Language Characteristics and Translation of English Advertisement

顧亞玲 王珍

1. Introduction

As foreign brands are increasingly flowing into Chinese market，and business communication in the world is also increasing，advertisements exists everywhere in peoples daily life. Therefore，advertising is playing an important role than ever before. As is known to all，the competition in the international market is fierce，so if one company wants to stand steadily in the international stage，it not only has good products，reputation，services and company image，but also use advertisements to promote. Advertising is a good way to sell the products and establish good company image. As English is an international language，the translators begin to pay more attention to the translation of English advertisements，which starts to become an important branch in translation area.

In this thesis，in order to have a clear image of English advertisements，it analyzes in two main aspects：lexical，syntactic. In these three parts，it uses some examples to summarize the language features of English advertisements. The most important thing in translation in to know use which strategy to translate. This thesis lists two strategies：literal translation，free translation

2. Language Characteristics of English Advertisement

2. Lexical features of English Advertisement

In this respect，English advertisements have four main characteristics：frequently use of monosyllabic verbs，the use of amelioration.

2.1. Frequent use of monosyllabic

Monosyllabic verbs are short and rhythmical. They are often used by the advertisers in the advertisements to make the contexts concise，vivid and simple. At the same time，they also save space，time and money. The words like go，use，give，take，look，and so on are usually used.

（1）We love to fly and it shows.（Decta Airlines）

All the verbs in example（1）are monosyllabic verbs. Th verb love demonstrates the positive attitude of passenger. The verb show makes people believe that the flight is reliable. Although this advertisement is very simple，when people read about it，they will imagine that they are flying in the sky and feel relaxed.

2.1. Frequent use of amelioration

For amelioration，its intention is to make people have a wonderful picture in their mind and promote the products. The words like delicious，new，fresh，latest，up-to-date，charming，and so on are often used. These words have good meanings and make advertisement full of aesthetic feelings.

（1）Feel the new space.（San Xing）

In the example（2），the verbs new and fresh-up gives us a comfortable feelings. New highlights the brand new quality of the product，which is different from others.

2. Syntactic features of English Advertisement

At the syntactic level，we will find construction “which cannot be generated by an English grammar but are nevertheless interpretable..Therefore，the advertisements also pay much attention on the sentences.

2.2. Constant use of simple sentences

The purposes of using simple sentences in advertisements is to convey much information as possible in limited time for the sake of money and space，and can let customers memorize these advertisements easily and quickly.

（1）Quality never goes out of style.---Levis Jeans

Example（3）is smooth to read and easy to understand. Besides，it evokes customers feeling of intimacy and promotes consumers desire to buy the products.

2.2. Common use of elliptical sentences

Elliptical sentences not only can make advertisements compact，but also arouse the interest of people to find the omitted information. That is why advertisers use this kind of sentences in advertisements.

（1）Safe. Easy. Quick and with fun.（KITCHEN WONDER Vegetable Processor）

If we complete the whole sentence，it may like this：Using KITCHEN WONDER Vegetable Processor is Safe，Easy and with fun. We can easily find that the original one has more clear themes and tells us what the advertiser wants to show. Thus，elliptical is more concise and easily to convey the information.

3. Translation of English Advertisement

3. Strategies of Translation of English Advertisement

When we translate English advertisements into Chinese ones，we may find a lot of difficulties owing to cultural differences and different way of thinking. Therefore，in order to do a good translation，we should know some strategies.

3.1. Literal translation

Literal translation is also called semantic translation or foreignization translation. It mans word-to word translation. Making good use of literal translation can achieve unimaginable effect. Literal translation is the basic way of translation.

（1）Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.

沒(méi)有橙汁的早餐，猶如沒(méi)有陽(yáng)光的日子。

Example（5）uses literal translation，which properly demonstrates lexical，syntactic and rhetorical features of original one and tells us the importance of orange juice. It can urge people to buy orange juice.

3.1. Free translation

It allows the translators to translate more creatively，but the basic information of original advertisements should be remained.

（1）We care to provide service above and beyond the call of duty.（UPS）

殷勤有加，風(fēng)雨不改。（UPS—快遞廣告語(yǔ)）

In this situation，we prefer free translation to literal translation，because using free translation can convey the meaning of UPS more correctly and vividly. It former translation achieve the goal of advertisement.

4. Conclusion

With the quicker development of economy and closer relationship between each country，advertisement is playing an important role in business area and peoples daily life. Advertising language is a business language，a sort of art，an institution and a culture. It is vivid，concise，attractive and impressive. In order to maintain the image of English advertisement and attract people to buy the products，we need to know the features of it and the way to translate it.

作者簡(jiǎn)介

第一作者：顧亞玲（1997-），女，漢族，安徽廬江人，學(xué)生，本科，單位：浙江師范大學(xué)行知學(xué)院文學(xué)分院，英語(yǔ)專(zhuān)業(yè)。

第二作者：王珍（1996-），女，漢族，浙江衢州人，學(xué)生，本科，單位：浙江師范大學(xué)行知學(xué)院文學(xué)分院，英語(yǔ)專(zhuān)業(yè)。

（作者單位：浙江師范大學(xué)行知學(xué)院）