Translation of advertisements from English to Romanian

Chapter I

1.1. Introductory Remarks

The following chapter is intended to serve as an introduction to such topics as: definitions of
advertising, the place and role of advertising in today’s world, classification of advertising with speci-
fic examples. It also focuses on the slogans used in advertising, techniques and strategies of translating
advertisements.
1.2. Defining Advertisements

Advertising has become greatly popular and even common place in today’s changeable world.
From M.Trehan’s perspective (2011), market is controlled by consumers so companies have to persuade
and attract the consumers for selling their products and services. Therefore, advertising has crucial role
for communication. Advertising seems to be in everything for people and everywhere people go; from
surfing the net to tаking a bus ride. Advertisement pop up on various websites and can be found in all
kinds of unusual places from can drinks to concert tickets. (M.Trehan 2011:24)

Up to nowadays, the word ,,advertisement,, has been variously defined . Some relevant examples
are listed below.

According to the Cambridge International Dictionary of English advertisement is: ’’a picture,
short film, song, etc. that tries to persuade people to buy a product or service, or a piece of text that tells
people about a job, etc.,, (2000:20)

Merriam-Webster Learner’s Dictionary provides the following definition: ’’something (such as a

short film or a written notice) that is shown or presented to the public to help sell a product or to make
an announcement. ,, (http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/advertisement)

Oxford Dictionary of Business English defines advertisement as: a notice or message in a newspaper,
or on a poster in a public place, or an announcement on TV or on the radio offering or asking for a
product or service, or a person to do a certain job.(A.Tuck 1993:16)

According to the David A. Aaker’s definition given in his book ,, Advertising Management,,
advertising represents mass communication involving an identified sponsor, the advertiser, who
normally pays a media organization, like a television network, to run an advertisement that has usually
been created by an advertising agency. ( A. Aaker 1975:3)
 George Mikes claims in the book ,,Speak good English,,(1980) that advertising ’’ is the art of
convincing people that they want certain things they do not want at all ; of making them dissatisfied
with everything they have; of making them thoroughly unhappy. ,, (G.Mikes 1980: 45)

Nowadays, the demand for advertisements is continuously increasing. According to Judith

Williamson (1978), “advertisements do not only sell goods and services but they are commodities
themselves”. Therefore the purpose of ad copywriters is not only to promote goods and services but also
to entertain the public and to influence attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. For instance, advertising
promotes campaigns for education, health, environment or social campaigns. Williamson also considers
advertising “the official art” of the advanced industrial nations of the west. Advertisements can be found
everywhere in cities, making advertising an institution involving writers, film directors, artists, and
being supported by the mass media. (J.Williamson 1978:36)

W.Leiss et al. (2005) argues that besides its basic role of promoting goods and services, advertising
has new purposes, like transmitting new messages to the target public: interpersonal and family
relations, the meaning of happiness and contentment, stereotyping, the fading away of cultural
traditions, influences on younger generations, the place of business in society, persuasion and personal
autonomy and others. ( W.Leiss 2005:23)

1.3. Classification of advertising

It is theoretically more interesting and analytically more important to classify advertising. The basis
of classification can be diverse. According to Om Gupta (2005), principle means of classification are:
(Gupta 2005:62)

Based on Target Based on Function

Based on Geographic
Spread Group

Consumer Industrial Direct Action Indirect

National Local Adv.
Action Adv.

Professional Primary Selective Adv.

Trade Adv.
International Regional

Product Adv. Institutional

Adv.
 Further, in order to make more clear the things mentioned above in the scheme, each type of advertising
will be considered separately in more detail.

 Local advertising
Undertaken by retailers to cover a local area. Usually, media such as newspapers, cable networks,
posters, and billboards are employed.
Example: Nirma washing powder – Initial market in Gujarat
 Regional advertising
Used by marketers to concentrate marketing efforts on a particular region. Typically, television and
radio network are involved.
Example: Narrative billboards in London

 National advertising
Some manufacturers may think that their target is the entire country. It is used by marketers intending to
sell products nationwide.
Example: Mercedes-E class is targeting a specific segment in the Indian market.( When a new
manufacturer with lesser money muscle, limited production capacity and limited distribution know-how,
etc., appears on the business scene, he does not usually decide for national distribution.)
 International advertising
Multinational firms treat the world as their market.
Example: Advertisement given by IBM, Sony, Ford etc.

 Consumer advertising
Advertising which is directed to buyers of consumer products who purchase them either for their
own use or for their households.
Example: Samsung promoted its 5-in-1 convertible refrigerator via a television ad to generate
product awareness among people.
 Industrial advertising
A type of business-to-business advertising aimed at manufacturers, where a company advertises
equipment and raw materials used in the manufacturing process or other businesses.
It includes machinery and equipment, parts and components etc.
Example: The company Barista, which is making coffee powder, it will sell its powder to the
distributors who in turn will sale it to the retailers and wholesalers and also to the big companies who
has a coffee machine for their employees.
 Trade advertising
Advertisements which are directed by the manufactures to the distribution channel members, such as
wholesalers or retailers, are called trade advertising. The objective of such advertising is to promote
sales by motivating the distribution channel members to stock more or to attract new retail outlets.
Example: Coca-Cola advertisement placed in a trade magazine, such as Progressive Grocer, in order
to promote Coca-Cola to food store managers.
 Professional advertising
There are certain products for which the consumers themselves are not responsible for the buying
choice. Used to influence professionals such as doctors, lawyers, architects.etc.
 Direct Action advertising
Used to obtain immediate responses from or induce actions by target audience.
Example: On television almost any time of the day can be seen a TV commercial using direct
response techniques. Only NOW!!! For $19.95 you can receive record albums, diet plans, products to
clean your car …Call…
 Indirect Action advertising
This type of advertising is carried out to make a positive effect on the mind of the reader or viewer.
After getting the advertisement he does not rush to buy the product.
Example: Detergent such as Tide periodically release advertisements highlighting the advantages of
using their brand.
 Primary advertising
Used to create generic demand for goods and services.
Example: The original ,, Got Milk?,, television advertisement released in 1993.( It is an excellent
example, as it encourages the drinking of milk in general, and not any specific brand of milk).
 Selective advertising
Used by marketers of branded products to generate selective product demand.
Example: The iPad promotional campaign is a great example, as Apple wants customers to buy iPads
in particular, not tablets in general.
 Product advertising
 Used to advertise the product sale.
Example: In the L’Oreal ad, Beyonce is advertising L’Oreal's hair dye product; to generate product
awareness and boost sales.
 Institutional advertising
Used to build an organisation’s name and goodwill; also known as image advertising.
Example: Adidas, one of the world’s most renowned sports company started the campaign to donate
10% of their sales proceeds to the poor orphans in AFRICA.

Overall, advertising is a component part of an integrated marketing communications plan that also
includes public relations and direct sales. Businesses have many choices of where and how to advertise,
as nowadays there are numerous options of advertising and ways to use them, and each has its benefits
and drawbacks. All the factors have to be considered in deciding which kind of advertising to use and
how effectively the advertising reaches your target audience.

1.4. Slogans used in advertisements

The aim of advertisements is to transmit a message that is easy to understand and memorize. A good
ad is memorized through repetition, but the brand name or a good slogan can also make an ad
successful. G. Leech (1983) states that by means of repetition, whether in a single commercial or a
whole advertising campaign, the consumer may be brought to the point where the brand name and some
catch phrase associated with it are automatically associated one with the other, so that the product is
stored in his mind with a permanently attached mark.(G.Leech 1983: 65)

Slogans are a way of advertising products. They combine in few words the motto of the company, its
aims and the advantages that the products can bring to customers. Slogans become an important part of
the advertising strategy when a company chooses to advertise its products in an international market,
introducing a different social and cultural framework. A written advertisement is composed of the
following elements: headline (draws the reader’s attention and due to this it has to use the brand name in
the headline), body copy (concentrates the main part of the advertising information), slogan (catch word,
catch phrase), illustrations and colors (reveal the realistic image of the product but also transmit ideas,
attitudes or beliefs), trademark (a distinctive sign that distinguishes a product or service from the others;
the trademark comprises a typical name, word, phrase, logo, design and image or a combination of these
elements), brand name (a collection of symbols which help the product or service to be recognized in the
market). (J.Williamson 1978: 57)

In order to be effective, every slogan has certain characteristics: it uses simple and colloquial
language, the sentences should be short, usually imperative or interrogative, or even sentences without a
predicate. Slogans rely upon the connotative meaning and ambiguity of words, use puns, well-known
phrases, idioms or sayings. New invented words, like blend words, nonce words or compounds make the
slogan quickly draw the attention of the audience. As components of an advertising text, slogans use
figures of speech, such as: metaphor, hyperbole, repetition or alliteration. Slogans can represent: a real
description of the product’s image or utility (e.g. Nokia Connecting people, Ralph Laurent- Eyewear); a
kind of call to use the product (for example: Coca-Cola- Have a Coke and a smile, Pepsi - Have a Pepsi
day!), a symbolic image of the product (Palmolive- The touch of nature, Bounty- A taste of paradise).
Metaphors not only describe the products but they also transmit attitudes, ideas or concepts. Mostly
slogans are made of short imperative sentences (e.g. Apple computers - Think different. American
Express- Do more), or sentences without a predicate (e.g. Allianz - The power on your side, American
Airlines - Something special in the air). Besides, slogans are made up of an enumeration of nouns,
adjectives, adverbs or verbs (e.g. E-bay- Buy it. Sell it. Love it. / Paulaner - Good. Better. Paulaner). (A.
Goddard 1998:43)

Many slogans contain a comparative of superiority or the superlative (e.g. Sony - Like no other;
Duracell batteries. No battery is stronger longer). There are slogans which are based on the public’s
cultural knowledge using well-known idioms, sayings and phrases (e.g. Make out, not war! ; Help kids
be kids!). Advertising texts basically use words or images which can have one or more connotative
meanings, in order to persuade, to entertain or to urge the public reaction in a certain way. Connotative
meanings in slogans depend on the context. For instance, the slogan for Guinness Irish beer: Brilliant!
has more connotative meanings. The word could belong to the high quality taste of the beer, to the
shining package of the bottle or to the fact that the beer offers a good mood. Slogans often use figurative
language in order to draw the reader’s attention and interest regarding a product or service, or to
increase the public’s awareness on a social or environmental issue. Figurative language can create
ambiguity, which can give several interpretations to a slogan. A. Vizental (2001) speaks about polysemy
and homonymy as “lexical ambiguity” and about “grammatical ambiguity” which is given by syntactic
ambiguity. The Maybelline cosmetics slogan The make up of make up artists, uses a pun which may be
ambiguous for the readers. The word make up is used with two meanings. One meaning of the word
makeup (cosmetics applied especially to the face) is clear in the context, whereas the first word of the
slogan can be perceived with the other meaning (the makeup of a group or team which is the
combination of the people that are in it).(A.Vizental 2001: 64)

Copywriters prefer to use idioms and proverbs in slogans mostly because many people use them in
daily situations, and because they can be easily identified by the public. There are also slogans which
use the literal meaning of an idiom or proverb, creating a humoristic effect. The creative use of idioms
and proverbs can give them new meanings, making them memorable. These slogans are either directed
to a specific social category or to the public in general. Through repetition, slogans enter in everyday
speech, creating a more familiar and friendly way of transmitting a message. The frequent use of
paraphrased idioms and proverbs can help people associate the product with a specific slogan.
(A.Vizental 2001: 72)

The slogan for Dodge cars, Grab life by the horns, uses the English idiom “to take the bull by the
horns”. The meaning of the idiom is “Fig. to confront a problem head-on and deal with it openly”
(McGraw -Hill’s Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs, 2002: 679) or „to do something
difficult in a determined and confident way” (Cambridge Idioms Dictionary. 2006: 186).

Hence, the slogan should use elementary predicative communicative models - simple sentences. Also,
the slogan as the central component of the modern advertising text represents a distinctive motto: one or
several brief, catchy, emotionally charged phrases often used by the firm to create a positive consumer
attitude to the subject of advertising.

1.5. Techniques & strategies of translating advertisements

Advertisements keep a cultural message, the notions, ideas, beliefs of a country. Language represents
the expression of culture and individuality of its speakers; hence, the translator should first understand
the meaning of the culture-bound elements of the source text and then transpose those elements in the
target text. Cultural untranslatability occurs when the elements in the source culture do not have an
equivalent in the target culture. The cultural differences between two languages can be translated by
adaptation or paraphrase. (J.Wiliamson 1978: 28)
For instance, M. Baker (1992) , affirms that idioms are “frozen patterns of language which allow
little or no variation in form and often carry meanings which cannot be deduced from their individual
components.” She argues that most of translators working with a foreign language cannot perceive the
same sensitivity of native speakers to know when a certain idiom should be used or not. The main
problems when translating idiomatic expressions are: the ability to recognize and interpret an idiom
appropriately and the difficulties involved in rendering the various aspects of meaning that an idiom or
a fixed expression carry into the target language. An important point when translating idioms is the case
when the idiom in the source language has no equivalent in the target language. (M.Baker 1992: 43)

The slogan for Dell computers Dude, you’re getting a Dell! is made up of a pun. The substitution of
the word dude in Romanian is difficult because of the absence of a similar word in the target culture
which would render the same meaning. A possible equivalent is the noun Tip which nevertheless, does
 not cover the exact meaning of the appellative dude. We can also omit the word dude and turn it into the
Romanian appellative hei . Translating the slogan as Tipule, îţi iei un Dell, it becomes less meaningful,
losing the alliteration of the letter d.
As for automakers, many companies have chosen to preserve the English (or native language) version
of their slogans even in regional markets. They have created specific advertisements for each country,
but decided to keep the brand slogan untranslated. Audi, BMW, Mercedez-Benz, Ford, Toyota and
many other important players of the automotive industry have chosen the most suitable strategy to
promote their products. (M.Baker 1992: 52)
The choice for the native language could be a sign of respect for tradition and experience, a bold
move for breaking the English pattern or a marketing strategy aimed to create an impact by making a
difference. All these techniques lead to the creation of internationally used slogans meant to
communicate the automakers’ purposes, as well as their connection to the customers worldwide (e.g.
Alfa Romeo uses the slogan “Beauty is not enough”, the German manufacturer uses the slogan
“Advancement through technology” in advertising campaigns all over the world.( C.Nord 1991: 134)
Generally, slogans are a major component of the printed advertisements. They carry the central
message of a company advertising its brand. At the same time, slogans transmit a message about the
culture and the customs of a country and therefore, the translation of culture-bound elements of the
source text can often become problematic. The absence of a similar equivalent of the source text
element in the target text requires most of the times adaptation, paraphrase or literal translation (as
slogans often make use of the literal meaning of idioms or phrases).

1.6. Concluding remarks

The general advertising overview realized in the first chapter enable us to consider the following
conclusions:

 Advertising is everywhere around us, it is an unavoidable part of everyone’s life.

 Advertising has evolved into a greatly complex form of communication, with nearly hundreds of
different ways for a business to send a message to the consumer.(Internet media advertising;
Product advertising; Industrial advertising)etc.
 Slogans represent a vital part of marketing, an advertising ploy, that have been used to help
promote business and attract customers for many years.
 The advertising translation techniques have evolved and multiplied during the time, some useful
ones that can be listed are: substitution, paraphrase, adaptation.etc.