The Economic aspect

Why is it that sometimes ads look very awkward because of these translation issues? It is quite possible that it might not have appeared to be a economically viable process. One factor that we have to keep in mind is that advertising is primarily a commercial undertaking and so is the translation that goes with it. So the advertisers are guided by the profit motive; they assess if the money they invest will fetch adequate dividends. Sometimes it might make better economic sense to go for awkward translations than run the risk of enormous financial investments that might not give proportionate benefits.

Guidère observes that two points have to be taken into account while considering the economic aspect of translation for advertisements: “the cost of the translation process and the linguistic added value” (5). He defines the cost of the translation process as “the financial investment necessary for transferring the message into the target language on the one hand, and the related investments, which are generally recommended by the publicity agent in order to ensure the success of the transfer, on the other hand” (5). This means the investment of a large amount of money which has to ensure adequate returns.

The linguistic added value of a translation means the benefit that a translation can bring to an advertising campaign internationally. As Guidere observes, “Translation can not only contribute to increasing the direct revenues of the multinational by acting as a leveraging effect on sales abroad but it can also be considered as a strategic asset with respect to competition, in the sense that it enables the company to stand out in a highly competitive market” (5). If a translation has this impact, it is said to have linguistic added value. But very often it becomes difficult to assess if the success of an advertisement is because of the effectiveness of its advertising slogan. So manufacturers are reluctant to invest money in translation.