A Study on the Persuasive Power of the Language Conveyed in the Translations of Audio-Visual Advertising: With Specific Reference to Sinhalese and English Advertisements

Abstract

Amongst its many purposes, persuasion is one of the key objectives of translation which can be vividly observed in Audio-visual advertising. Advertisements in their nature operate beyond mere theoretical Linguistics and have created a unique language culture that is worth the attention. This study attempts to unveil the strategies practiced by the translators when the above-mentioned advertisements are transferred from Sinhalese to English and vice versa. The methodology of this study was qualitative, in which the Source Content of 15 popular commercials from Sri Lanka were comparatively analyzed with their Target Content. The primary focus was on the Target Language (TL), as how it was formed, what characteristics did it contain and whether it differed from the original concept. The knowledge in the field of dubbing in Audio-visual Translation (AVT) and the theory of vocative function of language by Bühler was hereby taken into account in the process of the data analysis. According to the findings of the study, it was discovered that these advertisements did not deform the original meaning and were based on the features of the Source Text (ST) when creating the Target Text (TT). As far as the strategies are concerned, naturalization of the content in TL appropriately, translation of the lyrical items, the non-translation of the selected language parts (dialogues, background singing, specific words), translation of the slogans or recreation, translation focused on the music and tone of the ST, blend of SL and TL, choice of the language of popular culture, careful choice of expressive words and short and attractive language for easy comprehension can be mentioned. In conclusion, it was perceived that the above strategies together contribute to achieve one specific objective by attempting to awaken the emotions of the Target Audience, which is persuasion.