Saturday, August 7, 2010

Experimenting with Regional Language?

ढेंनतेणेंन 




"घर पर पेपर जब फोल्ड किया हुआ पड़ा था तो "धन्तेरस" जैसा लगा !"

This was a comment from a friend to whom I showed the advertisement pointing to the headline.

I tried writing down the correct pronunciation in the headline of this ad. But the word is such that you will have to listen to the ad for the right pronunciation. 

This is not about how it is written. Choosing specific words in your punchline, which draws the attention of the reader must be done carefully and if possible must be cross checked. Particularly when you are going for regional languages.  Best if you can avoid it.

You hardly get time to browse through ads and then, when the ad is with such mistakes, it fails to generate the desired impact, only to become laughing material. (Probably good for readers who now a days do not get to see cartoons in vernaculars)

Sometimes such a thing even goes to the extent that people will tease the ones who buy the new DHANTENAN using the typical wrong pronunciation. The element of happiness is lost for the one who is a proud owner.

This ad in Gujarat Samachar All Gujarat Editions at card rates would have cost Rs. 8,40,000/-. Even though we consider negotiations, it would be at least around the cost of two such Altos! Not a small amount!!. Is this the right thing to do??

Do write in your comments while I keep the track of happenings in and Around Ahmedabad.

Regards
Nikhil

3 comments:

Himanshu said...

Very True!

The problem in the ad world is, most of the campaigns are 'conceived' by English-speaking people and they conveniently forget that the campaign would be replicated in other languages also!

Anyway, this is indeed a nice blog.
Thanks for the same,will keep visiting!

hiren antani said...

actually it should be...ઢેંટેણેન....

Unknown said...

Dear Himanshubhai and Hirenbhai,

Thank you for your comments. Do let me know ways to improve upon this blog.

Your suggestions would be very valuable to me.

Regards
Nikhil Joshi