摘 要

商标是产品的标记之一同时也是一种宣传手段，通过它消费者可以对产品有一个初步的了解。每一个商标的背后往往都蕴含着丰富的内涵，对商标名翻译的研究,从某种意义上来说也属于文化范畴。一个合适的商标翻译可以使得产品顺利地进入另一个国家的市场中。在翻译的时候我们必须选取恰当的方法，从而准确传达出商标的文化内涵。

本文从文化的视角出发，结合英汉商标翻译实例，总结了商标翻译的3种常见方法并分析了目前商标翻译存在的问题。

关键词: 商标； 文化； 翻译方法； 翻译问题； 英汉翻译

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Demonstration 1

2.1 A brief description of trademark 2

2.1.1 Definition 2

2.1.2 Classification 2

2.1.3 Functions 3

2.2 Three methods of the trademark translation 3

2.2.1 Transliteration 4

2.2.2 Literal translation 5

2.2.3 Combination of transliteration and free translation 6

2.3 Three problems of the trademark translation 7

2.3.1 Filled with cultural differences 7

2.3.2 Lack of aesthetic feeling 8

2.3.3 Without a leading person 9

3 Conclusion 9

Works cited 10

Bibliography 11

On the Translation of Trademark Names

1 Introduction

Great changes have taken place in our daily life. With the developing trends of business and economy, large quantities of international products have entered our Chinese market. And at the same time, more and more foreign products are around us. As we all know, trademark is an essential part of every product and it is a special kind of language signs and cultural features. Through a trademark, consumers can have a preliminary understanding of product. Therefore, trademark translation studies have also become more and more important. Trademark translation is a very complex linguistic and cultural activity in cross-cultural context. More and more people are aware of the fact that an excellent trademark name plays a crucial role in the process of product sales. Language is a carrier of culture and closely connected to it. Language is not only a thinking and communication tool, but also a reflection of social culture. And to some degree, culture can determine the use of language. With China's entry into the WTO, more and more products also appeared in the China market. Therefore, it is the responsibility for every translator to make trademark translation ascend a new level. As a translator, it requires more preciseness and carefulness during the process of translating. As far as I am concerned, the eternal theme is always the pursuit of beauty.

This paper starts with the characteristics of English and Chinese trademarks, and then introduces the trademark translation from the cultural perspective， summarizes several kinds of translation methods. Furthermore, this article makes the research on the problems that exist in the today's trademark translation in order to improve the quality of translation. The body of the thesis includes the following aspects: The first paragraph is a brief description of trademark; the second paragraph is the three methods of the trademark translation; the last paragraph is the problems of the trademark translation.

2 Demonstration

2.1 A brief description of trademark

In the Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary, trademark can be defined as "a name or image that an enterprise adopted for its products". The purpose of trademark name translation is to create an excellent name to promote the sales of company's goods. It is no exaggeration to say that the future of the company is closely connected with their trademark name. In this part, the author introduces what is trademark from three main aspects.

2.1.1 Definition

A company's image originates from a combination of goods, public praise, trademarks and logos. What is the 'trademark'? According to the Trademark Act of our country, trademark is the logo of commodity produced by manufacturer or operator of goods. Such kind of logo is usually composed of words or graphs, or put together. Every company uses a trademark to advertise their products and establish a good corporate image in the society.

2.1.2 Classification

In the first place, on the basis of the trademark’s construction, it can be classified into figure mark and word mark. First of all, let’s learn something about the figure mark.

Figure mark consists of geometric figure or other things. Using figures and icons, the designers attempt to establish a special link between the trademark name and the image. There are many popular figure marks in today’s market. Here are some examples.

Word mark is made up of Chinese characters or letters and very easy to remember and distinguish.

In the second place, there is another way to classify the trademark. According to the trademark's fame, it can be divided into well-known trademark or ordinary trademark. The well-known trademark has very high popularity than ordinary trademark. Compared with the well-known trademark, ordinary trademark is not protected by law. In order to make the content more persuasive, this paper cites some popular examples of trademark.

2.1.3 Functions

Trademark is usually compact and concise in form and easy remember in sound whereas it is often heavily loaded with certain cultural information in content (KenHyland, 2005). Obviously, trademark is an essential part of every product and a successful trademark may bring good reputation and huge wealth for a company at the same time.  Through a trademark, the customers can have a general knowledge of main features of products. At the same time, the company's image is shown by the trademark.

With the advancement of economic globalization, growing numbers of companies are going into the world market. I hold the view that products' trademark names play an increasingly important role in their marketing.

2.2 Three methods of trademark translation

It is generally known that there are big differences between Chinese and English. Trademark translation is not only to retain the essential part of the original language, but also needs to in accordance with consumer's psychology.

 Trademark translation focuses not only on the coincidence of the literal meaning of source language and target language, but focuses more on the same or similar feeling of the language receiver caused by the translation(李喜珍 2006).

Every method has good points and bad points at the same time. The trademark translation's quality will influence the effect of trans-culture advertisement effectiveness to a large extent. It has unique standards and distinguishing features because the translation of trademark belongs to commercial translation. Therefore, all translators need to choose the appropriate method according to the specific circumstances. As far as I am concerned, there is no way that we can separate language from culture. Only in this way can we convey deep meaning of every product more accurately.