Language of Advertising
Posted by transubstantiation on August 26, 2007
As we have seen in a previous post (click here), within the language of advertising the translator is often bound by more factors than when translating other texts. We are constantly attacked by and completely surrounded by the language of advertising so much so that it filters into our respective cultures and seeps into the language of the average speaker.
The language of advertising has become an important element in the creation of new words, phrases and cultural references. It is noteworthy to mention Umberto Eco here and his last work of fiction The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana in which he shows the influence of both high and low culture on our social (and linguistic) make-up.
Advertising is intrinsically linked to a throw-away linguistic culture where words and phrases enter the language at great velocity, are used with great propensity and then disappear never to be heard again. Most people can remember the advertising slogans of their childhood, although these phrases often do not have the same function today as they once had.
Two common phrases in Polish advertising have been noted. The first is lubię chłodek. The second is mały głodek. Both are amusing phrases aimed at children or aiming to mimic the language of children through the use of diminutives: chłód (’chill’, ‘the cold’) –> chłodek and głód (’hunger’) –> głodek. The translation of these two phrases might prove difficult.
Lubię chłodek can be found on drinks and yoghurts that should be ‘kept refrigerated’. However, keep refrigerated is too formal a phrase for this context, thus constructions such as I like the cold or I prefer it chilly might be more appropriate, although in the second suggestion the key word has become an adjective.
Mały głodek is a slogan used as part of an advertising campaign for a well-known yoghurt-like product. The product is the enemy of ‘hunger’ which is personified as a small yellow creature. Here we have the additional problem of having to deal with a character/persona. A possible equivalent might be hunger pang which retains the noun quality of the original and adds an element of devilishness with the word pang.
Perfect equivalents they are not but they help shed light on the cultural, grammatical and semantic processes taking places in both languages.
October 28, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Language of advertising is a very interesting subject and a challenge for translators. The truth is that slogan from advertisements very often becomes part of our everyday language or common jokes. People from other cultures may have difficulties with understanding of some elements of this specific language, so it is important to translate it properly. This language should be adapted to the proper audience, so we should remember to use appropriate style while translating advertisements for teenagers, businessmen, or elder people. It is crucial to render similar associations in target recipients’ minds.
October 28, 2007 at 7:33 pm
The question is often whether or not we should translate advertising at all…
April 29, 2008 at 12:17 pm
In my opinion advertisements should not be translated. What we can do is treat a source advert as a example of what we can create in the target language. Translating advertisements is often simply impossible and the reason for this is that the translation of a source slogan may function completely different in the target culture.
April 29, 2008 at 2:02 pm
In my opinion, translation of advertisements requires a lot of imagination and knowledge of this field. Besides, a translator should not keep close to the original text, but rather think about the target culture and customers and accordingly adjust the ad. For instance, I do not like adverts from other countries, like Marlboro where we can see a cowboy. This type of ad is an excellent idea in the US where everyone knows what a cowboy personifies, but in Poland most people, except for those who studies American culture, does not get it.
April 29, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Katy: How can you not translate advertisements?
May 3, 2008 at 11:13 am
You have to translate the advertisements..I don’t understand how it would work without translating them.
Anyway, it is interesting to watch two identical ads in two languages. Sometimes they are similar, but sometimes they have to be changed to be understood by the target country/culture. By that change, I mean the context, or even words. I can see that big companies translate their main slogans in almost the same way in every language. For example: Doda ci skrzydeł -> Gives you wings ; ożywia ciało i umysł -> vitalizes the body and mind”
May 3, 2008 at 8:43 pm
The problem of translating advertisements is that they must appeal to one specific culture. The other problem is that we have very few (or even no) advertisements that are universally amusing or appealing. In my opinion, we should treat them in the same manner as other culturally bound texts aimed to meet the target culture. For me there is no difference between advertisements and broad age group films, e.g. Shrek. A good example taken from Shrek is that Wierzbięta translated parfrait as kramówki, which was brilliant. In conclusion, in order to reach the advertising aim, we should adapt (if possible) advertisements to the target culture.
May 4, 2008 at 12:17 am
There are some NOT translated slogans as: “Nokia Connecting people”, “Nike Just Do it”, “Toshiba In Touch with Tomorrow” (at least they are not translated into Polish and function as original text, I am not sure about other languages), however, that works only with English slogans. Advertising slogans from other languages when facing a global advertising strategy MUST be translated, or new slogans based on the original idea must be created.
Actually, as advertising is kind of my field, I am aware that global advertising strategies are not easy for all companies (by which I mean the companies working on world market). Not only do they have to create an image (TV ad) that suits all the cultures that the product would be present in, but they also have to create a catchy slogan that can be easily translated into other languages without the loss of meaning. I know a lot of examples of companies that failed to do this (the situation obviously led to changing the strategy - which is extremely expensive! - that is why research is so important in this field). Just to mention one: An American skiing company Salomon wanted to advertise on a global market its new skis dedicated to young individuals wanting to ski faster. They had two options for a slogan (and image going with it). One was “Join the revolution” which translated easily into all languages. However, it was rejected as skiers to which the product was directed were individuals and were not willing to join any group, especially of revolutionaries. There came another slogan “Make the mountain bleed” which suggested that the skis are as sharp as razor so go smoothly for sure. Nevertheless, the alliteration of two M was very difficult to translate and the image of bleeding mountain occurred impossible to convey in translation into Japanese, German, French and Swedish. What the company did in the end was looking for other ideas which took a long time. “Make the mountain bleed” remained a slogan only in the US, the global strategy was impossible and the product had separate advertisements in various countries.
Now, you see how difficult it is to translate slogans in global marketing strategies. The leader is for sure Coca-cola. But I know that ‘normal’ translators are not hired to translate ads or slogans. These should be people who are not only translators but have also broad knowledge of Brand Management.
May 4, 2008 at 8:28 am
I think that the well-known companies realize that their products will be sold all around the world, that is why they make up the ad slogans so they are easy translated into various languages - simple but catchy and easy recognizable short phrases, e.g L’Oreal “i’m worth it”.
If the ad is embedded in a certain culture than it should be only an inspiration to make a new advertisement which works in a particular country
May 4, 2008 at 8:37 am
“There came another slogan “Make the mountain bleed” which suggested that the skis are as sharp as razor so go smoothly for sure.”
I’m not a skier, but even if I were “make the mountain bleed” is just plain … disgusting and evokes horrible mental images.
Was this campaign successful?
May 4, 2008 at 10:13 am
No, as I wrote, the campaign did not even enter real world as the slogan and image connected with it couldn’t be conveyed in other languages. Moreover, the image evoked bad associations in countries other than USA. The slogan was only used in USA, and as I know the campaign was successful there.
May 4, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I agree that language of advertising is certainly a great challenge for translators. It requires not only creativity but also a perfect knowledge of a target language. A translator must be able to render an ad in such a way that it would evoke similar associations in target receivers. Sometimes in order to achieve the similar effect of an ad a translator is forced to adapt it to a target language’s (culture) needs.
May 4, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Translating advertisements may be demanding and not as easy as it seems but still I believe it can be very funny experience. Well of course, this field of translations requires some socio-cultural background, connection to the humour and an ability to interconnect visuals and words. It may be very difficult for people without imagionation who are for example brilliant at translating some economic and bussiness, though
It is quite an art…sometimes the visual dominates, sometimes the word dominates. Supplying that chunk of script that gives the necessary information as well as to connect to the audience to buy or at least notice the product
Marta Daciuk
May 4, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Bleeding mountains - disgusting!
May 4, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Translating slogans is definitely a challenge for the translator. But not everyone has the ability to do it >>well<< because it requires, among others, outstanding creativity and the easiness of playing with words. I think that people who are to translate slogans not necessarily have to be translators. These should be people who have experience in advertising industry and basically know what it’s all about and what’s most important in such a slogan, etc. I reckon that if there is an important translation project, the team working on it should consist of not only the translator(s) but also of advertising experts. Such a cooperation just has to be doomed to success
May 5, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I don’t know why but this phrase lubie chlodek reminds me of maly smrodek… which is also a diffucult phrase to translate
As far as tranlatings ads goes, this is not a tranlsation but adaptation. You have to imagine the situation, embody a message and address it in a way which will enable you to achieve similar effect.
Fascinating but soooo difficult
May 6, 2008 at 5:37 pm
In my opinion advertisements are impossible to translate in some way. I think that every slogan has different cultural background, so as it comes with it not everybody will understand the meaning of the advertisement and their slogans. We should associate the meaning to a concrete target audience to make it understandable.
May 6, 2008 at 6:01 pm
We can assume that ALL translation is impossible. But if so, where is the position of advertising on this impossibility continuum?
May 6, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Michael, I’m a great fan of skiing and I think that “Make the mountain bleed” is far from disgusting. As Alicja wrote the slogan was successful in the USA. For me it works perfectly! And sharp skis are crucial if you want to speed down the mountain, but you are not a skier so you can’t know it…
May 6, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Lukasz, I’m with Michael. I think it sounds horrible!
May 6, 2008 at 7:09 pm
“Make the mountain bleed” just might work for skiers, but for me it makes me imagine not snow but skiing down (human) flesh with razors attached to my feet. Yech.
There is also a possible sexual interpretation (which I’m sure those responsible took into consideration) but I’m willing to ignore that if everyone else is.
May 6, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I put translating adverts, together with translating poetry, on the highest level in this ‘game’… The most difficult but incredibly challenging task. The task to be carried out by the best pupils and the ‘game’ to be won by the best ‘players’. Creativity, competence, endurance, ability of analogical and ingenious thinking and, unquestionably, the gift are essential here. Unfortunately, all those features do not guarantee success every time because there are cases where the ‘game’ is unbeatable. Even for those who are the most sharp-witted. They can change the rules then. But it will not be the same any more…
May 6, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Language of advertisements has its own rules and they are extremely difficult to carry into various cultures. Alliterations, word games, symbols and associations etc. In my opinion, on many occassions a translator should look for an equivalent suitable to particular culture the ad is to operate. Sometimes literal translations deprive slogans of their original beauty. Personally, I am against leaving slogans untranslated (practice recently used by many brands) as it creates a barrier barring the customer who is not always capable of understanding the foreign slogan.
May 6, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I used to teach people who worked in advertising and must say they are VERY creative
I really like the idea with “hunger pang”, even though the Polish phrase “mały głodek” is ten times better. Despite the fact that a word “pang” simply does not work for me, I would have to compromise on that since there is probably nothing better than that…
Any other suggestions? Anybody?
As I once said, we have to learn to compromise. Translations teach me this everyday.
May 6, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Lubię chłodek: for (American) English I think “Keep me cold” would work though structurally it’s a bit different (and the associations are different too).
Mały głodek: Hunger pangs is an established phrase whereas (if I understand it correctly) mały głodek was created for this campaign. But hunger pangs are something you experience and not well represented by a yellow critter. I’d propose personifying and singularizing it as the Hunger Pang (the capitalization is important) which could be represented by the yellow thing.
May 7, 2008 at 7:09 am
The Hunger Pang = maly glodek - wonderful!
Or even “The Pang”.
May 7, 2008 at 8:30 am
Or even “The Pang”.
Yeah, I like that!
May 7, 2008 at 11:24 am
well, advertising language is quite culture specific and if we borrow some adverts we can make adaptations instead of translations or even make up our own slogans so that native people can understand the adverts without understanding foreign culture. What’s more, socioculturalists particularly oppose the idea of translation equivalence, as they see it as an illusion.
May 7, 2008 at 2:32 pm
The Pang…
May 10, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I agree with Justyna. You have to be very creative to translate slogans.
“Ciesz się sportem z Go Sport!” - “Be sporty with Go Sport!”
May 10, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Interesting…
May 11, 2008 at 7:54 am
I have no idea how well ‘be sporty’ would work in the UK, but IMO it wouldn’t work in America where ’sporty’ (IME) isn’t about sports but appearance, especially clothes.
The closest in Polish would be (believe it or not) elegancki (with extra connotations of youth, originality and an assertive fun-loving attitude). (The irony is that the English ‘Sporty’ Spice didn’t look sporty at all by American standards).
Also sport doesn’t work in US English
Polish sport (as a generalized noun) will always be ’sports’ in the US. There, sport is a singular count noun that refers to a particular athletic discipline, as in “Martina Navratilova did a lot for the sport.” where ‘the sport’ refers to (womens) tennis and not athletics in general.
I might go for “Go out for sports at Go Sport” where ‘go out’ has connotations of getting out of the house and joining a sports team. On the down side, it’s too long…
May 11, 2008 at 10:16 am
How about:
“Ready, Steady, Go Sport!”
May 11, 2008 at 1:14 pm
“On your mark, get set Go Sport!”
May 11, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Ooh, very nice!
May 12, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I agree with all the people who say one has to be very creative when translating ads. Often the translator must be a copywriter in the target language. And I’m not sure how it works, but probably in many cases big companies simply hire adverising agencies with whole bunches of people who work on the target slogans or even entire campains, if the idea seems difficult to translate. Also, I think that we must perfectly fit with our translation into the target culture, and what is even more, into the target group for the advertised product. It’s indeed quite a challenge, and if our translation fails, it’s a very costly challenge;) But I definitely think ads should be translated, with the effect taken as priority.
May 12, 2008 at 5:46 pm
I think his is true that advertising provide us with a lot of nice phrases. But if I had to translate Polish slogans into English I would probably ask Mr U for help;) Some of the slogans are really stupid. And I’m talking not only about the Polish ones. How would you translate Sketchers’ slogan
‘Sketchers - they’re delicious!’ ??
May 12, 2008 at 5:59 pm
What about
Skechers - smaczne chodzenie ????
I’m thinking if you can sleep ’smacznie’ why not walk?
Flame guards - ON!
May 12, 2008 at 6:17 pm
“Smaczne Sketchers”…
May 13, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Yes, this is a very interesting field of translation, indeed. Slogans need to be translated in a very creative way - they are like poetry.. they need to catch one’s attention and stay in one’s mind for as long as possible.
- “Wash, pa, wash it!” perhaps..
Let’s try the other way round. How would you translate “Ojciec prać!”
Another fine example of a captivating English slogan (not translated into Polish at all) is “Impossible is nothing” - I really love it!!
May 13, 2008 at 9:19 pm
In my opinion, a translator dealing with the language of advertising must be very creative, follow new trends in a language, pay attention to everything what is going on around him, listen to people, watch commercials, look at billboards. The language of advertising changes rapidly as people invent more and more new words which circulate among us and we use them in everyday life. The language of adverising is full of neologisms, diminutives. Those who create commercials and advertisements play on words very often, doing really crazy things with them, for example “wielka wyprz”. Some adverisements are difficult to understand and we sometimes do not really know what is advertised. However, such an advertisement gives food for thought, we think about it, guess, which was probably the aim of creators as they will do everything to draw our attention.
As it is mentioned in the article, we are attacked by advertisements from all sides: TV, magazines, newspapers, billboards, posters, leaflets. Some people do not really keep up with the changes and trends, for example old people who have difficulties with finding themselves in the world of rapid changes as they are also bombarded with new words and expressions which they very often do not understand.
When it comes to translation, it must be very difficult to find proper exuivalents in the target language for words which were meant to entertain, to draw our attention, to be amusing and catchy. Therefore, sometimes translators must use functional equivalents, invent new words, play on them to render the meaning. It is not an easy task to do as not every translator is full of excellent ideas and solutions while translating. However, I think that everyone can try. All in all, the language of advertising shapes our lives and culture.
May 14, 2008 at 6:48 am
Pawel_b: “Ojciec prać!” - “Wash, pa, wash it!”.
Doesn’t this also mean “tp hit”, “to beat”?
May 14, 2008 at 11:19 pm
‘Ojcieć prać’ is a tough one, mainly because it involves a pun and those almost never translate at all. That’s a case that calls for re-casting (rewriting).
May 15, 2008 at 5:57 am
It certainly is not an easy one…
May 25, 2008 at 7:05 pm
translating ads is not only translating words, but first of all translating cultures.
‘If advertising is translated at all, the
translator should closely co-operate with the copywriter/art director team
and not only translate but also advise about culture-specific aspects of both
languages.’
http://www.mariekedemooij.com/articles/demooij_2004_translator.pdf
May 26, 2008 at 5:14 am
Wonderful link/article.
June 7, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I agree with Luiza that one should know the field of advertising very well and should be creative in order to translate a text very well. And it is also true that a text should be translated for the target culture, so it should include only elements that are understandable for that culture.