浅析剧情广告的发展及其英译技巧

 2023-08-30 08:24:33

论文总字数:29489字

摘 要

商品市场竞争日益激烈,广告种类日益繁多,其中利用剧情来宣传产品的植入广告逐渐受到消费者的喜爱。中国的剧情广告虽然还处于发展阶段,但是近几年有了很大的进步。

而且随着中国国力增强,越来越多的外国人选择学习中文,但是中文确实有一定难度,我认为加上英文字幕的广告可能更便于他们理解,从而激发外国人的购买欲。

本文通过查阅文献资料,了解剧情广告的发展以及剧情广告的翻译。结合文献资料我发现剧情广告的翻译和广告英语大同小异。因此,我认为剧情广告可以参考广告英语的语言特征,同时兼顾中西方的文化差异进行翻译。

关键词:剧情广告;语言特征;文化差异;翻译技巧

Contents

  1. Introduction………………………………………………………………1

2. Literature Review…………………………………………………………2

2.1 Studies of implantable ads at home......................…………….2

2.2 Studies of implantable ads abroad …….........................….......3

2.3 Language characteristics of advertising English …………….......4

3. Cases Analysis....................……............…..................…….…….…...5

4. Translation skills of dramatic Advertisements .…............................6

4.1 Language characteristics …………………………………………….....6

4.2 Translation skills........................………...……………………….......8

4.3 Cultural factors........................………...……………………….......9

4.4 Innovations ............................………………………………...…....…..10

5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………..…..10

Works Cited…………………………………………………………….…...12

1. Introduction

Today, the commodity economy is booming. There are more and more different brands for the same product along with more advertisements. Before, it was common to see advertisements on television or in newspapers, which were mostly recommended in words or by pictures. In my view, with the increase of the number of advertisements, that kind of ads is a bit monotonous, and it doesn’t meet people’s demand for advertisements. As a result, people would find that such ads are boring or even unwilling to see them.

Recently, I have noticed that the form of advertising is changing. Take the recommendations of products on popular video software for example. As everyone knows, new media has developed rapidly in recent years, especially some short video software, which have a huge user base. As one of the users, I would ignore it directly if I am browsing the video when suddenly an advertisement appears. However, in recent days, when I watch videos, I found that some ads were no longer drab. These advertisements are combined with the voguish micro-video mode, embedding the product into the plot of the video rather than just introducing the features of products in words or by pictures. I guess this form of ads which uses the plot to introduce the functions and advantages of products to consumers can attract more consumers to watch than the traditional simple text ads.

Despite the fact that plot advertising in China is still in the stage of development, great achievements have been made in recent years. Besides, with the enhancement of China’s national power, more and more foreigners choose to learn Chinese and use China’s popular software. They are also potential large consumer groups in China. Nevertheless, it is really difficult for foreigners to learn Chinese. Hence, I feel that if Chinese dramatic ads can be accompanied by English subtitles, it will be more conductive for foreigners to understand the intention of ads, thus arousing their interest in products and stimulating consumption.

As a practical style, advertising English has formed its own linguistic features. Through consulting the literature and studying the linguistic features of advertising English, I think the translation skills of dramatic ads are similar to characteristics of advertising English. In my opinion, as a bridge for foreign consumers to know our products, we can refer to the linguistic features of advertising English and the influence of cultural differences at home and abroad on advertising English.

Since dramatic ads have only sprung up in China in recent years, there is not a large number of references for the study of translation of dramatic ads. Therefore, there may be many limitations in individual subjective judgement in writing. As a result, I need to consult with my classmates and teachers, and integrate all kinds of efforts to complete the thesis writing.

2. Literature Review

Under the new media ecological environment, it is difficult for traditional advertising forms and advertising ideas to touch the hearts of the audience. In this case, the advertising field, especially the online advertising field, urgently needs a change to recapture the attention of consumers, so as to improve the advertising communication effect and get rid of the current development dilemma. Compared with traditional advertisements which directly introduce products to consumers, implantable ads are more euphemistic.

2.1 Studies of implantable ads at home

The beginning of implantable ads in China is a TV series “The Story of the Editorial Department” in the early 1990s. Bailong mineral pot appealed many times in the play and was propagated by the typical characteristics in the play. After the play was broadcast, Bailong mineral pot became popular, which opened the prelude of Chinese implantable advertisements.

Because of the popularity of “The Mystic Nine”, an online drama adapted from the novel of the same name, implantable ads began to be truly known by Chinese public. There are many advertisements embedded in the story of “The Mystic Nine”, to which the audience’s response is very good. While the play was welcomed by the audience, the products had also achieved the effect of propaganda.

At present, implantable ads in China is still in the exploratory stage. Most of them are simple implanted according to the plot. Some are even implanted without screening in order to increase profits. In a word, many aspects of implantable ads are not mature enough. The purpose of combining ads with plots is to better show the function of products, and at the same time these ads will not make consumers feel bored. If there is no skilled advertising implantation, it will easily lead to the loss of video artistry. At the same time, without the funds sponsored by advertisers, creation of video will be constrained, and the scope of operation will become narrowed, which is not conductive to the emergence of perfect videos. This is one of the problems of implantable ads in China, which needs to be gradually improved in continuous practice.

Domestic research on implantable ads focus on its characteristics, forms and modes. In the article “Advantages and Prospects of Original Creative Advertising”, Xia Lin of Nangchang University mainly discussed the advantages of implantable ads and predicted its future development trend.

Cao yue of Nanjing Normal University divides the original advertisements in network drama into three forms in the paper of “The Application of Native Ads in Network Drama”. Firstly, the plot implantable ads represented by “Ode to Joy”. secondly, the embedding ads represented by “Blows the Lamp”. Finally, the customized network drama, represented by the side story of “Love Apartment”. (Cao 4) She believes that the rise of plot ads originates from the development of network drama.

Xiaoqi, a director, believe that the advertising industry itself is a very creative industry. After years of development, the change of advertising industry is inevitable, and dramatic ads will gradually become an important means of propaganda. That’s what I most agree with. In terms of broadcasting, it is no longer just play on TV, but through a variety of channels, such as subway media, films, mainstream video portal and so on. Whatever the way of propaganda, its advantages are obvious when compared with traditional TV advertising. The cost is low and the time period of publicity is not considered. Importantly, the plot design of advertisements will not make consumers feel bored. On the contrary, it will arouse consumers’ interest in the products.

2.2 Studies of implantable ads abroad

The earliest implantable advertisement was the American cartoon Popeye in 1929, which advertised a canned spinach. It tells us that whenever Popeye’s girl friend is in danger, he eats canned spinach and becomes very strong to defeat the bad guy. Such an ad is vivid and attractive.

The earliest impressive advertisement implantation abroad: the scene in Aliens that people attracted aliens into the house with Reese candy. As the movie hit, Reese candy became the dream candy of children and its sales increased greatly. Later, more and more recessive advertisements in American movies and TV dramas appealed and they had attracted more and more attention from audiences and professionals.

Implantable ads in the United States has a long history and it has reached a relatively perfect stage after a long period of development. Especially when brands and films are implanted. The combination of commodity and movie plot makes the performance of the commodity itself displayed to the maximum extent, which not only meets the needs of plot development, but also meets the needs of commodity publicity, achieving a win-win effect.

Foreign studies focus on the effect of implantable ads. In the paper of “The Study on the Video-type Native Advertising Effort According to the Appeal Involvement and Knowledge”, Shim explores whether the factors affecting the traditional ads also effect the implantable ads. The results show that information-based advertising has a higher propaganda effect than entertainment-based advertising, but plot advertising has a higher impact on consumers.

2.3 Language characteristics of advertising English

Based on the literature, I find that the translation of dramatic ads is similar to that of advertising English. Therefore, dramatic ads can be translated by referring to the linguistic features of advertising English.

Advertising English is at a mature stage, which has formed its own unique language. Its words and sentences are very refined but it can well convey information of products to consumers. First of all, the advertising language should be easy to understand and remember. Besides, the advertising language needs to grasp the characteristics and advantages of products, using accurate and vivid words. Moreover, time of advertisements is limited and consumers may feel repelled by advertisements with too many words. So language of advertisements should also be refined. Concise sentences are easier to attract the attention of consumers and thus stimulate their desire to buy things. As a result, simple sentences and elliptical sentences are more used than complex sentences.(Yang Quanhong 19-20)

In addition, in order to leave a deep impression on consumers and reduce the cost of advertising, advertising planners often use imperative sentences which have the effect of request and command to stimulate the consumption.

  1. Case Analysis

Creativity is very important to advertisements in the fierce competition of advertisements. Advertising designers must analyze products accurately, combine the plot with the characteristics of the products reasonably, and endow the products with richer connotations, so that consumers will have a strong interest in the products. Dramatic ads belong to implantable ads, and this form of ads is the best one to do this. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the translation techniques of dramatic ads.

Kinds of dramatic ads are also rich and varied. What they have in common is that they convey emotions to consumers to arouse resonance first before introducing the products.

First of all, I’d like to introduce ads that begin with an interesting talk to attract the public’s attention. Feng is popular on short video software because of talk show. Before advertising, he shows his opinion of a social phenomenon that clothes sold in shopping malls seldom match the season. This topic is particularly interesting and it can arouse people’s curiosity. Before introducing the product, he gives us a hint, which has something to do with the product.

He says “So I am experienced. When I meet discounts, I buy clothes immediately.” Through this sentence, people will begin to realize that this may be an advertisement about clothes. The next sentence confirms people’s conjecture directly. “Recently, there is a big shopping event about T-shirts in VIP.com.” What follows is the advantages of the T-shirts. This part is no longer just a talk show, in which Feng adds many videos related to the products. For example, he rubs the collar of a T-shirt to show that the clothes are not easily deformed, and he puts on the clothes to show us the looseness of the clothes in all directions. These contents are similar to traditional ads. However, with the talk show paving the way for products, people will no t be resistant to such ads.

Another one is a longer form of micro-film advertising, in which the product to be recommended appears many times along with some prompting advertising words, so that people who like movies are interested in it and thus remembering the product.

The last one is the form of short plays, which first immerse people in the plot and then explain what product is advertised in the end of the play. This kind of ads always gives people an unexpected feeling so as to leaving a deep impression on the audience. Among them, I am impressed by an advertisement about eye masks.

At the beginning of the plot, Nancy looks very anxious because she is not very good at the operation of documents. As a result, she always stays up late and works overtime. Then her colleague Amy comes and teaches her how to operate documents quickly. After, Amy is surprised to find that though Nancy often stays up late, she had no black rim on her eyes. So Amy asks Nancy how does she do this. At this time, Nancy shows the advantages of the eye masks. Such an ad is very unpredictable. Moreover, the audience also learn how to operate the documents from the short play. This is win-win outcome that it not only promotes the product, but also teaches the consumers some practical skills.

4. Translation of Dramatic Advertisements

The dramatic ads are different from the text ads. It starts with a story to attract people’s attention and the plot of the story is closely related to the product to be recommended, paving the way for the final recommendation. Therefore, before introducing the product, translation of that part can be directly oral translation without referring to the linguistic features of advertising English. However, after introducing the product, we need to use the characteristics of advertising English to make the consumers marvel at the fact that it should be an advertisement. At the same time, they can be appealed to flexible and excellent advertising translation and become interested in the product itself, which is the focus of this paper.

4.1 Language characteristics

Generally speaking, innovative words in advertising English are easily noticed by consumers. In the translation of dramatic ads, such words are also easy to arouse people’s interests. A sharp-eyed foreigner may pause the videos to study the new word and then combine it with the plot. Suddenly he will realize that it should be an advertisement, so as to be deeply impressed by the products advertised. In this way, this advertisement will achieve the effect of publicity.

Advertising English often highlight the characteristics of products by using a same word, so that consumers can immediately remember the advantages of products. The ultimate goal of dramatic ads translation is also to make foreign consumers know the superiority of the product and thus stimulate their desire to buy. So, before translating, we can first learn the characteristics of the product and concise a word that conforms to the superiority of the product.

Meanwhile, the word should also be concise and targeted. Not only this word, but also the choice of other words in the process of translation should be as concise as possible. Although a dramatic advertisement is presented in the form of dialogue and is more interesting than a simple advertisement, we still need to avoid choosing obscure words. The vocabulary we use should be absolutely clear to the audience, otherwise, it will lose part of the consumer groups.

The use of acronyms is also very important in dramatic ads because of the limited subtitle space. Proper use of abbreviation can not only shorten the length of translation, but also stimulate the consumers’ interest.

Generally, time of dramatic ads is short and the purpose of advertising is to convey as much information as possible to consumers about the product within limited time. As a result, the application of simple sentences in translation is very important. Such sentences are easier to be understood and remembered by foreign consumers in flashing subtitles.

Besides, imperative sentences and interrogative sentences are also helpful in the translation of dramatic ads. The plot of a dramatic advertisement can sometimes be a conversational interaction between multiple people. If the speaker uses imperative sentences to introduce the product to the people around him in the movie, his words would be more motivated, which can indirectly enhance the consumers’ trust in the product, thus achieving the advertising function. What’s more, the use of interrogative sentences can directly show the respondents’ explanation of the advantages of products, so as to strengthen consumers’ understanding of the functions of products.

At the same time, we need to use less negative sentences and more affirmative sentences. Whether the characteristics’ words in the dramatic ads are positive or negative, in the process of translating them into subtitles, we often try to translate them into affirmative sentences as far as possible. Because using affirmative sentences will make consumers more confident in the products subconsciously.

In the dramatic ads, the characteristics sometimes exaggerate in tone for the sake of effect. When translating, exaggerated rhetoric can also be used to highlight the essence of the product, trigger the consumers’ association, and arouse strong resonance among consumers.

In addition, when translating, we can also use personification rhetoric, which not only makes the translation more vivid and interesting, but also makes the audience feel very friendly.

Pun is also a commonly used rhetoric in advertising English. Before translating the dramatic ads, we should first know the efficacy of the products. For example, shampoo advertising. The plot may be that one person introduces this shampoo to another person that the shampoo is good for the scalp and successful hair care begins with the scalp. When translating, we can say ‘Successful maintenance starts ahead’ instead of literal translation. The translation of this sentence is based on the advertising slogan of Rejoice, “Started ahead.”

4.2 Translation skills

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