A Tentative Study of Trademark Translation Essay

Abstract Trademark is a special kind of phrase signs. It is the concentration of commodities distinct characteristics, the sum total of commodities tillage, and the powerful weapon for an enterprise to graphic symbolicipate in international competitions. With the development of globalization and the increase in international trade, the ingatherings of importing and exporting strengthen twenty-four hours by day the adaptation of stylemarks is gaining to a greater extent than and more attention. nowadays, more and more volume strike realized that a favorable adaptation of a earmark in promoting sales is crucial to the development of international markets and profits making.According to both(prenominal) instances of trademark translation, this thesis summarizes slightly main characteristics of trademark, and discusses the principles and some public methods of trademark translation. Key conditions Trademark characteristics translation principles translation methods , , , , , , , , , , Introduction According to R.Heis, an Ameri gouge economist A instigant attend, i. e. trademark is a frame, take a crap, sign, design or a combination of them that tells who makes it or who sells it, distinguishing that product from those made or s venerable by early(a)s. (Guo Gui vast & Zhang Hongbo, 2008 100) A trademark is just like a products give ear, which is the representative of the image of a comp both and the symbol of quality. In promoting sales, the trademark plays a very authorized role in arousing consumers desire to shop, saving the huge economical benefits and even in determining the survival of a company.With Chinas joining to the WTO, China strengthens cooperation with varied countries, including increasingly frequent economic and trade exchanges. How to introduce our products to foreign countries, father foreign products into the domestic markets and conduct a successful sales business has become quite important. therefore, a successful translation of trademark becomes urgent and necessary for the enterprises. While trademark translation is non only a simple con fluctuation from wizard code to a nonher, still a clear intention of the cross-language commercial, a special cross-cultural communication activity.Thus, it is vital for us to pay more attention to the principles and methods of trademark translation. Chapter1 The Characteristics of Trademark though there be various definitions of trademark, they share something in common. In general, a trademark should be simple and easy to remember, and should be distinctive and favorably associative. 1. 1 Simple and Easy to Remember It is a basic requirement for a trademark to be simple and easy to spell. Choosing short and simple words for piece trademarks forget help consumers comprehend them more easily, beca subroutine simple and short words are easy to lionize in memory.Nowadays, with the fast development of economy, more and more trademarks flood i nto the market, how could consumers memorize all of them? Therefore, if a trademark is short and easy to spell and memorize, it passel occupy the market easily. In fact, most well-k todayn trademarks are in short form, such as Nike, Sony, Apple and so on. 1. 2 Distinctive from Similar Products We all know that the purpose of using trademarks is to distinguish one product from others. Therefore, to be distinctive is another important characteristic of a trademark. Trademarks, in a sense, are equal to signs and reputations.Distinctiveness can help customers not to be easily confused with other trademarks in the market either by sound or appearance. Distinctive and typical words may be used to distinguish the relevant product from others. Kodak (camera) created by the manager, is distinctive and easy for the potential consumers to memorize. The Chinese notable trademark Lenovo( ),can easily be differentiated from other computers, because Lenovo, a coined word, can be associated with the word legend which is particular and attractive. Lenovo is more innovative than legend.Adventurous consumers go out prefer that trademark distinguishes the relevant product from other computers with consummate ease. 1. 3 Arousing Favorable Association Most trademarks can arouse favorable linkup, which is an indispensable feature of trademark. Owing to the requirement of marketing, a trademark is not only a sign, but alike an advertisement. It should arouse the favorable stand and show the good quality to consumers. virtually trademarks have inherent meaning and some have historic or cultural connotations, both of which can arouse favorable associations. LUX (soap) is a product of Unilever Company.LUX, a Latin word, intend sunshine. So the consumer can associate it with bright sunshine and healthy skin. This trademark even permit state imagine the romantic tonus on the summer b all(prenominal). Whats more, consumers can associate LUX with lucks and luxury from its appear ance and orthoepy. Thus, Unilever Company publicizes the good quality of its products by the favorable association of the trademark. From the supra example, we can see that the inherent meaning of trademarks plays an important part in advertising and can arouse populations desirable association and let them accept the products.Chapter 2 The Principles of Trademark Translation Trademark translation is an art as well as a science. It is a comprehensive process which is connect to linguistics, translation theory, intercultural communication, aesthetics, and consumer psychology. Generally speaking, trademark translation is a complex task of compromising between the meanings of trademarks and their consumers. Therefore, to translate trademarks successfully, some principles should be taken into consideration. 2. 1 snitch the Products Characteristics Usually, every product has its identification.Trademark translation should show the features and go bads of the products, so that the buy ers could immediately think of the usage of products when they see the trademarks. As has been discussed by Xu Hui and Cheng Zhendong, the characteristic of a product message that it has some basic elements which differ from those of others (Xu Hui, 200455-56). The translated grade agnomen bid should match with the characteristics of products and show the idea of the pilot film stir. The characteristics of products not only distinguish from others, but also contain the ability to communicate with the consumers.Thus, in the process of translation, the translator should grasp the characteristics of the products, so as to promote the understanding of products for consumers, and help learn the characteristics and functions of the products by the prototypical sight. For example, a trademark of suit-dress Hope Show is translated into , in which the word ? instantly reflects in the products for the apparel category, and ? add more promotion of a happy and cool feeling to the go ods. The translation not only reflects the features of the product but also caters to consumers aesthetic taste.Nobody will have interest in products which they are not acquainted. A successful trademark translation should have the trait that customers can learn the category and characteristics of the product. Like Nike, the famous American brand of sports wears, is the name of the goddess achievement in Greek myth. According to its pronunciation, it can be translated into or in Chinese. However, these deuce call cant let loose the characteristics of the product, but even present people a misunderstanding that Nike is some products for women. is better. ? means something durable.As the sport wear, durability is equal to good quality. ? implies that people can finally overcome difficulties and succeed, conform with the connotation of Victory. These two words in Chinese show the features of the product perfectly. Another example is Procter & Gambles antidandruff shampoo H ead & Shoulders. The translation means dandruff disappears when washed, and highlights the distinct characteristics of the product fully. Another two examples are Sportsman (bicycle) and Unlsports (sports shoes).The former is translated into , the last mentioned into . If you are not old(prenominal) with the trademarks, who will associate it with their products? 2. 2 elect the Appropriate Words As the symbol of products, trademarks should be simple and easy to remember and understandable for consumers. So in order to leave the best feeling on consumers, translators should choose some appropriate words during the process of trademark translation. The more complicated words in the translation, the weaker the trademark sounds and the less memorable it becomes. For instance, McDonalds was transliterated into in mainland of China before and now is displaced by .Also, in mainland, the brand name Hewlett & Packard had a long translation of - for a long period. Now, the six-chara cter version, long and meaningless, has been replaced by the two-character version . Balancing these two versions, we can see the latter is easier to pronounce and memorize. Moreover, contains more meanings and can stimulate more favorable e favorable association of the the productassociation of consumers. Similarly, Head &Shoulder(shampoo) was transliterated into before and now a more compact and meaningful version is popular. Stafanel, the brand name for apparel from US, is translated into now. However, what about a two-character version ? Also in China, Mercedes-Benz, the brand name for a quality car from Germany, was transliterated into before and yet is put into at present. A car from Great Britain Rolls Royce is translated into now instead of the former transliteration . The Chinese version for Fair Child, a semi-conductor from the US, was before and now is instead. is easier to be pronounced and memorized than for Nescafe from Swiss.The upper new vers ions have replaced the old renderings because they are simple and easy to be accepted by consumers, in pronunciation, form and meaning. Easy acceptance by consumers finally promotes the sales of the products. On the contrary, some translations sound profane or may lead to electronegative associations in the Chinese language. Thus such translations would not be recognized and accepted by consumers. For examples, Psorales, a drug, was put into when just coming into China.No one knew what was and assumed it to be something discarded. It is not hard to imagine nobody would buy things that sound worn out and useless. Later, it is replaced by ,a more vivid and meaningful version, and its sales was improved subsequentlywards. 2. 3 Analyze the Aesthetics Features Trademark translation should comply with the characteristics of morphology of trademark in the TL. Getting the best out of the combination of beauty in meaning, sound and form is the internal requirement if we want to realiz e the associated function and the advertising function of a brand name.(Tang Zhongshun, 200275-77) The translated trademark accordingly must be normative, elegant, vivid and visual. Firstly, beauty of meaning means the translated terms should produce an artistic existence through a favorable association of words or component words so that people will have rich and sharp association and arouse the expectation and pursuit of wonderful things. We have the typical examples of Sprite (beverage) and Tide (washing power). Since Sprite was translated into in Chinese, this product has prevailed in China due to the lifelike color and abundant connotation.The translated term in sound is not only quite close to the pronunciation of the archetype brand name, but also makes people have a favorable association of lustration, neatness and tidiness, showing the sort and feature of the product. Secondly, beauty of sound means a brand name of the original and its translated version should basi cally share the same or similar pronunciation with the quality of sonority, rhythmization and musicality so that an aesthetically pleasing enjoyment is gained in auditory modality that brand name (Zhang Quan, 200477-79).There are many successfully translated versions fully reflect the beauty of sounds. Take OMO (washing power) and Clean&Clear (facial cleanser) for example. As OMO is translated into ,it sounds like a compliment great in English. The translated term of Clean&Clear, makes good use of alliterative rhythmic reduplication in order to achieve a combination of phonetic rhythm and verve.Lastly, beauty of form means the translated trademarks should make the best of conciseness and simpleness in structure, namely using few syllables, readability and understandability of the words and avoiding difficult and seldom-using words. People prefer two or three words of translated versions because this structure better accords with the referential custom and aesthetic psychology. There are many famous translated brand names with the preceding(prenominal) feature, such as Head&Shoulders (shampoo), Avon (cosmetic), Johnsons (cream) and so on. Especially the translated version is full of the characteristics of concision, elegance and semblance representing the feature and function of the product. 2. 4 Pay Attention to Cultural Differences Edward Taylor defined culture as a complex whole which includes knowledge, looks, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by individuals as members of a society. (Taylor Edward B, 187136) Namely, the major factors contributing to the making of culture are the religions, habits, customs and history, which vary considerable from countries to countries.As a carrier of culture, language is an important part of culture which reflects the characteristics of a nation, which not only includes the nations historical and cultural background, but also contains the national outlook on life, lifestyles and slip port of thinking. From the relationship between language and culture, it is obvious that translation is not only a process of transferring the source language into the purpose language, but also a process of a mutual communication and exchange between different cultures.Therefore, during the process of trademark translation, as language and culture are inseparable from each other, it is essential to pay more attention to cultural differences. 2. 4. 1. Differences in Religions Religions, myths, legends, and images from literary works are an in-separable part of culture. They are deeply rooted in culture and at the same time contribute a great deal to the formation of peoples concepts about certain objects.These elements, when involved in brand name translation, call for the translators sensitivity as well as flexibility in cultural adaptation in order that usable equivalence could be attained between the source brand name and the stigma brand name. For example, Goldlion was not well-liked when it first appeared in the Chinese market with the name . It is said that many people would not buy that product just because the name sounds very close to in some Chinese dialects. Other people believe that the name was not well accepted because it resembles the sound of,which is also a taboo idea in China, especially in Hong Kong, where people march a particular liking for things with luck-bearing names. Anyway, the product did not sell well until the new name was assimilateed by Zeng Xianzi, a famous Chinese entrepreneur. He skillfully took apart the source brand name intogoldandlion. The first part was actually put into? to be faithful to the original, while the latter adopted the method of semantic transliteration and was put into ,meaning flummoxing profit. Such an auspicious name has helped a lot in building up the good fame of the product. 2. 4. 2 Differences in History.Every country has its own history. In the history, many historical incidents hap pened. These incidents have carved into the culture and have become a part of it. Being unaware of the history when translating a trademark will lead to failure. Opium is a brand of perfume. Actually in the western cul ention to hich reflects nd nice associationame, but also makes ation. things. he producr. ture, such kind of trademark name is popular, such as Poison, another perfume brand. However in China, has a negative meaning. The Chinese people experienced the shameful history related to opium since 1840, when the notorious Opium War broke out.Without the consideration of history, this brand encountered the resistance from the Chinese consumers. Finally, the trademark name was banned in China. 2. 4. 3 Differences in Customs and Habits Custom is one of the branches of culture reflecting the specific characteristics of a nation or parts of the nation. It is the sediment of long history and closely linked with the surroundings and the way of life. So some customs and habits e xist in one culture but may be absent in another, which brings about an obstacle to Chinese-English brand name translation.Many Chinese brand names come from Chinese custom. One of the most famous rice wines named (Daughter Wine) is produced in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province of China. To Chinese customers, the brand name represents the happy events in ones life, while they cannot arouse the same feeling in westerners if translated literally and that will absolutely cause cultural loss, because the western consumers do not know about the custom of the antique Shaoxing. It is said that in ancient Shaoxing a jar of this wine was buried under the ground when a daughter was brought into the world.When the girl grew up and became a bride, the jar was dug out and presented to the guests be the wedding. As the wine was uncapped, the smell of the wine spread far, and all guests became excited and congratulated the parents, so it was named . When a translator translate the trade mark, it is very necessary to reveal the cultural information of the brand names. It is not only easy for customers to know about the origin of the wine but accept it quickly, because any one from any country would like to equally appreciate the glorious things, enjoy the happy feeling and desire success.Thus, in order to reveal the cultural information of this brand name, perhaps the translation Daughters Wedding Wine is more suitable. 2. 4. 4 Differences in the Attitudes towards Animals and Numbers People living in different cultures turn over different attitudes and beliefs towards animals and arrives. What is considered a good omen in one culture may not symbolize the same in another. Therefore, it is generally advisable that people should not use this type of words to name the relative products, and when one translates existing brand names of this type, cultural adaptation may help him finger a more proper target brand name.The difficulties caused by such words in brand name translati on may be illustrated with the next example. As we know, the Chinese people often associate bats with good luck because the Chinese character ? sounds the same as? (meaninggood fortune). Some Chinese legends even label that when a bat lives 100 years, it turns white in color and hangs upside down from a tree, and eating that bat could bring a person longevity. A red bat foretells even better luck for sounds exactly the same with (being supremely fortunate). Some Chinese stick to the belief so much that they name their products. and if the translator adapts his linguistic choices to the different attitude towards the animal in European cultures, he would not consider thresh a good name, for bat is regarded as an extremely evil omen in many European folklores. Perhaps translations like Fortunes would be better. Besides, numbers bring about different associations. Generally speaking, each culture has certain numbers believed to be either lucky or ominous, but this may often differ from individual to individual. allows take the translation of 7-up, a brand of soft drink, as an example.The number 7 is thought to be a lucky number to many English speakers, but it does not have the same meaning in Chinese. Considering the cultural difference, the translator, in order to create a similar effect among the Chinese consumers, worked out the name . The name is quite satisfactory because its first part? remains faithful to the source brand name without conveying any unfavorable meaning, and its second part? conveys the meaning ofhappiness and good luck,and hence makes up for the loss of connotation in the number7.Chapter 3 General Methods in Trademark Translation Peter Newmark once said that different translation strategies should be adopted according to the different functions of different works (Mou Yan, 2008). It is well-known that trademark translation is not only to convey the cultural information of the source culture, but also to set up a good image in the tar get culture, and finally to attract the people in the target market to the product. In order to achieve these purposes, translators should adopt the following methods in the process of trademark translation. 3. 1 Literal TranslationLiteral translation, referred to as semantic translation by Peter Newmark, is a way of translation which aims at preserving the most possible cultural messages (including the communicative aspect of culture, such as, the formal elements of the SL) of the source text at the sacrifice of the formal elements of the target language and sometimes even the intelligibility of the target text (Zheng Shengtao, 1994). Since the formation of words in the Chinese language is different from that in the Western languages, it is actually unacceptable to achieve trademark translation by word-for-word translation in most cases.Peter Newmark favors literal translation too. He says, I am approximately of a literalist because I am for truth and accuracy. (Newmark Peter, 20 0162) Although sometimes literal translation may create something exotic or even eccentric for the target language readers, it will gradually be accepted by the target language and its culture. As long as the translated brand names from foreign language can be understood and accepted by the target consumers, literal translation is the best way for promoting cultural exchange through the brand name translation in China.As the brand name translation is to transfer between cultures, translators should make the target consumers understand the source culture. Some people say there is a better way for translators to approach the original. That is literal translation, which can keep the national feature. For example, some conventional brand names, which are very familiar to the Westerners even to the world like (The Yangtze River), (the Yellow River), and (the Great Wall) are chosen by the producers, as they are the symbols of Chinese wonderful natural history.When translators trans late them, they have no need to do any translation. As these brand names are well-known to the world, and these Chinese characteristics of brand names are fresh and mysterious to the Westerners, it is easy to evoke the target consumers purchasing desire. Translators can adopt literal translation. The brand names , , carry our ancient cultural information. When translators translate them into the Western languages, they should keep literal translation and add some notes, in order to let the target consumers know the source culture.Literal translation also keeps the general form and keeps the structure of the source language. Today, Chinese culture are getting more and more popular in the world, and more and more Westerners are eager to take on our language in order to learn our long history. Therefore, the kind of translation is a necessary way to let more people learn our traditional culture. On the other hand, in the English-speaking countries, there are some brand names whic h can be literally translated. For example, the very famous brand name White cat is translated into .And the brand name Camel is translated into . All these translated brand names are very suitable for the products, and the products will very probably be loved by the consumers in the target market. Here literal translation is not the same as word-for-word translation. Word-for-word translation is to rigidly regurgitate every word in the process of translation. Strictly speaking, it is not a translation method. But, literal translation is a skill of translation, even if there do exist some additions or deletions while the essence of the original is not destroyed.Literal translation makes the target language more smooth and acceptable. Although literal translation can most possibly maintain the cultural messages of the source language, it sometimes will cause misunderstanding of the cultural messages or create unintelligible meanings. Lets take Sprite as an example. If the word Spr ite is translated literally or directly, it might be . The version would put Chinese consumers into great perplexity because is a human-like monster in Chinese culture. Thus translators should consider other methods.Literal translation is adopted as the most ideal translation technique in reproducing images because it can preserve the original images as much as possible. Some English expressions wearing word-for-word similarity to some Chinese expressions may mean something quite different. In this case, translators should go deeper to find out what these English expressions really mean otherwise mistakes will be made in literal translation. 3. 2 Transliteration Transliteration in a narrow sense is a mapping from one system of writing into another and it is mostly based on the pronunciation.Transliteration attempts to be lossless, so that an informed reader should be able to reconstruct the original spelling of unknown transliterated words. To achieve this objective, transliter ation may define complex conventions to deal with earn in a source script that do not correspond with letters in a goal script. Transliteration means that trademarks are translated into similar names in pronunciation according to the original ones (Li Yi, 2009232-234) It is generally believed that the adoption of this method can help to achieve various purposes.Some trademarks obtained in this way can effectively remind the customers of their classic status. Such trademarks are easier for target consumers to pronounce and memorize. Still, some trademarks are deliberately transliterated in order to cater to the foreign consumers general preference for foreign goods because some thus-translated trademarks sound more foreign-like. The world famous trademark Intel means the ability to learn and reason and the capacity for knowledge and comprehension. Now you see why it is translated into which sounds foreign-like and is easy to memorize and read.Meanwhile, it indicates the characteri stic of the product. Another example is the translation of Ya Ya. (down wear) is transliterated into Ya Ya instead of Duck. The translated trademark Ya Ya is a catchy name that can fulfill the simulating function of trademark effectively. These two examples show the characteristics of being simple and easy to pronounce and memorize and as well obey the principle of aesthetics. though transliteration embodies the sound beauty of the original one, the translated trademark dictions should be chosen carefully.During transliteration, it is important to obey the characteristics of arousing desirable association. Philip was once translated into which sounds more similar to the original one than . But the three characters will arouse unfavorable association. People prefer good and appropriate words, and hence, when using transliteration method, translators should do their best to choose beautiful words. For example, Lancome (cosmetics) is put into .The two Chinesecharacters are beau tiful and can be associated with an elegant woman with certain spiritual qualities. These two words are always connected with beautiful things, such as , . Thats why Chinese females have a partiality for Lancome. In translation practice, we find that English trademarks are highly transparent in letters or words and can be pronounced easily in one breath, while the transliteration of Chinese trademarks are broken into strong-minded words in accordance with the specific Chinese characters. So the English version often lacks coherence.To avoid the disadvantage of transliteration in strict accordance with the specimen Chinese pronunciation, we can use transliteration method flexibly. To some extent, we can translate a trademark according to the local pronunciation. The following examples successfully avoid the above problem. (refrigerator) is translated into Frestech instead of Xin Fei. Frestech is composed of fresh and technology, which is coherent in structure and pronunciatio n. Whats more, it also implies that the product is produced with advanced technology. (tonic food) means that happiness is coming, suggesting the product will bring happiness and health to consumers.The English version Life caters to westerners psychology and is easier for them to pronounce and spell. 3. 3 Free Translation Free translation reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without the form of the original. Usually it is a paraphrase longer than the original. In order to take advantage of the target language and make translated brand name more idiomatic and acceptable, some imaginary brand names are freely translated.Free translation can communicate the information of products clearly and vividly. It will make a strong impression on the target language consumers and arouse their response. There are many successful examples to show this method. For example, Ariel (washing powder) is rendered as . The word ? means clean and clear. So indicates the super cle aning capability of the washing powder. Similarity, Safeguard (soap) is not literally translated into , but . The translation describes the products function and attributes.Rejoice (shampoo) is not translated into , but , meaning softness and glossiness. Slek(shampoo) is also rendered as through free translation. in Chinese can be a noun as well as a verb phrase. If is interpreted as a noun, it means beautiful buds, implying ladies will be like an elegant bud after using the shampoo if is interpreted as a verb, it means nourishing a bud to make it come out. This implies the shampoo can make haircloth glossier. Zest(soap) is paraphrased as through free translation. ? is a very popular word in China, which brings the soap a fashionable element.This translation is improved from the original one in literal method. is more proper and suitable to meet the needs of the youth who are the target customers. 3. 4 Liberal Translation electropositive Transliteration In order to reach the criteria of trademark translationbeauty in meaning and sound, and to make the translated versions possess the general features of good brand names, we can use the combination of liberal translation and transliteration to translate brand names, since in many cases liberal or transliteration cannot do the job along.A good translation of a brand name should not only be similar to the original sound but also reflect the connotation of the original. The combination of liberal translation and transliteration may achieve double purposes, as the message of the brand name will be more vividly reflected so that it will be more impressive to guide consumption. Here we take some examples to appreciate the merits of this kind of method. For example, Pampersdiapers from P&G, is rich in meaning and clear in pronunciation. The translated brand name has got a balance between the meaning and the pronunciation. The brand name of a care for Bufferin is translated into . The translated b rand name does not tell us what the medicine is, but it forms a sound which is very close to that of the source brand name. A drink named Milo is translated into , which not only makes us know that the pronunciation of the translated word is close to that of the original, but tells us what the product is made from and the property of the product.