Foreign Languages Used in Taiwan TV Commercial Ads: Contents Analysis

Abstract

This study observes the Taiwan TV commercial ads which use foreign languages on January to February 2004 and analyze the contents of the foreign languages appearing in the ads from 8 aspects, including the language it appears (English, Japanese, etc.), the style the foreign language appears (voice or characters; brand name, slogan, song, sentence/dialogue or word/phrase), the proportion of appearance of foreign language in the ads, the nature of the foreign languages in the ad (transmitting the product characters, expressing the feeling…), the site (in Taiwan or in other country), the subtitle on the screen (yes or no), the categories of the products and the nationality or race of the performers. Content analysis was used and the results reveal that English, Japanese and Korea are the most frequently used language in Taiwan TV commercial ads.