An eye-tracking study on the impact of incorporating rhetorical figures in English-Chinese advertisement translation

Purpose Rhetorical figures are frequently used in English-Chinese advertisement translation, but their impact on consumers is an under-studied issue. This research aims to explore Chinese consumers’ perception of two categories of rhetorical figures in bilingual advertising, namely schemes and tropes, via an eye-tracking experiment. Design/methodology/approach It takes rhyme and antithesis as representative examples of schemes and takes metaphor as an example of tropes. Eighty-six native Chinese speakers with satisfactory English proficiency participated in the experiment. Thirty English slogans without rhetorical figures were selected for the experiment. Two parallel Chinese versions were prepared, one with rhetorical figures and the other without. Participants were randomly assigned to read the English version and one Chinese version. Findings Data analyses show that the translations with rhetorical figures generally involve higher fixation duration or count, smaller saccade amplitude and higher subjective ratings. In particular, the impact of metaphor is more prominent than that of rhymes and antitheses. Still, English texts receive higher ratings than Chinese translations except for cases where metaphors are used in translations. Practical implications The results suggest that incorporating rhetorical figures particularly tropes into Chinese translations is effective in increasing Chinese consumers’ attention and processing depth and to present English advertisements together with Chinese translations can be helpful for affecting their attitude. Originality/value It applies the eye-tracking approach to explore Chinese consumers’ perception of rhetorical figures. It provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of tropes.