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
J OU RNAL OF SHAN GHAI DIANJ I UN IV ERSIT Y
Vol.8Sup.　
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)ZK 20057205
Differences between Chinese and American
Cult ures Reflected in Advertising
Xu Hongyan
(English Depart ment ,Shanghai DianJi U niversity ,Shanghai ,200240)
Abstract The paper illust rates some differences between Chinese and American cult ures from t he perspective of advertising.It also reveals t he close relationship between advertising and cult ure.In t he translatio n of advertisement s ,it is necessary to overcome t hese cult ural differences to achieve same ef 2ficiency 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 bot h 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 :E 2cology ;Material Cult ure ;Social Cult ure ;Reli 2gious Cult ure ;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 ,attit udes ,customs ,be 2havior ,social habit s ,etc.of t he members of a par 2ticular society [2].”“Advertising is t he non 2person 2al communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nat ure about product 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 ,att 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 con 2sumers into paramount consideration.The cult ural meaning of advertising must be line wit h t he p sy 2chology 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 t he differences in cult ure,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
Cult ural 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 han5000 splendid years.We have four great Chinese ancient inventions;we have t he mo st prosperous 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 from t he moo n, and we have abundant valuable literary works left by our ancestors.Two t housand of years of feudal society handed down a lot of cult ural 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 attached 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 co ncubines are often t he 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 t he advertising of t he J i an N an Chun W i ne.It shows t he resource and cult ural meaning of t he 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 t his 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 mo sp here,but also makes people t rust t he wine by using t he 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 t he fact t hat Chinese people believe in t he Doctrine 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 quette and family relationship.Therefore,almo st half of Chinese advertisement s belong to t he senti2 mental type,which p romote sales by appealing to people’s sympat hy and emotion.If a product sym2 bolizes affection or solicit ude besides it s effective2 ness,buyers p refer it to ot hers.For example,t he advertising of“脑白金”moves consumers by show2 ing t he 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 often visit relatives and f riends in festivals.Anot her reflection of valuing human feeling is t he strong 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 rat her t han to t he past,which can be called“f ut urism”.This f ut urism 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 t hey will not give up until t hey have gained complete victory. This belief is reflected in advertising design.As t he most typical representatives of f ut ure science, spacecraft s and ast ronaut s appear f requently in A2 merican advertisement s.For example,Tang(t he t rademark of a kind of drink made f rom f ruit)is advertised as“SEL EC TED B Y NASA FOR U.S. SPACE FL IGH T”.This advertising makes cus2 tomers feel glorious and p roud besides nice taste of t he drink.Mo st of t he 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 astro2 naut s,and can do as well as t hem.(Since t he suc2 cess of Mr.Yang’s space flight,t here have also been several space2advertisement s in China,but t he frequency is much less t han t hat of American ones.)
1.2.2　I ndi vi d ualism/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 probably t he most basic and most st rongly held one of all.By“self freedom”,Americans re2 fer to t he desire and t he ability of all individuals to cont rol t heir own destiny,wit hout out side inter2 ference f rom t he 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 wit h t he 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 gro up s,as long as he works hard.Anot her example is t he winner of t he40th 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 of2 ten visit.
　A n ol d of f icer and his g ran d dau g hter come i n. Gran d p a:(to w aiter)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,please.
W aiter: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 ult and chil d,s houl d li ve i n t he li f e he/she w ants and choose t hi ngs he/she li kes. N o Pepsi Col a!
　W it h t he m arti al m usic,all people f ollow 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 propagating 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 aest hetic 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 t he 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 t hat t he appear2 ance of p hoenix foreboded t he peace of t he world. However,in western cult ure,dragon is a beast t hat is able to breat he out fire.It is often 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,after liv2 ing hundreds of years in Arabian desert,burnt it2 self on a f uneral pile and ro se f ro m t he ashes young again,to live for anot her cycle.”So,it is nat ural t hat Chinese often 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,t hey are usually considered as t he negative images.For example,in American advertising of K oda 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 often 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,ent husiasm,happiness and good luck.The frequency of it s appearance in advertis2 ing is much higher t han 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 t he scenes,which app rop riately symbolizes it s busi2 ness spirit/p hilo sop hy———forging ahead,pionee2 ring and regarding human being as t he 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 t he 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 cult ure,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 struggling wit h t he f ro st when ot her flowers fade in t he aut umn.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 praised highly.So,in Chi2 nese advertisement s,t he word lot us appears fre2 quently as t rademark,such as“莲花味精”.
3　The differences in language
The relationship between language and cult ure is not t he parataxis but t he subordinate relation. Cult ure,which includes language,is one of t he mo st important att ributes of language;language is one of t he mo st important carriers of cult ure.Be2 cause t here are differences in t he t hinking pattern between Chinese and American people,Chinese linguistic struct ure differs f rom English linguistic struct 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 t he special lin2 guistic struct ure t hat stresses o n inherent relation, implied relation and blurred relation.When sen2 tences and articles are written,t he connection of words and sentences depend on not t he struct 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 omitted,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 E nglish linguistic
structure
The t hinking pattern 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 t he linguistic character of morp hology.This character2 istic decides t hat cohesion of st ruct ure 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,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 t he following advertising we can find t his character of English.
Your bod y is beauti f ul.It’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 jeans.T hat’s w hy it’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 conf 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 it,t ry Rel axed Ri ders.You’ll see it’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 t hat we must analyze t he part s of sentence and chapter as well as t he struct 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 t he close relationship between cul2 t ure and advertising.On t he one hand,advertising is restricted by cult ure.On t he ot her hand,cult ure can also be spread 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 t he cul2 t ural differences in t he 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 t his point,it can be said t hat t he research has t he significance bot h in t heory and reality.
R eference
[1]　Jin Di,Eugene A Nida.On Translation[M].Beijing:
China Translation,1984.77.
[2]　J ack 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].,1996.
[4]　申小龙.中国句型文化[M].长春:东北师大出版社,
1988.57259.
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　2005年增刊徐鸿雁:从广告语的角度看中美文化差异 。