Translating Fast-Food Advertisement Texts from English to Arabic

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background of the Study1

Research Aim and Objectives4

Significance of the Study5

Research Questions5

REFERENCES6



CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Translation in advertising is a phenomenon that is growing every day with increased globalization and international business. In recent years there has been a great increase in the number of companies which are attempting to penetrate foreign markets. Companies are no longer content with doing business locally, as they strive to imitate the great examples of such internationally known companies as Coca-Cola and IBM, who have expanded their sales all over the world. With more sophisticated communications technology and faster modes of transportation, the world is becoming a much smaller place, and the tendency for a company to do business internationally is greatly increasing. Companies are no longer thinking in terms of winning over the local consumer; they are ready to conquer the world. This reality has increased the need for cross-cultural communication and, specifically, for translation in advertising (Munday 2004, p.201).

In order to advertise around the world a company may use translators to reach foreign markets. Neuliep (2006) explains that “numerous changes in the marketplace are forcing companies to rethink how advertising is managed. Among these changes are the North American Free Trade Agreement, the opening of Eastern European and former USSR markets, and the elimination of trade barriers within the European Community” (p. 55). In an interview about developing effective multilingual communication, Jettmarova (2004) discusses the importance of dealing with foreign companies in their own language. He explains that in addition to trade barriers falling, “at the same time national barriers, meaning cultural barriers, are on the rise” (p.362). Radzievsky elaborates this point by explaining that one cannot expect to communicate with foreign markets in English. One must respect the other and address him or her in his or her language. This principle applies to everything from personal meetings to print advertising (Jettmarova 2004, p.361). It thus becomes apparent that it is essential to translate advertising, or if not translate, then to create original advertisements in the language of the target market.

According to Skopos Theory, translation is viewed not as a process of transcoding, but as a specific form of human action. “Like any other human action, translation has a purpose, and the word skopos, derived from Greek, is used as the technical term for the purpose of a translation.” (Baker, 1998, p.32) The intended purpose of translation determines translation methods and strategies. Skopos must be defined before translation can begin and the contextual factors surrounding the translation cannot be ignored. There are two rules for Skopos theory: the coherence rule and the fidelity rule.

Skopos Theory is a general theory of translation, which is applied to both translating and interpreting, as discussed by Nord (Nord, 1997, p. 104), because both interpreting and translating seek to achieve a communicative purpose, and both target text should be coherent with their source text. Pochhacker “has tried to integrate simultaneous conference interpreting ...