毕业论文前期报告
毕业论文题目：从商业广告看文化因素对广告翻译的影响
The Influence of Culture Elements on the Translation of
Advertisements-Take Commercial Advertisements as an Example
学生姓名：杨小艺 学号：098802 班级：英语C093 指导教师：侯晓佳 职称：讲师 报告提交日期：20xx，4，13
前期报告内容
Nowadays English culture plays a more and more important role in people’s life,
especially in business communication. To market a company’s products,
advertisement plays an indispensable role. English advertising language is an
important component of modern English culture. It has unique language feature which
are the reflection of English culture. How English culture influence advertisements is
an interesting topic. There are many theories on English culture and researches on the
features of advertisements. However, there are fewer researches on the culture
influence on advertisements.
How people and cultures define themselves has great impact on their business
practices. Consider the case of Japan, where group goals and needs are almost always
placed ahead of those of individual. In Japan, the classic American hero—the
self-made man or woman who boastfully looks out for “number one”—is hardly an
ideal. There the individual gives way to the group. Decisions are made on a consensus
basis and group harmony is the desideratum—to the point that even when visitors are
thought to be dead wrong, the Japanese will never tell them that they are. The Dutch
researcher and business consultant, Geert Hofstede, has developed a useful framework
that define and classify national cultures. Each issue ultimately has a very real effect
on how people process information and interacts, either personally or with business
colleagues. The four dimensions consist of :(1) individualism(“I” consciousness
versus “we” consciousness);(2) power distance(levels of equality in society);(3)
uncertainty avoidance(need for formal rules and regulations);(4) masculinity(attitude toward achievement, roles of men and woman). A fifth dimension has also been added to distinguish culture difference: long-term versus short-term orientation. This theory can be used to explain many business programs.
British and American culture is a multifaceted and broad concept, which contains language, religion, values and attitudes, manners and customs, material elements, aesthetics, education and social structure. Jonathan Crowther provides insights into what is important or popular in present-day Britain and America in an engaging manner, focusing on the practical applications of such information in The Oxford Guide to British and American Culture (New Edition20xx). The Guide discovers facts and figures about Britain and America in the 21st century，explores the lives of the rich, the famous and the infamous, history, legends, festivals, music, food, shopping, and attitudes，looks up famous quotations and sayings and finds out who said what and get ideas of what to read-choose from lists of books that won the Booker, Pulitzer and other prizes plus suggestions for further reading.
Advertisement, as a medium of promotion, intends to enhance the product’s reputation, attract more customers, and consequently stimulate them to buy it. So the application of advertising techniques and methods in advertisements can inspire consumers to purchase the product. There are many theories on advertisement which can be divided as advertisement targeting theories, advertising communication theories and advertisement marketing theories.
The advertisement targeting is essential to the advertisement which determines whether the advertisement is successful or not. For fifty years, the advertisement targeting theories went through three stages, namely USP theory advocated by Rosser Reeves in the 1950s, CI theory advocated by David Ogilvy in the 1960s and modern target theory advocated by Al Rise and Jack Trout after 1970s. USP or Unique Selling Proposition means propose the consumers to buy the product because its unique feature or selling point. While in the 1970s, David Ogilvy changed the USP theory that is based on the product into CI theory that is based on image. Then Japanese scholars developed his theory which became a system called CIS, namely Corporate
Identity System. This system consists of three components: MI (Mind Identity) that reflects the basic value of a company, BI (Behavior Identity) that demonstrates a series of activities of a company and VI (Visual identity) that visualize the image of a company. After 1970s, Jack Trout and other masters of advertisement put forward the modern advertisement theory. The basic target principle is not creating novel product, but operating people’s idea and taking up a certain position.
Advertising communication is a process of spreading information. Many well-known scholars have advocated numerous theories on advertising communication, but the most classic theories are AIDMA theory and CS theory. AIDMA stands for five psychological activities: attention, interest, desire, memory and action. This is an advertising pyramid which the information is becoming less effective, the more people it reaches.
The most typical example of advertisement marketing theory is Integrated Marketing communication theory which was advocated by Don E. Schultz. It is the coordination and integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues, functions and sources within a company into a seamless program that maximizes the impact on consumers and other end users at a minimal cost.
Language, the carrier of culture, is an essential part of culture. Through the analysis of language, we can have a clear view of a nation’s culture. The language feature of the advertisements is diverse, such as simple, easy to remember, abbreviation, novel words. Besides, the advertisements also contain many rhetorical features. “Kodak is Olympic color” is an example of metaphor. “Ask for More” “I am More satisfied” these two pieces of advertisements smartly took advantage of pun, because “more” not only serve as the function word, but also symbolizes the More cigarette. “Curls that last and last at last” is repetition. There are other features such as exaggeration, personification, and alliteration.
Advertisement culture is featured by popularity，commerciality and nationality. Cultural traditions，beliefs and values exert influence on the mentality and behavior of commercial practitioners and consumers to a large extent so as to influence advertisement activities of various countries. From the way of thinking, we can see
that western people tend to be more logical and reasonable than our Chinese people. Their advertisements seldom directly say the benefits of their product, but make the consumer themselves to infer the benefits. Besides, western culture is centralized in “individualism”. Their mature character is embodied by independence and subjectivity. Individualism almost becomes the theme of western advertisements. No matter what kind of products and no matter how wonderful the originality is, the ultimate theme always comes down to individuality, freedom and self-esteem. Their color, visual impact and picture are very impressive. People can be astonished by their exaggeration, boldness and imagination. Therefore western culture is extrovert culture which emphasizes more outer form and visual impression.