Language Translations in Advertising & Marketing Research: Need for Recognizing Measurement Differences

This paper reports the findings of an empirical study, designed to test the following four hypotheses: H1 : When consumers rate the same advertisement on two language versions of the same work (adjective), the mean ratings of the advertisement in the two languages are not statistically different. H2 : When consumers rate the same advertisement on two language versions of the same word (adjective), the correlations of the ratings between the two language versions would be positive, high and statistically significant. H3 : When consumers rate the same advertisement on two language versions of the same word (adjective), the distribution of the ratings in the two language versions would not be statistically different. H4 : When consumers rate a number of advertisements on a single (adjective) the language of the word should not make a difference in the discriminatory power of the word in differentiating between the advertisements. The findings and conclusions highlight the disparities in languages. The study shows that due to translation of the words, the words change their original meanings. The study selected 197 English words/phrases which can be used to represent all the dimensions of a print ad. These words were translated into Gujarati. The data were collected through a field survey where respondents were asked to rate a sample of six print ads. On English and Gujarati versions of 197 words as to how well each word described an ad. The study used correlations, Analysis of variance and K-S Test of similarity of distributions to see whether the words produced significantly different ratings in their two language versions. It was found that only about 7.11% of the words conveyed same meanings when translated. Rest of the ratings indicated that meanings conveyed by the words in their two language versions were significantly different. The paper discusses the implications of this ‘language effect’ phenomenon for marketing researchers and copywriters in India and makes suggestions for controlling or reducing the impact of such a difference arising out of translations into regional languages.