Nov. 2006, Volume 4, No.11 (Serial No.

38) US-China Foreign Language, ISSN1539-8080, USA

The Translation of International Advertisements:

A Cross-cultural Perspective

SHEN Yang *
(College of Foreign Languages, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, 312000, China)

Abstract: Culture plays a central role in international advertising. The translation should fulfill the function
of the original advertisements and have a similar effect on the target receivers. This paper focuses on cultural
factors in the process of translating international advertisements, based on which four translation methods are to
be discussed, namely, communicative translation, idiomatic translation, free translation and adaptation. By way of
ample exemplification, it tries to demonstrate the significance of cultural equivalence and illustrate the
applicability and feasibility of each approach in translating international advertisements.
Key words: international advertisement; cultural equivalence; communicative translation; idiomatic
translation; free translation; adaptation

1. Introduction
In the age of information, advertisements have infiltrated into all walks of life and become an important
source of information as well as an indispensable part of our life in the modern world. Especially after China’s
entry into the World Trade Organization, a great number of foreign commodities have been introduced into the
Chinese market, and vice versa. Thus it is necessary to set up a good image of and create an international
reputation for both parties’ products through the process of advertising.
However, as a means of cross-cultural sales promotion, international advertisements, other than an economic
activity, is at the same time a cross-cultural communication in which the concept of one culture colliding into that
of another. Both Chinese and English advertising languages are affected by cultural factors, resulting in the unique
features respectively in their own patterns of advertising composition. Based on this assumption, it is the
translator’s responsibility to take the cultural factor into account while translating international advertisements and
attach great importance to the translation of culture.
This paper focuses on cultural factors in the process of translating international advertisements and several
approaches suggested by Peter Newmark are to be discussed in order to arrive at an adequate solution to various
problems.

2. The Role of Culture in Advertisements

Culture plays a central role in international advertisements. Objects, ideas and concepts are created in a
cultural context and conveyed by linguistic or non-linguistic signs. Brislin defines culture as “recurring patterns of
behaviors”(Brislin, 1990: 9-11). These patterns of behaviors are employed by advertisers to manipulate and
persuade the receivers to simulate consumer behaviors depicted in the advertisements. This brings us to the
question of the role of culture in language and the significance of culture in advertisements. The importance of

SHEN Yang(1980- ), female, M.A., assistant of College of Foreign Languages, Shaoxing University; research field: translation
theories and practice.

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culture has become widely recognized within the field of marketing during the past decades.
According to Brislin, 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”(ibid). These cultural ideals are evident and prevalent in the reality of
an individual in a specific society. People and advertisements communicating within the same culture share a
common pool of experience, frames of ideology and cultural perspectives. But when a product of this society,
such as an international advertisement, has to be translated into another language and culture, tension may arise, in
other words, if an advertisement is created in one culture and is then translated into another culture and language,
cultural gaps and barriers will arise.

3. Approaches to the Translation of Cross-cultural Advertisements

The gap between the source and target languages always remains as an overriding problem in the translation
of international advertisements. But the gap could perhaps be narrowed in Newmark’s scheme of eight different
methods of translation (Newmark, 2001: 45):
SL emphasis TL emphasis
Word-for-word translation Adaptation
Literal translation Free translation
Faithful translation Idiomatic translation
Semantic translation Communicative translation
The two groups of methods, with semantic translation and communicative translation as the core of each side,
respectively emphasize the source language text and the target language text and indicate different degrees to
which the emphasis is laid upon. According to Newmark, for a vocative text such as an advertisement, the
application of the four approaches with different degrees of emphasis on TL text is more likely to achieve
equivalent effects, namely, communicative translation, idiomatic translation, free translation and adaptation.
3.1 Communicative translation
Communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained
on the readers of the original. According to Newmark, 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. And it is the criterion by which the quality of the advertisement is assessed.
For example, the following is an advertisement of a local dim sum:
“溪口千层饼采用传统工艺，制作精细，质地松脆，清香可口。”
In China, figures like nine, ten, a hundred, a thousand, etc. are usually preferred, but seldom indicate the
exact number. However, if it is translated into “Xikou Thousand-sheeted cake is homemade, using natural foods
and traditional procedures, tastes good, smells good and is crisp”, confusion may arise in a foreign market or it
may even be regarded as deception as it doesn’t really have a thousand sheets. Thus, “Xikou Multi-Layer Cake is
home-made with a fine tradition. It’s crispy, tasty, and easy to carry.” is a better version in terms of both
understanding and psychological effects on people of other countries.
3.2 Idiomatic translation
Idiomatic translation “reproduces the message” but “distorts the nuances of meaning by preferring idioms
where these do not exist in the original” (ibid: 47). Idiomatic translation is that the meaning of the original is
translated into forms which most accurately and naturally preserve the meaning of the original forms. The goal of
an idiomatic translation is to achieve the closest natural equivalent in target language to match the ideas of the

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original text.
A culture has its own idioms, slang, set phrases, etc, which are culture-bounded and which are usually the
obstacles of translation when a product is to be introduced into another culture. However, in most cases they do
not make sense in another, while the use of idioms familiar to or favored by target customers may evoke a surge
of warm feeling. Thus, success is more likely to be achieved when idiomatic translation is applied in the text of
advertisement.
The following is an advertisement of a food import & export company:
“百闻不如一尝。”
It is borrowed from the Chinese idiom “百闻不如一见”. In English there is also an idiom “Seeing is
believing”. Thus, if the advertisement is translated into “Tasting is believing”, it will have an equivalent effect on
customers in English-speaking countries.
Similarly, if an English advertisement for condom “I’ll do a lot for love, but I’m not ready to die for it” is
translated into “情爱诚销魂，爱情价更高”, it not only well conveys the meaning but also has a sense of humor,
as it is borrowed from a poem which has been familiar to Chinese people.
3.3 Free translation
Free translation reproduces “the content without the form of the original”. Taking one step further than
communicative translation, it deletes, replaces, condenses, summarizes, and explains at will in exchange for the
understanding of the reader. For example, to translate an advertisement of a car, even if the language of the SL
text is as simple and common, exaggeration could be made in the TL text. Thus, in a sentence like “This is THE
car” or “This is NO.1”, when translated into Chinese, phrases like “举世无双” or “无与伦比” could be applied to
attract customer’s attention, for the ultimate objective is to have the same psychological effect on the reader of the
advertisement.
Pun is a typical cultural phenomenon which reflects a close relationship between culture and language. In
order to make the language of advertisement attractive and impressive to the customers, pun is often used to cause
humorous effects, which will be easily accepted by people of its own culture but confuses those of another. In this
case, free translation is a solution.
The following is the advertisement for the TIME magazine:
“MAKE TIME FOR TIME”
Here the word “time” is used as a pun with two meanings which is difficult to be reproduced in Chinese.
Here is a suggested Chinese version “阅读《时代》, 时不我待”, as its content has a priority over the form.
Another example: “第一流产品，为足下增光。”
It is an advertisement for a brand of shoeshine. The word “足下” not only means your shoes but is an
honorific title when addressing other people respectfully. In order to reproduce the message to the largest extent, it
may be translated into “This first-rate shoe polish adds luster to your shoes and honor to you”, which, though
sacrifices the rhetoric effect, well conveys the original meaning.
3.4 Adaptation
Adaptation is the freest form of translation which is used when the SL culture is converted to the TL culture.
A new piece of work is to be created based on the idea and language of the source text.
HUANG Zhan, an expert of advertisement in Hong Kong, once expressed his opinion about advertisements
in his book that “strictly speaking, translation of advertisement is not translation, but interpretation, or a means to
convey the meaning by adding information that does not exist in original text when necessary”. When

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international advertisement is introduced into the Hong Kong market, “adaptation or interpretation is always
applied without keeping exactly the original form or even the content” (ZHOU Zhao-xiang, 1998: 55).
The difference between the Chinese and Western ways of thinking sometimes requires adaptation in
translating advertisements. The thought of English speakers usually goes linear, beginning with a topic sentence
and straight to the point; while the thought of Chinese people is wave-like. Thus, in order to make the
advertisements well acceptable by people of another culture, the structure needs to be adapted.
Deep in Chinese culture, people tend to conform to the majority, and it makes no exception during the
process of their purchasing the commodities(ZHOU Xiao & ZHOU Yi, 1998: 156). While things are different in
English-speaking countries, where people pay more attention to the individual, their advertisements are generally
based on individuality, independence and privacy, and sometimes even make persuasive remarks which are aimed
at individuals, for example, “in this age of technology-sharing, whatever happened to individuality” (from an
advertisement for GM), and “Your own island of privacy within an island of luxury” (from an advertisement for a
hotel). Thus, sentences like “我们都喝……”, “男女老少皆宜”are better to be converted to emphasize
individuality.

4. Conclusion
The approaches mentioned above have two basic objectives: one is that 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; the
other is that the translated message must be equivalent to the dynamics of the original, i.e. the translation should
communicate, as much as possible, to the target language speakers the same meaning that was understood by the
speakers of the source language, and evoke the same response as the source text.
In real practice, it is not necessary to distinguish the above-mentioned approaches or fit them strictly into the
frame of different approaches suggested by Peter Newmark. 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 specific cultural conventions and the
expectations of the members of a particular culture. Thus, as long as the translation of advertisements works
admirably, and produces equivalent pragmatic effect, it is more likely to come up with the most persuasive
advertisements in their respective language.

References:
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[7] 谭卫国. 英汉广告修辞的翻译[J]. 中国翻译，2003（2）.
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(Edited by Jessica, Zoe and Flora)

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