Hazrat-e Masoumeh University

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant professor, Hazrat-e Masoumeh University, Qom, Iran

Abstract

The translation of advertisements is not like any kind of translation which is done across languages; rather it is done in the mind automatically, to convey meaning that advertisers want to be extracted; therefore, it is usual for companies and businesses to select special elements. Illustrations can provide audiences with a sense of personal identity and an awareness of cultural heritage. The present study aims to investigate pictures accompanying advertisements as an intersemiotic translation. This study takes pieces of advertising texts as well as the pictures accompanying them to show the translational relationships. Then, the study attempts to reveal the importance of pictures and the role they may play in conveying meaning. Within the first step, advertising texts containing both linguistic and visual elements were collected. Then they were studied based on the interrelationship between texts and images; an attempt was made to identify different ways in which illustrations are employed by text producers to translate linguistic elements. The corpus included the advertising texts which are collected from a wide variety of sources including internet, shops and newspapers. When all samples were studied and strategies were identified, the number and percentage of each strategy was counted and the results were presented in tables. The data analysis revealed that illustrations play an important role in translating the textual elements.

Keywords