商標(biāo)名稱的翻譯與策略【畢業(yè)論文】

1、<p><b>　?。?0_ _屆）</b></p><p><b>　　本科畢業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)</b></p><p><b>　　英語(yǔ)</b></p><p>　　商標(biāo)名稱的翻譯與策略</p><p>　　On Brand Name Translation Studies

2、and its Translation Strategies</p><p><b>　　摘要</b></p><p>　　全球經(jīng)濟(jì)一體化的今天，行業(yè)間的商業(yè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)日趨激烈，在這樣的環(huán)境下，商標(biāo)之于產(chǎn)品和企業(yè)的作用就更不可忽略。產(chǎn)品的商標(biāo)恰如人的名字，賞心悅目的商標(biāo)名讓人過(guò)目難忘，能夠促進(jìn)產(chǎn)品的銷售，而不恰當(dāng)?shù)纳虡?biāo)名將給產(chǎn)品甚至其企業(yè)帶來(lái)厄運(yùn)。隨著國(guó)際經(jīng)濟(jì)的發(fā)展，越來(lái)越

3、多的企業(yè)走出國(guó)門進(jìn)軍世界市場(chǎng)。為了成功地讓產(chǎn)品在國(guó)際市場(chǎng)上奪得一席之地，好的譯名商標(biāo)必不可少。</p><p>　　鑒于此，本文結(jié)合商標(biāo)的特點(diǎn)以及中英語(yǔ)言文化等方面的差異提出了適用于商標(biāo)翻譯的策略: 音譯、直譯、音譯直譯和意譯策略，同時(shí)結(jié)合大量品牌翻譯實(shí)例加以論證。相信本研究對(duì)于商標(biāo)譯員和企業(yè)都將起到一定的指導(dǎo)性作用。</p><p>　　關(guān)鍵詞：商標(biāo)；中英語(yǔ)言文化；商標(biāo)翻譯策略</

4、p><p><b>　　Abstract</b></p><p>　　As one of the best strategies of marketing, brand name is of vital importance in the keen competition of businesses in the global economy. Brand name to

5、 product is like name to people. A good brand name contributes to the good reputation of a company and can help to propel sales of products while a poor brand name could be disastrous to a company. With the fast developm

6、ent of the international economy, more and more companies are cultivating their markets outside their own nations. To successful</p><p>　　Based on the characteristics of brand names and linguistic and cultur

7、al differences between Chinese and English, the thesis puts forward brand name translation strategies: transliteration, literal translation, combination of transliteration and literal translation and liberal or free tran

8、slation, which is illustrated with numerous concrete examples. It is hoped that the present study can play facilitating roles for brand name translators and enterprises as well. </p><p>　　Key words: brand n

9、ame; linguistic and cultural differences; brand name translation strategies </p><p><b>　　Contents</b></p><p>　　中文摘要.……………………………………………………………………………..I</p><p>　　Abstract……

10、…………………………………………………………………………II</p><p>　　1 Introduction………………………………………………….…………………...1</p><p>　　1.1 Research Background…………………………………….……………….…..1</p><p>　　1.2 Research Purposes and

11、Significance……………………….….………………1</p><p>　　2 Literature Review……………………………………………….……….……….2</p><p>　　2.1 Definitions of Brand Names…………………………………….………..……2</p><p>　　2.2 Characteristics

12、 of Brand Names………………………………….…….……...2</p><p>　　2.3 The Studies on Brand Names Translation Home and Abroad………..………5</p><p>　　2.3.1 Studies on Brand Names from the Economic Perspective……………..5<

13、;/p><p>　　2.3.2 Studies on Brand Name Translation from Cultural Perspective………..6</p><p>　　2.3.3 Studies on Brand Name Translation from Linguistic Perspective……..7</p><p>　　3 Brand Na

14、me Translation Strategies……………………………………….…...10</p><p>　　3.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..……10</p><p>　　3.2 Transliteration………………………………………………….……….…….10</p><p>　　3.3 Literal

15、 Translation………………………………………………..…………..11</p><p>　　3.4. Combination of Transliteration and Literal Translation……..………………12</p><p>　　3.5 Liberal or Free Translation……………………………………………..…….13</p&g

16、t;<p>　　4 Conclusion….…………………………………………………………...……….17</p><p>　　Bibliography………………………………………………………………………18</p><p>　　1 Introduction</p><p>　　1.1 Research Background</p>

17、<p>　　In a world of rapid economic development, commercial exchange takes an even more important role than before. China, in such a developing condition is strengthening its communication with the outside world in t

18、erms of commercials. On the one hand, China, together with all the top brands it boasts is going global, on the other hand, the rest of the world is stepping into China, looking for chances to introduce and sell their to

19、p brands in the large potential market. A popular brand name is a must </p><p>　　However, in real life, we often encounter numerous lousy translations of brand names. A case in point is Chinese product輕身減肥片,

20、 which is rendered into Obesity Reducing Tablets. When such product was exported to America, for a long period, the tablet was a slow seller. Through market research, it shows that brand name did not meet the people’s ps

21、ychological demand because this product was regarded as the medicine for obese people. Based on the above considerations, the author carries out a study o</p><p>　　1.2 Research Purposes and Significance</

22、p><p>　　Translation is defined as “a complex action designed to achieve a particular purpose” (Newmark, 2001: 6). When it comes to brand name translation, the ultimate purpose is to make target consumers know t

23、he products and further invite them to buy the products.</p><p>　　According to this special purpose of brand name translation, we find it is necessary and significant that appropriate translation strategies

24、of brand name must be develop to cope with this important branch of practical translation—brand name translation. Thus, this thesis makes an in-depth analysis of brand name translation and appropriate translation strateg

25、ies. </p><p>　　The purpose of the study is twofold. First, to arouse general awareness that brand name translation is significantly essential especially in the age of the globalization. Second, to put forwar

26、d translation strategies which are highly amenable to the translation of brand names. </p><p>　　2 Literature Review</p><p>　　2.1 Definitions of Brand Names </p><p>　　This thesis foc

27、uses on brand name translation, so it is important for us to have an overall understanding of what brand name is. </p><p>　　“Branding makes a product distinctive in the marketplace, just as your name make

28、s you unique in the society in which you live.” (Wells, Burnett and Moriarty, 1999: 89)</p><p>　　It is “a name given by a producer to a particular product, by which it may be recognized from among alike prod

29、ucts made by other producers.” (Longman Contemporary English-Chinese Dictionary English, 1988)</p><p>　　“A trademark is any word, name, phrase, symbol, sign, design, or packaging that is distinctive and that

30、 identifies and distinguishes the source of a particular product. A trademark typically appears on the product or on its packaging.” ((Lubliner, 1993:16)</p><p>　　Actually, people are confused in its concept

31、ion even in Europe and America where commerce developed. A successful brand is defined, by Chernatony and McDonald (1994), as “an identifiable product, service, person or place, augmented in such a way that the buyer or

32、user perceives relevant unique added values which match their needs most closely”. In the British, consumers have been shown, by de Chernatony and McWilliam (1989), to hold typically one of four complementary and overlap

33、ping views of br</p><p>　　1. A visual identifier. </p><p>　　2. A guarantee of consistent quality. </p><p>　　3. A shorthand device.</p><p>　　4. An expression of self-co

34、ncept. (Chernatony and Mc William, 1989: 29-32)</p><p>　　The above-mentioned definitions prove the brand is a concept of compounding, it is formed by the brand outside mark (including name, term, pattern etc

35、.), brand discerning, brand legend brand image, etc. While in this thesis, brand names mainly refer to the part of a brand that can be expressed in words. </p><p>　　2.2 Characteristics of Brand Names </p&

36、gt;<p>　　Aiming to build, reinforce, and reposition consumers’ perceptions and understandings of a certain brand, brand names have the following four functions, that is, distinguishing products, providing informat

37、ion, ensuring guarantee and stimulating consumption desires.</p><p>　　In order to build a positive image in the market and arouse favorable associations as well as purchasing desires in the mind of consumers

38、, brand names are required to have the following major characteristics: brevity, sonority and memorability, significance, elegance and appropriateness, originality and novelty.</p><p>　　Because of the peculi

39、arity of the brand name that it carries the main and final purpose of achieving sales, the first and foremost characteristics of brand names are brevity, sonority and memorability. Only those brief, easy-to-understand an

40、d memorable brand names will win the approval of consumers. </p><p>　　For example, Uha (悠哈), a candy brand name, is short and sweet. In pronouncing Uha, lovely, cute, adorabe feelings emerge in people’s mind

41、, which appeal to its target consumers. Apart from that, the translated brand name keeps the syllabus of the original name. “雅客” (Yake)，in the same way, the pronunciation is crispy, sonorous and agile. The Chinese versio

42、n also gives us elegant and cultivated feelings. What’s more, “雅客” is the alternative name of the flower Narcissus. From above examples, the ch</p><p>　　In most cases, brand names have rich meanings and asso

43、ciations. Apart from being brief, sonorous and memorable, another important characteristic of brand names is significance, in other words, brand names usually carry rich connotations. A case in point is the brand name “彩

44、虹” (Irico), whose English version is composed of “Irix” and “Corporation”. Irix is a Goddess in Greek Mythology whose responsibility is to spread good news. This happens to be in line with this Group’s purpose: to be the

45、 creat</p><p>　　Goodyear, a tire brand name, means an auspicious and harvest year; the translated version “固特異” not only is similar to Goodyear in pronunciation but shows attributes of the product of being s

46、olid, special and unique.</p><p>　　“西冷” (Serene) is an air-conditioning brand name. The meaning of “西冷”，in Chinese people’s mind, is cold and dry; for the translated version Serene, though it contains more m

47、eanings as being clam, quiet and composed, the original meaning of coldness is reduced.</p><p>　　Elegance and appropriateness refer to the meanings of brand names or the ideas they conveyed. Since the purpos

48、e of brand names is to be recognized and accepted by consumers, the information transferred by the brand name is required to be correct and appropriate, that is, in accordance with characteristics of the commodity. For i

49、nstance:</p><p>　　Band-aid——邦迪(bandage for first aid)</p><p>　　Goldlion——金利來(lái)(shirt) </p><p>　　Marlboro——萬(wàn)寶路(cigarette)</p><p>　　Giant——捷安特(bicycle)</p><p>

50、　　Paloma——百樂(lè)滿(gas-burning appliance)</p><p>　　Contac——康泰克(cold medicine)</p><p>　　天翼——E-surfing (net service)</p><p>　　“天翼” (E-surfing), a new brand released by China Telecom to ful

51、fill the mass customers’ need for information services. “天翼” means flying freely in the sky; accordingly, “e-surfing” means surfing the web to one's heart's content. With e-surfing, cell phones or laptops are lik

52、e having wings flying freely in the online world. The translated brand name well transfers the meaning of the original brand name and thus can be regarded as an elegant and appropriate translated brand name.</p>&

53、lt;p>　　Giant is the brand name of a bicycle, whose original meanings are huge, great, or people of vision; the translated version furthers the original meanings and shows that the product is swift, safe and special. B

54、esides, the pronunciation of “捷安特” is similar to the original brand name Giant. So, “捷安特” embodies the characteristics and meanings of the original brand name.</p><p>　　To be unique and distinctive in the ma

55、rket, brand names of products are required to be original, novel and creative. The first impression of the brand name left in consumers’ minds is very important and it constitutes a reason for the product to be selected

56、among numerous products of the same type. So, a successful brand name and its translation are required to be instantly recognizable. Therefore, an excellent brand name holds attributes of novelty, attractiveness and orig

57、inality.</p><p>　　Take the wall clock brand EMIT as an example. The brand EMIT is said to be novel and original because it is the back-to-front spelling of the word “TIME”, meaning breaking through the tradi

58、tions. What’s more, EMIT is rendered into “情有獨(dú)鐘”，in which, “鐘” is endowed with the meanings of both the clock (referring to EMIT) and its original meaning in the set phrase. Both EMIT and “情有獨(dú)鐘” are interesting and impre

59、ssive and can be said to be original and novel.</p><p>　　The Chinese version of B.CHOW— “比俏” is also an outstanding example because it vividly describes the mood of “want to be more charming and pretty than

60、others”. This thought makes the brand name distinctive and impressive.</p><p>　　The candy brand Fujiya is rendered into “不二家” which is interesting and fresh in the market. The Chinese version shows uniquenes

61、s, originality and individuality of the product.</p><p>　　2.3 The Studies on Brand Names Translation Home and Abroad </p><p>　　Various researchers have endeavored to study brand names. The previ

62、ous studies on brand names can be categorized into three groups: 1) economic perspective; 2) cultural perspective; and 3) linguistic perspective. </p><p>　　2.3.1 Studies on Brand Names from the Economic Per

63、spective </p><p>　　Brand name is a product of economic development, so economic and market research on it plays an important role in our society. Based on the research findings, what the experts study mostly

64、 are how to create, design, market, develop, and manage brands. Aaker (a business professor at University of California at Berkeley) and Kevin Keller are two American branding experts, who make theoretical and scientific

65、 analyses on brand names in their works. They contribute a lot to the research in this field</p><p>　　Keller (1998) provides a comprehensive treatment of the subject of brands, brand equity, and strategic br

66、and management, concerning the design and implementation of marketing programs and activities to build. John Murphy, a branding expert in Interbrand (global branding consultancy), has edited and published many guidebooks

67、 on brands. In addition, most researches on naming primarily focus on characteristics and functions of English names. For example, Peterson & Ross (1972) find that it is impor</p><p>　　2.3.2 Studies on B

68、rand Name Translation from Cultural Perspective </p><p>　　Analysis on brand names translation covers the majority of language research of this field in China. Zhu Fan (2002) makes a comment on brand names tr

69、anslation in her article, a most representative study based on more than 120 articles from 1994-2001. According to the principles and features of brand names, Guo Shangxing (1995) divides brand names into five categories

70、 and indicates problems of brand name translation in China. Chen Quanming (1996) introduces four methods for English-Chinese import</p><p>　　Verbification of brand names originates in 1940s, which is a fresh

71、 language phenomenon. In China, translation on verbification of brand names is from Zhang Dinxing(1997) who makes a preliminary study on its word source, history background, meaning and translation. He also stresses that

72、 “verbification of vehicle’s brand names is a new trend in modern English vocabulary and verbification of automobile brand names is the most popular” (張定興, 1998). The article is limited in describing brand names ex</p

73、><p>　　Ever since brands come into being, they are blessed with cultural meaning and closely connected with culture. Ethical cultural meaning is contained in a small brand name, in which lexical meaning is adde

74、d with emotion, cultural symbol or cultural association.</p><p>　　Brand names can express their special meanings and be understood only under the specific cultural background. Companies pay attention to both

75、 the form of brand and its culture, so there are many cultural studies on brand names.</p><p>　　Cao Zhiyun (1992: 165) analyzes the culture phenomena of Chinese brand naming, and illustrates the characterist

76、ics of brand language such as distinction, art and social function. Peng Shiyu (2001) holds that the design of Chinese brand and brand names should not only absorb other culture’s virtue but also work out how they will b

77、e accepted easily, which makes Chinese brand and brand names international. Zhang Xiangyang(2005) probes the cultural implication and object of automobile brand names. B</p><p>　　2.3.3 Studies on Brand Name

78、Translation from Linguistic Perspective</p><p>　　Scholars in US attach much importance to linguistic research on brand names. The most famous representative is Vanden (1987) who analyzes language features of

79、 200 brand names from 1971 to 1985 in US. Aronoff (1981) published his Automobile Semantics in the journal Linguistic Inquiry. Ingrid Piller’s PhD dissertation American Automobile Names (1996) can be reckoned as one of t

80、he best literatures on brand naming available at present. By studying the place names of automobile in general language, s</p><p>　　In China, the study of brand names can be traced back to Zhuang Hecheng (19

81、88) and Sun Dequan (1988) who are the first Chinese scholars in this field studying simple features of brand names and problems of translation. Zhu Yajun(2003) studies brand names from the perspective of some branches of

82、 linguistics, which include phonetics, grammar, semantics, pragmatics, semiotics, translation, and indicates relevant factors of brand naming. He takes the functional equivalence theory to describe brand n</p><

83、;p>　　The literatures about lexical analysis for brand name are limited. Liang Guotao (1992) divides trademarks into three categories: name trademark words, such as Cadillac; word trademark words, such as Apple; arbitr

84、ary trademark words, in which word-formation is applied, such as Kodak. Liang Guotao(1998) adds the fourth category of brand names—shortening trademark word, such as IBM and says brand names are different from common wor

85、ds, because they are industry property right. Hou Ruilong(1997: 260)</p><p>　　The previous literature shows us a lot of successful achievements on the research of brand names, yet there are still some proble

86、ms left. Many linguists focus their research on proper names but pay little attention to brand names. According to the previous literature which is mostly about economics, translation, culture and linguistics, we can fin

87、d the previous studies do not elaborate on the translation strategies that are appropriate to translation of brand names. Under this backdrop, the pres</p><p>　　3 Brand Name Translation Strategies</p>

88、<p>　　3.1 Introduction </p><p>　　The translation of brand names is not a simple transfer from one language to another; instead, it is a recreation process. The same brand name may have different transl

89、ations to stand for different types of products. For example, the baby’s daily use cosmetic Johnson & Johnson is translated into “強(qiáng)生”, while an enterprise named as Johnson is translated into “莊臣”. As an underwear bra

90、nd name, Triumph is rendered into “黛安芬”, but as a car brand name, it is translated into “凱旋”. As a chocolate brand n</p><p>　　Different from common language translations, brand name translations consider mor

91、e on the nonlinguistic factors, such as products and consumers, esp. cultural factors infiltrated in language. Some translation strategies for the translation of brand names are listed as follows.</p><p>　　3

92、.2 Transliteration </p><p>　　In translating English brand names, transliteration is a strategy that cannot be ignored. The advantage of this strategy is that it is easy and feasible; meanwhile, the strategy

93、 of transliteration endows translated brand names with exotic tints and feelings. This strategy is widely used in the translation of brand names because it not only keeps the consistency of product images globally, but a

94、lso remains the rhythmic beauty and sonorous beauty of original brand names. For example:</p><p>　　Motorola——摩托羅拉(cell phone) </p><p>　　Swatch——斯沃琪(watches)</p><p>　　Pocky——百奇(decor

95、ating biscuit)</p><p>　　Subway——賽百味(fast food)</p><p>　　Eucerin——優(yōu)色林(cosmetic)</p><p>　　Reebok——銳步(shoe)</p><p>　　Sharp——夏普(electronic home appliance)</p><p&

96、gt;　　Kelon——科龍(electronic home appliance)</p><p>　　Galanz——格蘭仕(electronic home appliance)</p><p>　　Ericsso——愛(ài)立信(cell phone)</p><p>　　Virjoy——唯潔雅(tissue)</p><p>　　Nepia—

97、—妮飄(tissue)</p><p>　　In the translation of Pocky and Subway, the translated brand names “百奇” and “賽百味” not only are similar to the original pronunciations, but expend the meanings of the original names. Pock

98、y shows a magical pocket that produces various wonders, which is in accordance with Chinese people’s psychology of being fond of surprises and expectations; while Subway mean to show that their service speed is faster ev

99、en than a subway and their food taste better than any others.</p><p>　　To sum up, the transliteration strategy emphasizes phonological forms of brand names, going after phonological similarities between bran

100、d names in the source language and the target language. It tries to find out the same or similar words or morphemes to the original brand names. This strategy confines translators to the phonological forms of brand names