamics: The underlying premise upon which this book is based is that the best translation is the one which a) uses the normal language forms of the receptor language, b) communicates, as much as possible, to the receptor language speakers the same meaning that was understood by the speakers of the source language, and c) maintains the dynamics of the original source language text. Maintaining the "dynamics" of the original source text means that the translation is presented in such a way that it will, hopefully evoke the same response as the source text. The above-mentioned approaches have two basic objectives: (1) the message or meaning conveyed to the receivers in the target language must be the same as the original message to the source language receivers; and (2) the translated message must be equivalent to the dynamics of the original. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

TRANSLATING CULTURE It has been established that a discourse such as persuasive advertisements must be seen as communicative function taking place in a given situation which forms part of a broader sociocultural background. The translation no longer entails "linguistic substitution or mere code-switching but a cultural transfer (Snell-Hornby 1989: 319). The text (linguistic elements) is "der verbalisierte Teil einer Soziokultur" (Hnig & Kussmaul 1982: 58). The role of the translator is to facilitate the transfer of message, meaning and cultural elements from one language into another and create an equivalent response from the receivers. The message in the source language is embedded a cultural context and has to be transferred to the target language (Nida 1964: 13). The dynamic equivalent translation approach provides the translator with a theory which can deal with the cultural challenges and problems inherent in persuasive advertisements.

Cultural dynamic equivalence Nida (1964: 166) says that defining a dynamic equivalent translation is to describe it as " the closest natural equivalent to the source-language message". This definition contains three essential terms, namely (1) equivalent, which refers to the source-language message; (2) natural, which refers to the receptor language; and (3) closest, which "binds the two orientations together on the basis of the highest degree of approximation". Natural refers to three areas of the communication process: a natural rendering should fit the whole receptor language and culture, the context of the specific message, and the receptor-language audience. Therefore the translation should bear no obvious trace of a foreign origin. A natural translation would have to deal with two main areas of adaptation, that is grammar and lexicon. The grammatical adaptation takes place more readily since one is obliged to make adjustments such as shifting word order or using nouns instead of verbs in the receptor language. The lexical structure of the source message is less easily adjusted to the semantic requirements of the receptor language because there are no strict grammatical rules but a variety of options. The translator has to take three lexical levels into account: (1) terms for which there are many equivalents, such as man, tree and flower; (2) terms which identify culturally different objects but with similar functions, such as house as opposed to shack; (3) terms which identify cultural specialities such as knopkierie, igloo and kleinhuisie. Most of the time the first set does not create problems; the second set can give rise to confusion so that the translator has to use another term which reflects the form of the referent or a term which identifies the equivalent function. The third set provides the translator with truly cultural words, which bring with them foreign associations. Nida (1964: 167) says that "no translation that attempts to bridge a wide cultural gap can hope to eliminate all traces of the foreign setting". He goes on to say that "it is inevitable that when source and receptor languages represent very different cultures there should be many basic themes and accounts which cannot be naturalized by the process of translating". Naturalness of expression in the receptor is, according to Nida (1964: 168), basically a problem of co-suitability. This problem occurs at several levels: 1. word classes (where a noun is used instead of the verb); 2. grammatical categories (in some languages predicate-nominatives must agree in number with the subject); 3. semantic classes; 4. discourse types (some languages require direct quotation and other indirect); and 5. cultural context (some practices are strange to other cultures). A natural translation must also be in accordance with the context of the specific message, which could include grammatical and lexical elements but also detailed matters such as intonation and sentence rhythm. For instance, a translator should be sensitive to the register and style of the source text and thus be aware not to use slang, vulgarities or colloquialisms when not asked for in the text. The translator should, however, not turn a straightforward piece of text into a technical work that is longwinded and difficult to understand. The translator should be aware of anachronisms, which include archaisms and contemporary words when translating a text. When translating discourse that refers to a historical period, the translator should use vocabulary relevant to the period; by the same token s/he should not use outdated words in a contemporary piece of discourse. Nida (1964: 168) argues that "the appropriateness of the message within the context is not merely a matter of the referential content of the words. The total impression of a message consists not merely in the objects, events, abstractions and relationships symbolized by the words, but also in the stylistic selection and arrangement of such symbols." In other words, flowery English would not be as successful in Afrikaans, which is a more clinical, straightforward language with fewer possibilities in terms of vocabulary. The Afrikaans word corpus is much smaller than English due to the fact that it has existed for a much shorter period (for about the past fifty years). It is important in a dynamic equivalent translation that the translator reflects the point of view of the author such as sarcasm, irony or whimsical features. Another important element in the naturalness of the dynamic equivalent translation is the extent to which the message fits the receptor-language audience (Nida 1964: 170). According to Nida (1964: 170) the appropriateness must be judged on the basis of the level of experience and capacity for decoding of the receivers/receptors. But in the advertising discourse and the translation thereof this is not always possible. At the conception of the advertising campaign the strategic planners would have identified the target market. But this market is not homogeneous and the translator would not be able to judge their decoding capabilities as such. The subject matter, however, would give some indication. For instance, a print advertisement for cigars would assume a certain type of consumer, that is to say not the broad consumer market but a niche market. An advertisement for a chocolate bar would cover a much wider market: anyone ranging from a child to the CEO of an international company. Cognitive equivalence and culture

Cognitive equivalence refers to the content, the message of the text, and involves aspects such as lexical, semantic, semiotic, paradigmatic and pragmatic equivalence. Nida (1976: 48-49) states that the message in a translation is still the dominant element in the discussion about translation, even to the extent that equivalence of form is ignored. But Nida does add that content and form cannot really ever be separated. When dealing with the content of a text (read advertisement) the translator must clearly distinguish between the discourse and the spatial-temporal background of the text. S/he has to decide whether s/he wants to use the less understandable cultural background of the source text or the more understandable but anachronistic cultural background of the target text. Nida (1976: 50) proposes that the purpose of the translation will determine which approach towards the cultural background has to be used: when the translation has to elicit a specific response from the receivers, the translator will have to adapt and modernise the cultural background. If the purpose is to communicate the date of a specific event, the cultural background has to be given in a faithful manner. Translating the message Certain sign relations are built or established within the source text/language, which creates a certain message, connotations and denotation. These relations have to be recreated in another language and culture. But it is not possible to recreate or reconstruct the exact relationships: a new set of relationships will have to be established and sign interpretations have to be established: but the message and its aim in the source language have to be reached in the target text. In terms of translation equivalence, relationships have to be taken into account which are determined by the linguistic and cultural distance between codes which transfer messages. In some cases languages and cultures are closely related, such as Arabic and Hebrew. In other cases the languages are not related but there are similarities between the cultures, such German and Hungarian. In the third case, the languages and the cultures can differ totally, for example English and Zulu (Nida 1964: 160). Where the linguistic and cultural distances between source and receptor codes are minimal, one expects to have very few serious problems, but this is not so. In the case of Afrikaans and English, which once were the only two official languages in South Africa, a translator can be badly deceived by the superficial similarities. False friends, for instance, are a serious problem, such as the English word "eventually" which could be translated as "eventueel" which does not mean the same, but rather "possibly" ("moontlik") in Afrikaans. When the cultures are related but the languages differ quite substantially, the translator must make many formal shifts in the translation. According to Nida (1964: 160) "cultural similarities in such instances usually provide a series of parallelisms of content that make the translation proportionally much less difficult than when both languages and cultures are disparate". Nida (1964: 156) is of the opinion that no two languages are identical, "either in the meanings given to corresponding symbols or in the ways which such symbols are arranged in phrases and sentences". For this reason there can be no absolute correspondence between languages whatsoever. However, if the languages are closely related, such as Afrikaans and Flemish, where there is a high percentage of correspondence between vocabulary, the equivalence could be higher than between Afrikaans and a black language such as Zulu. There can be no fully identical translations, especially in the case of advertisements where the visual material also generates meaning, and connotations that could and probably would be interpreted differently by different cultures, although the words might have a high degree of linguistic and semantic equivalence. Nida (1964: 156) says that the process of translation involves a certain degree of interpretation by the translator. This is especially true in the case of translating advertising discourse, since the translator has to make certain decisions concerning the choice of idiom and symbol which s/he deems the most appropriate for the discourse. The translator has to interpret the message in the source language and find an equivalent in the target language that will create a similar effect on the receivers in the target language as it did on the source language receivers. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

SPECIFIC CULTURAL ITEMS The translator often finds elements in a text which seem untranslatable. There are however, certain ways to measure and estimate the translatability of a text. These suggestions do not solve translation problems but provide the translator with means to approach a problematic text. Van den Broeck and Lefevere (1979: 61-66) propose the following laws of translatability to determine the degree of translatability of a text: The larger the unit of translation, the larger the translatability would be, and vice versa.

The smaller the amount of information, the less complex the structure would be and the greater the translatability, and vice versa. Translatability is greater when there is a degree of contact between the source language and target language. Translatability is greater when the source language and target language are on an equal cultural level of development. Translatability is greater between two non-related languages, if the conditions in 3 and 4 are applicable and attention is given to 'faux amis' (apparent similarities). Translatability can be influenced by the expression possibilities of the target language. No two languages are similar. During the translation process some cultural colouring and nuances will be lost, but could also be gained due to the vocabulary and lexical diversity of the target text. There will always be a certain degree of loss in meaning when a text is translated "...if the text describes a situation which has elements peculiar to the natural environment, institutions and culture of its language area, there is an inevitable loss of meaning, since the transference to...the translator's language can only be approximate" (Newmark 1988: 7). In the case of advertisement translation the translator would have to be very sensitive to the losses and gains of cultural elements. S/he should assess the "weight" (connotations, denotations, familiarity) of cultural elements in the source text in order to translate them into the target text and bring about the same effect as in the source text. One of the most difficult problems regarding advertisement translation is specific cultural items, which could include objects, historical references and customs and habits. The current trend in advertising is to use emotive situations which transcend cultural barriers in international advertising campaigns such as Nike. (Characters are portrayed in situations where they are encouraged by the slogan and sentiment "Just do it". Universal themes such as winning and losing are used, to which anyone can relate.) This is not possible for all product advertising. Many products need to have a specific cultural angle, for instance death cover by an insurance company. In different cultures, different signs, symbols and customs will be used. For instance, in the South African context, relatives of a deceased person in a black community will give money to the family as opposed to flowers that are given for the grave in the Western community. One can thus conclude that the translating of cultural texts often involve rewriting rather than translating a text. The basic idea or message has to be retained, but the cultural context and references are newly created. In order to convey signs (linguistic and non-linguistic) successfully, the translator must use a translation theory that meets the requirements of the discourse and its function. ROLE OF SEMIOTICS IN TRANSLATION THEORY Semiotics is a systematic study of signs, sign systems or structures, sign processes, and sign functions. These elements are central to the process of semiosis, and together they constitute a sign. A sign is anything that can be interpreted, and must be physically and mentally perceptible. Language is only one of many systems of signs (Winner 1978: 337). For the purpose of translating persuasive advertisements, the various signs, their meaning and significance as well as their intertextual relationships (text and context) have to be examined in order to establish their significance and their role when translated into another language and culture. Theories of the two most prominent leaders in the field, De Saussure and Peirce, will be discussed in light of their relevance to translation theory and the transfer of cultural elements. De Saussure was language-oriented, thereby subordinating the nonverbal to the verbal, whereas Pierce gave equal epistemological status to verbal and nonverbal signs and sign systems. Translation as a semiotic practice In order to establish the role of semiotics in translation, one has to look at the concepts of (1) translation, and (2) semiotics. Translation addresses aspects of communication and is concerned with the use, interpretation and manipulation of messages, that is of signs; semiotics does exactly the same (Gorle 1994: 11). Traditionally translation has dealt mainly with the linguistic aspects in advertisements, but now the semiotic aspects of a discourse such as advertising should be incorporated in order to make cultural transfer possible. In other words, not merely the random substitution of one image or symbol with another in the target language, but the use of symbols in the target language which will create the same effect and have the same impact and meaning on the target receivers as they had on the source receivers. Semiotics studies the production, transmission, exchange and interpretation of messages consisting in one or more signs. The translation of persuasive advertisements must be seen as a process and a product which should be handled within the framework of a general theory of signs and not merely by means of methods that are purely language-based.

Semiotic basis for translation Semiotics forms the basis upon which the translation of persuasive advertisements should be built. Why? All words represent signs, because they can generate meaning; they do not necessarily have meaning on their own - just like images. It can thus be said that translation is not language-based but sign-based: it deals with the transference of signs systems: verbal and nonverbal. Gorle (1994: 13) supports this view by stating: [A] Point of departure of semiotic linguistics is the Saussure-based claim that all language is a system, a coherent semiotic structure, and that consequently, all text can be described and analyzed semiotically. Brief background to semiotic approaches: De Saussure and Pierce De Saussure claimed that all language is a system, a coherent semiotic structure. This system of signs has meaning by virtue of the signs relationships to one another. All texts can be analysed semiotically. According to this binary view, each sign comprises a signifier and a signified. Every sign has meaning only by virtue of its place in the system. A sentence, which is a combination of signs, is a complex signifier for a complex signified. But his view excludes the referential context and the communication situation of the language user, and meaning is thus seen as "an invariant aspect of the source text, entirely determined by the structure of a homogeneous source language system" (Lambert & Robyns: forthcoming). For the purposes of translating persuasive advertisements the communication situation is important because it creates the context and thus meaning. According to Lambert and Robyns (forthcoming) "the conceptual problems created by a Saussurean, dualistic view on communication place a burden on any semiotic discussion on translation". As a result, translation is presented in terms of a basic opposition of source text/language and target text/language. Piercean semiotics offers a wider scope within which translation and semiotics can be discussed. His approach is more general and can be used to address Jakobsons three types of translation, namely intralingual, interlingual and intersemiotic; this approach goes beyond the linguistic domain by virtue of including nonverbal signs. Peirces triadic model of the sign consists of the following: (1) the representamen (the form which the sign takes), (2) the interpretant (the sense made of the sign), and (3) the object (to which the sign refers). According to Lambert and Robyns (forthcoming): his interpretant, as a component in the chain of interpretations of the sign, is the necessary translation of the sign, which can be seen as its meaning, but first and foremost is a sign itself, which has to be interpreted again, in an ongoing process of endless semiosis. Peirce defines the interpretant as a translation of the sign, but he also mentions translation as a specific instance of an interpretant. The statement is explained as follows (Lambert & Robyns): This means that translation should not be seen as the second component in a static dichotomy but as a step in a chain of interpretations, being itself subject to interpretation. This would suggest that the interpretation of any sign becomes a sign in itself. The translation of such a sign is a further interpretation of the sign, and a specific interpretant must be reached at some stage, otherwise this would lead to a neverending interpretation of signs; a "final logical interpretant" (Lambert & Robyns: forthcoming) must be decided upon. This final logical interpretant either corresponds to a habit, a conventional cultural unit, or establishes a (partially) new one (Lambert & Robyns: forthcoming). This model of the sign includes verbal and nonverbal signs that generate meaning, which is significant for the translator in that s/he would have to identify the meaning of each sign and translate it in such a way as to achieve equivalent meaning in the target text. The various signs in the target text would then create its own chain of interpretations, which although not identical to those of the source text, should achieve the same effect as it did in the source text. Translation theory and semiotics Nidas approach to translation points towards the Piercean view of text and discourse. For Nida (1964: 120):

Language consists of more than the meaning of the symbols and the combination of symbols; it is essentially a code in operation, or, in other words, a code functioning for a specific purpose or purposes. Thus we must analyse the transmission of a message in terms of dynamic dimension. This dimension is especially important for translation, since the production of equivalent messages is a process, not merely of matching parts of utterances, but also of reproducing the total dynamic character of the communication. Without both elements the results can scarcely be regarded, in any realistic sense, as equivalent. Nidas "dynamic dimension" in which "equivalent messages" are produced points to Pierces continuous process through which a sign stands in a certain dynamic relation to the signs preceding it and the signs following it, thus forming a system of signs (Gorle 1994: 14). Translation of signs Jakobson (cited in Toury 1980:14) states that the meaning of any linguistic sign is its translation into an alternative sign "in which it is more fully developed". A verbal sign can be interpreted in three different ways: it can be translated into other signs of the same language, into another language, or into another, verbal system of symbols. These three kinds of translation are also called: Intralingual translation or rewording . This is an interpretation of the verbal signs by means of other signs of the same language. One could say similes are used. Interlingual translation or translation proper. This is an interpretation of verbal signs by means of another language. Intersemiotic translation or transmutation. This is an interpretation of the verbal signs by means of signs of nonverbal systems. In the case of translating persuasive advertisements, interlingual and intersemiotic translation methods will be used. This means that the advertisement will have to be translated into another language and culture by means of language, which creates its own signs and nonverbal signs in the target text. The French theorist, Georges Mounin, perceives translation as a series of operations of which the starting point and the end product are significations and the function within a given culture (cited in Bassnett-McGuire 1980: 14). There is usually no full equivalence between code-units in the case of interlingual translation, but the message may serve as adequate interpretations of alien code-units or messages (Jakobson cited in Toury 1980: 14). What happens is that during the translation process the message in the source language is substituted for an entire message in the target language, and not only code-units. The translator acts as the go-between between the two languages and has to create an equivalent effect in the target language. The translator has to identify the codes at work in the source language to translate the text and context of the source text into the target text, in order to create an equivalent effect. A combination of interlingual and intersemiotic translation will enable the translator to create equivalence between the source and target languages. CONCLUSION Translation theory has moved away from a purely linguistic perspective towards the methodology of translation towards incorporating non-linguistic disciplines such as semiotics to supplement existing theory. An attempt has been made to show what the demands of translating cultural elements in persuasive advertisements, and how to approach and deal with these elements from a semiotic point of view in order to include linguistic and non-linguistic signs and their underlying relationships. Signs, which generate certain meanings in the source language and culture, are used in persuasive advertisements to achieve a certain effect or goal; the relationships between the different signs are unique and cannot be identically reproduced during the translation process. However, the translator, by means of creating new signs and relationships between verbal and non-verbal elements, can create an effect or response that is similar to that of the source text. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements

ilze bezuidenhout

CHAPTER 4 The Instrument in Action INTRODUCTION In the previous chapters much theory regarding discourse and semiotic analysis as well as translation was discussed in order to arrive at a possible solution to the transfer of cultural elements in persuasive advertisements in various media. The aim of this chapter is to show how these theoretical insights can be applied in practice. A selection of South African (English and Afrikaans) and Belgian (French and Flemish) advertisements and their translations will be examined and discussed in terms of semiotics, language and cultural transfer. It will become clear that advertisements are dynamic entities that cannot be straitjacketed and confined to rules. Two international brands, Coca-Cola and Absolut vodka, will be discussed to illustrate the influence of multinational advertisements and their influence on other cultures. In the case of Coca-Cola the advertisements portray a typically American way of life, whereas the Absolut advertisements transcend cultural barriers, but at the same time incorporate and involve local cultures into specific advertisements. INTERNATIONAL, MULTINATIONAL ADVERTISEMENTS Two international products, Coca-Cola and Absolut vodka, and a few examples of their persuasive advertisements will be discussed. They are two of the three brands inducted into the American Marketing Associations Hall of Fame; the other brand is Nike. The differences in approach to global advertising will be compared. ABSOLUT History The product has its origin in Sweden, where it has been produced for the past 400 years. Absolut vodka has been sold under this name since 1879. It became the biggest imported brand in the USA and the number one premium vodka brand in the world (Absolut: WWW). The first advertisement that appeared in the USA in 1980 summed up the essence of the brand in two words "Absolut Perfection". This trend of short and catchy lines would characterise all the Absolut advertisements to follow. The manufacturers in Sweden had put together a concept board containing the main ideas that they wanted from the advertising campaign. The product should be the hero. It should be lit up from the back so that the name can be seen clearly. There should be a simple and bold statement about the products attributes, and humour should also be included. The agency that came up with the winning concept was TBWA in New York. The concept for advertising Absolut captured the soul of the product and its long history. The versatility and genius of the campaign allowed for an infinite number of possibilities and executions of the basic concept. The advertising campaign for Absolut has become something of a cult in America. As a result, collectors have started collecting the original artwork of the advertisements. The advertising campaign of the product has branched out into several different spheres such as art and fashion. In the mid-80s the pop artist Andy Warhol painted the Absolut bottle, which was the first of series of modern artists painting their interpretation of the famous product. These artworks have become sought-after pieces amongst collectors. In this case advertising has been elevated into the realms of serious art. (See gallery.) The versatility of the campaign enables the advertiser to tailor-make the advertisement according to the needs of the medium. The product was the first to appear on the centre pages of Playboy mens magazine, that are usually reserved for the photo of a pin-up girl. In this case, a bottle without any lettering was used with the caption "Absolut Centerfold". The Absolut brand is endorsing fashion events such as the annual Absolut fashion shows, where designers have to create outfits which capture the essence of the product, and have the product name incorporated into the design. The winning designs are then modelled by famous women and photographed by famous photographers and catalogued for world distribution. Marketing approach The sign is a bottle in the middle of a black background in a spotlight. This is the traditional, best known presentation of the advertisement. The reflection of the bottle on the table is shown. A strong brand awareness is created: the product is the point of attention, like a playboy surrounded by beautiful women. The bottle used has the shape of an old Swedish medicine bottle, thus a cultural icon was retained. (In the 16th and 17th centuries vodka was sold in pharmacies as a medicine to cure everything.) It is a multinational company. The advertising campaigns are aimed at consumers across the world. It has retained its cultural roots: it has not become Americanized in the sense that people would think that it is an American product. Why? American stereotypes and signs do not dominate the campaigns, although they use an American advertising agency.

It has become a world product because not one specific cultural flavour/angle/ etiquette has been cultivated in the consumers mind. It is like a chameleon; it changes colour and approach depending on the situation and what is demanded of the product within that situation. The logo on the bottle clearly states that the product comes from the "Country of Sweden"; this emphasises the tradition of purity of the product. The spelling of "Absolut" without the e gives it a Swedish touch. Semiotically speaking it is important to note that the product always stands centrally. Ideas and other spin-offs are built around the product. The meanings created in different advertisements always differ because the product stays the same, but not its surroundings or the contexts in which it is promoted. The form/shape of the bottle is that of an old medicine bottle. It can be easily distinguished from any other alcoholic drink bottles. The advertisements are without exception either clever or humorous, or tongue-in-cheek comments or a combination. They do not signal obvious, in-your-face messages, but require the receiver to think about the advertisement and the message. The diversity of the advertisements created around this product ranges from seasonal occasions such as Christmas, to the representation of cities such as Cape Town and Gauteng, to artists contributions. The advertisements created for this product are slick and sophisticated, with a European feeling. The reason could be that the market consists of people over 18 who share the ideas and sophistication represented by the product. Signs and translation Quite often no text is used in the advertisements, only the wording on the bottle. Semiotically speaking, it would be impossible to translate these advertisements. They would have to be recreated for the target receivers/consumers. The translator would have to determine very accurately what the advertisement was supposed to do by looking at where it appeared, in what type of publication or where, such as on a billboard. If the effect was to amuse, the same could be achieved for the target receivers. If the message was not culturally bound (in other words referring to a specific city or cultural event), it could very well stay the same. Again the translator would have to determine whether the majority of the receivers would understand the reference. The advertisements created for this product can transcend cultural and language barriers because of their simplicity and allround appeal. Few or no words are used, which captures the essence and spirit of a message / idea / concept. The bottle is often given human qualities such as thought by means of thought / speech bubbles. Sometimes the product has nothing to do with the reference but is a clever way of establishing the product in consumer / receivers mind. The translator of an Absolut advertisement could be faced either with an easy task or a hugely problematic one. The translator has to be aware of what is culturally relevant and applicable in both the source and target languages and cultures. The advertisements do not take away a part of a culture, but rather add and enhance local references and icons. Whether it is by commissioning artists from different countries to paint their interpretation of the bottle or whether it is by referring to places in a specific country or using foreign languages (as in the case of "Absolut Boeretroos"). A selection of advertisements will be discussed to give an idea of how specific cultural elements are incorporated. Absolut Gauteng This advertisement cannot be translated or translated by using semiotic tools, the reason being that this is as close to semiotic perfection as one could get. The traditional format of the advertising campaign is used. The only differences are the caption and the appearance of the bottle. This is an example of an advertisement encapsulating the spirit of the region. The Gauteng region is known worldwide for its gold mines, which generate millions for the country. Within the South African context no explanation is needed to understand what the advertisement is saying. The essence of what the region is most known for has been captured in the gold bottle. The connotation derived from the colour of the bottle is inevitably that of gold, and the caption confirms and anchors this notion. The words and the visual image cannot exist without each other in this context. (See gallery.) Absolut Boeretroos This advertisement was created for the South African market. Only those people who have an understanding and knowledge of Afrikaans would understand it, the reason being that "boeretroos" is an old Afrikaans word, meaning coffee. Linguistically it means sympathy for the Boer (historically the Afrikaans farmer but also referring to all white Afrikaners). It is a humorous and fun way of presenting the product by addressing the Afrikaans culture. The advertisement addresses a specific culture and its people. The use of a semi-archaic word is also surprising, but this attracts the attention even more, making the advertising very striking and memorable. This advertisement was used with great success at the Nasionale Klein Karoo Kunstefees, a mainly Afrikaans arts festival held annually. (See gallery.) Semiotically speaking, it is interesting that the halo as used in the "Absolut Perfection" advertisement was retained in this advertisement. One could argue that an anomaly exists between the words and the product. Absolut Sun City This advertisement was created to depict Monte Carlo, the gambling capital of the world. The caption read "Absolut Monte Carlo".

A roulette table connotes gambling and winning or losing money. In this case the bottle itself was not photographed, but a table and a chair resembling its form. The clever arrangement of the table, the players chairs and the chair of the croupier form the shape of the Absolut bottle. This advertisement was cleverly adapted for a South African audience by replacing "Monte Carlo" with "Sun City". A South African audience would immediately associate Sun City with gambling; they would also associate it with the original reference. The advertisement was given a local reference and colour and therefore the South African consumer would feel that he is addressed in terms of images and names within his local frame of reference. (See gallery.) Absolut Cape Town An ethereal and culturally very specific example is "Absolut Cape Town". The advertisement shows letters, the top and the face of the originator, Lars Olsson Smith, flying off the bottle. This advertisement was originally created for "Absolut Chicago". The flying objects signify the quality attributed to both Cape Town and Chicago: windy. Cape Town is known for its fierce Southeaster that blows everything and everyone away in summer. (See gallery.) The wide appeal of Absolut advertisements lies therein that they are specific but also general. A wide range of receivers can understand the message. General statements about the product such as "Absolut Perfection", "Absolut Magic", or "Absolut Elegance" comment on the products qualities. The advertisements are not overtly persuasive, but they sell a lifestyle and desirability that persuade the receiver/consumer to become part of this world created by Absolut. This is one of a few products in the world that uses advertising to reach beyond mere selling but into the realm of art. (See gallery.) [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

COCA-COLA History On 8 May 1886 John Pemberton, a pharmacist from Atlanta, Georgia, formulated a drink that was used as medicine and later became the soda known as Coca-Cola. The products distribution across the world started when Robert Woodruff joined the company. Currently the product is distributed to more than 195 countries. The impact of Coca-Cola on the whole world is difficult to quantify. However, it can be said that Coca-Cola embodies the spirit and essence of American culture unequalled by any other American product. The product transcends language, culture, race, gender, and age boundaries. Most importantly, however, is that the advertisements reflect American values and ways of living and carry these values over to other cultures. They do not change their campaigns to blend with the local culture in a country; rather they incorporate elements of that culture. However, the advertisements stay the same throughout the world; it is always clear that Coca-Cola is advertised and not any other soft drink. The identity of the brand is so strong and established that it cannot be confused with other products. The local element never distracts or overshadows the product; it only enhances the product and strengthens the message to the consumer to buy the product. The only concession is that the text is translated in countries where English is not a dominant force such as China, the former Soviet Union and Turkey. In other countries, a combination of English and a local language is used. Marketing approach In Fortune magazines 15th annual survey of corporate reputations, Coca-Cola was named as the most admired brand in America. In 1997 Coca-Cola was the most recognized brand in South Africa (Marketing Mix 1997: 52). This awareness of the product can be solely attributed to its advertising campaigns. The company and the brand strive to dominate and take over in the soft drink market across the world. According to Brad Clemes, the marketing manager in South Africa, the companys international success is based on a set of principles: the brand must offer unique taste, refreshment and authenticity. "Coke drinkers must experience emotional upliftment with every sip of their drink" (Marketing Mix 1997: 52). It is clear that emotions play a large role in the advertisements created for the company; a "feel good" experience is associated with the product and this shows in the semiotic analysis of the products advertisements. According to Clemes "Cokes advertising is greatly admired by consumers, which Clemes ascribes to the strategy of advertising life (Marketing Mix 1997: 53). (See gallery.) The company and the brand are selling a lifestyle, a way of seeing the world and persuading consumers to participate by drinking Coca-Cola. The companys approach is to become entrenched in the community and become part of the consumers

daily lives. The result is a mixing of cultures, where the American culture still dominates. Bits of local culture are used within a broader American concept of what a "feel good" experience should be. Another strategy to entrench the product in consumers lives is to be involved in community projects and sponsor high-profile sports events. American culture in advertising When one speaks of American culture, certain images are conjured up, such as certain buildings, movie stars, eating habits and cars. American culture consists of a mixture of many different cultures, just as in South Africa. The only difference is that as a nation, the population is unified in what America and American culture stands for. The language is one of the most obvious American characteristics: the pronunciation, spelling, and grammar that differ from British English. A simple definition of culture is that culture is a set of practices and thoughts that distinguish one group of people from another. Lloyd Smith (1994: 298) is of the opinion that "there is an American culture and, secondly that there are many American cultures". It is thus clear that there is an internationally recognizable dominant culture and many sub-cultures. The reason for the diversity is that the American population consists of diverse ethnic groupings. People have immigrated from Europe, South America, and the Far East to the USA. As a result the cultures of all these diverse people have helped to shape American culture. The homogeneous national culture is a response to considerable local diversity; a unifying and stabilizing set of cultural assumptions. American culture is dynamic; it is constantly changing due to the influx of people from all over the world. In a country dominated by technology and mass media, a new type of culture has emerged. In this culture the image has replaced the authentic reality; the "scenario" has replaced the genuine action, and the individual has been "decentered" to the point of aimless consumerism. (Lloyd Smith 1994: 314). This aimless consumerism is achieved by the use of ever-increasing advertisements that infiltrate the rest of the world selling American lifestyles and ideals. Impact on the world The introduction of a brand that is very American leads to changes in the eating habits of the consumers. The impact is usually the greatest on the young market; children are much more susceptible to changes and new products than older people. CocaCola has been in South Africa for many years. The product represents a culture and this has an effect on the eating habits of people. Coca-Cola is associated with hamburgers and chips. This alternative choice of diet replaces local and indigenous foods and eating habits and thus influences society by imposing a foreign culture on to the local foods culture. This leads to a loss of originality and identity. In a country such as South Africa the possibility of discarding local cultures in favour of foreign cultures is so much bigger. Kaynak (1989: 26) claims that underdeveloped countries consumers are more susceptible to advertising because they are "more easily affected by promotion than their developed country counterparts, and their brand preferences or total spending patterns may be permanently affected by promotion". According to Soloman (WWW) "America is a nation of fantasizers, often preferring the sign to the substance". He contends that advertisers give shape to consumer desire, but that the subconscious dreams and desires of the market already exist. The same can be said for the youth of the rest of the Western and Eastern world. The American way of living presents an idealised world where everything is possible if you have a dream; it is the land of opportunity where everyone is equal. This belief in the self is taken to extremes and manifests in statements made about the superiority of people and the product. Examples of this are: "Coca-Cola people always better" and "Always refreshing". The product is transformed into signs of all that is desirable in American life. Coca-Cola has become a symbol of American culture. Coca-Cola exploits fantasies around youth, friendship, belonging and action. Television and film advertisements are fast-moving with a lot of activities taking place. Often their advertisements show groups of people; the emphasis is on the group and not the individual. An example of this idea is captured in a television commercial that was filmed in Italy. Young people from numerous nations were seen standing on a hilltop and singing "Id like to buy the world a Coke" in 1971. This song later became a wellknown pop song " Id like to teach the world to sing". (See gallery.) Drinking Coca-Cola makes you part of a family of people across the world who share the experience and lifestyle. In the late eighties the company used celebrities such as Whitney Houston to endorse its products. Again the fantasy element was at work. Whitney Houston was at the high point of her career in late eighties, early nineties, and thus having a famous singer/model as spokesperson for the product increased its credibility among the youth and her fans. The products superiority and continuity are always incorporated in slogans and logos. This creates a feeling of familiarity and comfort with the consumer. Words such as "Always" emphasise the familiarity and try to form a bond with the consumer with slogans such as "Always yours" or "Always refreshing". These messages are comforting and reassuring. (See gallery.) Examples of Coca-Cola advertisements in South Africa and Belgium The most striking and important feature of the brand is the colours associated with the product, namely red and white. Red is a strong, emotional colour, whereas white is neutral but highly contrastive with red. Red attracts attention and stands out among

other colours; it is associated with danger, excitement, love and maybe also danger. It is a cheeky, daring colour filled with emotional connotations. White is associated with purity and goodness. The market at which the advertisements are aimed is young: from children to teenagers to young adults. Once these consumers are captured, nostalgia is used to keep their loyalty. The advertising strategies applied in the USA are used unchanged in countries such as South Africa and Belgium. Market strategies differ in that the respective markets have different cultures, but only marginally so in a First World country such as Belgium. South Africa is a developing Third World country. For this reason the marketing strategy and advertisements have to be tailored to fit this market and general awareness of the brand has to be established. The company does this by sponsoring many projects in black townships, supporting sports events and competitions for young people. It was extremely difficult to get hold of examples of advertisements of this product, especially in South Africa. The company itself was not forthcoming at all and would not part with any examples from their archives. Numerous telephone calls to various key people in the organisation proved unsuccessful. Requests were passed on to at least six people, who either ignored the telephone calls or passed the request on to the next person. The only sympathetic people in the organisation were the various secretaries. The advertising agency handling the account was even less helpful. The account director suggested that this type of request would be illegal in the USA where he hails from, and promptly refused to help. Therefore the number of examples is few and not truly representative of what is being done in South Africa. The situation in Belgium was totally different. The below-the-line agency, Vridic, was extremely helpful and gave a good selection of material to be used. Belgium All advertisements for the product are either produced in French or Flemish. In some cases where the only words are that of the slogan such as "Always Coca-Cola" this would not be the case. The fine print would then be either in French or Flemish. A lot of emphasis is placed on print advertisements, mostly in the form of billboards and other outdoor advertising, and belowthe-line advertising such as promotional material, merchandise, sponsorships and competitions. The second most used medium is television and movie theatre advertisements. Over a three-month period in Belgium, no radio advertisements were to be heard on six different radio stations (Flemish and French). The product is often advertised on MTV (Music Television), which is transmitted from the UK. Supplement The most striking advertisement for the product is the newspaper supplement about the company and the product that appeared on 8 February 1996. The French supplement appeared in the French newspaper Le Soir; the Flemish version appeared in Het Nieuwsblad. This is an example of the changeable nature of advertisements. This advertisement has the format of a newspaper, but the function of persuading the readers to buy the product and support the brand. (See gallery.) In both supplements the heading is in English: " Coca-Cola People Always Better". This slogan is throughout the supplement. The front page deals with the history of the company and contains an article about the company in Belgium. Semiotically, the sign of the company and brand is central on the page, together with its slogan "Always Coca-Cola". Even if the receiver does not read the supplement, the icon will be remembered. The image is imprinted on the memory of the receiver, irrespective of what language he speaks. On the second page the vision of the company is discussed and explained, accompanied by full-colour photographs of delivery trucks, the head office, workers doing various activities, and its community involvement. There is little text but many brightly coloured photographs. Again the focus is on the red colour of the logo. The name and the colour are the signs used to create recognition. The third page has more text than the rest; the focus here is on the values espoused by the company. The brightly coloured photographs of the product in various situations again draw the receivers attention, away from the text. The back page consists of a collage of people employed by the company surrounding the mission statement in the middle of the page. Language and cultural approach Very few cultural adaptations can be seen in all the advertising material created for Belgium. One could assume that the same campaigns were used in other West European countries and the USA. Retail poster The title of the "Red Hot Summer" campaign uses the sign (red colour) as a play on the companys logo. Coca-Cola is a carbonized cold drink used to quench thirst. In this campaign the focus is on the refreshing qualities of the product. This is set within a context of hot summer holidays at the seaside. Although not the ideal vacation for many people, the associations created with this campaign are vivid and clear, namely that Coca-Cola provides fun and refreshment for your holiday enjoyment.

This is done by giving away merchandise that fit into the image of someone going to have a holiday at the seaside. (See gallery.) The underlying assumption that Belgians will all go the coast for a hot summer holiday is ironic, since the temperatures never rise very high in summer and the Belgian beaches cannot be compared to those of the Mediterranean or those of the west and east coasts of the USA. The last sentence on the side of the paper with the merchandise could be read as a simple wish being expressed. However, taking the above into account, this sentence could be interpreted as a confession that the assumptions in the advertisements could not hold true for many consumers/receivers. In all the advertisements English is used together either with Flemish or French. Headings, slogans and logos are always in English. The less important information is in the language of the receivers. The product is of American origin and thus always associated with the country, its culture and people. Presenting the advertisements in English creates a natural connotation with these aspects. Scott Sanborn of Ammirati Puris Lintas advertising agency in the Netherlands confirms this notion by saying, "Engels is de taal van film, muziek and MTVhet is overal en het is de coole jongeren taal" (Anon., 1997: 36). This statement underlines the fact that young people in Europe view English as exotic, different and hip. Their own languages and cultures do not provide the same level of desirability as English or American English, for that matter. The same applies to the French advertisements, except that there are fewer English words used than in the Flemish advertisements. The headings, slogans and logos are kept in English. The language used on the merchandise is English throughout. Coca-Cola Light This advertisement is a prime example of how cultural codes in the USA are carried over to the Belgian culture. This information sheet is given to retailers of Coca-Cola products in which a competition is announced. The assumption is made that Belgian consumers would view a Harley-Davidson motorcycle as the ultimate prize to be won in a competition. The advertisement clearly says that this prize is "De droom van alle Coca-Cola light fans". (See gallery.) The advertiser (Coca-Cola) reasons that if a consumer likes Coca-Cola Light, s/he would like a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and thus the culture it represents. South Africa The company advertises mainly outdoors: on banners, billboards, posters, paintings on buildings (such as cafes), delivery vehicles and kiosks. (See gallery.) In South Africa print advertisements and advertisements for television and movie theatres are only created in English. In exceptional cases, a radio advertisement would be created in Afrikaans. During the early 1990s an Afrikaans jingle was written by Greta Bredell (at McCann Erikson agency) for Coca-Cola. Unfortunately this recording could not be found. A rap song was created for the product but aired only very briefly on radio KFM in the Western Cape during June 1998. (It was not possible to get hold of this recording.) People billboard Semiotically this advertisement is filled with strong signs. People are arranged in such a way as to form the shape of Coca-Cola bottle. Two strong elements, Coca-Cola and people, are linked to form a subsequent sign meaning. Coca-Cola (and all that it stands for) brings young people together to share fun and enjoyment. (See gallery.) In this case the two signs are inseparable: the image of a bottle is formed by the arrangement of people; the one cannot exist in this context without the other. In the South African context this advertisement is particularly relevant, although it could also be used in the USA. (It was created in South Africa especially for the local market, according to the advertising agency.) Ninety percent of the people in the advertisement are black, which is a reflection of the population in South Africa. The people look happy and hold Coca-Cola bottles in their hands. The colourful and bright clothes worn by them are a reflection of the "rainbow nation" concept. South Africa consists of many cultures and ethnic groupings that are all different from each other. Instead of wearing the red and white colour scheme of the product that would imply a homogeneous group of people, they dress differently to show their individuality and diversity. But they are bound together by their choice of drink. SA World Cup Promotion This advertising campaign linked up with the soccer World Cup in France 1998. The advertisements under discussion included an entry form and a poster. The company used a world event to promote its product and merchandise. (See gallery.)

Entry form The entry form is generic and could be used anywhere in the world where English is spoken. There are only five instances from which the receiver can see that the form is meant for a South African audience. They are: South African soccer fan, Bafana Bafana, Woza Weekend, taxinet kiosk, and the rules. Bafana Bafana refers to the South African soccer team, Woza Weekend is a local television programme, and a taxinet kiosk refers to a meeting point of minibus taxis (a typically South African phenomenon). (See gallery.) No other cultural adaptations or references were made to the entry form. It was only available in English, not in any black languages or Afrikaans. Semiotic aspects The information side of the entry form has a red background with yellow and white lettering. It seems like a can with drops of water running down. The receiver immediately recognizes the product; this is re-enforced with the heading "Celebrate with Coca-Cola". The striking heading grabs the attention, promising a prize of a lifetime. The underlying message is that Coca-Cola makes everything possible; it is a celebration of life when you are part of the Coca-Cola family. The advertisement suggests that life would be dull without Coca-Cola. Poster Much of the above applies to the poster. The poster is generic and could be used anywhere in the world, except for two aspects. One of the characters on the poster has a South African flag painted on his face. This element contextualises the poster. Mention is also made of Woza Weekend, a television programme. Apart from that, the poster has the appearance of an American advertisement. (See gallery.) [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

BELGIAN ADVERTISING INDUSTRY The Belgian advertising industry faces similar problems regarding language and culture as their counterparts in the South African advertising industry. Belgium has two official languages, Flemish and French; South Africa has 11 official languages but traditionally advertised mainly in English and Afrikaans. However, Belgian advertising agencies often create advertisements simultaneously in Flemish and in French, whereas South African agencies conceptualise and create advertisements in English and then translate them into other languages. As a result, many advertisements appear to be translations that have not been recreated with cultural elements taken into account. The advertising industry in Belgium is in the fortunate position that most companies realise that cultural and language diversity have to be respected, and thus make funds available for the development of advertisements in both official languages, namely Flemish (a Dutch dialect) and French. When an advertising campaign has to be created, two teams work on the project: the one group in Flemish and the other one in French. The two teams work independently from another. Finally, they compare their respective campaigns and decide upon the best one to fulfil the clients needs. The criteria for choosing certain concepts include that the signs and ideas created within one language and one culture are translatable, or usable so that the other language could use the ideas and images in such a way that it does not seem like a translation but an original advertisement. The advertisements used for discussion are by far not representative of the deluge of advertisements available, but are indicative of certain problems and how they are overcome. Attitudes towards culture and advertising Belgium is a small country (10 million people) with many nationalities represented, due to the presence of European Community employees. The major cultural groupings are the French and the Flemish, and a small German population on the eastern border. The Flemish population speaks Flemish, a dialect of Dutch, but write standard Dutch. The Flemish culture and language (in the Netherlands) are under siege by all that is American. This influence has also infiltrated Flemish culture: many English words are incorporated into the language. The French (Walloons) are more resistant to such influences due to their affinity for France and the French culture.

In the advertising industry these cultural attitudes have to be accommodated and respected, otherwise the success of a campaign will suffer. Language is a very sensitive issue and thus treated with respect. Due to the fact that the Walloons and the Flemish resemble each other physically, and live in close proximity, advertisements have to use distinguishing qualities and characteristics to describe cultural differences such as dressing. This is the only visible difference between the two groups. The Walloons have a more sophisticated (French) way of dressing than the Flemish (Sophie Frre: 1997). Belgium is a divided country, not only geographically but also politically and culturally. An interview with Sophie Frre, the Managing Director of Vridic advertising agency, revealed that one cannot speak of a unified Belgian culture because it does not exist. The only time when solidarity prevails is when a tragedy occurs, such as the death of the King. Social issues such as the paedophile scandal in Belgium also lead to some form of solidarity amongst the whole population. However, such sensitive issues would never be used in an advertisement. Advertisers would even shy away from using children in an advertisement which could be offensive. Religion also falls in this sensitive category. Topics such as food and life styles are treated differently in advertisements for the two cultures: a regional context will be created for food products in each of the regions. The Walloons eating habits are similar to those of the French, whereas the Flemish people have created their own eating habits and preferences. For instance, the French would rather eat butter than margarine, whereas the Flemish population is more health conscious and would rather eat margarine. The people of Belgium see themselves belonging to either the Flemish culture or the French culture, but not to a united Belgian culture. According to Bart Broodcoorens (1997), many advertisements are created for a multinational market and are thus not suited to the Belgian market (including both groups), the receivers frame of reference or cultural orientation. The influence of this tendency will be discussed in the course of the chapter. Translation and language issues The Belgian people feel very strongly about their language, whether it be French or Flemish. As a result advertisements are created and/or translated into these languages. In contrast to the situation in South Africa, there is no mixing of French and Flemish in advertisements. The average citizen would not even mix his languages in normal conversation. However, certain French words have crept into Flemish; this is not significantly the case the other way round, but English words are used in both French and Flemish advertisements. The onslaught on both these languages by English is enormous. The Flemish people accept it more readily than the French-speaking community. Foreign influences Like most languages, French and Flemish take vocabulary pertaining to new technology such as computer terminology directly from English. Very few own terms are created in French and Flemish, the reason being that English is a world language, and the language of media and film. Young people especially relate to film, media and technology and are thus familiar with English terminology. Thus when an advertiser wants to address the youth, English words and expressions would be used in a French or Flemish advertisement to attract their attention. The perception also exists that English is young, hip and exotic, as opposed to the familiar own culture and language. The advertising campaigns for multinational companies and their products such as Coca-Cola are created in the USA. The brand essence has thus been established; advertisements would then be literally translated into French or Flemish. Few or no adaptations or cultural changes are made to suit the local culture. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF BELGIAN ADVERTISEMENTS Semiotics is per definition about the study of signs and the meaning they generate. It appears that the Belgian advertising industry is aware of and sensitive to the use of signs and symbols, more so than in South Africa. However, advertising campaigns are conceptualised after a strategy has been decided upon. Only after this has taken place, the impact of signs and their meanings are accessed in order to create an effective message to the consumer/receiver. Certain subjects, such as religion, are treated with great care and tact and usually only in a serious manner. Religion is treated with respect and solemnity and not associated with humour. Interviews with different copywriters revealed that the Belgian consciousness is that of subtlety visual material and language are used in advertisements in such a way that they are discreet, subtle and not shocking.

According to Sophie Frre (1997), a Bennetton billboard depicting a black stallion mounting a white mare caused much criticism and outrage from the public. These symbols were powerful in conveying a message, but too radical for the general Belgian public. Advertisers often use television and music personalities to endorse their products; these personalities would be well known in the French (Walloon) or Flemish community, depending on their cultural orientation. Voyages voyages Elders en anders This was the only print advertisement found in which the same advertisement was used in two magazines (French and Flemish) that showed a difference in terms of the visual material. Both magazines are Belgian products aimed at either French-speaking (Voyages voyages) or Flemish-speaking (Elders en anders) readers. Both the advertisements appeared in motor car magazines (the French and Flemish versions of the same magazine, namely De AUTO Gids and Le Moniteur AUTOMOBILE). The paradigms used in both advertisements are words and images. (See gallery.) Images and signs Syntagmatically speaking, the images carry more weight than the words. A yellow background signifies the sun that is mentioned in the heading. A warm feeling, a sense of excitement and warm climes are evoked by this colour and the word "sun" for the Belgian reader, who is used to grey weather for most of the year. A photo of the cover of the magazine (October 1997) issue is shown. Below that is a much larger photo of an old, rusty car from the fifties. This signifies travel and a bygone era - a romantic connotation of travel is created. The image is strengthened by the image of the travel trunk filled with old copies of the magazine in Flemish and French. This signifies the passing of time and also a sense of adventure and mystery hidden in the trunk. A hidden treasure and pleasure are stowed away in the trunk and in the magazines. French advertisement The images of the car and the travel trunk were left in colour. The whole advertisement is filled with words and images, and distracts the eye easily; there is no specific focus point in terms of the images. There are no contrasts. The readers attention is drawn by the word STOP in bold black capital letters. Freely translated, the heading says: "We interrupt what you are reading to bring you a ray of sunlight". This direct form of address is used to attract the attention of the reader. The ray of sunlight refers to the colour of the magazines cover as well as the destinations, Morocco and Mexico, both of which conjure up images of warm, sunny places. Flemish advertisement An optical and semiotic contrast is created by using both black-and-white and colour images. By using the black-and-white images, it could be presumed that the reader finds herself/himself in grey surroundings or in a grey (depressed) state of mind. In other words, the magazine will bring relief (a ray of sunlight). A free translation of the heading reads: "New, we interrupt your reading for a ray of sunlight". The use of "Nieuw" (new) instead of "STOP" is strange. "Stop" could have been used with the same level of success, but the word "Nieuw" has the added denotation of a new edition of the magazine that would then add to the text density. This heading is shorter than the French version. A contrastive effect is created in the heading by saying that the reading (already a relaxing activity) is being interrupted by something better, namely an escape to a holiday in the sun. Translation analysis It is difficult to say in which language the original advertisement was created. As in the case of many advertising agencies, the advertisements were created separately. The Belgian Flemish version works better semiotically due to the contrastive effects created by the visual images; the visual images supported by the text (message) make the overall message stronger on a denotative and connotative level. The code used is definitely broadcast a wide readership would respond to the message, namely to buy the magazine. The advertisement for this magazine not only informs potential travellers, but armchair travellers could also find solace in reading about sunny places in the world. Mercedes-Benz: CLK Images and signs The signs in the advertisement consist of two naked people (one male, the other female) and an expensive, luxury car. The medium used is that of a print advertisement that appeared in the same motoring magazines as the above advertisements. (See gallery.)

In terms of intertextuality, the advertisements refer to the CK 1 (Calvin Klein) perfume by using a naked young man and a woman, who resembles the supermodel Kate Moss (who was used in the CK advertisements). The only difference is that the models used in the CK advertisements are clothed in grungy wear, whereas these models are naked. (See gallery.) The heading connotes a young, carefree lifestyle as created by the makers of the CK perfume. Calvin Klein is an American fashion designer who caters for the young and stylish. The car is linked to the clothing of the famous designer by the use of the metaphor "Sportswear". The only thing the car and the clothes have in common, is the possible market that Mercedes-Benz hopes to entice into buying its product, in other words a younger, brand-conscious consumer. The metaphor is strengthened by the use of an English heading, both in the Flemish and the French advertisements. Just as the CK perfume is aimed at both sexes, the CLK is also aimed at a unisex market. Stereotypes are thus debunked: this car is not only aimed at older, mature people with a certain social status but at young, sporty and hip consumers. Young, sporty and hip are equated with sex (naked bodies of young, nubile female and handsome, young man). This is a rather outrageous approach to take for selling a car that has been associated with serious, status-conscious people. The advertisement is aimed at a young (biologically) and young at heart, upbeat market. Positive connotations are created by the direct reference to the CK advertisements. It could be interpreted as taking a too radical departure from the image of MercedesBenz, and the advertisement could be interpreted as being facetious. This car is presented as an extension of a lifestyle, just like the clothes or designer label your choose to wear. The car is an extension of the self. The medium used is a print advertisement in a motoring magazine. The vocabulary of three natural languages, namely English, Flemish and French, was used. It is extraordinary that the English heading was kept in the French version due to the fact that the French feel very strongly about preserving their culture and not having it infiltrated by English. The only reason could be that this advertisement appears in a Belgian magazine and not in a French one. Bearing this in mind, it enforces the message sent by the advertisers even more. They want the receivers to make the connection with the CK advertising campaign, and the only way to achieve this is to keep the heading in English. The binary oppositions presented in this advertisement include male/female; and technology/natural beauty. The code used is definitely narrowcast: a middle-aged or older consumer would not necessarily realise the reference to the CK advertising campaign; and thus the images and signs would not appeal as much to their sensibilities as they would to those of a young consumer. The green sepia format gives the advertisement a nostalgic feeling and focuses the receivers attention on the images; whereas a coloured image could split the focus. The body language used is also a strong communicative element in the narrative sequence of the advertisement. Syntagmatically, much can be said about the body language of the models. The man looks straight into the camera shyish but not self-conscious. Comparing this man to the CK advertisements, there is a difference in attitude. In the latter the look is bored and slightly daring. In this advertisement the woman looks furtive (maybe due to her nakedness). Again in the CK advertisement Kate Moss looks at the camera but she also has the same disinterested and bored look as the man. In the CK advertisement the two characters are presented as being together and belonging together by means of physical contact. In the Mercedes advertisement the characters are apart; the focus is on the man. This is achieved by splitting the advertisement in two: the photo of the man fills half the space and is a close-up shot; the woman, the car, the heading and the text are shown from afar on the other half of the page. This signifies that the man is the most important sign in the advertisement; he is the focus point and the leader. The car and the woman are subject to him. This could be interpreted as a having a sexist slant. Although this is mentioned nowhere, one can infer from the signs that the Biblical connotation of Adam and Eve can be made. In this case the woman is interacting with the car (snake in the Bible): the car first seduces the woman and later the mansinful exploitation of mans material needs and wants as embodied by the luxurious car Applying the communication test This test, as described in the chapter on semiotics, proposes that certain elements in this advertisement be substituted with others to test the accuracy and meaningfulness of the signs. If the signs in this advertisement are changed at all, the essence will be lost: it is based on another advertisement (the CK one advertisement). This advertisement can only exist in its current form because it refers to a well-known campaign for another product. The only aspect in favour of this Mercedes advertisement is that the models look slightly older than those in the CK advertisement, who portray the Generation Xers with their typical grungy appearance. If any of the objects, the gender, or the choice of heading would be changed, the reference to the CK advertising campaign would not be so easily recognizable and the reference and connotations lost. Social semiotics

The signs or choice of intertextuality could have a negative impact on older receivers and alienate this market. By using the naked bodies, the advertiser breaks away from its usual target market. The stereotyped, older, more distinguished buyer of this luxury car is replaced with young people and their designer-conscious mindset. It is clear that the advertiser (and thus the client) wants to penetrate a new market, a market that possibly has the money to buy a car in that price range. However, this approach is a radical departure from the entrenched connotations in consumers minds about the product. For this reason, the success of the advertisement is debatable. One could also ask whether this young market has been approached in the right way, by equating a car with sportswear. There is indeed a play on the "sporty" idea, but one could ask whether young people who buy designer clothes really have the money to buy an expensive car to match the image. It seems that the advertiser overestimates his market. Another consideration is that a shock tactic was used: naked people. Although nudity in advertising is not that uncommon in Belgium, as in South Africa, the Flemish community is more conservative than their French-speaking brothers and sisters in Wallonia, who would not object as such to the use of nudity. On the other hand, the French-speaking community has very strong cultural ties with France, more so than the Flemish with regard to their language and culture. The Flemish community, under the influence of the Netherlands, is more open to the use of English words and concepts than the French-speaking community. So, either way, this advertisement does not seem to be as successful as the advertisers hoped it would be, if one considers its semiotic analysis. Translation analysis The advertisers of this German product decided to keep the English heading in both the French and the Flemish version. It seems that the texts in both languages correspond to a high degree. In the Flemish version the words "atletische kracht" is used, whereas in the French version "athletique" is used; "sportieve uitstraling" is translated with "muscl". The Flemish version uses English words such as airbag and sidebags; whereas the French only uses airbag but adds adjectival descriptions. When comparing the two advertisements, it is difficult to say in which language it was created. The copy/text gives the basic information about the product; there is no sign of flowery language. The language is as streamlined as the image of the product. The language used refers to the car as well as to the models in the advertisement; beauty is strongly emphasised. Due to the poetic nature of French, more words are used to describe an object or attribute; the Flemish creates and compounds words more readily, which makes the text shorter. It is difficult to say in which language the advertisement was originally written and which is the translated text. One could only guess that the original was Flemish, because from a cultural point of view, Flemish copywriters would be more open to persuasion to have an English heading, than the French would. The text itself does not give a clear indication whether it is a translation, although it could be a word-for-word translation. Pirelli The object or product advertised is a Pirelli tyre. The Flemish and French advertisements appeared in the same magazine as the Mercedes-Benz advertisements. The Afrikaans version of this advertisement appeared in the Automobile Associations magazine, Die Motoris. (See gallery.) Images and signs The signs in this advertisement are: a female athlete running inside a huge wave, and the image of one tyre superimposed on the photo. The woman running on the water evokes allusions to Jesus walking on water, in other words performing a miracle. These signs can be interpreted differently by different consumers/receivers due to the fact that it is not an obvious equation: the control of a tyre with that of a female athlete running on water. Not only is the equation strange but also a hyperbole. The signobject-interpretant relationship does not form a natural whole signifying a clear meaning to the receiver. The woman is running in the wave not away from it she is thus in control of her situation. This can be inferred from the heading. Power and control are weighed against each other: power is worthless if you do not have control over it. Just as the athlete runs against the waves thus showing her power she controls the wave and her fate because she is in control of her situation and destiny. The image of the athlete is a metaphor for a Pirelli tyre. One could only wonder why a black model/athlete was used. Was it a deliberate choice or just because of her powerful, athletic appearance? As with the previous advertisement, the advertisements heading is in English, probably taken over from the original English advertisement. Again one could ask why this is the case, especially when looking at the Afrikaans advertisement which has an Afrikaans heading. The use of English for the heading in an advertisement that does not suggest any reference to another text does not warrant the use of it in English. The Afrikaans heading is more powerful that the English because it does not jar with the idiom of the language and expression of the message. The code is narrowcast. The advertisement is aimed at people, probably mainly men, who regard the technical and safety features highly. The magazines in which all three advertisements appeared address the motoring enthusiast and not a broad public.

The medium is a print advertisement in a motoring magazine in all three cases. The binary oppositions presented are: (wo)man/nature and technology/natural elements. The woman and nature (sea/wave) are also indexically paired. As mentioned earlier, the use of a wave to signify extreme wetness is an exaggerated image; it is also interesting that two forms of transport are mixed. Water transport and those vessels associated with it do not use tyres to move, as would road transport would require. The beauty and the strength of the woman are equated to the tyre. The language used in the Flemish and French advertisements plays a secondary role to the image, although the image could not stand alone without the text. It is clear that the emphasis is on the images, but the language (text) does not support the images to form an integrated sign and message. The text does not refer to the water element or the connection between the tyre and the athlete running in the wave. The reader/receiver is left to her/his own imagination and connotative abilities to make sense of this aspect. The images in these advertisements do not form a unified unity. It seems as if this photo was created by means of a computer package in which different photos are superimposed upon one another to create a new photo. It is highly debatable whether it is possible to run in a wave of this size, and secondly the rest of the athletes body is dry. The photo is presented as if to be real, which it is not, and furthermore this assumption is not refuted in the text. This realisation influences the credibility of the product and the message to the receiver/consumer. This contrived image reflects negatively on the validity of the claims made by the manufacturers of this product. The Afrikaans advertisement is, however, a much more successful attempt at integrating all the signs in the advertisement. Under the section dealing with the translation of the advertisements, these aspects will be discussed. Pirelli is famous for publishing an annual calendar of the most beautiful and well-known women photographed by a famous photographer. These calendars are given to only a few select people in the world. For the informed reader/receiver the beautiful model in this advertisement would remind her/him of the famous calendar and thus be highly allusive. Social semiotics The models appearance is reminiscent of that of Flo Jo, a famous American track athlete. This symbol signifies black excellence and success. It also addresses the issue of women being successful in a traditionally male domain, namely athletics and the subsequent sponsorships and endorsement contracts. A stereotype endorsed by this advertisement is that of using beautiful women to advertise cars and related products. By using a "pin-up" girl, the stereotypical image and ideas are continued, but with the difference that this athletic woman is in control, and not merely a decorative and submissive object. Thus stereotypical assumptions are turned upside-down. Communication test Much can be said about the signs used in this advertisement, but not that they are successful. The idea of an athlete taming the waves by running along the swell is highly implausible. Neither the body language nor the position of the wave indicates that the woman is in control of her surroundings. As a matter of fact, it looks as if she is sprinting for fun in the sea. The relationship between the wave and the tyre is also not clear from the outset. The nature of the product dictates that this is not something that should be treated light-heartedly; safety is a serious matter. If the heading is kept, and the language has to utilize it to convey the message, images of difficult bends or road scenes can be used. Rain or any other form of water (e.g. frozen snow) that could impact on road safety can be included. If the advertiser insists on keeping the image of a beautiful woman in the advertisement, it would provide intertextual reference to the calendars. However, the elements used should signify control and power within a motoring/driving context. Translation analysis The French and Flemish advertisements have the same English title, namely "Power is nothing without control", and sub-titles that state that this is an intelligent tyre. The French text starts with a number of abbreviations that indicate the qualities that this tyre possesses. The Flemish text is introduced with a sentence claiming the technical ability that this tyre gives to a car. This sentence does not appear in the French text. However, the first sentence of the French text states that the tyres of today differ vastly from the tyres of ten years ago. This sentence does not appear in the Flemish text. The third sentence in the Flemish text refers to the design of the tyre, which again does not appear in the French text. The last sentences of both texts correspond. It seems that the Flemish text is the original (or even a translation from an English text) due to the fact that it gives much more information, and has more sentences. The French text is a watered down version of the original. At first glance it appears that the translation is dynamically equivalent, but upon further inspection this is not the case. As per the definition the message should have the same effect on the receivers in the target language as in the source language. If the Flemish (or English) version is the source text, the receivers of that text would respond according to the information supplied in the text. The target text does not give the same information -- it gives receivers much less, and receivers could therefore not respond in the same way because they have not been equipped with information about the product, only opinions and statements.

Both texts lack direct reference to the images by means of example. The only reference is that the tyre offers control in all circumstances and weather conditions. The themes of the sea/waves and the athlete are ignored in the text by the copywriter (translator?). There is no thematic connection between the words and the images; they are two loose entities. One could argue that both these texts were translated from an English text, seeing that the product is multinational. The many abbreviations (without explanations) presuppose that the reader knows what they stand for; they are abbreviations for English words. The claim that this is an intelligent tyre is made in both texts. However, only the Flemish text substantiates this claim by saying that the tyre was designed by keeping the electronic brain of your car in mind. Both the texts read like translations: the language use is bland and unimaginative; no figures of speech are used or anything to make the text read like an original creation; it lacks dynamism. If one assumes that the Afrikaans text is a translation (which is highly likely), one could say that it is much more successful than the other two. From a semiotic perspective, the text and the images send the same message; the text reinforces the sign production of the images and vice versa. The language is manipulated to support the water theme. Words such as golf (wave), breek (breaking wave), kloukrag (control) refer to the sea. No abbreviations are used; the denotated function of these words is given. Reference is made to wet conditions and the tyres composition to deal with such situations. There is no sub-title in this advertisement which refers to the intelligence of the tyre. The heading is repeated in the last sentence, which reinforces the message to the receiver. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

TELEVISION ADVERTISEMENTS The advertisements under discussion were created for a Belgian market and the international market. The Belgian advertisements are in Flemish. The French equivalents are not discussed. According to the copywriter, Bart Broodcoorens (1997), the French advertisements are merely a literal translation of the Flemish. This advertisement is a good example of how semiotic adjustments had to be made to fit the different markets and thus receivers. Both these advertisements were translated from German, because it is a German product. The advertisements under discussion are examples of methods to deal with language and culture within a semiotic framework. Iglo Spinach Images and signs The hands are very strong signs in this advertisement; they are symbols that provide the catalyst to set the narrative in motion. (See gallery.) The English advertisement starts with two hands hiding something. The sign is that of magic being created with the hands. It signifies something hidden, some trick being played. The connotation is that of a magician performing a trick. In a British or American context, these signs and their meaning would create a positive and fun response. After all, magic signifies relaxation or a hobby, as could be seen on television variety shows or at the circus. There are no sinister connotations. The speed with which the spinach is harvested and frozen is so unbelievable that it could only happen as if by magic. According to Bart Broodcoorens (1997), this connotation caused a negative response from Belgian consumers. The credibility of the product was questioned. The consumers felt that there was a hidden message in the advertisement and that the manufacturer was hiding something from them. Therefore, the advertisement had to be changed for the Belgian market. In the English version five hourglasses are used to indicate the passing of time. The sand runs through one of them very fast, which is supposed to indicate that the spinach is frozen very quickly after the harvest, thus sealing in all the vitamins. This is a strong and known symbol of time and the passing of time. However, it was cut out of the Flemish version because the receivers did not understand its use. It could have been replaced with a clock or watch to retain the time aspect. The only negative connotation that the hourglasses could have is that they are old-fashioned instruments, and thus do not fit into a contemporary society (and kitchen!).

Towards the end of the English version, one sees a vitamin seal, which guarantees that the vitamins have been preserved in the product. This seal connotes that some or other health authority has approved the product. However, this suggested claim cannot be proven. In the mind of the receiver/consumer a seal such as this creates credibility and thus increases its selling power. In the Flemish version, this seal does not appear because it is against Belgian law to make such claims according to Broodcoorens (1997). Paradigms The medium used is television. The medium makes the narrative sequence possible; one action and sign flow into the next, thus building suspense. The climax in this case is the showing of the vitamin seal that guarantees the freshness of the product. The theme is that the goodness and freshness of the spinach are captured as if by magic. Syntagms In both versions the focus is on the hands, which look as if they belong to a man. Stereotypically, magicians are men and the assistant is female. The change of focus and shots takes place quickly and smoothly, like magic. Again the idea of optical illusion is emphasised. There are no lingering moments in either version, expect for the last shot. The voice-over is also soothing and smooth on the ear. The narrative in the Flemish advertisement is simpler than the English advertisement, because a number of scenes were cut out. They are: the hands making the spinach disappear, the hand holding the vitamin seal, and the box with the vitamin seal on it. As a result signs such as the hands lose the connotation of performing magic. Code The code is broadcast because it is aimed at everyone who buys food, and digital because separate units can be distinguished, moving from shot to shot. Social semiotics From a semiotic perspective the English advertisement is much more successful than the Flemish one. The former is filled with signs and symbols that are supported by the language used to construct the narrative. Different visual elements are used in conjunction with the narrating voice to show the process of harvesting, packing and consuming. The small spinach plant in the opening scene is an index of harvesting. The next shot shows fresh spinach leaves in a mans hands; then to the next shot of five hourglasses, which are indices of time; then the hand with a seal in it; then the seal is shown on the packaged product, which is a symbol of guaranteeing quality; and finally showing a plate of food with a childs laughter in the background, which is a symbol of good health. A powerful sign is that of the vitamin seal in the hand, and in the next shot it is on the packaged product. This could be interpreted as the product receiving an award for its excellence. The aspect of showing a child eating the food and the laughter fits into the context of the world created by a magician. Certain cultural assumptions are made in the English advertisement. The first is that German products are of a superior quality and excellence. This view is supported and endorsed by the use of a vitamin seal guaranteeing freshness and a high level of nutrients. Semiotically, the Flemish advertisement is not successful. The signs used in the original advertisement worked within a specific narrative sequence to generate meaning. In the Flemish version these essential signs were omitted. What was left are loose signs strung together but not as a meaningful whole to generate the same message as the original. The hands, which are the most important sign in the advertisement, have been reduced to an interesting object in the Flemish advertisement. At times it comes across as if the hands are there to convey meaning through sign language, which they do not do. Translation analysis One could argue that these two versions of the same advertisement for the product are good examples of Jakobsons intralingual semiotic translation. This is true to a certain degree. The original advertisement was changed to fit the Belgian market by omitting certain signs, and then translated. The Flemish text is a literal translation of the English text. The translation of the text as such is successful, but the text does not work on its own, only in conjunction with visual images. Iglo Fish This concept was taken from an Italian advertisement for the same product. The stereotypical belief that the best fish come from the area around the North Pole was used to emphasise the quality and freshness of the product. Two advertisements were created for the Flemish and French-speaking inhabitants of Belgium. The first advertisement is a translation of the Italian

advertisement. Then a new advertisement was created, using the same basic Eskimo sign, but expanding some ideas. The Italian advertisement will not be discussed but serves as an illustration of how an advertisement can evolve to be more powerful in generating meaning through its signs. (See gallery.) Images and signs The principle sign is that of the fish. The advertisement starts with the man carrying fish, and throughout the receiver/viewer is aware of the fish, in nearly every shot. The father gives a fish mascot to the visitor, which then becomes a drawing of a fish skeleton. There would be a popular perception that the Eskimo is a symbol of superior knowledge regarding fish. Using an Eskimo to endorse your fish gives credibility to the product because they eat it raw and would not if it was not fresh. Paradigms The themes used in this advertisement are those of survival, knowledge, friendship, and family values. These are closely knit into a narrative that moves quickly from one theme and scene to another. The main paired oppositions in the advertisement are natural/industrial, family/single person, old age/youth, and myth/reality. This advertisement has all the elements of a mini-film: a love interest, bravery and suspense. Furthermore, it is a mixture of genres, namely that of fact and fiction. Information (for the consumer) is integrated with a beautiful story in which a myth is embedded. The medium is a television advertisement. The genre of the advertisement with the Eskimo family in their igloo is presented as that of a documentary. This is done by shooting the advertisement on a 16 millimetre film. The Eskimos are presented as real life people and not actors. Sub-titles and the length of the advertisement further support the notion that this is a documentary and not an advertisement. Syntagm On this level, messages are conveyed by means of body language. For instance, the little girl running towards the visitor upon recognizing him, the young girl looking shyly at the visitor and the friendly expression on the fathers face when telling the story. The close-up shots of all the characters faces emphasise the ambience being created. An interesting shift of focus is brought about with the voice over towards the end of the advertisement. First one hears a male voice talking while one still sees the Eskimo context; then a shift takes place and a womans voice comes up. At the same time, a shot of the raw product is shown. In other words, while the serious "documentary" was shown, an authoritative male voice was used, but when the shift took place to a domestic context, a female voice was used. Thematically, this shift is very clever. A connection was created between the male dominance in the "documentary" part and the male voice-over; while the wife in the documentary is also associated with the female voice at the end talking about the product. Social semiotics The advertisement starts with a Camel man lookalike walking across the ice carrying fish in a bag in his hand. His appearance conjures up images of a rugged, adventurous lifestyle in exotic places. The next scene shows an igloo, huskies and an Eskimo family in the background. Thus the context of the narrative is set. A child recognizes him and runs towards him. In the next scene the whole family is congregated. The family stereotypes are presented: mother, father, young children, and a teenage girl. They all take on stereotypical roles. The mother cooks, the children play with the visitor, the father instructs them about fish, and the girl seems infatuated with the visitor. The father is the symbol of wisdom and knowledge, instructing the foreigner and the children. The mother is the caretaker and homemaker. The father tells them a myth about the fish and fisherman. The fish is central in this advertisement. It is elevated to a position of mythical status. Not only is it the primary food source of the Eskimo, but is also imparts a social status to those who can catch it. The whole process of catching a fish becomes an adventure, an act of great courage and reward. It is elevated above its mundane purpose of providing nutrition and subsistence. The Eskimo are a symbol of people living in harsh and remote areas in a primitive way, not succumbing to modern, twentieth century ways of living. They are symbols of purity and pure surroundings, as connoted by their white, cold environment. Most receivers would be able to recognize an Eskimo and know that they eat fish as a staple food. There would be no need to change anything in this advertisement for Western receivers. It could be problematic if used in parts of Africa, where illiterate people do not know what an Eskimo is, but then again this product would not necessarily be aimed at these markets. In such cases, the voice-over would have to give extra information to fill in the knowledge gaps of the receivers and anchor the message and information for the receivers.

The myth is called a legend in the narrative. It claims that the gods reveal only to the bravest fishermen the knowledge that half of the spine of this fish is the firmest part. The legend implies that these fish can only be caught in parts of the ocean where it is very dangerous and only a select few will ever gain this knowledge. Translation analysis The French version is exactly the same as the Flemish version. The sub-titles were semantically translated, in other words the meaning of the source text was retained by means of the translation method used. According to Broodcoorens (1997), the latest trend in advertising is to use exotic and foreign languages in advertisements. These are then sub-titled, using the language of choice. The reason is that it is cheap to change the text but not the visual material. The only restriction would be that of the length of sentences, because they have to be short enough to fill the space on the screen, and also easy enough to read quickly because the shots change very rapidly. Also, when an advertisement is situated in a foreign setting, the cultural sensibilities of the receivers/consumers involved are not compromised in any way. They are outsiders observing another culture, and are thus removed and not familiar with the customs and language of the reality presented to them in the advertisement. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF SOUTH AFRICAN ADVERTISEMENTS Since 1948 Afrikaans and English were the countrys only official languages. Legislation stipulated that all advertising had to take place in both languages. The many black languages were not included in this stipulation, although advertisements in black languages did appear. Since the introduction of eleven official languages in South Africa in 1994, the status of Afrikaans has been reduced to being one of many languages. This is evident in the reduced number of Afrikaans advertisements being created. English is the dominant language used in commerce and thus in advertising. In the past most Afrikaans advertisements were translations of concepts that had been created in English. Few companies insisted on having their advertisements created in Afrikaans and then translated into English; even fewer realised that both these languages represented different cultures. Not all English speakers were white, middle-class citizens, neither were all Afrikaans speakers, farmers in the Free State. The speakers of these languages represent(ed) diverse cultural and ethnic groupings. Ever since the inception of the Pendoring Awards for Afrikaans advertising (in 1996), the situation concerning the creation of Afrikaans advertisements has changed dramatically. Although Afrikaans has been marginalised in the private and public sectors, it has to a certain extent freed itself from the shackles of a political stigma, and more Afrikaans advertisements are created and conceptualised in Afrikaans than in the past. This does not mean that there are more Afrikaans advertisements, but merely that there are fewer translations and more creations. This is particularly true for print advertisements. In the case of television and film advertisements the opposite is true. When creating or translating an advertisement in the South African context, the semiotician has to take numerous aspects into account. Various cultures and sub-cultures are represented in this country. Signs and symbols abound, many not generating the same meaning for different people. In the following discussion of various English and Afrikaans advertisements, the translation of signs (visual, language, others) will be examined to show how translators navigated between the signs and the meanings they generated to produce a product (translated advertisement). Due to lack of space, only a selection of representative advertisements can be discussed and analysed. Semiotics as a discipline is not yet used enough as a tool in advertising in South Africa. However, a few individuals in the advertising industry have taken note of this discipline and applied it to their advertising strategies and campaigns. The success of these advertisements was astounding. One such company is Sanlam, who introduced its products with a series of advertisements featuring babies. SANLAM History The life assurance company Sanlam was founded in 1918. The company started out as an insurance company but has gradually grown into a financial services company with assets of more than R50 000 million. This is also reflected in its

advertising campaigns. The company has been perceived as an Afrikaans firm, but this has also changed over the years. According to a survey in 1983, the corporate image was that of an efficient but cold and impersonal company. According to Herman Engelbrecht, Senior Manager: Advertising and Publications, the companys (1998) image projected a bureaucratic institution lacking warmth and compassion. A solution to this negative image had to be found. A very brave suggestion by Engelbrecht convinced the Board of Directors to use a concept that would have far-reaching consequences for the company: using babies to advertise Sanlam. The thought process behind this choice was visionary. In terms of semiotics the choice was a winner from the start. Babies are popular with all types of people (cutting across language, cultural and ethnic barriers), since nearly everybody could identify with them. Babies evoke positive reactions and connotations. The sign connotes purity, credibility, warmth, and care. According to Engelbrecht "babies were the one instrument Sanlam had with which to communicate messages in a simple but effective way. In the financial world of non-tangible, complex products Sanlam needed a creative concept which did not confuse the public" (Smith 1989: 130). The company realised that strong signs had to be used to convey messages about the services and products on offer. Engelbrecht (1989: 130) explains why: "Sanlam is in the future game, and we are here to assure the financial future of people. Babies are the symbol of the future and they instil warmth in products and an environment which tend to be rather austere." The concept of the babies was used in television commercials, print and radio advertisements. However, after 1987 signs other than babies were used because the still photography of babies did not create the same amount of warmth as the television commercials. In 1997 the company changed its advertising campaign to fit the changes that took place in the company. It no longer was an insurance company but a financial services company. As a result a new theme had to be chosen for the advertisements. The hands that form part of the logo were chosen as the symbol and theme to be used in all future advertisements in all media. As with the babies, the message, connotations and meaning carried by hands are universal. Hands, as a sign, are not culturally bound; all people can identify with hands and what they do and stand for. The choice of hands also offers a vast number of opportunities and contexts in which they can be used. Semiotics and translation It is clear that the company wanted to send unambiguous messages by means of clear and simple signs to its receivers (policyowners: current and potential). Most of the advertisements were conceptualised in Afrikaans and then translated into English before 1997. However, the signs and their meanings, which communicated the messages, were so carefully and thoroughly thought out that the translation of the text (language) did not prove to be a problem. The meanings generated by the different signs within an advertisement were clear and simple; there were no signs of mixed messages being communicated. The signs generated the same meanings in both English and Afrikaans, and appealed to all ethnic groupings and cultures. The task of the translator was thus to translate the text in the English or Afrikaans idiom (depending in each case in which language the specific advertisement was conceptualized), so that the text would fit each scene. This did not necessarily mean that a literal translation took place, but rather a dynamic equivalent translation which created a similar effect on the target receivers as that of the source text. Newsroom The scene is the editorial office of a newspaper where a number of reporters are discussing a major news story. According to Herman Engelbrecht the message of this particular advertisement was that policy-owners get real value for money and that the company makes a real contribution at almost every conceivable level of society, to the benefit of all. The aim of this advertisement was to locate the company within receivers minds and perceptions. (See gallery.) From a semiotic perspective this choice is very convincing and is filled with signs and connotations. Using reporters gives credibility to the story; they are perceived by the receivers/consumers as unbiased commentators who provide an objective view. All the news staff had to go out into the field and research an aspect of the company. The reporters all represent a certain type of person in society: the black reporter, the sporty photographer, the womans desk reporter, etc. Each one of these types is associated with a certain type of personality. The signifier (sign) is the newsroom where the different characters in the plot play their part to communicate a message. The scene depicted in the advertisement shows the reporters giving feedback on their investigations and telling the editor what Sanlam does for its policy-owners and their involvement in the broader community. The editor also generates a significant meaning because the credibility of the advertisement and the message rests upon him. He has to bear the consequences if incorrect reporting appears in his newspaper.

Paradigmatically speaking, the medium used is that of television, and the genre is that of an advertisement simulating a drama series. The cultural code represented is that of journalists working on a newspaper. The opposition in the narrative is truthfulness versus misrepresentation or lies. The audience spans a broad spectrum basically anyone who is interested in the companys products; the codes are thus broadcast. The tension in a newsroom when a major story breaks is re-enacted by the reporters running around, phoning and then the reporter who attracts the attention by throwing his in-tray on the floor to get a word in. This is the climax of the narrative. Translation analysis The concept and signs used in this advertisement are of equal importance in this advertisement. The visual material cannot exist without the text. Both the Afrikaans and English texts are idiomatically correct and form a cohesive whole with the visual signs. This advertisement was conceptualised and edited in such a way that it stayed the same in both languages. The advantage was that a voice-over was used. By using this technique the advertisement could be used in any language. The only indication of its country of origin is the lettering on the editors door, which is both in English and Afrikaans. Sangoma and fortune teller The fortune teller advertisement appeared in Afrikaans; while the sangoma (traditional healer) advertisement was in English. In both advertisements the index of the blue ball plays a central role. The blue ball (of clay) plays a significant role in most of Sanlams advertisements in all media. The ball forms part of the logo; and is thus immediately recognizable in all the companys advertisements. In the logo two hands are cupped over the ball; this signifies protection and care. The creators of the advertisement realised that a semiotic adaptation would have to take place to create a dynamic equivalence in the target language (English). Another consideration was the intended target market that included receivers from black communities. Therefore a literal translation would not suffice and a new advertisement had to be created using different signs (visual and language). When comparing the two versions, one realises that they have the same product in common and that the message is the same in both. Both make it clear that the answers do not lie in the bones or the crystal ball, but in a Sanlam savings plan. But the execution of communicating this message differs vastly. The language usage in both advertisements is idiomatically correct, and supports the visual material by naming actions, such as growth (the expanding clay), or bones instead of a crystal ball. Fortune teller The product in this case is Sanlams savings plan. A young businessman visits the fortune teller to look into her crystal ball to predict the future of his financial well being. (See gallery.) The signifier in this advertisement is a toddler dressed up to look like a gypsy in Oriental-looking clothes with scarves around her head and a lot of jewellery. Her appearance is that of the stereotypical "dark lady". She portrays a fortune teller, sitting at her table gazing into a crystal ball. This sign of the crystal ball evokes connotations of predictions regarding the future, sharing knowledge that is not yet accessible, and a connection with mysticism and magic. Context is created by the dress code of the character and her tool (crystal ball). A clich is used to convey a strong message. Paradigmatically, the binary opposition of magic with reality is very strong. Sanlams careful planning ensures that the young business man (and all Sanlam policy-owners) does not have to rely on magic or looking into crystal balls to see the outcome of his financial situation; Sanlam guarantees financial success and growth. Syntagmatically, the narrative structure has a beginning, climax and conclusion; this is achieved by means of the sequence in which the events take place. The young man approaches the fortune teller to give him advice on a good investment to suit his needs. At this stage she still has her crystal ball in front of her. Then a surprise takes place: she removes her scarf. This signifies that a change is going to take place, and also that her role has changed. The code changes from fortune teller to adviser. She thus removes the crystal ball and replaces it with the Sanlam blue ball (of clay). One sign is replaced with another. The text (voice over) confirms the meaning generated by the action. She says that a crystal ball is not the answer to his question but rather Sanlams solution (represented by the blue ball). A metaphor is enacted when the young man picks up the blue ball and weighs it in his hand. This signifies that he assesses (literally weighing) the advice given to him. Throughout the narrative, the text anchors and supports the meanings generated by the action. Both the characters play with the clay to indicate that the savings plan is adaptable and can be tailored to fit the individuals needs. Certain binary oppositions in the advertisement create tension that builds up to the climax. The most obvious opposition is that of man versus woman; others include question/answer, seeker/adviser, reality/magic, and idealism/pragmatism. The climax takes place when the ball starts to grow to a huge size; this growth signifies the growth of the investment.

The choice of a fortune teller as a sign is a Western concept and can thus be understood by a broad spectrum of people in South Africa. Sangoma The advertisement is set in a traditional African context, and traditional black shamanistic beliefs form the basis of the narrative. The toddler is dressed in traditional clothing and has her hair in braids with beads. She sits on a grass mat with bones in front of her. To an African receiver this scene will have the same connotations as the fortune teller for a Western receiver. (See gallery.) A young businessman goes to the sangoma for help by throwing the bones to advise him how to save and make money. In the African culture the sangoma is a woman of wisdom: by throwing the bones she communicates with the forefathers who give advice to those seeking it. She is believed to be clairvoyant: a person who can see what will happen in the future but also what has happened in the past. The language used in this advertisement is English. Paradigmatically, the binary oppositions are wisdom/ignorance, future/present, and male/female. The narrative differs from the Afrikaans advertisement in that the characters and the context are different, but the information given in both is similar. In each case, the text was created around the visual material. In other words, one can say that a dynamic equivalent translation took place in the sense that the English advertisement was a recreation of the Afrikaans advertisement. An example of this dynamic equivalent method is the following: In the Afrikaans advertisement the fortune teller says: "Waarsery sal jou niks in die sak bring nie", (thus referring to the context), but the English text says: "The bones are not the answer". Idiomatically and contextually the translation reads like an original piece of writing, which fits with the overall discursive elements. Paradigmatically a binary opposition arises between the two advertisements. The Afrikaans advertisement uses a fortune teller as its main signifier, and the sangoma in the English advertisement. The opposition arises when looking at the two entities: the fortune teller is seen as someone who uses her own powers to predict the future and give advice; whereas the sangoma acts as a facilitator between the advice-seeker and the forefathers. She is endowed with certain powers but acts a medium between the living and the dead. Evaluation The above television advertisements represent only three of the 21 in the series that were made. When comparing the above advertisements with the earlier ones, it becomes clear that the companys vision has evolved over the years. The models used in the early years were blonde, blue-eyed, male babies. One could ask the question whether the companys target market was only white males at that stage or maybe just a coincidence. From about the tenth advertisement this started to change. White baby girls were incorporated, and later on black babies. The last five or sixth advertisements in the whole campaign show a more representative mixture of characters in terms of colour, gender and appearance. Trapeze Act This was the first television advertisement made for the new campaign and new company image. (See gallery.) Very little text is used in this advertisement; the emphasis is on the action, the signs and the meanings they generate. The main signifier is the hand. The advertisement resembles a sepia photograph with spot colour. The significant colour is blue (the characters pants), which is an index of the Sanlam logo. The advertisement starts with a close-up shot of a young mans face; the next shot shows his hands rubbing lime. The scene is semi-dark, thus creating tension and an ominous feeling. Then two men dressed only in blue lycra tights are shown. They are preparing a trapeze act from two skyscrapers in a city environment. They drop the lime bag, signifying the danger of their actions. They are taking their lives in their own hands, or in this case relying on each other to succeed because a safety net is not in sight to prevent an accident. Tension is also created by the use of dramatic sound effects, which produce ominous sounds. The narrative builds up to a climax: the men start swinging; one lets go of the bar and does a somersault, before the other man grips his hands to complete a successful act. The binary oppositions in this advertisement are man/concrete jungle, life/death, and risk/security. The message in this advertisement emphasises all these themes. Sanlam is the company who cares for its clients in all situations and supports and lends a helping hand when necessary. The only text used is that of the slogan and the logo, namely " Sanlam. Your future in good hands". Blind father

This advertisement builds on the theme of hands and what they signify. This advertisement is another example where a universally recognizable sign (blindness) is used to generate meaning and a message. This sign is not limited to a specific culture or group but speaks to all people. (See gallery.) The scene is a semi-lit bedroom. A father is reading a fable to his daughter. The signs in this scene are conventional and represent a normal situation in the life of a family. Soothing music plays in the background. Then the narrative takes a surprise turn, the camera focuses on the mans hands. He is reading in braille because he is blind. The voice-over says that everyone expects the same from Sanlam irrespective of their situations, suggesting that nobody is treated differently because they are handicapped. It ends with a voice saying "Sanlam. Your future in good hands". Evaluation So far there are four advertisements in the hands series. Some use very little language, only music and the visual material, others such as the latter use text and visual signs to communicate a message. Translating these advertisements does not pose major problems, the reason being that simple language is used in all the advertisements. There is very little play on words or any ambiguities. In both English and Afrikaans it would be easy to find idioms that incorporate "hand" or "hands" in them, thus enriching the text with idiomatic expressions. According to Herman Engelbrecht (interview), the advertisements in this campaign were conceptualised in English because the advertising agency is English speaking, but that the Afrikaans idiom was always kept in mind when the advertisements were being created. The Afrikaans culture was also strongly taken into account during the creative process. STANNIC This advertisement appeared on radio, drawing the receivers/listeners attention to the fact that Stannic does car financing (see transcript). The advertisement displays characteristics of a radio drama, but laced with humour to exaggerate the pathos. According to the copywriter, Magriet Krger (interview), the advertisement was created in English and translated into Afrikaans. In both cases the target market is the broadcast medium: anyone who plans on buying a car and needing financing would be interested. The comic element is created in the English text by using a foreigner (American) and a stereotypical Afrikaner who speaks English with a heavy accent. The tourist is characterised as a bimbo with a strong accent, whose frame of reference regarding elephants entails the movie The Lion King and the cartoon character, Dumbo. The construction of the narrative comments on the ignorance of foreign tourists who visit game parks in South Africa and do not realise the danger of the wild animals. For a South African this could be an in-house joke. The tourist is a female, and the South African is male, thus creating sexual tension. The sign is a car (bakkie); this sign sets the action in motion and leads to the climax and conclusion. The sign is re-inforced by means of sound effects that indicate the sequence of events for the receiver (listener). The Afrikaans advertisement (the translation) is the dynamic equivalent of the original in that the message stays the same and the effect on the receivers is the same. This has been achieved by the re-contextualisation of the advertisement. This entailed creating new characters: two men, one Afrikaans and the other Flemish. The relationship between the two men implies male bonding, as opposed to the sexual tension in the original text. The Flemish tourist is characterised by the reference he makes to his country where "het veels te vlak voor sulke autos (is)". His knowledge of elephants is also limited to cartoon characters in films. The sequence of the sound effects remains the same, as does the dialogue, except that in the translation the announcers comments take places at the end of the advertisement. This does not have an influence on the impact of the advertisement, and is mere a personal preference of the translator. This advertisement is a good example of how the translator analysed the original, identified the signs, changed the cultural codes and then translated the text (word signs) into a new creation that closely resembles the original without being a literal translation. RADIOSONDERGRENSE It can be inferred that this printed advertisement was created in Afrikaans because the client is an Afrikaans radio station. This is one of a few advertisements in South Africa that is created in Afrikaans and then translated into English. From the perspective of an Afrikaans mother-tongue speaker the Afrikaans advertisement is more effective in that the signs and intertextual references hit many sensitivities in the Afrikaner psyche, which is the effect that the advertiser wanted to achieve in the first place. It becomes clear that the advertisers are addressing different groups in the different languages. In the Afrikaans advertisement, the Afrikaans listening audience is addressed. The advertisement appeared in DE KAT, an upmarket Afrikaans magazine. The English advertisement addresses other advertisers to make use of the benefits of advertising on this station, in other words the

advertisement is aimed at capturing the Afrikaans-speaking market and not any other market. The advertisement appeared in Advantage, an advertising trade journal. (See gallery.) Semiotic analysis This persuasive advertisement appeared in print in magazines, a trade journal and a lifestyle publication. The sign is that of an old type of snuff box, McChrystals, with an antenna protruding on a pink table cloth against a bright green background with a purple border. This image looks like an old-fashioned photo. This sign evokes nostalgic days gone by when people used snuff as medicine to solve sinus problems and head colds. The radio station is metaphorically equated with snuff which will ensure "n 24-uur oop kanaal" or "24-hour unblocking", thus using a medical theme. The medical metaphor is continued in the text. The radiosondergrense (rsg) medication is presented in the form of information in a leaflet accompanying medication. Symptoms, cause and recommended dose are indicated. However, the text and the image (context) contradict each other. The text is used to turn stereotypical images and connotations of Afrikaners on their head. The image of Afrikaners being stuffy and narrow-minded is contradicted in the text. The contrasted pairs involved are old/new perceptions, problem/solution, and in the English advertisement Afrikaans/English. The two prominent signifiers, the snuff box and the linguistic sign (words) supplement each other in generating meaning, and could not exist without the other. In the English advertisement the code is narrowcast, addressing media buyers and advertisers. The Afrikaans advertisement is broadcast because all Afrikaans-speakers are invited to listen to the station. Translation analysis The signs used cover vast cultural ground. Due to the large influence of British culture on Afrikaner culture, many signs and customs have become blurred and cannot be claimed by any specific group, as in the case of McChrystals snuff. The habit of using snuff is often associated with the older generation, grandparents and their ilk. By using the snuff box as a metaphor for a radio station cultural boundaries are transcended. The Afrikaans heading plays on the word "kanaal" which could mean channel (radio) or passages (sinus). The English heading could not retain this ambiguity and focuses on the medical reference. The message in both advertisements communicates the idea that this radio station is young, funky and aimed at broadminded people. But the audiences differ and this is reflected in the text. The Afrikaans advertisement refers to "(toe)neus-in-die-lug" which means snobbery, "traano weens tonnelvisie", in other words being narrow-minded, and blocked head due to an illness called "laager-it is". The English text could not use these idiomatic expressions and thus used generic medical terminology such as stuffiness, blurred vision and blocked head. However, the laager idea was incorporated with a reference to "laager fever", a newly-created word. In both versions reference is made to an ossewa, an Afrikaans word that is kept in Afrikaans for extra local effect in the English version. The most significant difference is between the "side-effects" in the two advertisements. The English text is not a translation of the Afrikaans but conveys a different meaning all together. The English receiver/advertiser is addressed and the advantages of advertising on this Afrikaans radio station are stipulated. In the Afrikaans advertisement the medical theme is continued and the side-effects listed correspond with the symptoms. Afrikaans speakers are addressed and persuaded to tune in to a radio station that does not reflect old stereotypes associated with typical Afrikaners. This advertisement is a good example of shared cultural symbols, the snuff box, but also of how cultural differences in terms of idioms, attitudes and perceptions are conveyed by the language. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

CONCLUSION The advertisements used as examples in this chapter were chosen for a number of reasons. The first reason was availability. Most South African advertisements were taken from magazines, newspapers or any other printed matter. The Sanlam advertisements were made available by their advertising department. The Absolut advertisements were donated by the South African advertising agency, Net#work. The Belgian advertisements were either obtained from advertising agencies or newspapers and magazines. The advertisements for the travel magazine contain cultural markers which refer to the specific readership, namely French or Flemish.

The Mercedes-Benz advertisements contain American cultural elements that have infiltrated the advertising of a European product. The Pirelli advertisements are examples of advertisements without focus or cultural anchoring. The signs do not work together to generate a specific and aimed meaning. The Iglo spinach advertisements illustrate how signs, such as hocus pocus, can be misunderstood and generate the wrong meaning. The Iglo fish advertisements are good examples of overcoming or preventing cultural transference problems. The context was created outside the cultural background of any receiver (whether French, Flemish or English) by using a sign, the Eskimo community, to generate meaning and a message to the receivers/consumers. The South African advertisements consisted mainly of Sanlam advertisements. The reason for this was to show how the advertising campaigns were built around certain signs and themes, first the baby theme and then later the hands. This companys approach to advertising is visionary in that it applies semiotics to build its image and sell its products and services. By following the semiotic approach, continuity is created in the receivers minds and thus the messages are enforced. The company is automatically associated with certain signs and their meanings. The advertisements in the babies campaign used stereotypes and recognizable characters and situations, such as the sangoma. In contrast, the hands campaign uses more general situations and needs as a focus point, such as the blind fathers assurance needs. This approach follows international trends where cultural references are minimized in order to appeal to a wider audience. In certain situations such as the trapeze advertisement, this can be done successfully, but in others, such as the blind father and his daughter, cultural elements will inevitably creep in. Aspects such as choice of vocabulary and pronunciation are cultural markers, and thus place the advertisement in a specific cultural setting. It becomes clear that the translator has to analyse advertisements semiotically in order to attain an in-depth understanding of the material before him/her. Often advertisements seem simple and easy to translate due to the choice of words or the length of text, but are not. Semiotics forces the translator to get behind the advertisements inner workings, and maybe that of its creator. Once this has been done, the translator has to assess the target receivers. This can be done by asking the client who the target market is, where they are demographically distributed, their income, age, gender, education and exposure to advertising in general. These bits of information will give the translator some indication of the receivers background and also what cultural references should not be used. For example, if the target group is between 20 and 25 years old, little known cultural references of 40 years back will not make sense to them or catch their attention. The advertisements discussed reflected only a small percentage of what is available in South Africa and Belgium. However, they represent some of the activities and approaches towards advertisements, translation and semiotics in both countries. The Belgian advertising agencies that contributed to this study appeared to be much more aware of the value of cultural elements in persuasive advertisements than their South African counterparts. One of the reasons could be that Europeans are much more aware and proud of their cultural heritage than South Africans, and are thus prepared to demand advertisements which address them in their choice of language and culture. South Africans have become accustomed to English being the language used in business, and that advertisements follow the route of least resistance by not offending anyones cultural sensibilities and using general, non-specific ideas and concepts. This is changing to a certain extent in Afrikaans advertisements, but not enough to make a significant difference. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

CHAPTER 5 Translating the Culture, Translating the Discourse INTRODUCTION In this chapter the proposed theory for translating persuasive advertisements with their specific cultural elements will be applied. A selection of radio, print and television advertisements will be put to the test to see how well the theory can be applied and how successful it is. The advertisements chosen fall into two categories, those with strong South African cultural elements and those without. Some of the advertisements are in English and are then translated into Afrikaans, and vice versa. SHARED SOUTH AFRICAN SYMBOLS Signs and symbols form the cornerstones of a culture. Due to the fragmented cultural situation in South Africa, many advertisers still use foreign or universal signs to convey their messages. However, this trend is changing and shared signs and symbols are increasingly used in advertisements (in all languages) to capture the essence of a shared/multifaceted culture, namely South African. A company that has succeeded in using local situations, people and controversial news to sell their products, is Nandos, a Portuguese-style chicken fast-food chain. The company originated in South Africa. Nandos

Beggar in street This advertisement appeared on television, and only in English. However, the signs are clear and generate the same meaning in the South African context, irrespective of the language or culture. The text could be translated literally into Afrikaans and the message and effect on the receivers would be the same as in the source text (original English). The scene is a busy street with a lot of traffic. A beggar approaches a car with a hand-written cardboard poster that reads "Hungry? No food all day? The next moment his demeanour changes and he flips the board to reveal Nandos special offer: "half chicken and chips only R18,50 at Nandos". The advertisement is based on the increasing number of beggars approaching cars at traffic lights to ask for money. The surprise element in the narrative turns a serious socio-economic problem into a humorous situation. This advertisement cuts across cultural and language barriers because the signs can be understood by all South Africans. Instead of getting irritated, the receivers (the people in the cars) are surprised and amused by the situation. The signs are a beggar, a cardboard poster, and cars waiting for the traffic lights to turn green. The translator would only have to translate the text and not any of the signs. Analysis and proposed translation The advertisement could be translated literally and would not lose any of its effect. Its success lies in the surprise element when the beggar turns the cardboard poster around to show Nandos special prices. The advertisement could read as follows: Honger? Dae laas geet? Halwe hoender en tjips net R18,50 by Nandos. The signs in this advertisement, namely the beggar and his placard seemingly begging for money at a traffic light, are wellknown sights in South African society. These signs transcend cultural barriers. The word "hungry" was translated to "honger", and the question mark was kept. "No food all day" was translated to "Dae laas geet?" which has the added implication that the hunger has lasted for more than a day; it is also more idiomatic to put the question that way. "Chips" were translated to "tjips", which is the word used by Afrikaans speakers rather than the "correct" term "skyfies". The word "tjips" is more commonly used than "skyfies" because it sounds like the English term, but the spelling has been changed to conform to Afrikaans spelling rules. Breakfast menu Ms: (Light reverb) Liewe Baas en Mies. Dis ek anneries, djulle tuinboy wat hier skryf. Ek job al lankal by djulle. Ons het nog nooit die moeilikgeit gehad nie. Behalwe maybe die slag toe Yster, djulle boerbul my girlfriend Gladys gemistake het vir n tsotsi. Maar Baas en Mies, ek is nou op strike. Dis nou oor die deng met die pap. Ek mind nie die pap in die smirrae nie, maar vir brekfis ok is too much. Kyk die nuwe Nandos brekfisse. Die eier, die beesspek, die hoenderwors, die chicken, die prego steak en die toast. Check mooi. Neks pap. Ek vra mooi, ek demand die Nandos brekfis plaas van pap. Amdandla! Viva Nandos, viva. Gesign. Anneries Happy Makakoeloe. MSO: Die nuwe Nandos Ontbytspyskaart. Sit aan vir ete tot 11vm. By deelnemende Nandos-takke. Nandos. Die smaak van Portugal. Analysis This advertisement was originally created in Afrikaans. Once again, the black-white polarisation in the South African society is used to send a message to the receivers (consumers). The success of this advertisement is due to the fact that a typical, politically incorrect observation and comment regarding the behaviour of white (Afrikaans?) South Africans are used to sell the product. The medium used is radio and the genre that of a letter which the gardener writes to his employees. He comments on the fact that they give him pap (porridge) for breakfast and lunch, and that he is dissatisfied with the situation because he wants the Nandos breakfast menu instead of porridge. He announces that he will be on strike until his demands are met; he ends his letter with a freedom slogan. The sub-text of this advertisement points out the attitudes and perceptions of whites regarding their fellow black citizens. The white employee assumes that the gardener only wants to eat porridge and nothing else. An alarming situation in the South African economy is that workers strike whenever their demands are not met. The gardener takes the same action to get the attention of his employers. In order to translate the advertisement, the various cultural elements have to be isolated and identified. The form of address, "Liewe Baas en Mies", where the employers are not called by their names or surnames but as the boss and missus; the gardener refers himself as the "tuinboy", a slang word used by Afrikaans speakers; the employers dog is a "boerboel", with a name like Yster, suggesting power and strength, a play on "boer", a derogative term for a white Afrikaner; the girlfriend Gladys,

a common name amongst black women and probably not her real name; and "tsotsi", hooligan and criminal (the word originated from "flaaitaal" spoken on the Cape Flats). The next set of signs involves references to social and political issues in the country. They are: the strike, the "pap", which is the stereotypical food of black people (in white minds), and then political utterances such as "Amdandla" and "Viva". The gardeners name is also interesting. His Afrikaans name is Anneries, his English name is Happy, and his surname seems to be contrived and made up. Proposed translation To Abe and Shirlee Its Johnboy writing here, your garden manager. You see me working on the fork for many years in your flowers. You never worry me only that time your friend Brenda from Sandton said ubuntu and then my girlfriend, Posterity, took the nice ring for to wear, and then your friend screamed and screamed and you called the Boere. But you, I strike now. I cannot empower the grassmower when you give me little breads with funny things on top to eat. OK I eat this for lunch but aikona for breakfast. I think the Nandos breakfast. Its the egg, beef bacon, the chicken sausage, the chicken, the prego steak (like Posterity) and toast. You check no pig meat, no funny breads. I ask you beautiful, its my right to eat Nandos breakfast. Amandla! Viva Nandos viva. Signed. From Johnboy Justice Hamba The new Nandos Breakfast menu. Enjoy breakfast till 11 am at participating Nandos branches. Nandos. The taste of Portugal. (Use a strong African accent.) Translation analysis The cultural setting was changed to that of an upper-middle class area within a Jewish environment: the friend Brenda from Sandton ("kugel" mecca). The employers are addressed by their first names, Abe and Shirlee. The idea was to keep the humour of the original advertisement, by implying social behaviour of the characters involved, just as in the case of the behaviour of the employers in the original advertisement. The gardener becomes a garden manager, an elevated status. His name, Johnboy, is a combination of John, a common English name, and Boy, a play on garden boy (a derogatory term). The second name, Justice, ties in with his demands, and adds humour. His surname means to walk or to go. This is a comment on white people who use words from black languages to impress or show brotherhood, but do not know the meaning of these words. Misunderstanding is created (in the original the dog mistook the girlfriend for a criminal) when the Brenda bandies the concept "ubuntu" but does not understand it, with ensuing consequences. The "Boere" (slang for the police) are then called. The identified signs were thus translated or recreated to have to same effect on the receivers in English, irrespective of their culture. The stereotypes used are known to South Africans across the board and need no explanation. Pendoring Every year the organisers of the Pendoring Awards launch an advertising campaign in Afrikaans and English. Although this is a competition for Afrikaans advertising, the awareness is created in the predominantly English advertising industry by addressing them in a mixture of English and Afrikaans. The Pendoring campaigns are of a very high standard, celebrating the versatility of the language and the cultures in which it is used. Some radio and print advertisements will be discussed. The theoretical guidelines discussed in previous chapters will be put to the test and the outcomes examined according to these guidelines. Gewapendebetonbrugkonstruksiemaatskappytender This advertisement appeared in various English family and youth magazines. It spans the length of four A4 pages next to each other, and is 12 centimetres wide. It unfolds to reveal a long word. The sign is in this case is a symbol: the long, composite word: "gewapendebetonbrugkonstruksiemaatskappytender". The medium is print. The genre is that of a headword, in a dictionary of definitions. The connotation is that a definition and the meaning of the word will follow, as well as other relevant information. Thus the receiver/reader expects an explanation for the use of the word as a heading. This does not happen; only a comment appears on the tenacity and determination of Afrikaans (as a language) and the users of that language. The message is that Afrikaans is versatile and a good vehicle for selling your products. The product being advertised is the Pendoring Awards. The name of the Pendoring Awards is an intertextual reference to Ampie van Straatens Afrikaans radio dramas called the "Pendoring Trilogie". The intended market includes all potential advertisers (English and Afrikaans speakers), and the broad public. The aim is to create awareness of the power of Afrikaans advertising. The source text message is to advertise and support Afrikaans advertising. The assumed effect is that the business will realise the power of Afrikaans advertising and react positively.

The style used in this advertisement is informal and colloquial. The register is at the conversational level, which makes the tone friendly and inviting. This is also evident in the humorous approach in the choice of the heading: a word that is very seldom used in Afrikaans but usually serves as an example of some sort. (The type of word that will appear in crossword puzzles!) The sentences vary in length and use simple language to convey the message. The expressions "can do a hell of a selling job" and "will go to ridiculous lengths" cannot be literally translated and would have to be translated with equivalent expressions. The code at work is that of advertisement discourse: the advertisement wants to persuade the receivers to support Afrikaans advertising. The medium and form, and choice of heading work together the catch the attention of those people who read the magazines in which it appeared. Another code is that of the Afrikaans culture (including all people who are mother tongue speakers) and the language it uses to communicate within that culture. The socio-political context in which this advertisement appears influences the content (text). Afrikaans, as one of 11 languages, has to compete with English and black languages to be used as a marketing and advertising tool. The ideological assumption is that Afrikaans will not be oppressed: it will be spoken and used in commerce, and not ignored despite political marginalisation. The binary oppositions are Afrikaans/English, and language sympathy/business sense. On the cover of the fold-out a teaser sentence appears. It says: "Not even Zulu can say a bekvol like this". This could refer to the fact that Zulu is a descriptive and colourful language. Proposed translation Nie eens valstande sit jou mond s vol nie. Supercalifragilisticexpiallydocious Afrikaans is lank nie meer n saamgeflanste kiesknoper nie. Dis pittig, bytend, skerp en roerend, en dans, spring en jol sodat jou besigheid in geld kan rol. Kom vier Afrikaanse reklame by Pendoring en wen indrukwekkende kontantpryse, of selfs n oorsese reis. Skakel Giep van Zyl (011) 726 4345 of Wilna de Bruin (011) 678 9152. Analysis The cover sentence could have been literally translated, but instead the cultural and political reference was dropped in favour of a humorous comment. The long word as a heading was kept to be able to keep the fold-out concept in a magazine. The well-known word refers to the song of the same name in the film Mary Poppins. A pun appears in the first sentence of the original text on the length of the word (heading). In the translation this pun is extended by commenting on the difficulty of pronouncing the word and the fact that it does not mean anything. A new cultural code is created by placing the advertisement in the context of a well-known story and later film, Mary Poppins. The second sentence is a dynamic equivalent of the original. It would sound contrived if the sentence was translated word for word, and thus words had to be chosen that carry the same emotional value as those in the source text. The last sentence is a literal translation of the original. So n bekkie moet jm kry. This advertisement forms part of the Pendoring Awards, promoting the competition. It appeared in De Kat, an up-market Afrikaans magazine. The intended audience would thus be all their readers. The part played by the text is more important than that of the visual sign, a red female mouth. The heading draws attention the mouth. The heading is a truly Afrikaans expression meaning "well said". The use of "bekkie" could sound crude, but in this context the diminutive use of the word connotes loving and positive attitudes. Only a person with a very good knowledge of the language and the culture would understand the meaning of the expression. The intertextual reference evoked by the visual sign is that of a lipstick advertisement. But the text anchors the meaning of the visual sign. The message is that some things can be said in Afrikaans and that a translation thereof would not have the same impact. There are no neologisms or references to national symbols. The implied social and ideological values are that Afrikaans borrows from other languages and cultures, it takes from others but it also gives of itself to other cultures and languages. The two main signs are the heading and the mouth that support each other to generate meaning. Semiotically, this advertisement is similar to the previous advertisement discussed. Paradigmatically, it differs in that it looks like an advertisement for cosmetic product. On the side of the visual an explanation in English appears of the expression. Proposed translation

Ja, nogal baie lekker Try to say that in English. Afrikaans has a way to steal, beg and borrow but also to give such as words that never existed in English before. Come and celebrate the power of Afrikaans advertising at Pendoring and win impressive cash prizes or even an overseas trip. Phone Giep van Zyl (011) 726 4345 or Wilna de Bruin (011) 678 9152. (Ek s, sies, its not what you think!) Translational analysis It is not possible to translate the heading literally; the English equivalent is bland and does not connote any meaning. Thus the code was changed to give a sexual connotation to the advertisement. The visual does suggest a degree of sexual innuendo that was not used in the original advertisement. The theme used in both the original and the translation is that some things can only be said in Afrikaans and that there are not equivalents for them in English. Taking this into account, the heading is a sentence consisting of only Afrikaans words. However, these words have been incorporated into the South African English vocabulary due to their popularity and usage. In the second sentence an English idiom was used. Paradigmatically, this creates an opposition. This idiom cannot be translated into Afrikaans; an equivalent does not exist in Afrikaans. The use of this idiom provides a link with the idea that follows: that Afrikaans enriches other languages and cultures. The comment in brackets anchors the connotations generated in the heading, by denying the sexual nature of the comment. Again Afrikaans words are used to emphasise the points already made in the text. 5.2.1.5 Diesel Denims This print advertisement appeared in the Afrikaans lifestyle magazine, DE KAT of August 1998, in English. No effort was made to translate it. The advertisement is a collage of two photos on the same page. The main photo shows two elderly people, a man and a woman sitting on a couch in a dimly lit room. The man is nodding off, while the woman is pinching him near his genitals. She has a lascivious look: licking her lips. Both of them are wearing Diesel denims. The second photo shows denim clothes. This is an American product, depicting a certain way of life. The setting is that of a typical lounge. The man was having whisky or probably bourbon and fell asleep after having drunk it. The binary oppositions include perceptions about of age/youth, sex/abstinence and males/females. The woman is dressed up in jeans, pearls and fur. The basic premise in the text is that the antique dirty type of denim can be compared to your grandmother. It has an old, vintage appearance but that does not mean that it is old. By the same token, old age does not imply sexual abstinence or a lack of interest in behaviour associated with the young. The same goes for denim, not only young people can wear it; it is timeless and can be worn by all. Proposed translation Oupa en Ouma sit op die bank. Ouma gryp Oupa aan die flank. Oupa dink: Ek voel n veer. Ouma s: Ek kan jou ietsie leer. Oupa dink: Sies! Sies! Sies! Ouma s: Nous ek wragtig vies! Diesel jeans word van die beste denim gemaak wat oorgekleur, gewas en dan verweer word. Diesel antieke, verweerde denims. Vir mense wat die broek in die huis dra soos ouma. Translational analysis This is a difficult advertisement to translate. The cultural symbols (in terms of the context) cannot be changed, therefore the text must carry the burden of creating dynamically equivalent signs in the target language and culture, namely Afrikaans.

The translation is much longer than the original, and does not resemble the text at all. The rhyme is based on a childrens rhyme (albeit naughty) which refers to a grandmother and grandfather sitting on the porch. The grandfather suffers from flatulence and the grandmother advises him to eat a pear to solve the problem. The charm of the rhyme is that it uses an uncouth word for flatulence. This subject matter of this advertisement is rather uncouth and crass. Therefore, a diluted and recreated version (with sexual innuendoes) of the original rhyme was used. By using humour, the shock of the visual material is countered.

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TELEVISION ADVERTISEMENTS Television and cinema advertisements produced a few interesting insights into translation possibilities of persuasive advertisements in this medium. The winning entries in the 1996, 1997 and 1998 Loeries Awards were viewed. A few insights emerged: the advertisements have a very strong leaning towards signs in various black cultures (including characters, language, behaviour and setting); some advertisements cut across cultural barriers by focusing on emotions and situations which all South Africans can relate to; and some advertisements used mainly visual material and very little or no text. Some advertisements can be translated, others not. The biggest constraint is that the visual material has to stay exactly as it is, only the text can be translated. In some instances where all the signs (such as in advertisements depicting a black culture) point towards a specific cultural/ethnic group, translating should not take place, because it would be contrived. In some instances this is already happening on television in South Africa: advertisements have a certain cultural context, but the language used is English, which jars with the rest of the signs. Night game The product being advertised is Standard Banks Cricket Development Trust. The context of this advertisement is a township or low-income residential area where black and coloured people live. The scene is set with children walking in the street, and a saxophone rendition of the song "When the saints go marching in" is playing. Different boys are shown, saying their names, for instance Hansie Cronje and Allan Donald. They pretend to be well-known South African cricket players. They start playing, while the neighbours look on. As it gets darker, the street lights come on. When it becomes totally dark, the mother calls the children to come home. Very little dialogue (text) is used, but the climax is when one little boy says that it is a day-night game, implying that they should be left to complete their game. In a translation situation, the signs will stay the same, expect for the linguistic signs (the language). This advertisement cuts across any cultural barriers because adults and children alike from all cultures in South Africa can relate to the aspirations of the children who want to become famous cricket players. The text could be translated literally because there is very little text, and no specific cultural references are made. The written text that appears at the end of the advertisements can also be literally translated. Naomi This advertisement features the super-model Naomi Campbell who sings the virtues of Sales House clothing. This is an example of an advertisement that should not be translated, and for all intents and purposes could not be successfully and semiotically translated. The advertiser, Sales House, targets black consumers in South Africa, which is reflected in all their advertisements, no white models are ever used. The text is in English. If this advertisement is to be translated, two problems will arise in terms of credibility and creating dynamic equivalence. The gist of the message is that Naomi is a citizen of the world, she identifies with Africa, its culture and consciousness and therefore wears Sales Houses clothes. She is, however, a British

citizen. If the text were translated into any language, the credibility of her words would be lost. The only solution would thus be to use sub-titles, but keep the original voice in English, in the background. Cocktail The product being advertised is Savannah, a light alcoholic beverage. It is difficult to determine the cultural context of this advertisement because both characters speak English but the background music is French. Again very little text (linguistic signs) is used. The visual signs are very strong and thus the text plays a lesser role in the advertisement, except for the climax that could not take place without it. The climax is when the man asks the barman for a cold Savannah, after having witnessed all the tricks the barman performed before giving it to him. The text could be literally translated because it makes no cultural references or allusions. This advertisement could appeal to people across cultural barriers, partly because of not being culturally anchored and also due to the dry humour used (a subtle allusion to a characteristic of the product). CONCLUSION The advertisements discussed represent a fragment of all the advertisements in existence in South Africa, but cover the most important trends and techniques being used. These advertisements are probably the most commonly shared texts around and so they offer the closest thing we have to a shared public discourse. They represent attitudes and desires; and dramatise the voices of society in which they occur. The South African society is still very fragmented due to political and social differences, and will probably always be. Advertising budgets are shrinking, and less money is made available for translating advertisements or creating them in different languages and cultures. As a result more advertisements, especially on television, will be made in English or will use very little text and mostly visual and audio elements. Creators of advertisements will have to be made aware of and sensitive to signs in different cultures and the meaning they generate, as well as to the context in which they are used. In the course of the research process, it has become clear that advertisers are not sensitive to the different cultures in South Africa. It often appears that advertisers think that if an advertisement appears in a specific language, such as Afrikaans or Xhosa, the culture is automatically reflected and incorporated. This is not the case: language is just one of the signs in a much broader cultural context. Without any constraints, such as money, all persuasive advertisements can be translated to achieve a dynamic equivalent in a target language and culture. In the case of television advertisements where the original advertisement has to be retained in order to save money, a dynamically equivalent translation would not always be possible, because both the text and the context (which forms the discourse) cannot be changed. One can only hope that advertisers become more aware of the differences between cultures and then find a way to unify these differences in persuasive advertisements, to touch the hearts of the consumers whom they want to part with their money. [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

A Discursive-Semiotic Approach to Translating Cultural Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements ilze bezuidenhout

CHAPTER 6 Conclusion Information overload abounds, as do advertisements. People, who are the receivers of the information forced upon them from all quarters, are the reason for the existence of advertisements that persuade them to take certain actions. The purpose of this dissertation has been to show that the translator of persuasive advertisements needs instruments to attract the attention of the receivers before anything or any other advertisement does. In other words, the attention-grabbing advertisement must have or do something that differentiates it from other discourses; it must arrest the eye of the receiver. This objective can be achieved in various ways, either by shocking the receiver or being unconventional or unpredictable. But it can be said that people are more prone to react and respond to situations and ideas that fall within their frames of reference, in other words their cultural orientation. This orientation can be broad, as is the case of most South Africans, where many cultures fuse or infuse the other. However, those cultural markers closest and dearest to the essence of the culture have the most impact on their receivers, irrespective of whether these markers have positive or negative meanings or value. The sign, object, and interpretant (or interpretation) must be manipulated in such a way that the receiver immediately recognizes a product or brand to generate a specific meaning and thus a message. This is especially applicable to products aimed at a young market; the savvy generation Xers are streetwise about what advertising is about and what it does; therefore this market has to be coaxed and challenged in another way to buy the product. As a result of multinational advertising and people becoming increasingly connected, cultural and behavioural barriers are blurring and overlapping. It is for this reason that cultural uniqueness should be highlighted and used by translators.

The question can thus be asked: What is the value of a discursive-semiotic approach to translating advertisements? This can be answered by looking at the application of semiotics in the advertising industry. Saatchi and Saatchi advertising agency in America uses semiotics to study and understand consumer behaviour, added to disciplines such as psychology and anthropology (Stark & Myra 1995). Within the advertising context, semioticians do the following: (i) they read the text; (ii) they read the culture -- what is relevant for the product; and (iii) they make connections between the two. The assumption is that culture is all of one piece. There is a cultural system -- a common set of assumptions, beliefs and symbols called codes -- which marks all the products of the culture: fashion, food, music, advertising, movies, and television shows. The codes are taken for granted and embedded in mans behaviour that s/he does not realise. Semioticians drag the unconscious messages being transmitted into consciousness by isolating and identifying the signs to constitute the message. The translator has a double role: as semiotician and as transference agent or translator. The translator must create a similar effect on the receivers in the target language. Knowledge of semiotics gives the translator a better understanding of the intrinsic appeal of an advertisement, in other words how the different elements and parts work together as a discourse to perform a certain function, and thus a message and effect. Furthermore, the translator gets additional insight into the receivers who might respond to the advertisement and buy the product, and make an estimate of the bond the consumer will form with the product. A shortcoming of this approach is that advertisements, as a discourse, are dynamic. It might not always be obvious that a specific discourse is an advertisement. Thus the translator might not treat that particular discourse as such. Another problem is that the translator might not be fully adapted to deal with cultural nuances in the target language, and may consequently use signs that have an adverse effect on the target receivers by not generating an equivalent message (of the source message). Although only a few examples of advertisements were analysed, it can be said that persuasive advertisements can (and should be) translated in terms of semiotic guidelines, if cultural codes are at work and as such evident. Some advertisements strive towards a state of no-cultural categorisation: in other words the advertisement focuses on emotions rather than objects or ideas. In the case of retail advertisements (which could border on informative advertisements rather than persuasive) cultural signs or markers are not always that apparent: the language used can be plain and without idiomatic expressions or figures of speech. (This applies to all media forms in which the advertisements appear.) In that case a semiotic analysis would yield fewer results and the translator could rely more readily on other translation methods. In cases where cultural elements play an important role in persuasive advertisements, semiotics acts as a tool or measure to gauge the cultural elements, their signification and meaning. This information provides the translator with added insights that might not always be apparent at first sight or intuitively. It has been argued (by many theorists and practising translators) that good translators are born and not made. The point is debatable. However, a discursive-semiotic approach enables any translator to deal with persuasive advertisements from a theoretical and a practical perspective. Translating persuasive advertisements in any medium can be problematic due to certain constraints of which money is often the major culprit. Advertisers and their advertising agencies do not always see the need for an advertisement to be translated into another language, as is the case in South Africa where English reigns in the business world. And even if the advertiser realises that there is a need to do so, the budget does not always allow it. The translator is then faced with visual material (whether a print, television or film advertisement) and is only allowed to change the words (linguistic signs). As a result, the discursivesemiotic approach cannot succeed in its totality because the context of the discourse is fixed, and can only be changed to a limited extent. Translating radio advertisements in terms of the discursive-semiotic approach seems to be the most successful medium because it is cheap to produce and no visual material is used. The translator has total freedom to create a dynamically equivalent effect in the target language by using its cultural elements. In the European market place there is an increasing awareness of semiotics. This awareness is evident in the large number of articles in marketing and advertising journals which mention or discuss signs and semiosis as marketing tools. As early as 1989 the first Marketing and Semiotics Symposium was held in Copenhagen; it was arranged by the Marketing Institute of the Copenhagen Business School and attended by various people from universities and business schools. This proves that semiotics is gaining prominence and spreading in the advertising industry. Semiotics provides the translator of advertisements with a means to manipulate and manage language (linguistic sign system) and non-verbal sign systems. Thus signs can be used as cultural anchors of the message for the intended target receivers, and serve as recognition elements. Language has always been an integral part of the business situation. Yet, language and the management thereof (such as translation and interpretation) have never been given their rightful prominence and importance in business sectors. Language has been taken for granted - merely a means to achieve certain marketing or management objectives. By showing that language is a sign system, which works in conjunction with images to promote or sell or persuade consumers into changing their behaviour, the discipline of translation and/or language practice firmly establishes itself as an important role player in the marketing and advertising industry.

Translating persuasive advertisements can be a highly creative and rewarding exercise. There are constraints such as length (television and radio advertisements) and existing material (print and television advertisements) but even so, the translator has all that the target culture and language have to offer to his/her disposal when translating. The lifespan of most advertisements is very short it may range from a few seconds in the receivers mind, to a week or even a lifetime. The secret of success of the memorable advertisements is that they achieve immortality due to their special character. Every advertiser hopes to attain such a status, but few are lucky to achieve this. The role that the translator plays in "recreating" an advertisement in a target language and culture is to present a product that is perceived as an original and not as a secondrate translation, unless the translator tries to create a specific effect by showing that the translated advertisement is a translation. It must be able to exist because of its own inherent value, and not because of the value of the original advertisement. Again semiotics plays an important role in guiding the translator to find signs and cultural codes which can achieve this objective. Due to the information overload mentioned earlier, receivers cut or shut irrelevant information out. Current issues or newsworthy events which attract media coverage can thus be used and/or changed by the translator as a method to create relevant and equivalent messages in the target advertisements. For instance, an advertisement for Vodac cellular phones had the following heading: "Alles van die Bester". This idiomatic Afrikaans expression referred to a newsworthy incident where a prominent South African rugby coach and an aspirant rugby coach, Andr Bester, were involved. The surname, Bester, was used to create a pun. By using this incident, local colour was given to the advertisement and instant recognition by the receivers followed. It illustrated the quickness of the advertiser to use controversy to the benefit of advertising the product. A humorous slant/effect/ feeling was given to a serious matter, and positive connotations with the product were established. In this specific case the translator could use the same idea when translating it into English. For example, "Everything of the Best(er)". The context could be retained and the text could be literally translated. In the case of print advertisements which proliferate partly because they have many uses and applications and are relatively cheap to produce, the translator would have to treat the words (the linguistic signs) as symbols, indices or icons to bring about the semiotic translation (or adaptation). The text has to be manipulated to link thematically with the non-verbal signs. The translator could also anchor the meaning of the message and signs by means of the choice of words and figures of speech used. In the case where the original advertisement has to be kept and only the text translated, it can be said that the images and visual material are static, but not the words (linguistic signs). For instance, the text could be ironic or sarcastic to contrast with the images or visual material. The translator has to employ linguistic means to manipulate his visual material, for example by changing statements into questions or reducing words/ideas that could lead the target receiver to make her/his own deductions. The face of advertising and the advertising campaign is changing, and so are the methods used to target new consumer markets. Persuasive advertisements are important marketing tools used to achieve this goal, but consumers are flooded with advertisements vying for their attention and money. Advertisers, consequently translators, have to find different angles and methods to address the needs and attract the attention of consumers in the new millennium. A good example of using semiotics in marketing is that of the studies carried out on behalf of British Telecommunications PLC. The aim was to develop a culturally complex advertising strategy to change deeply held gender assumptions about the way people use the telephone (Alexander, Burt, & Collinson: 1995). The translator of advertisements is an important cog in the marketing and advertising wheel the translator has to assume a double identity: as a receiver in the source language and culture, and as a receiver in the target language and culture. It is therefore imperative that translators are aware of the cultural codes at work in the languages to and from which they translate. When translating advertisements, the translator is the invisible negotiator between cultures, languages and commerce! [Previous Page] [Index] [Next Page]

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