Phonological Problems of Translating English Advertisements into Arabic

Abstract

An advertisement is a form of communication intended to promote the sale of a product or service, influence public opinion, gain political support, or to elicit some other response. It consists of various type, including style, target audience, geographic scope, medium, or purpose. An advertisement should catch a person's attention and quickly create a memorable impression. The main aim of the present paper is to investigate the phonological problems of translating English international TV advertisements into Arabic. It deals with the most common and popular TV advertisements. The importance of such advertisements lies not in its information content rather than in the achievement of the desired impact on the receivers. When translating such ads, certain linguistic elements (especially the phonological aspects like rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, etc.) are necessary to duplicate the impact an ad has on the domestic market in the foreign exchange. To conclude, translating international TV advertisements is a challenge since they cannot be translated 100% successfully without a loss in meaning or form. Since both English and Arabic belong to different language systems, it is difficult to maintain both form and sense which should have priority as it provides the message of the source language (SL) text and the translator should attempt to render form (particularly such sound devices as rhyme, rhythm, alliteration) as far as possible and be faithful to the SL message.