Last week, I received a task for an advertisement translation. The product is insole. There is only one page including text and picture. It seems simple, but not really simple. Here, I would like to talk about the conciseness in advertisement translation (That’s to say, the target language should be simple and clear as the original language.). In my opinion, there are several items we should pay attention to.
First, in noun phrase with modifier-modified structure, “的” is often omitted in Chinese Advertisement to reduce words and achieve conciseness . For example, “massaging surface”, it is a noun phrase. And there is an adjective before word “surface”. In Chinese, there is a “的” in an adjective. This phrase can be translated into “按摩的表面”. However, it is an advertisement here. Therefore, the word “的” is not neccesssary. We often directly say “按摩表面”.
Second, the subject is often omitted. There is an example in my work. “XXX insole’s open mesh foam provides comfortable impact resistance whether you are walking, running, or standing.” “不论您是走路、跑步还是站立…” Here, in my opinion, the subject “you” can be omitted. We can say “不论是走路、跑步还是站立…”
In advertisement, in condition of promising the original meaning, suitable omission is necessary. Time can be saved for readers. What’s more, money can be saved too when the advertisement cost is decided by words and time.
+1 925-978-8211
Chinese
