More Words on Foreignization and Domestication
—Dealing With Cultural Elements in Advertising Translation
Bao Caixia
Beijing International Studies University
The purpose or function of advertising translation is to win over the maximum number of consumers in the target culture in the shortest possible time so as to achieve the maximum sales promotion without much consideration for giving the reader enough time to study the foreign cultural elements in the translated ad. In view of the target reader’s different economic, social, political and cultural background, domestication, which is aimed at better cross-cultural communication, is usually the choice, in order to achieve the purpose of successful sales promotion, when dealing with cultural elements in advertising translation，as argued by some scholars in China from the perspectives of the Skopos Theory, the Adaptation Theory and the Functional Equivalence Theory. While the author believes that domestication is the choice in most cases of advertising translation, she holds that the appropriate choice of strategy for the translation of a particular ad should be made in accordance with the specific translation context and advocates that more research should be conducted on foreignization, which, if appropriately employed, will contribute to greater sales promotion. According to the Skopos Theory, a translational action is determined by its Skopos (purpose) and purpose varies according to the text receiver, which largely determines which translation strategy is most appropriate. The success or failure of a translation is ultimately decided by whether it can be interpreted successfully by the target recipient in a manner that is consistent with what is expected of it. This paper is thus an attempt to discuss how to decide on the most appropriate strategy in accordance with such specific considerations as the aesthetic psychology of the target consumers, the poetic and ideological environment in which the target consumers live, the power differentials between the source culture and the target culture, the differences between the source language and culture and the target language and culture, to explore the causes for domestication and foreignization in advertising translation and the possible ways of foreignization, based on the Skopos Theory, Reception Aesthetics, cultural translation studies, consumption psychology and advertising aesthetics.
