On the Translation of Advertisements: A Comparative Study of English-Persian Verbal Metaphors

Abstract

Every act of translation deals with some problems and challenges. Translation of advertisements may be more challenging than other types of translations due to the importance of both form and content in cross-cultural translation and audience response. In translating advertisements, the most important issue to be addressed by the translator is the cultural representation of the original texts. However, little attention is accorded into culture-bound parts of advertisements and their translations. The present study aimed to investigate the translation of verbal metaphors from English to Persian. To achieve this aim, a number of home appliance English and Persian TV commercials were recorded from national and international channels. The verbal metaphors from English were compared with their translations into Persian. Moreover, Black's (1962) interaction theory of metaphor was taken to analyze the data. This theory examines whether or not the source and target texts are equivalent from the metaphor perspective. Also, the study investigated the localization, domestication, adaptation, addition, and reduction in the translation process. The verbal metaphors in English advertisements were compared to the Persian translations in line with the interaction theory of metaphor to achieve the above goals of transferring idea from the source language into the target language. The results indicated relatively lack of awareness of cultural approach to the translation of advertisements and revealed the similarity and divergence between the two languages.