Persuasion strategies are culture specific. In discourse types such as advertisements, in which persuasion is a primary goal, persuasive strategies are manipulated in translation to meet target audience expectations. An instance of intercultural difference manifestation between English and Greek, in the context of ad translation (and elsewhere), is a preference for signaling logical relations between propositions in Greek. In Greek, the responsibility for signaling discourse relations seems to fall to the speaker rather than the addressee (Sidiropoulou 2004) and thus in E → G translation, translators usually add connectives to improve TT texture. This tendency for making discourse connectives explicit in a TT may be assumed to be a mere manifestation of the explicitation tendency in translation. In the English-Greek paradigm, however, it seems to be more than that. The preference for signaling discourse connection, in the present data set, has been assumed to be a combination of two parallel forces. On the one hand, it is a manifestation of the translator’s tendency to make things explicit for target readers and, on the other, it is a manifestation of the cultural preference that considers signaling logical relations, in Greek, a responsibility of text producer rather than addressee. In TT1, a because (γιατί) connective shows this tendency for signaling discourse relations in target persuasion strategy. ST “[]” indicates absence of a linguistic sign and, thus, a point of contrast between source and target versions.

Ex. 1 additionally presents variation in discursive preference other than the one mentioned above, which is in favour of the claim that ads can accurately mirror linguistic preference across cultures. E.g., ST time expression more than ever before is avoided in TT, evidently because it does not fit the preference of Greek for future orientation in time reference. ST more than ever before has an orientation towards the past. This is variation manifested in the orientation of temporal expressions in English → Greek news reporting translation, which has been attributed to a culture specific linguistic preference in time specification (Sidiropoulou 2004).

Preference for signaling discourse connection explicitly in Greek is also reflected in oral messages, in the Greek → English advertising business. In the Greek → English translation direction, explicit discourse connectives are expected to disappear or be made implicit in the English target version of ads. ST2 presents a fragment of the verbal stimuli that accompanies a TV spot advertising a Finnish dairy manufacturer, VALIO, on Greek TV. The English TT below has appeared in subtitles, the Greek ST is voiced-over. A connective of purpose in Greek (για να) is made implicit in terms of English TT connective and in the subtitles. Cook (1992: 154) notes that conjunctions are “notoriously absurd in ads and an easy target for analysts obsessed with demonstrating ads’ ‘illogicality.’” In Greek, persuasion seems to require clarity of conjunction and, thus, the source preference for “illogicality” is abandoned.

Similarly, in exs. 3 and 4, contrasts are downgraded in English TT. ST3 advertises AMITA MOTION juice, on Greek TV, an official sponsor for the then-upcoming Olympic Games, Athens 2004. TT3 appears in subtitles (not shown on Greek TV) to guide foreign companies through the verbal, visual and aural stimuli. A Greek ST connector but also (αλλά και), in the following ad, is made implicit in terms of TT item and.

Contrasts are not solely expressed between propositions as in ex. 3, they may even be implied or stated between noun phrases. In ex. 4, a fragment from a COSMOTE telecommunications TV spot, the contrast between Greek ST items whole (όλη) and one (μια) is de-emphasized in English TT. The whole intensifier, in the Greek ST item the whole of Greece, is omitted from the English TT, while copula verb recovery (is, last line TT4), downgrades the contrast even further.

Making discourse connection implicit in target versions of Greek → English translation situations suggests that the preference for strengthening discourse connection in the English → Greek translation direction is not solely a manifestation of explicitation tendency, but also a culturally preferred pattern in Greek persuasion strategy. The above examples show that ad translation can accurately reflect variation in the persuasion strategies preferred across cultures. Enforcing discourse connection runs through most ad types in the present data and, hence, it is a fairly strong preference in Greek ads. It may be assumed to be a manifestation of a positive politeness intention in interaction: speakers tend to contribute more input to facilitate interaction.

Exceptions to the rule do appear occasionally and are assumed to be due to complexities in the transfer of ad messages. For instance, this enforcing-the-discourse-connection tendency is occasionally abandoned (as in the MAX FACTOR – Get-even advertisement, ex. 14, below) in Greek, and the shift is attributed to a need for interpersonal distance between advertiser and consumer to be adjusted to culturally preferred patterns of linguistic behaviour.

An instance of variation factor (b), referred to above, namely, variation in generic constraints operating across a particular language pair, appears in ex. 5. It is presented here to show that ads reflect generically preferred discursive tendencies with precision. Source and target versions use similar visuals, layout and font size, but the text is somewhat different in content, to reveal a difference in generic conventions prevalent across English-Greek.

Observation of press news headlines, in translation, has shown that Greek target press headlines differ from their English source versions with respect to the quality and quantity of information they convey, thus, revealing a difference in generic constraints operating in the two environments. Greek target news headlines have been more informative than their English source counterparts, while English headlines have been more allusive and emotive (Sidiropoulou 1995). Ex. 5 is a fragment of a Lufthansa advertisement which appeared in a high circulation Greek newspaper. The Greek TT conforms to some generic constraint which crosses out allusive material of artistic quality from the ad headline to allow more descriptive and non-emotive information.[3]

The examples referred to in this study come from commercial advertising. Ex. 6 stands out in that it comes from public benefit advertising: it is an awareness-raising ad pair which intends to make refugee reception smoother in host societies. As Séguinot (1994: 263) claims, in promotional material “the success of a translation is a function of the relationships the text has with its context, the visuals accompanying it and the preparation of the market.” In ex. 6, the visuals that accompany the ST and TT vary marginally, while the source and target texts promote a different image of refugees: in ST the refugee is identified in terms of whether the person carries his tools or not (l. 1-2). TT promotes a more “realistic” image, in that it allows the presupposition that the refugee may be assumed to be the shabby one. No matter the variation in both text and visuals (this is category 6 of the Smith and Klein-Braley strategy scheme), the Greek TT headline conforms to the generic constraint described above: it is more informative in that it directly refers to the discourse topic: refugees.

Ad headlines are shown here to conform to press news headline constraints operating across English – Greek. This tendency reveals the affinity ads have to the press news genre and reflects aspects of selective identities of cultural audiences. Sticky captions, intended to appeal to local readerships, ‘mirror’ the linguistic character of their respective audiences and may allow safe conclusions about discursive preference across cultures.

The following section examines variation in ad translation strategies across commodity types, relative to reader profile. Ads are forms of discourses which make a powerful contribution to how we construct identities (Goddard 1998). Ad translation is, thus, shown to mirror fine aspects of audience identities and social practices across cultural settings.

A fairly strong linguistic preference in business-oriented ad translation is nominalizing. Nominalizations are negative politeness devices (Brown and Levinson 1978/1987) which raise tenor. Even if it turned out that English is a more ‘verbal’ (rather than ‘nominalizing’) language than Greek, in which case nominalizations would not have the same formalization effect in Greek, the strong preference for nominalization in business-oriented ads (as opposed to cosmetics ads) does have a tenor-raising effect in the Greek TT. Besides, Greek has a gerund-type construction, which would have done the job better, had there been a preference for lower-tenor constructions, in this context.

Greek TT business-oriented ads seem to strongly favour nominalizations, relative to their English ST versions: e.g. TT items exploitation (εκμετάλλευση), satisfaction (ικανοποίηση) in the SHARP ad (ex. 7) and enjoyment (απόλαυση) in the Peter Stuyvesant ad (ex. 8) are employed to render ST verbal constructions.

Another preference which also raises formality is passivizing active verbal constructions in Greek TTs, in a language (Greek) which generally favours active constructions. For instance, Greek TT are required, is reduced, is minimized render English ST active constructions, requires, reduce, minimize in ex. 9.

These distance-creating devices (nominalizations and passive constructions) are backed by other shifts that have a similar tenor-raising effect. In ex. 10, the name of the stockbroker is omitted, in favour of his professional post/social position. This has a distancing effect on target readers because the impression of interpersonal proximity is erased.

Reverse tendencies, e.g. tenor-lowering devices, do appear in business-oriented ad types but they are not frequent. Distance-reducing approaches to ad translating should be assumed to address audiences that are not necessarily professional and purely business-oriented. ?he following SIEMENS ad is an instance of this: it advertises resource conservation through gas turbines, high voltage transmission and solar panels, as efficient, safe, clean and economical energy resources. The target version is addressing a wider audience rather than businessmen alone and comprises distance-reducing devices.

In the headlines, the target version creates positive associations by making reference to warmth (which connotes security) and to human subjects (Who’s going to warm them..?). The presence of humans is also ensured through a visual which accompanies the Greek version: a picture of young people with their hands raised in a gesture of clapping, as if engaged in some public spectacle. That humans and human needs are the focus of the company, against a background of an impersonal and inhuman way of life, is also evident in the closing sentence, which makes reference to human needs. The TT further enforces group membership (see insertion of TT in our country…, which lowers tenor and reduces interpersonal distance). Nominalization, a distance creating device, which was opted for in the previous advertisements, is avoided here: e.g. Greek TT item being able to face everyday needs (το να μπορεί να αντιμετωπίζει τις καθημερινές ανάγκες) is a verbal construction in Greek which could have been rendered in terms of a pure nominalization (η δυνατότητα αντιμετώπισης των καθημερινών αναγκών). The nominalization is avoided, however, as it would create unintended formality and interpersonal distance.

In business-oriented ad translation, rendition of linguistic features is adjusted relative to the image of addressee the producer intends to promote. The more business-oriented the commodity, the stronger the tendency for raising tenor level in the Greek TT through tenor-raising devices, regardless of whether the feature is opted for the English ST. The SHARP photocopiers (exs. 9 and 10) trigger more nominalization and passivization devices in the Greek TT, than the tobacco ad (ex. 8) does. By contrast, in the Siemens ad (ex. 11), which is more family-oriented or simply addresses a wider audience, nominalizations tend to be avoided and interpersonal aspects of meaning are promoted either through the text or through the visual. Despite the TT distance-reducing devices, however, the Siemens translator IS interested in maintaining distance between addresser-addressee. This is manifested e.g. in the use of the Greek TT indefinite pronoun one (κανείς, l.1), which adjusts definiteness to generically appropriate levels.

No matter the linguistic feature opted for in the English ST, the preference in Greek fluctuates relative to the reader profile the translator-advertiser intends to address. In the photocopier ads, the distance-creating devices are enforced and tenor level raised. In the Siemens ad, distance is decreased between text and readership and tenor lowered.

Fluctuation in the preferred TT patterns of linguistic expression is observed in cosmetics, as well, but in that context, the specifics of interpersonal communication between advertiser and consumer trigger variation for a different reason.

A lot has been said about how gender may be affecting discourse construction or what implications are generated through language use in particular environments. Notions in advertising may be employed in ways other than the ones observed in dictionaries, bearing consequences for the significance of language as a tool for imposing ideologies or language as a reflection of socially preferred traits and practices. In Japanese advertising addressed to female consumers, the very notion of intelligence “describes appearance rather than mental capacity, and thus seems closer in its meaning to words such as ‘elegance,’ ‘femininity,’ or ‘sophistication,’ than to words like ‘brightness’ and ‘cleverness’…” (Tanaka 1994: 111). Likewise, ‘individualism’ in Japanese turned out to be a search for high fashion and social approval rather than having one’s own style. Myers (1994) points to the interrelation between gender and advertising: he claims that the strategies employed for defining ourselves as in some way different are strongly tied to gender and that few ads work the same for men and women.

Options in advertisements are assumed to create a feeling of solidarity with the advertiser, and hence, a positive response on the part of consumers towards the product, regardless of whether consumers believe the messages to be true. This is how ‘covert’ communication works in advertising, i.e. by making a set of assumptions manifest to the hearer “without making this intention mutually manifest” (Myers 1994: 41).

The present section shows how interpersonal distance between advertiser and consumer may be manipulated in Greek target versions of cosmetics ads to cater for stereotypical images associated with the gender of potential consumers in a Greek (target) society. There seem to be two competing forces which affect translator behaviour in cosmetics ads.

On the one hand, there is an interpersonal attitude developed in terms of

• TT first and second person reference (e.g. Greek TT we present you FRUITION, in TT12),

• direct forms of address (e.g. there is a direct exhortation realized through an imperative, in Greek TT of Y&Z Cosmetics: Stop time now! to render an evaluative ST statement: A Sensitive Cream for a Sensitive Area, in ex. 13), or

• verbal rather than nominalized constructions (e.g. ST improvement → TT is improved, in Estée Lauder-FRUITION, ex. 12).

Nominalizations are not a ‘must’ any more: they may either be avoided or opted for. Besides, in ex.12, an opening sentence is added in the TT, which favours a suspense-creating attitude: Find out about…, at the beginning of Greek TT, enforces a story-telling attitude which favours an interpersonal, rather than transactional, aspect in interaction.

On the other hand, there are shifts which increase interpersonal distance. An obvious one is the use of TT second person plural pronouns in ex.12. Greek has a tu/vous distinction in its verbal system. Singular second person pronouns would have been too direct. The choice of pronouns, Myers claims, “carries significance in a wide range of texts that represent some sort of interaction” (1994: 87).

The assumption is that distance-reducing devices in cosmetics ads, which are intended to make the text appealing to female readerships, somehow jeopardize the persuasive power of ad discourses by creating too close a relationship between text producer and audience. Thus, translators may be assumed to boost the persuasive force of arguments by allowing addressees more mental space and responsibilities in processing the message. This may be manifested in terms of omitting logical connectives to leave the responsibility of retrieving logical relations to addressees, as in TT14: two connectives, while and and, are ignored in the Greek TT, which is rather infrequent in English-Greek translation practice. Likewise, translators may also be elaborating on the reliability of the source the information comes from.

Translators, thus, may eliminate logical markers and leave addressees to infer relations between parts of discourse, as in ex. 14,

or (b) elaborate on the scientific research these products have been a result of, as shown in ex.15. In the Helena Rubinstein-Intercell TT (ex. 15), reference is made to the brand laboratories to enforce product reliability.

In the R-Vincaline ad (ex. 16), reference is made to a biotechnology method used in the preparation, to the same effect. Likewise, in ex. 12, English ST item research has been turned into Greek TT research section (τμήμα ερευνών), which enforces the presupposition that there is considerable research activity going on behind the scenes.

Ex.1 provides another instance of this: ST Essence of Beauty is rendered in terms of TT item Knowledge of Beauty (Η Γνώση της Ομορφιάς).

In ad translating, translator behaviour seems to be fluctuating relative to the gender identity of intended addressee. Male-dominated business environments tend to trigger a transactional attitude on the part of translators, in terms of favouring nominalization, passivization and other devices that raise tenor level. Cosmetics, in this data set, which mainly address women are assumed to require a more interpersonal attitude in interaction.

Fig. 1 summarizes tendencies in Greek TT ad versions with respect to the use of preferred linguistic devices relative to commodity type.

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Both tendencies ARE occasionally balanced in terms of certain devices for the sake of persuasiveness: distance-reducing ones may appear in business-oriented ad types and distance-creating ones in cosmetics ads. However, cosmetics ads seem to register a most unpredictable translator behaviour relative to business-oriented ad types. The assumption has been that lowering tenor in cosmetics ads threatens the mental space consumers would need for the persuasion strategy to be effective and, thus, unexpected devices in the English-Greek translation practice are opted for in cosmetics TTs. In fact, the ‘unexpected’ instances of translator behaviour in cosmetics advertising are numerous and diverse. Directness has been shown to be avoided in English-Greek cosmetics ad translation: this has been realized e.g. in terms of avoiding the imperative in exhortations (directness) and silencing first and second person pronouns in addressing female consumers (Sidiropoulou 1998a).