English Translation: Detailed explanation of the lexical, grammatical and rhetorical characteristics of advertising slogans

In order to allow friends to prepare more for the English Translation Qualification Examination, what I want to share with you in the English exam column is the lexical, grammatical and rhetorical characteristics of advertising slogans. The details are as follows, you can refer to them~

Advertising slogan is a commercial style and the best medium for sales. With the development of social economy, advertising has penetrated into every corner of society and become an indispensable part of people's daily lives. The purpose of advertising is to promote a product. Therefore, how to make advertising slogans more attractive has become the first consideration for advertisers. Advertising English, as an applied language, has developed into a standardized special language because of its special utility, which is different from ordinary English, forming its own unique language style and characteristics.

1. Linguistic Characteristics of English Advertisements

1. Vocabulary Characteristics of English Advertisements

In order to make products easily understood and quickly accepted by the general public, English advertisements Usually use concise and clear words. The common nouns, monosyllabic words, and verbs used are also the most frequently used words in daily life, such as: buy, be, get, make, live, love, have, come, go, bring, etc. For example, the following advertising sentence: Buyonepair, getonefree (buy one, get one free). The use of adjectives can add color to the product, so adjectives are often used in English advertisements to describe the performance, texture, etc. of the product. In particular, merchants will use a large number of complimentary adjectives in order to beautify the goods and enhance the descriptiveness and attractiveness. Or use the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives to compare with other products to elevate and highlight your own products and enhance consumers' purchasing confidence. For example:

Jewelry advertisement: Shanghai's first pearl dealer; Highest quality pearls with a widest selection of classic & creative designs; Excellent after-sales service; Fair price to every customer. In this example, first, Highest, Widest and other complimentary adjectives are very attractive. Sometimes, some new words and idioms are deliberately used to create new words and strange slang by deliberately using typos, making up new words, or confusing collocations to satisfy consumers' pursuit of trendiness and flaunt their individuality, and achieve unexpected rhetorical effects.

Fishing advertisement: What can be delisher than fisher? Delisher is a coined word that refers to the sound delicious. The purpose is to create a rhyme effect with the following fisher and highlight the fun of fishing.

2. Grammatical features of English advertisements

Advertisements usually use simple sentences or omitted sentences, which not only achieves the purpose of saving space and money, but also makes it clear at a glance, leaving a deep impression on consumers. , so advertising slogans are often short and concise. For example:

Coca-Cola’s advertisement: Coca-colais it. (Coca-Cola is better!)

Diamond ring advertisement: A diamond lasts forever. (A diamond lasts forever.)

English advertising writing can be summarized as a KISS principle: Keep it short and sweet.?

In order to narrow the gap with readers, English advertising often uses questions and imperative sentences to create and Reader intimacy. Such as:

Who else can guide you to a successful meeting? (Holiday Inn)

Test us try us fly us (plane)

3. English advertising The rhetorical characteristics of successful advertising English are beautiful, harmonious, vivid, concise and humorous, making people unforgettable and endless aftertaste.

The use of a variety of rhetorical techniques is the key to realizing the art of advertising language. These rhetorical devices mainly include metaphor, personification, pun, rhyme, repetition, etc. Such as:

Porcelain advertisement: As thin as egg shell, as white assnow (as thin as egg shell, as white as snow). Use personification in English advertising to make cold products humane and approachable.

Cigarette advertisement: I?m More satisfied! (I am more satisfied with Moore cigarettes.) In this advertisement, the word has a double meaning. One is the adverb ? means more?, and the other is the brand ?Moore?. The use of semantic puns combines sound, shape and meaning, deepening customers' impression of the brand.

Advertisements for Sony products: Hi-Fi, Hi-Fun, Hi-Fashion, only from Sony (high fidelity, high fun, high fashion, only from Sony). In this advertisement, Hi-Fi, Hi-Fun and Hi-Fashion alliterize with Hi and f respectively, which is rhythmic, pleasing to the eye and impressive.

2. How to translate advertising language well

In today's society, international business exchanges are becoming increasingly frequent. Many foreign products have entered our market, and advertisements for foreign products are overwhelming. How to make the vast number of people understand For consumers to understand the advertisements of foreign products and make rational consumption, the translation of advertisements in English is very important. So how can we translate an advertisement accurately?

1. The content of the advertisement must be understood correctly. Because understanding is the prerequisite for expression, without correct understanding there is no accurate expression. To correctly understand advertising English, we must not only understand the language characteristics of advertising English, but also have an understanding of the allusions cited, which requires us to have certain cultural background knowledge. For example:

Ludamlan series cosmetics advertisement: Ludamlan cosmetics-Love me tender, love me true. (?Ludamlan loves you forever) This advertisement originated from an American folk song: LoveMe Tender, Love Me True.

Food Advertisement: I know you haveegg and bacon forbreakfast at home.but you are on the Continent you will do in Rome as the Romans do andtake coffeeand rolls.?do in Rome as the Romansdo? comes from the proverb "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

2. Advertising English can often use a combination of free translation and transliteration. Translation is a linguistic art. Good translation gives people a sense of beauty and directly affects the effectiveness of advertising. After the American Coca-cola drink was introduced to China, it was translated into "Coca-Cola". This translation is even better than its original text. Coca-cola in the original text is just the name of two plants, but the Chinese translation of "Coca-Cola" cleverly combines the characteristics of the drink Integrated together, the American Coca-cola company highly praises this translation. Good-year Tire is a kind of tire. When translated into Chinese, it is translated as "Goodyear Tire" according to the pronunciation. The three words "Strong", "Special" and "Different" undoubtedly represent the tire's strong and wear-resistant, superior performance and different characteristics. The characteristics of one stock appear vividly on the paper. The above are all examples of successful advertising translation, and the translation of these advertisements all embodies the beauty of transliteration.

3. The translation of advertisements sometimes requires adding, subtracting, and explaining words. The diamond slogan we mentioned above, "a diamond is forever", is translated into Chinese: "A diamond is forever, a drop of water flows". With the appropriate addition of a few words, the slogan becomes relevant, natural and catchy. Of course, when adding words, you must pay attention to the fact that the meaning and tone of the added words must be consistent with the original trademark, otherwise it will be superfluous and inappropriate.

There are also some words that are often translated into Chinese four-character phrases in Chinese translation, such as: good taste (pure taste), handsomeappearance (beautiful appearance), pretty and colorful (magnificent and colorful), Agreeable to taste, aromatic flavor. These four-character structures are contagious to read and have the beauty of Chinese translation. This can be found in many successful advertising translations.

The most influential advertising slogan launched by Coca-cola in the 1920s, "The Pause That Refreshes", was translated as "Bringing refreshing moments" and later launched as "You Can?t" beat the feeling!? translated as "irresistible temptation" are all very exciting.

Explanation refers to a translation method that clearly expresses vague concepts in the original text. For example, there is an advertisement describing cashmere sweaters:

They are lustrous in color, supplement, lightwarm and comfortable to wear? Translating word by word will inevitably blur the concept of the characteristics of this product. To explain, it can be translated as: ?This product has bright color, smooth feel, comfortable wearing, light weight and warmth, etc.? This makes it clear.

4. When translating English advertisements, the cultural differences between English and Chinese must be fully taken into account. When translating, you cannot translate it literally, otherwise it will make a joke or have the opposite consequences. For example, there is a shampoo called poison, which is very popular in foreign markets. The original meaning of poison is "poison". Naming it is in line with the wild psychology of many foreign women. However, if it is literally translated as "poison" in the Chinese market, it may be difficult for consumers to accept it. However, based on its pronunciation, translating it into "Hundred Cupids" is in line with Chinese cultural habits. There is another example. The trademark of a dry battery for going out is called "White Elephant". The translation of "white elephant" should be correct, but white elephant also means "heavy burden" or "useless and cumbersome thing" in English. . One can only imagine what consequences this advertising translation will bring in the British and American markets. In short, the purpose of English advertising translation is to localize foreign advertising, thereby opening up the market and promoting sales. Therefore, English translation should get rid of the traditional translation method. Its principle should be a kind of re-creation based on advertising creativity. It should be careful not to stick to the equivalence of the form and content of the original language and the hypocritical language, but should pay more attention to the translation and the original text. Equivalence of function or effect. Translating advertising sentences sometimes requires the use of a variety of translation techniques and multi-level processing from different angles, so as to achieve a translation effect that is expressive, expressive and expressive.

Advertising slogan is a commercial style and the best medium for sales. With the development of social economy, advertising has penetrated into every corner of society and become an indispensable part of people's daily lives. The purpose of advertising is to promote a product. Therefore, how to make advertising slogans more attractive has become the first consideration for advertisers. Advertising English, as an applied language, has developed into a standardized special language because of its special utility, which is different from ordinary English, forming its own unique language style and characteristics.