Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
advertising
translation is the
means of
communication
par excellence of a
company exporting
its products.
What criteria should be applied in evaluating these translations and what value should
we give them?
We must study all of these questions in light of the huge corpus available to us which keeps
growing richer day after day, with new experiences and new solutions contributed by
translators in the field of intercultural mediation.
The perspective chosen here for presenting these experiences is that of the research scientist
external to the company but nevertheless involved, as an observer and a translation specialist,
in defining and delimiting the object of his analysis. In whatever business of the company
may operate, the questions associated with this definition remain the same. Yet we must point
out that originally, our study essentially dealt with multinationals of American and French
origin.6 We will try to describe below the context in which advertising translation is processed
and its role in international marketing. Then we will analyze the type of work required from
translators and the impact of this professional environment on their practice. Lastly, we will
explain the main difficulties experienced by the translator and the skills required to
accomplish his mission successfully.
Several aspects must to be taken into account: first, do in fact foreign markets differ from the
national market or not? Does this difference justify the translation of the advertising message?
Then, does the competition resort to this kind of service for marketing its products? Will the
translation be an advantage for the company? Lastly, which objectives are assigned to the
translator, i.e., what will be the effect of this new business function?
Three types of effects can be observed:
The first one is a zero effect, in which the translation of the original message into the
languages of the foreign consumers does not bring any change to the communication status of
the company, either in terms of brand image or in terms of commercial repercussions (neither
drop nor increase in sales). This effect has already been observed in some European markets
(for instance, for Renault in Spain).
The second one is a positive effect, more or less according to business expectations, in which
the translation almost automatically involves increased brand awareness and an increase in
demand on the market targeted by the translated campaign. This effect is fairly common in the
Arab and oriental markets, especially in the luxury, perfumes, and cosmetics sector.
The third effect, always unexpected and often incomprehensible, is a negative effect in which
translation nullifies the strengths of the company on the international market and becomes a
disadvantage which does not serve the interests of the producers or those of the distributors.
This effect has been observed in the case of sports articles and of country-typical products, the
expected potential of which has been annihilated by the translation that has somehow made
them ordinary in the eyes of the foreign consumers.
All this leads us to underline the complexity of the problems raised by implementing a
translation function or department within the company. This also reveals the huge pressure put
on the translator of advertisements, since he is perceived, all things considered, as the
guarantor of the success or of the failure of the campaign. Being the last link in the chain, he
is therefore responsible for the entire communication process.
In order to fully grasp the importance of the economic parameter in the approach to
advertising translation, two interdependent and supplementary points have to be taken into
account: the cost of the translation process and the linguistic added value, which both refer to
the question of money within advertising communication. The cost of the translation process
indicates the totality of adaptations necessary to convey the advertisement from one language
area to the other. Contrary to what one could think, these adaptations affect not only the
strictly linguistic dimension of communication; but also some other essential aspects which
are often difficult to adapt, and therefore very expensive (such as graphics).7
Thus the cost of a translation includes the financial investment necessary for transferring the
message into the target language on the one hand, and the related investments, which are
generally recommended by the publicity agent in order to ensure the success of the transfer,
on the other hand. This cost can be very high and is only justified by a satisfactory benefit.
Therefore, it is all about a calculated risk which is part of well-studied internationalization
strategies. The revenues generated by the international campaign depend on the nature of the
communication strategies used.8 Translation can not only contribute to increasing the direct
revenues of the multinational by acting as a leveraging effect on sales abroad, but it can also
be considered as a strategic asset with respect to competition, in the sense that it enables the
company to stand out in a highly competitive market.
This primary link established between the translation of the message and its expected benefit
raises the problem of "linguistic added value." If the success of international advertising
depends on the conversion of the original message into the linguistic code of the foreign
consumer, then the language has an intrinsic added value. In this case, the advertiser finds
himself confronted with two problems: the first one is that of the criteria for estimating this
value, the second one is that of the optimization of the added value. Indeed, how can the
quality of a translation be judged before seeing its effect on sales? How can it then be
ascertained that it ensures the best communication possible?
Profitability of the translation actually represents the Gordian knot of international
advertising. The amount of money produced by the language must exceed the amount
invested in the language. Yet nothing enables us to say that successor failureis due to the
translation, and above all, nothing enables us to know to what extent the translation
contributes to one or the other. Since there is no comparative research on linguistic praxis and
on the effectiveness of communication, the question is asked in practical, even prosaic, terms,
i.e., that quality is evaluated according to the result.
The cultural dimension offers a second group of parameters determining the environment in
which the translator of advertising operates. Culture is to be understood here in the broad
sense of virtual or effective context in which the translated advertising message is received.
The parameters related to this aspect of advertising translation can be prescriptive and explicit
(for instance, the legislature of the target country) or implicit and left to the judgment of the
translator (like uses and customs). Getting into the old and unsolved debate on impossible
intercultural correspondence is not the point here. Advertising producers, under the pressure
of economic logic, not only tackle this subject from a pragmatic point of view, but the
advertising approach to cultural facts is so specific that the debate is on a different level from
the outset. Culture is not considered in the absolute; it is associated with the commercial
concerns of communication. Only those cultural elements that are refractory to transfer are
examined. This does not mean that it is necessary to go through the entire culture with a finetoothed comb; only some aspects of culture create a problem in international advertising.
Only some points, generally clarified by opinion leaders in the target countries, deserve
particular attention. These delicate points themselves are not considered in the absolute; they
are grasped with reference to advertising communication. Thus it is possible to differentiate
two main components. The first, strictly sociocultural, component, is essentially about
religion, traditions, ethnic attitudes, the spirit of community, and purchasing habits. The
second one, the legal component, is essentially about products that cannot be advertised and
legislation specific to commercial promotion (for example, the ban on misleading or
comparative advertising).
This last effect not only varies according to the countries and the products affected by
advertising,9 but it is also evolutionary and often dependent on the political system and the
political situation. Thus the translator is forced to take the legislation of the target countries
into account, at the risk of seeing the entire advertising campaign refused. The law regulates
advertisement contents as well as their expression and their presentation. In France, the Evin
Act compels advertisers to use the French language exclusively. In Quebec, advertising
posters have to be bilingual. In Saudi Arabia, the code regulating advertising stipulates that "it
is forbidden to show all or part of a woman's body except for the features of the face, and to
make any allusion whatsoever in advertising to the relationship between man and woman"!
Thus the cultural parameter is of course given short shrift in advertising, but it is considerably
more important. The neglect or non-observance of certain indications during the translation
process can wreck the best of advertising campaigns. These indications correspond to a
focusing of attention on the elements that culture itself has indicated as meaningful and
crucial. Far from representing a restrictive or erroneous approach to culture, the advertising
approachand therefore the translation approachrepresents a way of reconciling economic
requirements and cultural constraints. In doing so, commercial communicators may risk
censorship, but they also achieve their goal. In this case, the ethical point of view gives in to
the strong and multiple pressures of the economic aspect.
Lastly, there is an ideological dimension to advertising transfer which is not to be neglected. It
includes a specific approach to linguistic and cultural phenomena, an approach which
characterizes the economic roles involved in the translation process. Ideological
considerations, whatever their terms, are always present in advertising practice and underlie
the translating activity. They refer to apriorisms about the language as well as to empiric
observations about the target countries. Two theories start to compete as soon as an
internationalization of an advertising campaign is considered. The first one is based on the
belief that "the language belongs to those who speak it," and the second one on the premise
that "the language belongs to a geography." This dichotomy, which appears to be artificial and
superfluous, covers well-identified linguistic facts and refers to different professional
practices. Behind each concept lies a specific expertise about translation and a different set of
internationalization strategies.
Suggested literature
De Pedro (R.), "Beyond the Words: The Translation of Television Adverts," in Babel, No. 42: 1, pp. 27-45.
Decaudin (J.-M.), Stratgies de publicit internationale, Paris, Editions Liaisons, 1991.
Gouadec (D.), Le traducteur, la traduction et l'entreprise, Paris, Afnor, 1989.
Guidre (M.), Publicit et Traduction, Paris, Editions l'Harmattan, 2000, 320 pp.
Guillard (G.), "Publicit, traduction et reproduction de la culture," in Babel, No. 45: 1, pp. 39-52.
Hurbin (P.), "Peut-on traduire la langue de la publicit ?," Babel, 18, No. 3, 1972.
Rozeboom (Ch.), "Stratgies de traduction dans les multinationales informatiques amricaines," in La libert en
traduction, Paris, Didier Erudition, 1991, pp. 159-164.
Tatilon (Cl.), "Le texte publicitaire : traduction ou adaptation," Meta, 35, No. 1, 1990.
Wind (Y.), Douglas (S.P.) and Perlmutter (H.), "Guidelines for developing international market strategies,"
Journal of Marketing, No. 37, 1973. .
Elle magazine, for example, comes out in 28 international editions and in 15 languages. This represents over
2.5 million copies a month and around 11 thousand pages of advertisements.
2
For a detailed study of this corpus, see Guidre (M.), Publicit et Traduction, Paris, Editions l'Harmattan, 2000,
320 pp.
3
Hurbin (P.), "Peut-on traduire la langue de la publicit ?," Babel, 18, No. 3, 1972.
Tatilon (C.I.), "Le texte publicitaire : traduction ou adaptation ?," Meta, 35, No. 1, 1990.
However, we can quote two fairly recent articles dealing with this subject: De Pedro (R.), "Beyond the Words:
The Translation of Television Adverts," in Babel, No. 42: 1, pp. 27-45; and Guillard (G.), "Publicit, traduction
et reproduction de la culture," in Babel, No. 45: 1, pp. 39-52; also see our article: Guidre (M.), "Aspects de la
traduction publicitaire," in Babel, No. 46: 1, pp. 20-40.
6
Among them we can quote Philip Morris and Marlboro (tobacco industry); Coca Cola, Mars and Dannon (food
industry); Ford, PSA and Renault (car industry); LVMH (for perfumes) and l'Oral (for cosmetics).
7
In some multinationals, the budgets involved can reach tens of millions of dollars. The average production cost
of a commercial is about 160 thousand dollars, and that of a poster advertising campaign is 2 million dollars.
Source: essay 4 A's, in Marketing Mix, No. 33, June 1989.
8
With respect to this subject, see Decaudin (J.-M.), Stratgies de publicit internationale, Paris, Editions
Liaisons, 1991.
9
Tobacco advertising is banned on French and English television. The Netherlands has strict rules for candy
advertising. Belgium forbids any reference to an identifiable person. Advertising oversight organizations monitor
compliance with these laws: B.V.P. in France, B.T.P. in Belgium, T.R.A.F. in the Netherlands, I.B.A. in Great
Britain, etc.
10
This is the case of Airbus Industries, for instance. The translation department is located within the company in
Toulouse. Relating to this subject, see Gouadec (D.), Le traducteur, la traduction et l'entreprise, Paris, Afnor,
1989.
11
The brand image of multinationals is defined by "Corporate Identity Handbooks," which standardize all the
vehicles and cultural signs of the company, from the color and the size of the logo to the editorial style to be
adopted in the written media distributed abroad.
12
Related to this subject, see Rozeboom (Ch.), "Stratgies de traduction dans les multinationales informatiques
amricaines," in La libert en traduction, Paris, Didier Erudition, 1991, pp. 159-164.
13
See Wind (Y.), Douglas (S.P.) and Perlmutter (H.), "Guidelines for developing international market strategies,"
Journal of Marketing, No. 37, 1973.
14
The expression is by Armand Mattelart, see L'internationale publicitaire, Paris, La Dcouverte, 1989.