An investigation into the translation of advertisement slogans from english to vietnamese

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE TRANSLATION OF ADVERTISEMENT SLOGANS FROM ENGLISH TO VIETNAMESE Date of birth : 27/02/1994 HANOI, 2016... This study will research and analyse the respects wh

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE TRANSLATION

OF ADVERTISEMENT SLOGANS FROM ENGLISH TO VIETNAMESE

Date of birth : 27/02/1994

HANOI, 2016

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis owes its existence to the help, support and inspiration of several people Firstly, I would like to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to M.A Nguyen Thi Thu Huong for her guidance during my search Her support and inspiring suggestions have been precious for the development of this thesis content

I also would to express my special thanks to all teachers of Faculty of English, who have provided my with not only knowledge but also the study condition during my student life, as well as their useful advice in this graduation paper

I would like to acknowledge my thanks to all the authors of the books and materials listed in the reference part for their ideas that have been reflected and developed in the study

Finally yet importantly, I am indebted to my family and friends who were fundamental in supporting me during these stressful and difficult moments

Hanoi, 14 April 2016

Luu Trang Linh

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DECLARATION

Title:

An investigation into the translation

of advertisement slogans from English into Vietnamese

I certify that no part of the above report has been copied or reproduced by me from any other’s word without acknowledgement and that the report is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor

Hanoi, 14 April 2016

Signature Signature

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part A: Introduction 7

1 Rationale 7

2 Aims of the study 8

3 Scope of the study 8

4 Research questions 8

5 Methods of the study 8

6 Design of the study 8

Part B: Development 9

Chapter 1: Literature review 9

1.1 A REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES 9

1.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 10

1.2.1 Definition of advertisement and slogan 10

1.2.2 The function and features of slogan 13

1.3 SUMMARY 15

Chapter 2: Finding, Interpretations and analyses 15

2.1 GRAMMATICAL FEATURES 15

2.1.1 Sentential level 15

a Reported Speech 16

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b Question 16

c Negative Sentences 17

d Imperative sentence 17

2.1.2 Phrasal level 17

a Noun phrases 18

b Verb phrases 19

c Adjective phrases 20

d Adverb Phrase 21

e Prepositional Phrase 21

2.1.3 Tense 22

a Present tense 22

b Future tense 22

2.2 STYLISTIC DEVICES 23

2.2.1 Metaphor 23

2.2.2 Metonymy 24

2.2.3 Simile 25

2.2.4 Pun 26

2.2.5 Personification 27

2.2.6 Apostrophe 29

2.2.7 Repetition 29

2.2.8 Parallelism 30

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2.2.9 Antithesis 31

2.2.10 Hyperbole 32

2.3 SOUND TECHNIQUES 32

2.3.1 Rhyme 32

2.3.2 Alliteration 33

2.3.3 Assonance 34

2.3.4 Consonance 35

2.3.5 Onomatopoeia 35

2.3.6 Rhythm 36

Chapter 3 Discussion 37

3.1 Understanding culture in slogan translation 37

3.2 Some tips to translate the slogan 39

Part C: Conclusion and recommendation 41

4.1 Conclusion 41

4.1.1 Summary of the findings 41

4.1.2 Limitations of the study 42

4.2 Suggestions for further study 42

Reference 43

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CONTENT

Part A: Introduction

1 Rationale

Today, advertising is an important form of communication that contributes

to the development of the economy The use of stylistic devices in advertisements aims at arousing and persuading consumers to buy what is advertised The methods and means of advertising are very diverse, but forms of advertising using language are common forms However, writer not only is interested in the choice of words, but also needs to focus on the use of these measures in his rhetorical art of advertising

The slogan is an important means of promoting products and corporate branding The advertising slogan often contains a word or phrase with catchy content It used to attract the attention of consumers or express an easy idea to grasp Moreover, it also represents all purposes and visions of the business However, in the process of translation from English to Vietnamese, translators often have difficulty in conveying meaning in a brief and comprehensive because

of differences in language and culture

Therefore, I would like to choose “An investigation into the translation

of advertisement slogan from English into Vietnamese” as a topic of my

graduation thesis This study will research and analyse the respects which affect the translation of advertisement slogan from English into Vietnamese

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2. Aims of the study

The study focuses on a number of issues:

in advertisement slogans

slogan from English into Vietnamese

from English into Vietnamese

3. Scope of the study

The English slogans were taken from many different sources of product advertisements, such as technology, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, etc

slogan from English into Vietnamese

from English into Vietnamese

advertisements

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The study consists of 3 chapters

Chapter 1 reviews of literature, presents a review of prior studies and

concepts related to the problem under study General views of advertising and some fundamental theoretical background to the study will also be presented

Chapter 2 fully describes the aim and the objective, research design,

research method and procedure, description of population and sample, data collection and data analysis This chapter deals with findings and discussion It provides the findings of linguistic features of the advertisement slogan

Chapter 3 gives the conclusions, the reality of the thesis, suggestions for

using stylistic devices the limitations and some suggestions for further research

Part B: Development

Chapter 1: Literature review

In his book “Investigating English Style”, David Crystal and Davy Derek (1969) emphasized how to use rhetorical measures and the grammatical structure

in the advertising slogan Geoffrey N Leech wrote in his book “English in advertising” the slogan is a short phrase used by the company in its advertisements to reinforce the identity of the brand "; therefore, how to use the language of advertising slogans is very important

In the book he published in 1971, "Stylistics", I R Galperin confirmed

In the article “The Importance of Ad Slogans” , Kristen Hamlin defines the advertising slogans as “catchy, declarative phrases that use devices such as metaphors, alliteration or rhymes with simple, vibrant language” (Hamlin 2014) Even without mentioning the company‘s name or product, the advertising slogans help people remember the brand

In Vietnamese, when analyzing the feature of the advertising slogan and the effect of language in advertising, Tran Dinh Vinh and Nguyen Duc Ton wrote the book “Về đặc điểm của ngôn ngữ quảng cáo” published in 2004

“Quảng cáo và ngôn ngữ quảng cáo” (2004) by Nguyen Kien Truong analyzed the devices which used in the advertising language to increase the attractiveness of the product

In “Ngôn ngữ quảng cáo dưới ánh sáng của lí thuyết giao tiếp”, Dr Mai Xuan Huy gives an overview about the language of advertising slogans

1.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Advertising branch is unique in the many aspects It is supposed to target

as many people as possible It can be old people, teenagers, children, men or women To meet the objectives it is necessary to choose right language, words,

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the pun in order to attract the customers This fact means that advertising branch intervenes into many other fields such as psychology, lexicology, morphology, gender studies and last but not least cultural studies

The American Marketing Association has adopted the following as a definition of advertising "Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor." As advertising is paid for, it is a commercial transaction It is non-personal, which means that advertising messages are directed at a mass audience and not directly at individuals

According to the American Advertising Association "advertising is information dissemination activities, stating the intentions of all advertising, dissemination of goods and services of all advertising on the basis of an ad for a fee, not directly to attack others"

Each culture is exceptional and inimitable This is the reason why advertising is so complex and interesting The advertisements in spite of this controversy have become part of our life However, many people keep fighting with the advertising industry The reason might be the obvious aim of ads that

is in many regards so commercial and superficial – to earn money

The concept of “khẩu hiệu” (Vietnamese) or "the slogan" (English) exists

in many languages and cultures in the world It is possible to understand this concept in many forms and semantic aspects, different languages, but first of all , let us find out how the dictionary defines the slogan in general

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the slogan is a variation of the slogan - derived from Gaelic language of Scotland is sluagh-ghairm (which

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sluagh as "army / war" are ghairm is "cry" This is a huge cry before the battle of the warrior Scotland late Middle Ages, with the aim of encouraging and making military troops enemies fear The word was first used in 1513 As time passed by, the word is transformed into sluggorne, slogurn and slughorn In modern society, along with the latest concepts "slogan" The dictionary definition is "word, language attracts attention is used to promote something (be it a campaign or product)" With such understanding, "slogan" was assimilated to mean "banner" (ribbons, banners) with features and functionality similar to "banner as the name, slogan or purpose was tied to a particular group or a particular ideology" In the Dictionary Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English , Crowther has defined that "the slogan is a word or a catchy phrase to attract the attention of others or suggest an idea quickly" , while in Collin's Advanced Learner's English Cobuil Dictionary "slogan is a catchy term short paragraphs, be used in advertising or by the political parties and other organizations, wants people to remember what they said or sale" We can say the definition is inclusive of the American Heritage Dictionaries Dictionary, where the slogan is defined as "a phrase / word to express purpose or nature of the agencies, organizations or an application candidate "; "Is saying used many times during the campaign or promotion"; "The special words and themes, easy to attract others, are used in advertising, politics to campaign for a product, or a former contestant somehow (Online version, Reference Date 10/06/2013) In studies about the slogan from the 30s (of the 20th century) until now, a number of authors in the world have concretized the dictionary definition of contact with reality According to them, the slogan was seen as a way of expression designed to enhance the universality

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of the products and encouragement to buy the products The slogan is the brief expression in commercial advertising or promotion of politics is used to express ideas, principles and purposes of an individual or organization, sometimes just to let others remember The slogan played an important supporting role in the construction of a brand image - a matter of survival of a business It helps save the a brand image in consumers’ mind Concepts were defined as slogans and illustrations of mandates within the relativity of all political, social, commercial advertisements and all cultures, military

1.2.2 The function and features of the slogan

In commercial advertising, a commercial slogan of a company is considered

as a sentence or short paragraph containing and transmitting descriptive and compelling information of a brand Accordingly, the slogan seen as a way to promote the brand is an extremely effective tool in creating brand value The slogan can help customers quickly understand what that brand is and how it differs from other brands Slogans can contribute to brand value by increasing customer awareness of products through a strong impact on their benefits as consumer products to help save the image of the brand in the minds of customers

to create expectations and promote customer At the same time, the slogan also helps a company affirm their commitment to customer service and helps reinforce the brand through identifying their differences with other companies in the market For example, the advertising slogan of the company printing greeting cards Hallmark's "When you care enough to send the very best"

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The advertising slogan distinguishes your product or brand from that of your competitors while also underscoring the company's general mission If you have an advantage over your competitors, or if your product or service has a unique benefit, you need to use it Slogans are the first impressions for many potential consumers, so it absolutely needs to stress the company's worth Isolating one key area of your business and finding a way to integrate it into the slogan Therefore, in the process of translating the slogan, the translator should understand the main characteristics of the language in the slogans, which may make an appropriate language

The slogan is composed of three characteristics: memorable, goal and interesting

remain in the minds of consumers quickly Typically, the catchy slogan will have brief rhyming For example, Apple's slogan: “Think different" is a success slogan People remember the slogans that relate to their lives and have meaning

certain objects A meaningful slogan will certainly evoke emotion and impression to customers For example, Nokia slogan "Connecting people" This slogan has shown success criteria of the company, which is friendly This slogan want to show that everyone can connect without any barriers

this slogan should have fun and express sophistication, individuality, the difference of the brand Let us take a slogan for a Muffler company that says

"No appointment necessary We hear you coming” as an example We also

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appreciate the funny, witty slogan or slogan which implies a difference and creates trust It can be an emotional slogan to customers as "Very Yomost feeling" of YoMost

1.3 SUMMARY

It can be said that a slogan is like the oath of the business All purposes, missions and visions of the business are contained in a brief statement The indispensable factor of a slogan is attracting the attention and impressing everybody A slogan is a self-referral, self-promotion, a message sent to identified customers, in the form of fans At the same time, it has to let consumers know the characteristics, advantages of the product, the benefits and satisfaction that it brings to them And all those contents are only allowed to include a few short, easy to read and easy to remember words In other words, a slogan is a concise form of expression, rich in meaning and strong in impression The slogan uses few words, but it conveys many things Therefore, the words and images play extremely important role in the slogan

Chapter 2: Finding, Interpretations and analyses

2.1 GRAMMATICAL FEATURES

2.1.1 Sentential level

In order to be easily understandable, English advertising tends to adopt short sentence Besides, short sentences may help to retain readers attention and persuade them to buy products of the company

• S + V + C

Are you a Cadbury's Fruit & Nut case?

(Cadbury's Fruit & Nut) Does she or doesn't she?

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c Negative Sentences

Use negative sentences in advertising emphasize the contradiction from which customers will see the advantages of the product

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't

You can’t beat the real thing

According to the study of State University of Malang, the researcher found 49 phrases of 42 products from the advertisements taken The findings of types of phrases on the advertisement slogans will be classified in the table below

Table Types of Phrases

a Noun phrases

Most copywriters form noun phrases by inserting prepositional phrases

or adjective phrases or both for the determiners Adjective phrases as the determiners on noun phrases give effect on glorifying the products The copywriters put adjectives to tell the readers the special characteristics of the products They want to inform what the distinctive qualities of their products compared to the others products are

• Basic noun phrases

- Possessive + N

Your potential Our passion (Microsoft)

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- Article + nouns

The future's bright The future's Orange

In general, prepositional phrases put as the determiners to tell the readers the benefits of the products The slogans use the words “for” to inform what advantage the readers will get In addition, many copywriters combined adjective phrases and prepositional phrases as determiners in noun phrases to make the slogan stronger The slogans are expected to ensure the readers that their products are the best

b Verb phrases

Verb phrase is the most frequently used phrase for advertisement slogans

In making verb phrases, the advertisers use varying modifiers to modify the verbs Carnie stated that a verb phrase can have adverbs, nouns, and also prepositional phrases as the modifiers From the data taken, it was found that the

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copywriters used nouns, adverbs, adjectives, or prepositional phrases as the modifiers of some verb phrases in slogans

Share moments Share life (Kodax)

In general, verb phrases are used to give promise to the reader There

are various verbs used by the advertisement writer such as make, get, take, etc

For example the Coca Cola slogan: Open Happiness The slogan suggests to consumers that if they drink it, they will feel comfortable and happy By giving promises and orders, verb phrases have strong power to raises readers’ curiosity and make them want to prove the advertisement As the result, to confirm the slogan, the readers will try or buy the products Due to the advantages of verb phrases, many copywriters prefer to use verb phrase as the slogan

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one adjectives and one adjective modifying the other adjectives Adjective phrases have almost the same function as adverb phrases Adjective phrases in advertisement slogan give information of the characteristics of the products The readers are expected to know the quality of the products and what make them special Furthermore, adjective phrases on slogan only can inform the readers about the products as the adverb phrases do

d Adverb Phrase

Technically, everything is possible

(Mitsubishi) Always listening Always understanding

(Prudential)

In general, adverbs are functioned as the modifiers in a sentence or to give further information about certain conditions However, it was found that adverb phrases are not always become the modifiers to the other lexical categories In the slogan, adverb phrases can stand alone as the main phrase Adverb phrases employed in order to give further explanation about the products

e Prepositional Phrase

For a whole mouth clean

(Colgate 360° Toothbrush)

Mostly, prepositional phrases on slogans are aimed to inform the readers the function or the benefit of the products Telling the benefit is one of some selling strategies Readers can be attracted if they are told what they will get from the products However, not many copywriters think that prepositional

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phrases are strong enough to fascinate the readers This can be seen from the findings of prepositional phrases in slogans There are only three slogans found which employ prepositional phrases

2.1.3 Tense

a Present tense

Consumers are often concerned with nature and current use of the product

Therefore, many the advertisement slogans exhibit a preference to the present

tense usage In English, the present tense is used for characterization of habitual actions, narration of historical present, reporting mental or emotional state, commenting on immediately accompanying actions and demonstration or explanation of the individual acts involved The present tense verbs help English advertisements slogan to characterize and portray the desirable situation, express positive thoughts, comments and show the benefits of the advertised object Also, the present tense shows that the action is happening now and that everything being said is a “general truth”

Where do you want to go today?

(Microsoft) Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach

(Heineken)

b Future tense

The present tense helps to create a more intimate relationship with the addressee than the future tense do Therefore, future tense was not commonly used in the slogan The future tense is used to characterize and portray a positive