THE TRANSLATION OF FAST-FOOD ADVERTISING TEXTS FROM ENGLISH TO ARABIC

                                                                               by

                                                                               BASEM ABBAS AL AGHA

                                                   submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

                                                                                MASTER OF ARTS

in the subject

Linguistics

at the

university of south Africa

Supervisor : Prof. A Kruger


Abbreviations The following abbreviations are used in this study: ST : Source Text TT : Target Text SL : Source Language TL : Target Language DTS : Descriptive Translation Studies
Abstract On the assumption that the translation strategies used to translate American fast-food advertisements into Arabic cause the Arabic translations to be culturally bound to their originals, the aim of the present study is to identify such translation strategies. The study was conducted with the aid of questionnaires as a primary research method to obtain data which are then complemented by means of textual analyses of the corpus. The findings reveal that the main translation strategies used to translate phrases in fast-food advertisements from English into Arabic are borrowing and transliteration. The overall finding is that inadequate translations of culture-specific concepts, phrases, logos and terms produce target texts which are bound to the source texts. This causes the translations to be rejected by the target culture. (125 words) Key terms: Advertising; fast food, advertising agencies; translation strategies; culture-specific concepts; logos; phrases; descriptive translation studies.
Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction							Page
1.1	Identification and statement of research problem						1
1.2	Background and rationale to the research problem						1
1.3	Statement of problem						4
1.4	Aim of the study						5
1.5	The corpus						6
1.6	Methodology						6
	1.6.1 Questionnaire						6
	1.6.2 DTS framework for the comparative analysis						6
1.7	Structure of the study						9
Chapter 2: Literature overview
2.1		Introduction and objectives					10
2.2		Domains of the study					10
2.2.1 Culture							10
		2.2.1.1 The influence of American fast-food culture					11
		2.2.1.2 Culture and language					12
		2.2.1.3 The importance of culture in translation					14
		2.2.1.4 The importance of translation in culture					14
		2.2.1.5 Culture and advertising					15
2.2.2 Advertising							16
		2.2.2.1 What is advertising?					16
		2.2.2.2 Elements of an advertising text					16
		2.2.2.3 Advertising media					18
		2.2.2.4 Translation of advertisements					19
2.2.3 Translation							25
		2.2.3.1 What is translation?					25
		2.2.3.2 From prescriptive to functionalist approaches					26
2.2.4 Descriptive translation studies (DTS)							30
2.2.5 Problems in translating advertisements							32
2.2.6 Strategies for translating advertisements							34
2.2.6.1					Adaptation		34
2.2.6.2					Literal translation strategy		35
2.2.6.3					Partial substitution strategy		35
2.3 Summary							36
Chapter 3: Analytical framework and research procedures
3.1		Introduction and objectives					38
3.2		The questionnaire as research tool					39
3.2.1					The questionnaire’s aims		40
3.2.2					Type of questionnaire		40
3.2.3					Operational measures		40
3.2.4					Populations		41
3.2.5					Closed format questions		42
3.2.6					Questionnaire compilation		43
3.2.7					Questionnaire administration		46
3.3			Macro-textual aspects of advertisements				47
3.3.1					Headlines		48
3.3.2					Length		50
3.3.3					Proper names		51
3.3.4					Colour		52
					3.3.4.1 Substitution		52
					3.3.4.2 Transference		52
3.3.5					Senders		54
3.3.6					Recipients		54
3.3.7					Medium		55
3.4			Micro-textual aspects of advertisements				56
3.4.1			Strategies used for translating fast-food advertisements				56
3.4.1.1						Transliteration	58
3.4.1.2						Loan words	60
3.4.2			Examples				62
			3.4.2.1 Culture-specific concepts				62
			3.4.2.2 Phrases				63
			3.4.2.3 Logos				66
			3.4.2.4 Terms				70
3.5			Conclusion				71
Chapter 4: Findings and interpretation
4.1			Introduction and objectives				73
4.2			Discussion: Translation strategies of fast-food advertisements				73
4.2.1				Culture-specific concepts			73
4.2.2				Phrases			76
4.2.3				Logos			78
4.2.4				Terms			80
4.3			Summary				82
Chapter 5: Conclusion
5.1			Aim of the study				84
5.2			Overview of chapters				85
5.3			Contribution of the present study				86
5.4			Implications for future research				87
5.5			Recommendations to advertising translators				88
List of sources
Online references

Chapter 2: Literature overview

Introduction and objectives