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The MC version replaces Lyft with 滴滴出行
(Didi chuxing), the dominant provider of
car-sharing services in mainland China. The
geographical setting of the communication
has also been changed to Beijing, with the
direction map and message on the screen
accordingly transposed. If we were operating
at the level of language alone, we would call
this dynamic equivalence; but here we are
dealing with a real-world entity, so it is less
about linguistic equivalence than it is about
constructing an equivalent semiotic response
to the local circumstance.
The HK and TW versions are quite different;
they illustrate using Siri to schedule the day's
activities, rather than to order car services,
presumably because there were no equivalent
companies in Hong Kong and Taiwan. This is
analogical to the notion of a lexical/semantic
gap; the gap is not linguistic in nature but
the arising issue is similar. The solution
adopted here is to circumvent the locale-
specific item (Lyft) by substituting a more
generic operation (scheduling of activities).
This is a form of translational compensation,
albeit not at a textual level but at the level of
the entire visual-discursive frame. Here, an
impressive degree of care is taken to effect
another level of localisation in the HK and
TW versions: the same activity – 'drink coffee
with Shu Ling' – takes place at different
places: Coco Expresso and Amay Teahouse,
which are actual cafés in Hong Kong and
Taiwan respectively.
How do we fit localisation into the frame of
translation studies or, conversely, translating
into the bigger picture of localisation as a
mode of communication? In each of the
examples from Apple Inc, we are working
with different local versions of advertisements.
These various versions function autonomously
in their respective markets, which means
they are instrumental translations, according
to Christine Nord,
1
focused on the effect
rather than the formal constitution of the
source text.
In the case of localisation, texts are
designed and translated to maximise
marketing effect in different linguistic and
cultural territories. To achieve this purpose,
the form (both discursive and visual) of the
translated-localised texts may need to be
adapted, transmuted and metamorphosed
into one that the target-language market can
fully assimilate.
Tong King Lee's book, Applied Translation
Studies (Palgrave), will be published in 2018.
Notes
1 Nord, C (2014) Translating as a Purposeful
Activity: Functionalist approaches explained,
Abingdon: Routledge
MOBILE CAMPAIGNS
Customers try out iPhones in a mall in
Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, China (above); and
(left) the flagship Apple store in Hong Kong
A literal translation
will be interpreted as
'This is old-fashioned' –
not something iPhone 7
wants to invoke
IMAGES
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SHUTTERSTOCK
