Contents
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A Brief Analysis of Translating English Trademarks
Yin Dahong
Abstract: Since China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO), the trade rations between China and the other countries products pour into Chinese market. How to give better publicity of the goods, and then comes the translation of English trademarks indispensible. In order to get the Chinese market competitive, the translation of their trademarks is very important. Great emphasis is laid on the choice of trademark not only to attract the consumers’ attention but also realize its ultimate goal — to promote sale, because a successful trademark will bring more advantages for enterprises. The task of trademark translation is to create desirable names to promote their products. The translators are required to create trademarks that can convey the messages of the original ones appropriately and be accepted by Chinese consumers.
This thesis, introduces the general knowledge of trademarks briefly and
the principles of trademark translating. Then talks about several methods of translating trademark names, and gives some examples to explain the methods are workable.
Key word: English trademark translation method
浅析外国商标的翻译策略
尹大红
摘要：自从中国加入世界贸易组织后，中国与世界各国的贸易关系进入了一个新的台阶。大量国外商品涌入中国市场。怎样让这些商品得到更好的宣传呢，商标的翻译问题就必不可免的出现了。为了使中国市场具有竞争力，英文商标汉译就显得尤为重要。为了吸引消费者的注意力，实现其促销目的，商标命名者十分注重商标名的选择，因为一个成功的商标名能给企业带来更多的优势。商标名翻译者的任务就是创造理想的名字来推销产品，译者翻译出的名字既要能有效表达原商标的意思，又要能被中国顾客欣赏与接受。
本文简要介绍了商标的一般知识和商标翻译的原则。主要讲述了商标翻译的几种方法，并举例来阐述这些方法的可行性。
关键词：英语商标 翻译 策略
1. A brief introduction of trademark
Trademark translation is the process from decoding to coding and the process of recreating and further processing. A good trademark translation may bring an enterprise enterprise suffer great loss. Therefore, an enterprise’s future is closely linked with trademark translation.
1.1 Definition of trademark
Oxford Advanced Learner ’s English-Chinese Dictionary defined trademark as “a name, symbol or design that a company uses for its products and that cannot be used by anyone else”
The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement ) of 1994, administered by the Word Trade Organization (WTO) defined, in Article 15.1, the trademark in a broader sense: “Any sign, or any combination of signs, capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking form those of other undertakings, shall be capable of constituting a trademark.”
Normally, in business situations, trademark includes: letter, word, device, sound, or symbol or combination of those that is used in connection with merchandise. Trademark is also a special mark that is placed on a particular brand of article or commodity ，customer can distinguish it from similar products sold by other producers easily.
1.2 Classifications of trademark
There are many methods of classifying trademark. According to the reputation of trademark, it can be classified into common trademark and renowned trademark. The difference is that the former can not be protected by special laws while the later does. According to the structure of trademark,
it can be divided into word trademark and device trademark. In this essay, I will focus more on the trademark words and translation of trademark words form English to Chinese.
1.3 Functions of trademark
There are mainly four functions of trademark. First, a trademark can distinguish it from similar goods sold by other producers; second, it is Chinese people discuss the principles of translation, the famous trinity principle 信达雅 （faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance）put forward by Yan Fu in 《天演论》 of Evolution and Ethnics by T. H. Huxley （1898） is always considered as the only one standard that all translators must obey. Of course, it is the most basic rule for all kinds of translations, including trademark translation. Besides, we should consider the cultural differences between Chinese and western countries, their different way of thinking, their background, etc. meanwhile, It is very important to select words as trademarks. The general principle of naming a trademark is pronounceable, memorable, associative and appropriate.
3. The methods of the Chinese translation of English trademarks
I would like to present five main methods of the Chinese translation of English trademarks. They are transliteration, literal translation, paraphrase translation, combinations of transliteration and paraphrase translation, semi-literal and semi-transliteration, and other strategies.
3.1 Transliterations
Transliteration means, mainly according to the pronunciation of the original trademark, to translate it into similar Chinese version without negative meaning at least. According to the trademark names we , transliteration is the most common method being used. It can be divided into three types: Direct transliteration; Condensation transliteration; Meaning-oriented .
Direct transliteration means to translate the trademarks only according to the original pronunciations, so the translations usually don ’t make any sense in the target language.
Take a luxury brand Versace as an example, it is transliterated into 范思哲 according to its pronunciation. It sounds like a Chinese name, can draw Chinese consumers’ attention closer to the trademark. What ’s more, 思哲 means logic and rationality in Chinese. It can improve the image of the trademark in Chinese market.
There are some other examples of the trademarks transliterated directly form English to Chinese in the table below.
Condensation transliteration means translating only part of the trademark ，because all trademarks must be concise. Usually a Chinese trademark word is usually made up of no more than four syllables. So, sometimes translators would example is the world-famous automobile Mercedes Benz. It was translated directly into 梅赛德斯·本茨 at the beginning, but this translation is long , and not easy to remember. Then , it was translated into 奔驰 , omit the former part, Which means “run in a Chinese. In this way it makes sense and gives good publicity to this automobile.
Some other examples are in the table below.
Meaning-oriented means that the translator picks some good
suggestions and of original trademarks as the translated trademarks. In this way, customers can understand it and accept it more naturally.
The most famous example of this method is coca-cola of the U.S. it is translated into可口可乐 ，可口means delicious, and 可乐 means pleasing. It is not only keeps the pronunciation of the source language, but also makes people clearly known that this kind of product is nice, and they want to buy it. And today, coca-cola is the representation of carbonated drinks.
There are some other examples of the trademarks transliterated by meaning-oriented
3.2Literal translation
Literal translation means translate word for word, the biggest feature of this method is: it is loyal to the literal meaning of source trademark. It’s often used in the translation of the trademarks that carry good implied meanings and positive association in both the source language and the target language. For example, Crown (automobile) is translated into 皇冠. It is translated literally, but the source language and target language . It is express the real meaning of a trademark, the proportion of them are very small. For instance:
So as not to make ridiculous mistakes, when translator uses literal translation, they must be sensitive to the culture difference between two countries. Take FANGFANG TALCOM POWDER for an example. At one time, a translator translated 芳芳爽身粉into FANGFANG TALCOM POWDER. However, ’t know FANG is also an English word, which means
poisonous teeth. There, . Not all the trademark names can be translated directly.
3.3 Paraphrase translation
Paraphrase translation also means liberal translation or free translation. This method is often used to some ornate trademarks that . Some trademarks can not be translated by the method of literal translation, and then paraphrase translation is a good supplement.
3.4 Semi-literal and semi-transliteration
Just as the name suggests, this method means literal translation for part of a trademark and transliteration for the rest. Therefore it and transliteration.
For example: Unilever is the global leading provider of food and personal care. It is translated into 联合利华. The prefix uni is translated into 联合 literally, and 利华 is the Chinese phonological equivalent for lever. This translation gains Chinese favor as it means benefit in China in Chinese. So the translated trademark attracted many local customers once it was introduced into China.
Another famous example is the translation of the trademark Goldlion. According to its meaning, Goldlion could be translated into 金狮 directly. But the products was unpopular in Hong Kong, because the pronunciation of 狮 is similar to that of 输 (which means lose) in Cantonese. What’s more 狮 also with 失 （which means lose ）in Mandarin. So the translation was considered to bring bad luck for Chinese customers. Then the translation was changed into 金利来. 利来is the transliteration of lion, and it indicates that
it can bring large profits to its owner in Chinese. The translation was proved to be a big success, as the trademark becomes a famous trademark and the products sold well since then.
More examples of semi-literal and semi-transliteration of trademark words from English to Chinese are listed in the table below.
3.5 Combinations of transliteration and paraphrase translation
From the name, we can know it is combined transliteration with paraphrase translation. This method is complicated. It is not like Semi-literal and semi-transliteration, in the base of transliteration, it needs more creative words instead translating literally.
BMW 宝马(automobile), it is originating from German bayerishe motoren werke(German Bavaria motor works). The translator translate it into 宝马.BM is close to Chinese pinyin baoma , add some Chinese poems 宝
马is a cover a thousand meter in a single day. So this translation is very wonderful. Another example, the America Johnson& Johnson, dealing with medical and personal care products, was established by the three brothers: Robert wood Johnson, James wood Johnson and Edward mead Johnson. If translate Johnson& Johnson into 约翰逊. It will it into 强生, which means powerful vitality, it will receive good reputation. The facts show us it does so.
3.6 Other strategies
There are many methods of trademark translation. The basic strategies are above several methods I , abbreviated translation and Innovative translation.
Logo-oriented translation means a translation according to what the logo symbolizes or conveys. In such a case, the logo is usually more distinctive, original and impressive than the word. For example, the translation of Wrigley and a range of Wrigley products is 箭牌 in Chinese based on the image of arrow. Wrigley product is well known across the world for its chewing gum, the trademark words of whose three major products are Spearmint, Juicy Fruit and Doublemint. And the three trademarks are translated into 白箭， 黄箭 and 绿箭 respectively according to the main colors of their packing rather than the literal meanings.
There are some more examples of the trademarks translated by logo-oriented approach form English to Chinese in the table below.
Abbreviated translation, this method usually applies to abbreviated trademark. Such as: Minnesota mining and manufacturing company is abbreviated as 3M. Nippon electric company is abbreviated as NEC. The short form of international business machine corp. is IBM. In addition, the way is also used for M&M, LG, C.D, and CP2U.
Innovative translation, Innovative translation deals with trademarks in a new way to convey the distinctive features of the products more vividly or make the trademarks memorable. When the methods referred in the previous chapters don ’t work well, innovative translation can be used to make the translated trademarks acceptable, comprehensible and even desirable to the target readership.
A typical example is sprite 雪碧(beverage). The original meaning of sprite is elf or goblin. From the play of Shakespeare, sprites are very cute, and in the eve of Halloween in western countries, children masquerades as all kinds of sprites, go from door to door for sugars. However, in minds of Chinese people, sprites
are evil and this way, sprite means cold and fresh. The cold beverage can cool our body in the the innovative.
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, the translation of English trademarks is not a simple thing. It is not just simply translate a word into another word. Because of the cultural differences between Chinese and western countries, the language laws, cultural psychology, and aesthetic interest will be involved. Besides, translators should pay attention to cultural taboos and choose appropriate methods to translate. Trademark translation is getting more and more important to companies in today’s world economic environment. In order to get market share in the world, we should make much efforts to the translation of trademarks
This thesis suggests some useful methods to translating different kinds of trademarks. They are transliteration, Literal translation, paraphrase translation, Semi-literal
and and semi-transliteration, translation and combinations other of transliteration paraphrase strategies.
Transliteration is a way quite often used; it can be divided into direct transliteration, condensation transliteration and meaning-oriented . Literal translation, the biggest feature of this method is: it is loyal to the literal meaning of source trademark. Semi-literal and semi-transliteration, means literal translation for part of a trademark and transliteration for the rest. Combinations of transliteration and paraphrase translation, it is combined transliteration with paraphrase translation. When these five methods are not
workable, we can use some others strategies like: Logo-oriented translation, abbreviated translation and Innovative translation.
There are many methods of translating English trademarks, this essay list some often used methods for our consideration. This essay is worthy of further study. No matter in our future work or study, we will come into contact with trademark translation. However we translate the Chinese brand into English ones or translate the English brand into Chinese ones. When we deal with a trademark, we can use the above principles and methods to translate. For some trademarks translated, we can quickly find out which method is used. References
1. 朱亚军. 商标名的翻译原则与策略. 外语研究，2003，(6).
2. 史玉娟. 从文化差异看商标翻译的方法及原则. 沈阳工程学院学报(社会科学版) ，2005，
3. Hornby, A S. 1948. Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary [Z]
4. WTO.1994. The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Acknowledgements
Here, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the people who the supervising, she addition, I would like to express my thanks to the writers of the reference books. From them, I got so much useful materials.
Contents
............................................................................................................... 1 . ................................................................ 3 . ....................................................................... 3 ................................................................ 3 . ........................................................................ 4 .............................................................. 4 . ................ 4 ..................................................................................... 4 .................................................................................. 7 ......................................................................... 8 .................................................. 9 ......... 10 ................................................................................... 11 ..................................................................................................... 13
. ..................................................................................................... 14
....................................................................................... 14
A Brief Analysis of Translating English Trademarks
Yin Dahong
Abstract: Since China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO), the trade rations between China and the other countries products pour into Chinese market. How to give better publicity of the goods, and then comes the translation of English trademarks indispensible. In order to get the Chinese market competitive, the translation of their trademarks is very important. Great emphasis is laid on the choice of trademark not only to attract the consumers’ attention but also realize its ultimate goal — to promote sale, because a successful trademark will bring more advantages for enterprises. The task of trademark translation is to create desirable names to promote their products. The translators are required to create trademarks that can convey the messages of the original ones appropriately and be accepted by Chinese consumers.
This thesis, introduces the general knowledge of trademarks briefly and
the principles of trademark translating. Then talks about several methods of translating trademark names, and gives some examples to explain the methods are workable.
Key word: English trademark translation method
浅析外国商标的翻译策略
尹大红
摘要：自从中国加入世界贸易组织后，中国与世界各国的贸易关系进入了一个新的台阶。大量国外商品涌入中国市场。怎样让这些商品得到更好的宣传呢，商标的翻译问题就必不可免的出现了。为了使中国市场具有竞争力，英文商标汉译就显得尤为重要。为了吸引消费者的注意力，实现其促销目的，商标命名者十分注重商标名的选择，因为一个成功的商标名能给企业带来更多的优势。商标名翻译者的任务就是创造理想的名字来推销产品，译者翻译出的名字既要能有效表达原商标的意思，又要能被中国顾客欣赏与接受。
本文简要介绍了商标的一般知识和商标翻译的原则。主要讲述了商标翻译的几种方法，并举例来阐述这些方法的可行性。
关键词：英语商标 翻译 策略
1. A brief introduction of trademark
Trademark translation is the process from decoding to coding and the process of recreating and further processing. A good trademark translation may bring an enterprise enterprise suffer great loss. Therefore, an enterprise’s future is closely linked with trademark translation.
1.1 Definition of trademark
Oxford Advanced Learner ’s English-Chinese Dictionary defined trademark as “a name, symbol or design that a company uses for its products and that cannot be used by anyone else”
The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement ) of 1994, administered by the Word Trade Organization (WTO) defined, in Article 15.1, the trademark in a broader sense: “Any sign, or any combination of signs, capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking form those of other undertakings, shall be capable of constituting a trademark.”
Normally, in business situations, trademark includes: letter, word, device, sound, or symbol or combination of those that is used in connection with merchandise. Trademark is also a special mark that is placed on a particular brand of article or commodity ，customer can distinguish it from similar products sold by other producers easily.
1.2 Classifications of trademark
There are many methods of classifying trademark. According to the reputation of trademark, it can be classified into common trademark and renowned trademark. The difference is that the former can not be protected by special laws while the later does. According to the structure of trademark,
it can be divided into word trademark and device trademark. In this essay, I will focus more on the trademark words and translation of trademark words form English to Chinese.
1.3 Functions of trademark
There are mainly four functions of trademark. First, a trademark can distinguish it from similar goods sold by other producers; second, it is Chinese people discuss the principles of translation, the famous trinity principle 信达雅 （faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance）put forward by Yan Fu in 《天演论》 of Evolution and Ethnics by T. H. Huxley （1898） is always considered as the only one standard that all translators must obey. Of course, it is the most basic rule for all kinds of translations, including trademark translation. Besides, we should consider the cultural differences between Chinese and western countries, their different way of thinking, their background, etc. meanwhile, It is very important to select words as trademarks. The general principle of naming a trademark is pronounceable, memorable, associative and appropriate.
3. The methods of the Chinese translation of English trademarks
I would like to present five main methods of the Chinese translation of English trademarks. They are transliteration, literal translation, paraphrase translation, combinations of transliteration and paraphrase translation, semi-literal and semi-transliteration, and other strategies.
3.1 Transliterations
Transliteration means, mainly according to the pronunciation of the original trademark, to translate it into similar Chinese version without negative meaning at least. According to the trademark names we , transliteration is the most common method being used. It can be divided into three types: Direct transliteration; Condensation transliteration; Meaning-oriented .
Direct transliteration means to translate the trademarks only according to the original pronunciations, so the translations usually don ’t make any sense in the target language.
Take a luxury brand Versace as an example, it is transliterated into 范思哲 according to its pronunciation. It sounds like a Chinese name, can draw Chinese consumers’ attention closer to the trademark. What ’s more, 思哲 means logic and rationality in Chinese. It can improve the image of the trademark in Chinese market.
There are some other examples of the trademarks transliterated directly form English to Chinese in the table below.
Condensation transliteration means translating only part of the trademark ，because all trademarks must be concise. Usually a Chinese trademark word is usually made up of no more than four syllables. So, sometimes translators would example is the world-famous automobile Mercedes Benz. It was translated directly into 梅赛德斯·本茨 at the beginning, but this translation is long , and not easy to remember. Then , it was translated into 奔驰 , omit the former part, Which means “run in a Chinese. In this way it makes sense and gives good publicity to this automobile.
Some other examples are in the table below.
Meaning-oriented means that the translator picks some good
suggestions and of original trademarks as the translated trademarks. In this way, customers can understand it and accept it more naturally.
The most famous example of this method is coca-cola of the U.S. it is translated into可口可乐 ，可口means delicious, and 可乐 means pleasing. It is not only keeps the pronunciation of the source language, but also makes people clearly known that this kind of product is nice, and they want to buy it. And today, coca-cola is the representation of carbonated drinks.
There are some other examples of the trademarks transliterated by meaning-oriented
3.2Literal translation
Literal translation means translate word for word, the biggest feature of this method is: it is loyal to the literal meaning of source trademark. It’s often used in the translation of the trademarks that carry good implied meanings and positive association in both the source language and the target language. For example, Crown (automobile) is translated into 皇冠. It is translated literally, but the source language and target language . It is express the real meaning of a trademark, the proportion of them are very small. For instance:
So as not to make ridiculous mistakes, when translator uses literal translation, they must be sensitive to the culture difference between two countries. Take FANGFANG TALCOM POWDER for an example. At one time, a translator translated 芳芳爽身粉into FANGFANG TALCOM POWDER. However, ’t know FANG is also an English word, which means
poisonous teeth. There, . Not all the trademark names can be translated directly.
3.3 Paraphrase translation
Paraphrase translation also means liberal translation or free translation. This method is often used to some ornate trademarks that . Some trademarks can not be translated by the method of literal translation, and then paraphrase translation is a good supplement.
3.4 Semi-literal and semi-transliteration
Just as the name suggests, this method means literal translation for part of a trademark and transliteration for the rest. Therefore it and transliteration.
For example: Unilever is the global leading provider of food and personal care. It is translated into 联合利华. The prefix uni is translated into 联合 literally, and 利华 is the Chinese phonological equivalent for lever. This translation gains Chinese favor as it means benefit in China in Chinese. So the translated trademark attracted many local customers once it was introduced into China.
Another famous example is the translation of the trademark Goldlion. According to its meaning, Goldlion could be translated into 金狮 directly. But the products was unpopular in Hong Kong, because the pronunciation of 狮 is similar to that of 输 (which means lose) in Cantonese. What’s more 狮 also with 失 （which means lose ）in Mandarin. So the translation was considered to bring bad luck for Chinese customers. Then the translation was changed into 金利来. 利来is the transliteration of lion, and it indicates that
it can bring large profits to its owner in Chinese. The translation was proved to be a big success, as the trademark becomes a famous trademark and the products sold well since then.
More examples of semi-literal and semi-transliteration of trademark words from English to Chinese are listed in the table below.
3.5 Combinations of transliteration and paraphrase translation
From the name, we can know it is combined transliteration with paraphrase translation. This method is complicated. It is not like Semi-literal and semi-transliteration, in the base of transliteration, it needs more creative words instead translating literally.
BMW 宝马(automobile), it is originating from German bayerishe motoren werke(German Bavaria motor works). The translator translate it into 宝马.BM is close to Chinese pinyin baoma , add some Chinese poems 宝
马is a cover a thousand meter in a single day. So this translation is very wonderful. Another example, the America Johnson& Johnson, dealing with medical and personal care products, was established by the three brothers: Robert wood Johnson, James wood Johnson and Edward mead Johnson. If translate Johnson& Johnson into 约翰逊. It will it into 强生, which means powerful vitality, it will receive good reputation. The facts show us it does so.
3.6 Other strategies
There are many methods of trademark translation. The basic strategies are above several methods I , abbreviated translation and Innovative translation.
Logo-oriented translation means a translation according to what the logo symbolizes or conveys. In such a case, the logo is usually more distinctive, original and impressive than the word. For example, the translation of Wrigley and a range of Wrigley products is 箭牌 in Chinese based on the image of arrow. Wrigley product is well known across the world for its chewing gum, the trademark words of whose three major products are Spearmint, Juicy Fruit and Doublemint. And the three trademarks are translated into 白箭， 黄箭 and 绿箭 respectively according to the main colors of their packing rather than the literal meanings.
There are some more examples of the trademarks translated by logo-oriented approach form English to Chinese in the table below.
Abbreviated translation, this method usually applies to abbreviated trademark. Such as: Minnesota mining and manufacturing company is abbreviated as 3M. Nippon electric company is abbreviated as NEC. The short form of international business machine corp. is IBM. In addition, the way is also used for M&M, LG, C.D, and CP2U.
Innovative translation, Innovative translation deals with trademarks in a new way to convey the distinctive features of the products more vividly or make the trademarks memorable. When the methods referred in the previous chapters don ’t work well, innovative translation can be used to make the translated trademarks acceptable, comprehensible and even desirable to the target readership.
A typical example is sprite 雪碧(beverage). The original meaning of sprite is elf or goblin. From the play of Shakespeare, sprites are very cute, and in the eve of Halloween in western countries, children masquerades as all kinds of sprites, go from door to door for sugars. However, in minds of Chinese people, sprites
are evil and this way, sprite means cold and fresh. The cold beverage can cool our body in the the innovative.
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, the translation of English trademarks is not a simple thing. It is not just simply translate a word into another word. Because of the cultural differences between Chinese and western countries, the language laws, cultural psychology, and aesthetic interest will be involved. Besides, translators should pay attention to cultural taboos and choose appropriate methods to translate. Trademark translation is getting more and more important to companies in today’s world economic environment. In order to get market share in the world, we should make much efforts to the translation of trademarks
This thesis suggests some useful methods to translating different kinds of trademarks. They are transliteration, Literal translation, paraphrase translation, Semi-literal
and and semi-transliteration, translation and combinations other of transliteration paraphrase strategies.
Transliteration is a way quite often used; it can be divided into direct transliteration, condensation transliteration and meaning-oriented . Literal translation, the biggest feature of this method is: it is loyal to the literal meaning of source trademark. Semi-literal and semi-transliteration, means literal translation for part of a trademark and transliteration for the rest. Combinations of transliteration and paraphrase translation, it is combined transliteration with paraphrase translation. When these five methods are not
workable, we can use some others strategies like: Logo-oriented translation, abbreviated translation and Innovative translation.
There are many methods of translating English trademarks, this essay list some often used methods for our consideration. This essay is worthy of further study. No matter in our future work or study, we will come into contact with trademark translation. However we translate the Chinese brand into English ones or translate the English brand into Chinese ones. When we deal with a trademark, we can use the above principles and methods to translate. For some trademarks translated, we can quickly find out which method is used. References
1. 朱亚军. 商标名的翻译原则与策略. 外语研究，2003，(6).
2. 史玉娟. 从文化差异看商标翻译的方法及原则. 沈阳工程学院学报(社会科学版) ，2005，
3. Hornby, A S. 1948. Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary [Z]
4. WTO.1994. The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Acknowledgements
Here, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the people who the supervising, she addition, I would like to express my thanks to the writers of the reference books. From them, I got so much useful materials.