Khóa luận tốt nghiệp techniques for translating advertising slogans from english to vietnamese

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS TECHNIQUES FOR TRANSLATING ADVERTISING SLOGANS FROM ENGLISH TO VIETNAMESE NHỮNG KĨ THUẬT TRONG DỊCH KHẨU HIỆU QUẢNG CÁO TỪ TIẾNG ANH SANG TIẾNG VIỆT Student :BUI THI THUY Student code :621210 Major :ENGLISH Supervisor :TRAN THI TUYET MAI, M.A HaNoi - 2021 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS TECHNIQUES FOR TRANSLATING ADVERTISING SLOGANS FROM ENGLISH TO VIETNAMESE NHỮNG KĨ THUẬT TRONG DỊCH KHẨU HIỆU QUẢNG CÁO TỪ TIẾNG ANH SANG TIẾNG VIỆT Student :BUI THI THUY Student code :621210 Major :ENGLISH Supervisor :TRAN THI TUYET MAI, M.A HaNoi - 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled Techniques for translating advertising slogans from English to Vietnamese submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 202 Bui Thi Thuy Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Implementing a graduation thesis is the most important stage in every student's life The graduation thesis is a premise to equip me with research skills and valuable knowledge before starting a career Graduation thesis with the topic "Techniques for translating advertising slogans from English to Vietnamese" is the result of my ceaseless efforts and the enthusiastic help and encouragement of teachers, friends and relatives First of all, I would like to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to M.A Tran Thi Tuyet Mai for her wholeheartedly helping and orienting the way of thinking and working in science Those are very precious comments not only in the process of implementing this thesis, but also as a luggage for me in the process of studying and establishing my career in the future I would like to sincerely thank all teachers of Vietnam National University of Agriculture Especially the teachers of the Faculty of education and foreign languages, who have provided me with not only knowledge during my student life but also their useful advice for me to be able to complete this graduation paper I would also like to extend my gratitude to all the authors of the books and materials listed in the reference part for their worthy information and ideas that have been reflected and developed in the study And finally, thanks family, friends, K62ENGA class for always being there, supporting and encouraging during these stressful and difficult moments Thanks again to all who helped me Hanoi,.………2021 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii ABSTRACT v LIST OF ABBREVIATION vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims and objectives of the study Research question Scope of the study Significance of the study Design of the study PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS STUDIES (AT HOME & ABROAD) 1.2 REVIEW OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.2.1 Translation theory 1.2.2 Advertising and Advertising Slogan Theory 14 1.2.3 Summary 28 Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 29 2.1 RESEARCH GOVERNING ORIENTATION 29 2.1.1 Research questions 29 2.1.2 Research hypothesis 29 iii 2.1.3 Research Types 29 2.1.4 Research Approaches 29 2.1.5 Principles/Criteria for data collection and data analysis 29 2.2 RESEARCH METHODS 31 2.2.1 Major Method 31 2.2.2 Supporting Method 31 2.3 SUMMARY 31 Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 33 3.1 SOME ADS SLOGANS AND THEIR EQUIVALENTS 33 3.2 USEFUL TECHNIQUES FOR TRANSLATING ENGLISH ADVERTISING SLOGANS INTO VIETNAMESE 52 3.2.1 Translating by Literal Translation 53 3.2.2 Translation by Equivalence 54 3.2.3 Translation by Adaptation 55 3.2.4 Translation by Modulation 56 3.2.5 Non-Translation 57 3.3 SUMMARY 57 Part III: CONCLUSION 58 Recapitulation 58 Concluding remarks on each of the thesis objectives 59 Limitation of the current research 59 Suggestions for further research 60 REFERENCES 61 APPENDIX 63 iv ABSTRACT An effective brand identity system is the first factor and also the prerequisite for building a strong brand image Brand positioning statement (slogan) is a very important tool in the brand identity system to help the brand "flirt" effectively to consumers Wrong translations may have severe consequences if they come out in company communication It may influence the company image and bottom line negatively From that, techniques for translating ads slogans to help translators will be presented This study first gives theoretical background about translation including its definition, translation procedure, translation techniques, definition of ads and ads slogan The main goal of this study is find out the useful techniques applied in translating English ads slogans into Vietnamese Besides, this paper also goes further into definition and characteristics of ads and ads slogan to give background knowledge about these ones before having a deep analysis about the principle linguistic of ads slogans language, such main features of advertising language as phonological, lexical and morphological, syntactic and lastly semantic levels were introduced and techniques for translating ads slogans from English to Vietnamese have been carried out Both qualitative and quantitative methods are applied in this study This result points out that there are four translation techniques including equivalence, literal, adaptation, modulation are applied in EnglishVietnamese translation of ads slogans are the most useful techniques and some slogans are non-translated Although there are some limitations remaining in this study, hopefully, this study will be a valuable study that not only helps translators recognize gaps in their English advertising slogans translating techniques, but also helps those who are passionate about translating English advertising slogans to translate intelligently and effectively v LIST OF ABBREVIATION Ads: Advertising TL: Target Language SL: Source Language L: Literal E: Equivalence B: Borrowing M: Modulation C: Calque T: Transposition A: Adaptation vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 01: The Translation techniques used in Translating English Advertisement Slogans into Vietnamese based on Vinay and Darbelnet Translation Model 49 Table 02: Frequency of Translation Techniques Used in Translating English Advertising Slogans into Vietnamese 51 vii PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Rationale Nowadays, with the proliferation of the market economy, as well as the increasing needs and demands of customers, all business and companies have to make efforts to promote and create great influence on customers Mr Kumail Hemani said that:” Creating a prominent identify is what every brand desire and so getting an extra identify is surely a bonus Slogan is embroidered with brand name and has ubiquitous presences along with it…so it technically works as a shadow for brand name” It is crystal clear that most companies have their own advertising slogans and brand names to bring their products closer to the public The results of this marketing make it easier for customers to know what name of this product is, how quality it is It is not difficult to recognize the slogan as an advertising trend in the future Thus, it is not surprising that most of these companies use alliteration, puns and extended semantics which are almost mandatory in advertising slogans While verbal humor, puns… can add to the novelty of an advertisement, extended meaning (also known as figurative meaning) is unlikely to be translated into another language Therefore, many humorous translations were born When entering the Vietnamese market, international brands usually already have all the promotional materials and communication available Therefore, the translators’ job is simply to rely on that material to perceive the brand identity and translate it But the translation here is not merely a purely literal translation, but must convey the true spirit of the slogan Personally, in the process of learning I am fascinated by advertising slogans which might comprise the organizational image and brand’s spirit as well as some inquisitive about the picture of language, the creative use of words in ad slogans I also found out a variety scope of interesting situations of mistranslating or failure Some ads slogans, such as slogans 10, 16 and 21, not have been transmitted with Vietnamese versions; they were first translated using literal technique However translator keep the orginal versions The translator may leave the slogan untranslated because it is not always easy to provide a faithful and effective equivalent that does not detract from the informative (intended meaning) and commercial and promotional function (effect) The statistics obtained, which demonstrate the frequency of each of the translation techniques used in Translating English Advertising Slogans into Vietnamese will be presented in Table 02 Table 02: Frequency of Translation Techniques Used in Translating English Advertising Slogans into Vietnamese Translation Technique Frequency Percentage 10 33.34% Literal Translation 10 33.34% Borrowing 00 00 Calque 00 00 17 56.66% Equivalence 13 43.33% Adaptation 10% Transposition 00 00 Modulation 3.33% 10% 30 100% Direct Translation Oblique Translation: Non- translation Total 51 It became clear that translators prefer free/oblique translation techniques over direct ones Direct translation techniques have been employed to render 33.34 % of the English ads slogans into Vietnamese In direct translation, literal translation was the only sub-direct technique used to render the English ads slogans into Vietnamese In fact, the success of an ads slogan in one country does not necessarily translate to its success in another; translators approve of this because they are more aware of the linguistic and cultural obstacles encountered when translating The large number of appropriate Vietnamese slogans that were translated literally shows that literal translation is an effective technique for improving the verbal strength of an English slogan translated into Vietnamese The translator used oblique translation techniques in rendering 56.66 % of the slogans Thus, oblique translation has scored the high frequency in the translation of the English ads slogans into Vietnamese; among which 43.33% was translated employing equivalence and 10% was translated employing adaptation 3.33% was translated employing modulation and others such as borrowing, calque and transposition rarely used 3.2 USEFUL TECHNIQUES FOR TRANSLATING ENGLISH ADVERTISING SLOGANS INTO VIETNAMESE Language is aimed at a specific audience The characteristics of ads language are determined by the function and focus of the language Learning how to translate ads would become a requisite and crucial skill When it comes to ads translation, translators often have their own ideas Different translators have different ads translation techniques with different translation processes Authenticity and precision, according to some translators, are the gold standards of translation In order to overcome linguistic difficulties, translators need to apply suitable translation techniques As a result, the translators used techniques to solve 52 difficulties in ads translation related to linguistic devices and cultural aspects, commonly applied for translation techniques, namely literal translation, equivalence, adaptation and modulation 3.2.1 Translating by Literal Translation According to Vinay and Darbelnet, in literal translations, the translation must retain both the original content and the original form, as it must be subjected to literal translation in terms of the target language and not be influenced by subjective interpretations; the translation not only retains the original contents, but also the original forms, particularly the metaphors, figures, and tastes, etc When the literal translation of a slogan into the target language is more powerful in meaning than the original, translators will keep it Even with its drawbacks, some multinational corporations use it to send one message to all customers worldwide for the sake of reputation When a translator uses this technique, he or she must consider the entire context of the text rather than simply translating word for word When a brand name is so strong that the product requires little verbal support (as in TV commercials), this technique is used so that the translator can retain both the graphics and the text of the advertisement It is frequently used in the ads of perfumes and alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, soft drinks and cars In addition, this technique can be applied to the words at phonological level For example: Have a break, have Kitkat Nghỉ giải lao, có Kitkat As can be seen, except for changes required by the grammar of the translation language, the translator is not required to make any changes The success of an advertisement in one market can be translated to other markets through literalness, 53 based on the assumption that people all over the world have the same needs and respond to the same advertisements As a result, sticking to a successful ST ensures the TT's success In fact, there is a similarity between ads slogans and poetry; they both require a high level of creativity (use of speech figures, rhyme, pun, etc ), which may render literal translation inappropriate, and thus they may become lost in translation The Vietnamese language is so rich that if the translator is competent enough, it can provide acceptable equivalents that serve both the meaning and the effect Another factor to consider in order to achieve this goal is cultural appropriateness Aside from that, if translators dig deeper into this rich language, they can find adequate equivalents Literal translation may be effective for rendering ads slogans if they are simple, clearly structured, and not include puns (wordplay or words with double meanings) or other figures of speech Literal translation could also be a successful technique for translating English ads slogans into Vietnamese 3.2.2 Translation by Equivalence The slogan was successfully translated using the equivalence technique because a similarity relationship was established between the source and target slogans Additionally, attractiveness and a strong appeal have been included in the Vietnamese version According to the analysis of the advertisements above, equivalence is the best sub-free translation technique for translating English ads slogans into Vietnamese (43.33%) Because of the linguistic differences between English and Vietnamese, it is important to note that a number of minor deviations from the original texts are involved due to lexical, syntactic, or other target language features As a result, word for word and literal translations are avoided because they may not always result in appropriate Vietnamese versions of English 54 ads slogans Equivalence is also used to maintain the ST's original (pragmatic) effect (to give the slogan promotional value), As seen in ads slogan number 20: “Taste the rainbow" "Hương vị cầu vồng" The English slogan has been formally adapted into an appropriate Vietnamese version by the translator To overcome linguistic incompetence, equivalence was eventually and surprisingly preferred in this context While appropriate equivalents exist (equivalents that can serve the meaning and effect) for instance, shows a creative thinking from the translator’s part as he opted for hương vị ‘instead of nếm mùi‘ or “thưởng thức” which are very common Vietnamese equivalents for the English verb ‘taste’ It is obvious that the translator’s choice was not random The noun “hương vị”, this makes the slogan enticing and gives it an aural effect 3.2.3 Translation by Adaptation The loss of semantic content can be attributed to cultural differences between countries This technique is used when a culturally specific term or phrase is translated in a completely different way so that it becomes appropriate or familiar in the language of another culture If the cultural reference to a situation does not exist in the target culture, it is changed during adaptation.This technique, in contrast to the “source text oriented,” is “target text oriented.” According to Mrs AYADI Amina, the adaptation technique tailors the ads message to the target audience, i.e., manipulating social and cultural norms in order to gain acceptance in a foreign market Thus, when necessary, this technique can be applied to technical terms, abbreviations, taboo words, and non-lexicalized words in the TL One of the difficulties in translating an English slogan into a Vietnamese one is transferring the cultural factor that appears in slogans As previously stated, the 55 problem is one of untranslatability The question is whether it is possible to translate a slogan with a cultural feature For example: More Bounce to the Ounce- Pepsi 1958 Uống nhiều giá không đổi (Drink more with unchanged price) Ads slogans that are stylistic and aesthetic are more likely to be appealing, memorable, and effective than those that lack subtlety and eloquence Beautiful expressions remain in the minds of the receivers for a long time and may become a colloquial register in a specific speech community As a result, they cause the receptors to act, i.e., to buy whenever a favorable opportunity arises The theoretical significance of cultural accommodation is self-evident, because what one values in his or her own culture may be unsuitable in another, if not completely ignored or despised As a result, translators must consider acculturation in their practice through adaptation Lexical features are preferable and more adaptable to change With a significant proportion of vocabulary adaptation, translators strive to adapt and make words more meaningful, natural, and alive in the Vietnamese linguistic environment Finally, it is undeniably undeniable that adaptation provides translators with a degree of freedom by highlighting their cultural knowledge and linguistic abilities through the use of addition, omission, and substitution techniques As a result, it is a preferable technique as long as it preserves the most important units in ads translation, namely "the meaning" and "the effect." 3.2.4 Translation by Modulation Modulation was one of the fewer sub-techniques used to translate English ads slogans into Vietnamese The technique of shaping or regulating the words of the source text in such a way that the resulting target text conforms to the natural patterns of the target language is referred to as translation modulation It is not a 56 syntactical process, unlike transpositioning, which we will discuss in the following unit; it is not concerned with the grammatical structures of the target language These techniques help to overcome equivalence issues and produce linguistically acceptable versions 3.2.5 Non-Translation The examination of the translations of the selected sample reveals that three out of thirty slogans were left untranslated, i.e., 10% of the slogans were presented on Vietnamese televisions without being translated or should not translate, i.e., while some of the headlines and advertorials were translated into Vietnamese, the slogans remained in English : First, non- translation may due to they are wellknown and easily understood by the general public It can even be translated for the purposes of translating practice or casual translation In many cases, there is no complex structure or unusual words in the slogan The language in the form of a slogan is widely used Just it with three basic words, “I’m lovin i”t is wellknown as a slogan that is frequently used in daily life; all are familiar Slogans that not need to be translated are usually short, memorable, and simple to understand Second, the slogan may be kept without being translated by the translator because it is not always easy to provide a faithful and effective equivalent that does not cause loss in the informative (intended meaning) and commercial and promotional function (effect) 3.3 SUMMARY Slogans are a chief component of the printed advertisements They express the inner message of a corporation ads its brand At the same time, slogans transmit a message about the culture and the customs of a country and hence, culture-bound elements of the source language in translation can often become problematic The absence of a similar equivalent of the source language element in the target language requires most of the times adaptation, equivalence or literal translation,… 57 In terms of the suggested versions for the above slogans, they have been relatively difficult and time consuming because the translator has to provide accurate and acceptable Vietnamese versions If it is difficult for the translator to convey the original slogans' meaning and effect, he or she can make some necessary changes and adjustments The translator, however, is not completely free; the necessary changes must be related to the product itself and the qualities it entails in order to transmit the advertisement's informative purposes Part III: CONCLUSION Recapitulation This paper tries to shed some light on useful techniques for translating ads slogans from English to Vietnamese by analysis 30 well-known ads slogans and their equivalents While researching the study's corpus, it was discovered that translators used free translation techniques the most to convert English ads slogans into Vietnamese Such techniques assist translators in overcoming cross-linguistic and cultural differences between the ST and the TT and satisfying the target audience, so their use is justified The translation techniques model of Vinay and Darbelnet (1995), The most common technique for translating English ads slogans into Vietnamese is free translation, which allows translators to overcome linguistic and cross-cultural differences between the source and target markets The highest subtechnique used in rendering these slogans was equivalence, followed by adaptation and modulation Adaptation can be considered the most dominant technique in ads slogans’ rendition from English into Vietnamese Direct translation, or literal translation, was used to transmit English advertisement slogans into Vietnamese, and it did not always result in ineffective Vietnamese versions because it did not weaken the verbal strength or reduce the intended effect of the target slogan In 58 addition, When dealing with English ads slogans, Vietnamese translators have the option of using the original English slogans or creatively translating them The first tendency is to use the original English slogan for certain ads slogans that cannot or should not be translated into Vietnamese Concluding remarks on each of the thesis objectives In a nutshell, translating advertisements from English into Vietnamese is a difficult task for translators; while translating, the ST must adhere to the target linguistic and cultural norms The conclusions can be summarized as follows as a result of the descriptive and comparative analysis of the sample: Firstly, the most common technique for translating English ads slogans into Vietnamese is oblique technique, which allows translators to overcome linguistic and cross-cultural differences between the source and target markets As a result, the first hypothesis is confirmed Next, to transmit English, direct translation, i.e literal translation, was used It did not always result in ineffective Vietnamese versions of ads slogans because they lose their verbal strength, resulting in a weak and ridiculous version As a result, the scored frequency of literal translation was just followed by equivalence Consequenly, the second hypothesis has been rejected In terms of culture, the sample in question contains few culturally bound concepts and references; the translator took them into account and rendered them into the TL Limitation of the current research The thesis only focuses on some typical discourse features in terms of lexical, syntactic, and stylistic features of destination slogans so it has not reached the expected depth as it should The limitation of Vietnamese data may partly lead to a valid research result There will be inevitable minus of the study due to limited time and knowledge of researcher in this field 59 Suggestions for further research The study can be a useful resource for understanding the common characteristics of ads slogans as well as some standard requirements for translating slogans What has been shown above is merely a preliminary investigation The thesis is only a brief examination of some common difficulties in translating ads slogans and some strategies for assisting translators in improving their translation work from English into Vietnamese In order to obtain a complete picture of translating ad slogans, the following suggestions for further research should be pursued: - A study about similarities and differences of the phenomenon of puns in English/Vietnamese advertising slogans and strategies for translating English ads slogans into Vietnamese - An Investigation into rhetorical devices in ads slogans in English and Vietnamese 60 REFERENCES Nida, E A (2001) Language and culture: Contexts in translating Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press Vinay, J P., & Darbelnet, J (2000) A methodology for translation The translation studies reader, 84-93 Bell, R T., & Candlin, C (1991) Translation and translating: Theory and practice (Vol 298) London: Longman Newmark, P (1988) A textbook of translation (Vol 66) New York: Prentice hall Nida, E A., & Taber, C R (Eds.) (1982) The theory and practice of translation (Vol 8) Brill Archive Phan, T V A (2011) A study on difficulties and strategies in EnglishVietnamese translation of advertising slogans (Doctoral dissertation, University of Foreign Languages and International studies) Ánh, N T (2012) An investigation into linguistic features of some stylistic devices in English and Vietnamese advertising language (Doctoral dissertation, Master’s thesis, University of Danang Vietnam) De Mooij, M (2004) Translating advertising: Painting the tip of an iceberg The Translator, 10(2), 179-198 Skračić, T., & Kosović, P (2016) Linguistic analysis of English advertising slogans in yachting Transactions on maritime science, 5(01), 40-47 10 Leech, Geoffrey, N and Short, Michael, H 1988 Style in Fiction: A Linguistic Introduction to English Fiction Prose Oxford: Oxford University Press 11 Komljenović, A (2017) The Challenges of Translating Advertisements and Slogans (Doctoral dissertation, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.) 61 12 Bao, T B., & Thu, X D (1999) Interpreting and translation coursebook 13 Leech, Geoffrey (1966), English in Advertising, London, Longman 14 Thi, B and Thuy, B., (2010), An Investigation Into the Style of the English Language Used in Advertising Slogans Issued by Some World-Famous Airlines 15 Ding, X (2003) Stylistic Features of the Advertising Slogan 16 Ayadi, A (2017) Investigating the strategies used to translate English advertisement slogans into Arabic Revue Des Sciences Humaines, 28(3), 05Website https://www.cleverism.com/40-memorable-advertising-slogans/ https://sloganshub.org/advertising-slogans/ 62 APPENDIX List of 30 ads slogans and their equivalents: No Slogans Be good, be bad, be Producer Vietnamese Equivalents Calvin Klein Dù tốt, dù xấu, yourself Have a Break, Have a Kit KitKat Nghỉ giải lao, có Kitkat Allstate Bạn chọn người Kat You’re in good hands phục vụ The best a man can get Gillette Người bạn thân cánh mày râu Maybe She’s born with it Maybelline Có thể đẹp tự nhiên, có Maybe it’s Maybelline thể nhờ Maybelline More Bounce to the Pepsi- 1958 Uống nhiều giá không đổi Ounce Freshen-up with 7-Up 7-Up Pepsi nước uống tuổi trẻ The Real Thing Coca-Cola Thứ thiệt! They’re Gr-r-reat! Kellogg Ngon tuyệt! Frosted Flakes 10 Think Different Apple Think Different 63 11 Revs your Heart Yamaha Khơi dậy đam mê 12 The ultimate driving BMW Cỗ máy tối thượng machine 13 Impossible is nothing Adidas Khơng khơng thể 14 More happy Pepsi-2007 Ngất ngây 15 Taste the Feeling Coca-Cola Uống cảm xúc 16 I’m lovin it McDonald’s I’m lovin it 17 Got Milk? American Uống sữa Dairy Association 18 Just it Nike Cứ làm 19 Now It’s Pepsi for Those Pepsi- 1961 Pepsi nước uống tuổi trẻ Who Think Young 20 Taste the rainbow Skittles Hương vị cầu vồng 21 Think outside the bun Taco Bell Think outside the bun 22 Have it your way Burger King Thưởng thức theo cách bạn 23 Connecting people Nokia Kết nối người 24 Good to the last drop! Maxwell Ngon đến giọt cuối cùng! House 64 25 Melt in your mouth, not M&M candy in your hand Chỉ tan miệng, không tan tay 26 It’s Finger lickin’ good KFC Vị ngon ngón tay 27 Your vision, our future Olympus Tầm nhìn bạn, tương lai 28 Raising the bar Cingular Cao cao 29 Quality never goes out of Levi’s 1985 Chất lượng style 30 thiếu phong cách The best or nothing Mercedes-Benz Tốt khơng có Part 6: Approved by supervisor(s) , date …month… year…… Supervisor , date… month… year….… Student (Signature and full name) (Signature and full name) Certified by Department of Professional English 65