Assignment 2: Cross-Cultural Mass Communication (advertising)
Read the article below.
Find an advertisement (any language) which has been translated/adapted into
another language (any language).
Describe the changes that have been made (you should use the “indicative tables of
advertising localization aspects” (tables 1 and 2 in the article below) which list a
number of possible adaptation strategies.
Try to suggest why the adaptations have been made. Use the article below – or other
articles on advertising strategies (e.g. De Moijj: “Translating Advertising” – link is on
my website > links for intercultural communication).
Present your results in a research essay (max 5 pages)!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Translation of Advertisements:
from Adaptation to Localization
By Mathieu Guidere
Master in Arabic language and literature and Ph.D in Translation Studies and Applied
Linguistics from the University of Paris-Sorbonne,
Lyon 2 University - France
Saint-Cyr Research Centre, France
mathieu.guidere@univ-lyon2.fr
http://perso.univ-lyon2.fr/~mguidere
Abstract
The translation of advertisements has evolved during the last decade towards what is
now called “Advertising Localization”. It is not a mere change of designation stemming
from computer science vocabulary but a radical change of perspective concerning the
real nature and modes of linguistic and cultural transfer from one language into an
other. The present article explains, in detail, the evolution that took place, its
expressions and its stakes in the profession and training of translators in the field of
localization.
Key Words
Localization, Advertising, Translation, Adaptation, Global Communication, Local
Culture, Text, Image.
______________________________________________
The globalization of economies and trade intensification lead
communicate with consumers of different languages and cultures.
companies
to
Within the framework of international marketing strategies, advertising plays a key
role. It has to resolve a dilemma which can be summarized in the following question:
How can we sell a standardized product to local and different consumers?
This study aims, on one hand, at underscoring some problems related to translation of
international advertising campaigns, and on the other hand, at raising pressing
questions regarding the place and the function of the professional translator in this
specific framework.
These issues will be dealt with from the perspective of the consulting translation
specialist with a large expertise in “advertising adaptation”. As for the reference
corpus of this study, it consists of one thousand “translated” ads from French into the
main international languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic). It was
gathered over a five-year period between 1995 and 2000.
General Framework of Advertising Localization
The general framework would be that of communication and marketing strategies
adopted by multinational companies especially French multinationals.
The debate between the upholders of global standardization and those of local
adaptation is still open and will likely stay that way as long as the Earth is teeming
with different languages and cultures. Nevertheless, the elements of this debate
should be defined and elucidated briefly.
International advertising consists of using the same strategy of communication in all
targeted countries. The advantage of this approach lies mainly in the economies of
scale generated because of the standardization of the campaign.
Numerous arguments, whether theoretical or practical, were given to justify the
internationalization of some products advertising campaigns.
Among the most frequently given arguments, we name the following:
 The standardization of consumer behaviors in many countries (a tangible
evidence of the cultural homogenization).
 The emergence of similar new categories of consumers on the
international level (new transnational markets).
 The introduction of international themes and icons thanks to the television
networks and the pop music (movie stars and supermodels)
To that, one may add the relatively scarce numbers of brilliant ideas in the field of
communication and thus it is easy to understand why companies tend, in their vast
majority, to this type of standardized strategy.
But it is also obvious that the risks of a forced standardization are not insignificant.
The relevance and the influence of the local culture are still very substantial in
numerous countries around the globe including in Western Europe. It is indeed very
risky not to adapt communication to some local markets especially in countries where
the cultural tradition is still very present.
Faced with a potential failure, which can have serious sequels financially speaking, the
trend towards localization is gradually gaining ground. But what does it really entail in
the advertising field?
Localization of international advertising campaigns consists of adapting the company's
communication to the specificities of the local environment of the hosting countries
targeted by the campaign. This local environment could be divided in several
components to which the localizing translator must pay careful attention:
 The socio-cultural component: which includes the local particularities
stemming from religion, mores, social and commercial habits, rules of
conduct and ethical norms. In short, this component is related to the
main features of the hosting culture and society.
 The politico-legal component: which includes the local particularities
stemming from the nature of the political system, the stage of opening
onto the world, the restrictions imposed on advertisements and the
regulations related to information and to certain products (such as spirits
and tobacco)
The localization of advertising campaigns consists of adapting the company's
communication while taking into account the above-mentioned parameters. The
relevance and influence of these parameters are certainly varied according to regions
and countries but overlooking them leads undoubtedly to the failure of the campaign.
In this context, the translator plays a key role in the adaptation of the communication
campaign. Beside his role as a translator of the speech – strictly speaking – he must
make sure that the socio-cultural restrictions, which could be problematic in the
advertising transfer, are taken into consideration.
The issue, which is at the heart of multilingual communication in this globalized era, is
about managing cultural differences between the different hosting countries of a
single advertising campaign.
I shall try to explain briefly the terms of the problem and the diverging points of view
of the parties involved in this process concerning specifically the cultural issue.
First of all, we have the sponsors of the ads (in other words the producers of goods
and services) who champion an offensive approach with a very peculiar conception of
culture stating the following: culture is "global"; it is American and global based on
international icons and standard messages.
Then we have the point of view of communicators/advertising executives who consider
that communication applies for a particular public viewed as a "target" and known as
the "target audience". For them, culture is defined as the culture of a transnational
group of consumers having the same life style and similar consumption habits.
And finally, we have the point of view of the ads translators/localizers. As linguistic
and cultural go-betweens, translators are, by principle, in a mediation position that
allows them to see the problem from the conciliatory and flexible angle of
interculturality.
I shall give here a few actual examples of the intercultural approach of
translators within the framework of international advertising. The recurrent question
for them being: how to convey a single message written in two different languages
without losing neither the spirit nor the identity?
“The management of the other”, which is what international advertising is all
about, will be a challenge for the translator/localizer at varying levels related to the
different parts of the advertising message namely: the image on one hand, and the
text on the other. Within the latter (the text of the ad), one can recognize: the brand
name, the slogan or the catch line and finally the caption.
Every part of these could be a problem when transferring it from one language to
another. And every one reflects a facet of the cultural issues.
To understand the stakes of the problem, one should think in semiotic terms, that is
to say that culture is embedded in linguistic, plastic, graphic and pictorial signs that
constitute the message.
For the sake of convenience, we are going to distinguish between the advertisements
that have been graphically adapted and those that have been adapted textually before
looking into the relation between the text and the graphics which is an essential
element in advertising.
The adaptations in content and form that we are going to see are typical examples of
the cultural problem in the field of advertising.
The first example of international advertising is what we can call the "graphic
adaptation". In this advertisement for the perfume Tuscany, there was a
transformation of the ad's framework. The image background was adapted to the
socio-cultural environment of the hosting country. The substitution of a Mediterranean
type "street scene" for an "Italian" type family scene is not insignificant. It aims at
adapting the semiotic elements of the original iconography to the imagination of the
targeted Arabic consumers and to life scenes that are more common in Arab societies
(the cafés and their terraces)
In brief, the observed adaptations of the advertising image can be divided in two
categories: on one hand, the adaptation of the meaning related to the background in
the different ad's versions. On the other hand, the adaptation of the relation between
the chosen background and the product in question.
a) Regarding the iconography: we find the same graphic elements in the French and
Arabic versions: the perfume bottle is at the bottom of the page on the right; the
advertising character (a woman) is at the center of the image and moving. She's
displaying the same smile in the two ads and the extras on the background are in the
same position (sitting around a table). We can thus notice, on the iconographic level,
the same scene shot from the same angle in both versions.
But despite these common points, we easily notice a radical scene change when we go
from one language to another. Instead of the indoor scene poorly lit and well
delimited, one can see an outdoor scene much brighter and more open to the eye.
The contrast between shooting indoors and outdoors is well illustrated by moving from
a family scene (in French) to a street scene (in Arabic); the change is also obvious in
the setting and the extras in the background. We go from the backyard of a house to
a busy street. The impression of graphic similarity between the two versions is
maintained mainly by the unity of perspective that puts the perfume bottle and the
woman on the same line in both ads. The perfume is on the foreground, the character
in the middle distance and the rest in the background blurred but crucial.
b) Regarding the meaning: this graphic stratification renders the background elements
that are decisive in determining the meaning of the advertising message. But these
elements are totally different in the two versions, which leads to a change in meaning
despite an apparent unity of perception. The unity is due to the Italian identity of the
product in both versions whereas the difference is due to the shown aspect of this
Italian identity. In both cases, the perfume brand name, clearly mentioned in the
foreground (Tuscany per Donna) reflects the identity of the product and guides the
reading of the advertising message. But the interpretation of the scene is also
dependent on other graphic elements especially in this case, the elements that vary
from one version to another.
The privacy of the house is replaced by the exuberance of seduction, and the family
smile by the flirtatious laughter. Thus the attitude of the ad's character could be
interpreted differently. Instead of the complicity of the female attitude in French we
have the feigned playfulness of the character in Arabic. In fact, in one version the
woman turns her eyes towards the family and in the other version she turns her eyes
away of the young men in the background. And yet it is the same character, the same
smile and the same look; only the angle of shooting has been changed completely
altering thus the global meaning of the message.
The product (the perfume) which is at the heart of the ad doesn't bring about joy and
delight in the family but instead it has a seductive power in attracting the attention of
men on the woman who is wearing it. Thus the scene is totally different but it
perfectly fits with the prevailing social representations in the cultural contexts
targeted by the product. Pragmatism establishes therefore the nature of iconographic
adaptation in international advertising.
Let us take now a case of textual adaptation that illustrates, among other things,
the ideological dimension of advertising message.
As example, we shall take the advertisement of the luxurious watches Tissot
that have at least four different versions (French/ English/ Arabic/ Polish) and were
broadcasted simultaneously in four different languages. What particularly interests me
at this point is to show how the advertising message was adapted by translators to
the real restrictions of the targeted market.
Let us take the French and Arabic versions.
This textual adaptation is visible on two levels.
On one hand, on the level of rhetoric images with the translation of the expression
"blue planet" in French by "our mother, the Earth" in Arabic which is more idiomatic
and emotionally-charged.
And on the other hand, on the level of the ideologically chosen words, with the
translation of the word "citizen" by "inhabitant" in order to neutralize the political
dimension that is still very consequential in Arabic because it refers to a type of
government that is rare in the Arab world (the republican and democratic system); to
that we could add the universalistic range of the original message ("we are all citizens
of the blue planet") that could irritate some nationalistic regimes.
These two examples of localization show how the interaction between the translation
itself and the cultural factors of the targeted market takes place within the commercial
communication.
Let us now take an example of localization that illustrates, in the same time, an
adaptation of the text and the image and beyond that an adaptation of the interaction
between linguistic signs and graphic signs in international advertising.
We shall examine an advertisement for the perfume Poême by Lancome that was a
huge success in France and Europe. We have four versions in four different languages
(French/ English/ Portuguese/ Arabic).
The message efficiency lies in its poetic nature at both the text and image levels as
well as in the double meaning of the woman's speech (interpreted by Juliette Binoche)
who intones in French a line of poetry as a slogan ("You are the sun that rises to my
head).
Needless to insist on the real and objective difficulty to adapt such a message whose
meaning even in French is still ambiguous and subject to several interpretations.
(It is noteworthy that in the English version, this line was adapted as follows: “You are
the sea, you cradle the stars” and in the Portuguese version as follows: “ Tu es o sol
que me escaladante a me cabeça”)
Adaptation of Text + Image + Praxis = Localization
The striking graphic adaptations in this version can be summarized in three prominent
points:
 Dealing with nudity and adapting it to the culture ("blurring" the model's
chest).
 The writing style (the undulating and colored calligraphy)
 The layout of the catching line (writing/reading direction)
In fact, the slogan has the specificity of being represented following a curve line that
infringes the usual linearity of writing. However, it reproduces the temporal successive
nature of the oral speech which strengthens the slogan themes (it speaks directly to
the reader). The translated version keeps the same slogan design (the curve line)
while replacing the Latin characters by Arabic ones. Still, there are two major
differences between the two layouts.
On one hand, the curve line of French characters results in an ascendant reading
movement that goes from the perfume bottle to the head of the advertising actress,
whereas the Arabic characters arise from the perfume bottle and give the sentence a
descendant movement that ends where the slogan of the French version begins. On
the other hand, the letters – thus the words- that are enlarged to the maximum differ
from one version to another. The proportions are totally reversed simply because of
the reading direction change. The form of the slogan is obviously affected but is not
really different from the initial line. This is mainly due to the undulating movement
and to the use of the same character proportions in both versions.
Thus the localization of the iconography seems to be done in a comprehensive way
taking into consideration all the distinctive features of the advertising message. The
text is not only perceived as a verbal entity; it has also a graphic identity easily
detectable that the translator ought to transfer. Whether it is the trademark, the
brand name or the slogan, the visual expression is as important as the verbal
expression that underlies it. In this way, the art of the translator/ localizer consists of
pushing as far as possible the cultural mimesis without losing however the identity of
the original message.
The cultural “added-value”
Beside his technical skills and semiotic training, the translator/ localizer of the 21st
century is a professional of culture able to decode and encode the cultural signs within
the advertising communication. His role has become all the more important since
globalization has paradoxically exacerbated the feelings of local identity in a culturally
globalized era. Schematically, let us say that he/she has changed - in a short period of
time – into an "expert in intercultural communication" because he/she masters the
cultural codes that "sell". It is this added-value of his/her work as translator that
renders him/her, today, a localizer.
But in real practice, what does this “added-value” cover?
The answer is both varied and heterogeneous just like the culture that the translator/
localizer must harness in its moving, yet efficient, outlines. Among the "technical"
knowledge of cultural nature that must be mastered, we name the following
categories:
 The adaptation of dates and hours, weights and measures, currencies and
addresses that often vary according to countries and languages.
 The meaning of colors and the symbolism of geometrical and architectural
forms that could be contradictory sometimes from one region to another.
 The cultural stereotypes and the social clichés in use in the hosting
societies of the advertising message. (i.e the representation of oneself
and of others, ethnic preferences, religious convictions, national spirit,
etc.)
All of these cultural elements could play a decisive role not only in the good
understanding of the advertising message but also, and especially, in its success on
the targeted market. Having disregarded the “weight” of local cultures, numerous
multinationals learnt it to their cost. The cultural signs could be a source of problems
in the commercial communication but they may also optimize the beneficial effects by
meeting the local consumer's wishes of identification and complicity. In any case,
mastering these signs is a "technical know-how" that a translator/localizer ought to
highlight and benefit from in a materialistic world where everything is negotiable. And
it is up to the translator to use his/her cleverness to bargain for a better future.
Indicative tables of advertising localization aspects
1)
The verbal-graphic localization
Adaptations related to
the product
Brand name transcribed
Adaptations related
to the language
Idiomatic expressions
Adaptations related to
the culture
Direct speech and the
use of the imperative
mood
Trade name transcribed
Metaphoric
constructions
Animal metaphors
Label of origin reproduced
Comparative structures
Ethical and political
arguments
Manufacturing process
name literally translated
Redundant phrasing
Physical stereotypes
Testimonials reproduced
Technical terms and
compounds
Use of English and
neologisms
2)
The iconographic localization
Adaptations related to
the product
Adaptations related
to the culture
Adaptations related to
regulations
Size enlargement
Retouching nudity
Changing layouts/designs
Centering
Changing the
framework or colors
Selecting relevant
arguments
Image pairing
Making scene or
position changes
Concealing the human
body/ eroticism
Personification
Substituting characters
Respecting sensibilities
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