从广告语的角度看中美文化差异_英文_

　第 8 卷 增刊 　2005 年 12 月 上 海 电 机 学 院 学 报 JOU RNAL OF SHAN GHAI DIANJ I UN IV ERSIT Y Vol. 8 Sup . 　 Dec. 2005 　 收稿日期 :2005209215 作者简介 :徐鸿雁 (19792) ,女 ,助教 ,专业方向 :英语语言文学。 文章编号 　167122730 (2005) ZK20057205 Differences between Chinese and American Cult ures Reflected in Advertising Xu Hongyan ( English Depart ment , Shanghai DianJ i U niversity , Shanghai , 200240) 　　Abstract 　The paper illust rates some differences between Chinese and American cult ures f rom t he perspective of advertising. It also reveals the close relationship between advertising and cult ure. In t he t ranslation of advertisement s , it is necessary to overcome t hese cult ural differences to achieve same ef2 ficiency between source text and target advertisement . 　　Key words 　advertising ; cult ural differences ; p sychology 从广告语的角度看中美文化差异 徐鸿雁 (上海电机学院 英语系 ,上海 ,200240) 　　摘 　要 　从广告的角度 ,分析了中美两国的文化差异 ,同时 ,也揭示了广告和文化之间的紧密关系。 在广告翻译中 ,为使译文广告与原文起到同样的效果 ,应该充分考虑并克服这些文化差异障碍。 　　关键词 　广告 ; 文化差异 ; 心理 　　中图分类号　 G 04 　　　文献标识码 　B 　　In a broad sense , cult ure covers both material field and mental field. In line wit h t his broad sense , Eugene A. Nida , t he famous American t ranslator , has identified five layers of cult ure : E2 cology ; Material Cult ure ; Social Cult ure ; Reli2 gious Culture ; Linguistic Cult ure[1 ] . In a narrow sense , cult ure is rest ricted in t he spirit ual area.“It is t he total set of belief s , at tit udes , customs , be2 havior , social habit s , etc. of t he members of a par2 ticular society[2 ] . ”“Advertising is t he non2person2 al communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nat ure about p roduct s , services or ideas by identified sponsors t hrough t he various media[3 ] . ” The role of advertising is to p ropagate p roduct s , at t ract consumers and enlarge market . Every consumer lives in an environment surrounded by a unique cult ure , so his behavior must be determined by t he cult ure and most of t he time t he influence is imperceptible and inveterate. In order to get t he heart s and minds of consumers , advertising takes t he cult ural background of con2 sumers into paramount consideration. The cult ural meaning of advertising must be line wit h t he p sy2 chology of customers and , at t he same time , can’t violate t he dominant cult ure of t he community. Meanwhile , because of it s linguistic artist ry , per2 meability and pop cult ure style , advertising plays an important role in sp reading cult ure while selling goods. Different historical conditions , geograp hic circumstances and weat her factors determine the differences in culture , so it is nat ural t hat t here are some differences in cult ures between China and A2 merica , which are reflected in advertising. 1 　The differences in cultural psychology Cultural p sychology includes belief s , values , and word view etc. Between China and America , t here are great differences on t his aspect . 1. 1 　Chinese cultural psychology reflected in adver2 tising 1 . 1 . 1 　L ooki ng back to history China has already covered more t han 5000 splendid years. We have four great Chinese ancient inventions ; we have t he most p rosperous period of t he ancient time ———Tang Dynasty ; we have t he a2 mazing Great Wall which is one of t he human be2 ings’buildings t hat could be seen f rom t he moon , and we have abundant valuable literary works lef t by our ancestors. Two t housand of years of feudal society handed down a lot of cultural heritage to our modern people. So while t he modern civiliza2 tion of t he world reaches a high degree , Chinese people are still sentimentally at tached to history. Chinese advertising keep s st riving to use national and classical cult ure to create novel designing. The f requent happening is ancient buildings , historic site , cult ural relies and fold flavored scenes served as back ground for advertising. Even t he ancient emperors and imperial concubines are of ten the main characters of advertising. Sometimes , ancient books are also revised to advertising. For example , one of t he mo st successf ul advertisement s for wine is t he Guoj i ao W i ne advertisement ———“品味的历 史 ,430 年 ———国窖 1573. ”Anot her example is the advertising of t he J i an N an Chun W i ne . It shows t he resource and cult ural meaning of the t rademark by emp hasizing t hat it used to be t he imperial wine of Tang Dynasty and has a long history. The ad2 vertising of B ai Yun B i an W i ne also takes this kind of tactic ———“往事越千年 ,陈酿白云边. ”This ad2 vertising does not only make a st rong cult ural at2 mosp here , but also makes people t rust t he wine by using the image of Libai . 1 . 1 . 2 　V al ue hum an rel ationshi ps The greatest difference between Chinese and American cult ures lies on the fact that Chinese people believe in t he Doct rine of t he Mean , while western people , especially American people like going to t he ext reme. Chinese cult ure , especially t he Conf ucian cult ure values social stat us , eti2 quet te and family relationship . Therefore , almost half of Chinese advertisement s belong to t he senti2 mental type , which promote sales by appealing to people’s sympat hy and emotion. If a p roduct sym2 bolizes affection or solicit ude besides it s effective2 ness , buyers p refer it to others. For example , t he advertising of“脑白金”moves consumers by show2 ing the st rong emotion between parent s and chil2 dren ———“今年更要送健康 ,爸妈只要脑白金. ”The advertisement of“黄金搭档”———“有多少亲朋好 友 ,送多少黄金搭档 ———uses successf ully t he char2 acteristic t hat Chinese of ten visit relatives and f riends in festivals. Another reflection of valuing human feeling is the st rong sense of family. Chi2 nese people value t he happiness of family very much. This character is reflected in advertising ob2 viously , such as“一碗元宵圆又圆 ,吃了元宵好团 圆”;“千万里 ,我需找我的家 ———孔府家酒”, which are all classic advertisement s emp hasizing Chinese sense of family. By t his way , t he aim of advertis2 ing is easier to achieve. 1. 2 　American cultural psychology reflected in ad2 vertising 1 . 2 . 1 　Fut urism and opti mism American people optimistically t urn t heir eyes to t he f ut ure rather t han to t he past , which can be called“f uturism”. This f uturism came f rom optim2 ism rooted in t heir character . In t heir belief , t here 85 上 　海 　电 　机 　学 　院 　学 　报 2005 年增刊　 is not hing t hat can not be done and they will not give up until t hey have gained complete victory. This belief is reflected in advertising design. As t he most typical rep resentatives of f ut ure science , spacecraft s and ast ronaut s appear f requently in A2 merican advertisement s. For example , Tang ( the t rademark of a kind of drink made f rom f ruit ) is advertised as“SEL ECTED B Y NASA FOR U . S. SPACE FL IGH T”. This advertising makes cus2 tomers feel glorious and proud besides nice taste of t he drink. Most of the customers will t hink t hat if t he drink is selected for ast ronaut s , and if t hey drink t he beverage , t hey are equal to t he ast ro2 naut s , and can do as well as t hem. ( Since the suc2 cess of Mr. Yang’s space flight , t here have also been several space2advertisement s in China , but t he f requency is much less t han t hat of American ones. ) 1 . 2 . 2 　I ndi v i d ual ism / sel f f reedom Different f rom Chinese , who value t he cooper2 ation of group , American people emp hasize indi2 vidualism. The belief in t he f reedom of t he individ2 ual is p robably t he most basic and most st rongly held one of all . By“self f reedom”, Americans re2 fer to t he desire and t he ability of all individuals to cont rol their own destiny , wit hout out side inter2 ference f rom the government , a ruling noble class , t he church or any ot her establishment . To cite an example , Stewart Tilger , a p hotograp her in Seat2 tle , advertises like t his :“I compete with the giant st udios , so my business image is very impor2 tant”———t he simple sentence shows t he basic A2 merican value. An individual can do as well as his much bigger competitors , organized group s , as long as he works hard. Anot her example is the winner of the 40th CLO AWA RDS. This advertise2 ment is for Pep si Cola. S ense : I t is i n a bar w hich a lot of ol d sol diers of 2 ten visi t . 　A n ol d of f icer and his g ran d dau g hter come i n. Gran d p a : ( to w ai ter) J ack , how are you ? W aiter : Fi ne , t hanks ! Gran d p a : Dear , w hat do you w ant ? Gran d dau g hter : Pe psi Col a , p lease. W ai ter : W e onl y have Coca Col a. Gran d dau g hter : O f f icer , y ou once f ou g ht f or f reedom ; t hen , w hat is f reedom ? Freedom is to have t he ri g ht to choose. Everybod y , no m atter m an , w om an , ad ul t and chi l d , shoul d l i ve i n t he l i f e he/ she w ants and choose t hi ngs he/ she l i kes . N o Pepsi Col a ! 　W it h t he m arti al m usic , al l peop le f ol low ed t he gi rl to leave t he bar. T he“Pepsi”m ark a p pears on t he sense. 　　This advertising reflect s deeply t he individual2 ism of American people. 2 　The differences in aesthetic interests Aest hetic p sychology is a comprehensive cul2 t ural consciousness , which involves political view , religious conception , living way and custom , etc. There are great differences in t he action and ideas , especially aest hetic interest s of people , between different national cult ures. Advertising is bot h an important p ropagating met hod and a kind of impor2 tant social cult ure. It not only must follow t he so2 cial habit s and cater to t he aest hetic interest s of people , but also play an important role in influen2 cing and forming social cult ure and aesthetic p sy2 chology. Because of t he differences in political view , religious idea and living way etc. , between Chinese and Americans , t here are great differences in aest hetic interest s. 2. 1 　Animals In Chinese view , Dragon and Phoenix are bot h t he symbols of auspiciousness. Dragon has been t he symbol of the East for several hundred years. It is a magic animal , who can make rain for peo2 ple , so “Dragon”is a word of commendation. Phoenix is a mysterious animal in Chinese legend. In ancient time , people believed that the appear2 ance of p hoenix foreboded the peace of the world. However , in western culture , dragon is a beast t hat is able to breat he out fire. It is of ten consid2 95　2005 年增刊 徐鸿雁 :从广告语的角度看中美文化差异 　　 ered as t he symbol of calamity or evil . In Wester2 ner’s opinion , p hoenix is a bird“which , af ter liv2 ing hundreds of years in Arabian desert , burnt it2 self on a f uneral pile and rose f rom t he ashes young again , to live for anot her cycle. ”So , it is nat ural t hat Chinese of ten use“dragon”and“p hoenix”in t rademarks , such as“凤凰牌自行车”,“凤凰阁” and“凤鸣大厦”. However , t hese two words are seldom used in American advertising. Even if t hey appear in advertising , they are usually considered as t he negative images. For example , in American advertising of Koda film , a boy holds t he cloak in one hand and grasp s a sword wit h t he ot her hand. A man says :“He has killed a dragon. ”Besides dragon and p hoenix , some ot her animals have also different meanings between Chinese cult ure and western cult ure. For example , “cock” is of ten used in t rademark in China , such as“金鸡”、“雄 鸡”. Chinese consider it as t he emblem of luck , happiness ; while , in America , it means pride and flaunting and is often used to refer to some organ as a metap hor . Magpie is a lucky bird in China , but it is used to compare a talkative and disgusting person in English. 2. 2 　Color In festivals of Chinese , red color can’t be ab2 sent . According to Chinese view , red color rep re2 sent s energy , enthusiasm , happiness and good luck. The f requency of it s appearance in advertis2 ing is much higher than ot her colors. For example , in t he serial advertising of“红杉树品牌”, t he red flag serves as t he background ; red color guides the scenes , which approp riately symbolizes it s busi2 ness spirit/ p hilo sop hy ———forging ahead , pionee2 ring and regarding human being as the center . Yellow color also plays a special role in Chinese cult ure. It is t he symbol of nobility and royalty in ancient time. While , in western cult ure , people consider white color as the noble and p ure symbol and have no good feeling about red color . In west2 ern cult ure , red color makes people t hink about “danger”and“ext reme”. Purple is t he welcome color in America , while Chinese don’t have special feeling about it . 2. 3 　Plants In Chinese culture , some plant s , such as “Bamboo ”, “pine ”, “ chrysant hemum ” and “plum”, stand for st rengt h and rouse , so t hey are likely to be used in advertising ———“菊花香皂”, “雪松牌录音机”⋯ Especially , chrysant hemum has very good graces in China , because it keep s on st ruggling with t he f ro st when other flowers fade in t he autumn. However , Westerners loat he chrysant hemum while liking rose. While western people have no special feeling wit h t he lot us flow2 er , in Chinese cult ure , it is t he symbol of being p ure and elegant and is p raised highly. So , in Chi2 nese advertisement s , t he word lot us appears f re2 quently as t rademark , such as“莲花味精”. 3 　The differences in language The relationship between language and cult ure is not the parataxis but t he subordinate relation. Cult ure , which includes language , is one of t he most important at t ributes of language ; language is one of t he most important carriers of culture. Be2 cause there are differences in t he t hinking pat tern between Chinese and American people , Chinese linguistic st ruct ure differs f rom English linguistic st ruct ure. 3. 1 　The characteristics of Chinese linguistic struc2 ture 　　U nder t he influence of t raditional p hilosop hy and cult ure , Chinese gradually form the special lin2 guistic st ruct ure t hat st resses on inherent relation , implied relation and blurred relation. When sen2 tences and articles are writ ten , t he connection of words and sentences depend on not t he st ruct ure but t he coherence of meaning. This is reflected in advertising language. In t he advertising of Hi2Fi stereo , Zhangfei tells readers t he excellent quality of t he p roduct :张飞用上麦克风“(我) 开口一喝 ,就 是一千六百瓦超强功率 , (使) 敌军闻声倒退数里 ; 06 上 　海 　电 　机 　学 　院 　学 　报 2005 年增刊　 (我)透过杜比 B 杂音消除系统忽斥再发 , (则) 一时 声如潮涌 , (使) 马似山崩 ;待 (我) 第三回再开口 ,V2 Bass 低音回路声效直震诸将脑门 , (使) 曹操披发而 逃 ! !. . . ”The words in bracket s are omit ted , im2 plied and blurred part s. As Shen Xiaolong said : “汉语最注重的不是空间构架的严谨 ,而是线性的流 动 ,转折 ,追求流动的韵律 ,节奏 ,不滞于形 ,削尽冗 繁 ,辞约义丰[4 ]”. 3. 2 　The characteristics of the English linguistic structure 　　The t hinking pat tern of western nations inclu2 ding American , owns an obvious characteristic of emp hasizing reason , analysis and perfection of form. As reflected in language , English has the linguistic character of morp hology. This character2 istic decides t hat cohesion of st ructure is t he key point whenever sentences or articles are made. As t he famous linguistic expert Shen Xiaolong said : “英语句子往往以形统神 ,以丰满的形态变化制约句 子的格局 ,规定句界 ,结合程序严谨 规范 编程规范下载gsp规范下载钢格栅规范下载警徽规范下载建设厅规范下载 ,是一种以 限定动词为核心 ,控制各种关系的空间性树形构 造. [4 ]”From the following advertising we can find t his character of English. Your bod y is beauti f ul . I t’s your j eans t hat are out of p roportion . Even t he most beauti f ul bod y can get lost un2 der t he w rong p ai r of j eans . T hat’s w hy i t’s i m2 port ant to w ear j eans t hat let you look y our best , j eans t hat m ake t he most of w hat y ou’ve got : L ook our Rel a xed Ri ders . W hen w e m ake Rel axed Ri d2 ers , w e cut our m ateri al on a curve to con f orm to t he nat ural contours of y our bod y . S o w here your p roportions change , t he p roportions of your L ee’s Rel axed Ri ders J eans chan ge too. I f you’ve been t hi nki ng t hat somet hi ng is w rong w it h y ou j ust be2 cause your j eans don’t f i t , t ry Rel axed Ri ders . You’l l see i t’s not a better bod y y ou need . I t’s bet2 ter j eans . Obviously , t he nesting quality of English sen2 tence and article determines that we must analyze t he part s of sentence and chapter as well as t he st ruct ure relation between t hem. In t his way , we can understand English well and t ranslate it suc2 cessf ully. The differences between Chinese and Ameri2 can cult ures are not limited only to t hese aspect s. However , f rom t he above examples and exposition we can find out the close relationship between cul2 t ure and advertising. On t he one hand , advertising is rest ricted by culture. On the other hand , cult ure can also be sp read by advertising. The special rela2 tionship between t hem determines : we must take cult ural differences into paramount consideration in t he analysis of advertising and overcome the cul2 t ural differences in the t ranslation of advertise2 ment s ; when we do some research in cult ure and it s p ropagation , advertising is also an important aspect to take into account . From this point , it can be said t hat t he research has t he significance bot h in t heory and reality. Reference [1 ] 　Jin Di , Eugene A Nida. On Translation[ M ]. Beijing : China Translation , 1984. 77. [2 ] 　Jack C Richards , John Platt , Heidi Platt . Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguis2 tics [ Z]. Beijing : Foreign language Teaching and Re2 search Press , 2002. 117. [3 ] 　Richard F Taflinger. Definition of Advertising [ DB/ OL ] . http :/ / www. wsu. edu , 1996. [4 ] 　申小龙. 中国句型文化[ M ] . 长春 : 东北师大出版社 , 1988. 57259. 16　2005 年增刊 徐鸿雁 :从广告语的角度看中美文化差异