a study of brand name translation from the perspective of functional equivalence功能對(duì)等理論視角下的商標(biāo)翻譯分析

1、<p><b>　　摘 要</b></p><p>　　商標(biāo)名稱是指商標(biāo)中可以用語言稱呼的部分，是產(chǎn)品的標(biāo)記，是產(chǎn)品形象的重要內(nèi)容之一。本文從商標(biāo)名稱的相關(guān)知識(shí)入手，介紹了商標(biāo)名稱的概念、特征及功能。商標(biāo)名稱是一種文化現(xiàn)象，我們?cè)谏虡?biāo)名稱翻譯時(shí)需要注意它的可行性，以奈達(dá)的”功能對(duì)等”理論作為商標(biāo)名稱翻譯的基本原則及翻譯的方法，這是一種可行的方法。商標(biāo)名稱具有特有的文化特點(diǎn)，與文化有

2、著密切聯(lián)系，我們需要從不同國家的特性、習(xí)俗和習(xí)慣、語義聯(lián)想等不同角度分析商標(biāo)名稱翻譯過程中的文化障礙。盡管在商標(biāo)名稱互譯中存在文化障礙，但它們并不是不可以跨越的。譯者應(yīng)靈活運(yùn)用具體的翻譯方法，跨越文化障礙，力求達(dá)到功能對(duì)等和最佳翻譯效果。</p><p>　　關(guān)鍵詞：功能對(duì)等；商標(biāo)；翻譯</p><p><b>　　Abstract</b></p>&l

3、t;p>　　A brand name is the part of brand that can be vocalized, and the sign of a product. This paper starts with the information of brand names to introduce the definition, characteristics and the functions of brand n

4、ames. The brand name is a phenomenon of culture. We should pay more attention to the possibility of brand name translation, and take the Nada’s “Functional Equivalence” as a cardinal principle and methods employed in bra

5、nd name translation，this is a viable way. Brand names possess peculia</p><p>　　Key words: functional equivalence; brand name; translation </p><p><b>　　Contents</b></p><p&

6、gt;　　摘 要…………………………………………………………..……..…i</p><p>　　Abstract………………………………………………………….……..ii</p><p>　　Introduction……………………………………………………………1</p><p>　　Chapter 1 Overview of Brand Names…………………

7、…………..…2</p><p>　　1.1 Definition of Brand Names…………………………………………2</p><p>　　1.2 Formation of Brand Names…………………………………………2</p><p>　　1.2.1 Proper Names……………………………………………………3</p>&

8、lt;p>　　1.2.2 Common Words…………………………………………….……3</p><p>　　1.2.3 Coined Words………………………………………………….…4</p><p>　　1.3 Characteristics of Brand Names…………………………………..…5</p><p>　　1.3.1 Brevi

9、ty………………………………………………………...…5</p><p>　　1.3.2 Elegance………………………………………………….…..…6</p><p>　　1.3.3 Originality…………………………………………….……..…7</p><p>　　1.4 Functions of Brand Names ……………………………………

10、..…7</p><p>　　1.4.1 Informative Function………………………………….……..…8</p><p>　　1.4.2 Aesthetic Function…………………………………………..…8</p><p>　　1.4.3 Evocative Function……………………………………...……10</p>

11、<p>　　Chapter 2 Functional Equivalence Theory and Brand Name Translation……………………………………...…………12</p><p>　　2.1 Functional Equivalence……………………………………………12</p><p>　　2.2 Consideration of Factors

12、in Brand Name Translation……………13</p><p>　　2.2.1 Consumer Psychology…………………………………………13</p><p>　　2.2.2 Cultural Factors…………………………………………………14</p><p>　　2.2.3 Aesthetic Factors…………………………

13、……………………16</p><p>　　2.3 Application of Functional Equivalence in Brand Name Translation…16</p><p>　　2.3.1 Equivalence of Informative Function…………………………16</p><p>　　2.3.2 Equivalence

14、of Aesthetic Function……………………………17</p><p>　　2.3.3 Equivalence of Evocative Function……………………………18</p><p>　　Chapter 3 Methods Employed in Brand Name Translation……….20</p><p>　　3.1 Lit

15、eral Translation…………………………………………………20</p><p>　　3.2 Transliteration……………………………………………………21</p><p>　　3.3 Combination of Literal Translation and Transliteration…………23</p><p>　　3.4 Creat

16、ive Translation………………………………………………24</p><p>　　3.4.1 Addition or Deletion……………………………………………24</p><p>　　3.4.2 Blending………………………………………………………25</p><p>　　3.4.3 Acronym……………………………………………………2

17、6</p><p>　　3.4.4 Purposive Misspelling………………………………………26</p><p>　　Conclusion……………………………………………………………27</p><p>　　Bibliography…………………………………………………………28</p><p>　　Acknowledgem

18、ents</p><p>　　Introduction</p><p>　　A brand name is a sign representing cultural characteristics of different nations, societies and times. It serves not only its expected functions of communica

19、tion; it is also employed in a symbolic manner to identify a brand and its cultural origin. Today, well-known brand names have become cultural icons, and enjoy powerful advantages in the fierce competition. Brand names,

20、as part of language, reflect the features of a certain nation, including the historical and cultural background, their att</p><p>　　Brand name translation is influenced by cultural elements which differentia

21、te it from general translation. Brand name translation is of significance in the competitive market. Brand names mirror the culture of different countries, so cultural elements must not be ignored in the translating proc

22、ess. At present, with economic development and increasing international contact, the exchanges between different countries become more and more frequent. And trade surplus becomes an important part of our </p><

23、;p><b>　　Chapter 1</b></p><p>　　Overview of Brand Names</p><p>　　1.1 Definition of Brand Names</p><p>　　A brand name refers to a specific name employed by a corporatio

24、n to identify uniquely a product or its manufacturer, or a service and its provider. （Li Guisheng，1996） It is quite often used interchangeably within “brand name”, although it is more correctly used to specifically denot

25、e written or spoken linguistic elements of any product. A legally protected brand name is called a proprietary name. A powerful brand name embodies a unique set of values and hence personality. A successfully designed<

26、;/p><p>　　1.2 Formation of Brand Names</p><p>　　From the perspective of the linguistic structures, brand names can be mainly divided into proper name brand names, the common word brand names and th

27、e coined word brand names.(He Chuansheng,1997) However, there are some similarities and differences in the formation of Chinese and English cosmetic brand names. </p><p>　　1.2.1 Proper Names</p><

28、p>　　Using a proper name especially a person’s name can create a sense of amicability between the product and the consumers. A good name will inspire the consumers to think about the image under that name. Take some br

29、and names for example, “Charlie” in English has the long-standing image of being a confident but warm little girl; “大寶”in Chinese is an adorable nickname for a male who is the family members’ darling. When personal names

30、 are used as brand names, distance between the commodities and the </p><p>　　1.2.2 Common Words</p><p>　　Common words will add more amicability and friendliness in the products and names provide

31、 the denominators and translators more choices. Usually, the common words used in Chinese and English brand names include adjective and noun. </p><p>　　The brand names formed by common nouns have symbolic an

32、d metaphor functions. Products with these names possess the characteristics of these words or objects, for example, “Ivory” can make you skin smooth and white. The cosmetic brand names formed by adjectives or adjective p

33、lus noun can show a very direct description of the main characters of the product.</p><p>　　1.2.3 Coined Words</p><p>　　When certain qualities, characteristics and functions are taken into consi

34、deration, coined words can be created. Since they are coined, they are unique and novel as there is not much possibility that another similar one will appear. Many English brand names are created by means of lexical meth

35、ods, such as shortening, compounding, blending, affixation, etc while the Chinese brand names tend to use word group.</p><p>　　Shortening is the simplified form of the original words. For example, “SR”, a br

36、and name of toothpaste, is formed by acronym, that is, to use the initials of the ingredients of the product (Sodium, Ricinoleate).</p><p>　　Compounding is a popular and crucial way of forming English and Ch

37、inese cosmetic brand names. By compounding, two or more words are together to show the feature, quality and function of the product, so compound brand names can illustrate the characteristics of the products from multi-p

38、erspectives. Examples are:</p><p>　　“Body Flower” stresses its function of making the body full of the fragrance of flowers. </p><p>　　“Head & Shoulders” stresses its function of moistening

39、the hair and making it soft and easy to comb.</p><p>　　Different from English, Chinese is the ideograph language. So word groups can be formed by putting characters together. Usually, certain words have good

40、 connotations are frequently used.</p><p>　　Names of plants and animals are often used as brand names. Chinese cosmetic brand names have a preference of the pretty images of some of them which can arouse the

41、 interest and bring good association, such as“蜂花”(cosmetic),“紫羅蘭” (cosmetic)and “佰草集” (cosmetic).The above-mentioned have attached great importance to the point that they are pure, natural and environmentally safe produc

42、ts by using the raw material from the outside world and the consumers can get the essence of the flowers and herbal e</p><p>　　1.3 Characteristics of Brand Names</p><p>　　A brand name is the nam

43、e of a product, which is a mark or a symbol that can be used to define a certain product. The goal of a brand name should aim at setting up a good image in the market, arousing consumers’ favorable association and purcha

44、sing desire. Thus the language used in brand names must have some features of its own.</p><p>　　1.3.1 Brevity</p><p>　　Brevity is a basic requirement of a good brand name, which means brand name

45、s should concise in spellings and pronunciations to make them eye-catching and easy to remember. According to an investigation, Chinese brand names consist of mainly two or three characters, and 70% of them (including Ch

46、inese versions of foreign ones) are two-character construction, 29% are three-character construction, only about 1% are more than five characters. Name a few as examples, “立白”(washing powder), “碧浪” (washin</p><

47、;p>　　1.3.2 Elegance</p><p>　　As far as elegance is concerned, it means that both brand names and their rendered versions should have favorable association but avoid unpleasant connotation that may offend

48、customers to arouse consumers’ purchasing desire. For example, the Chinese version “金利來” for the English brand name “Goldlion” is better than “金獅”, for “金利來” not only presents consumers the good quality of the tie but in

49、dicates the profit or good luck it can bring. While on the other hand, brand names such as “交際花”, “舞女” ar</p><p>　　1.3.3 Originality</p><p>　　A brand name should be as novel and unconventional a

50、s possible in wording, pronunciation, meaning and other aspects, so as to arouse the interest of the consumers and leave a deep impression on them.</p><p>　　There are a variety of methods that can be used to

51、 achieve this effect. Word formation such as abbreviation, initials, numbers, and parallelism is one way to create originality. The brand name “TCL”(TV set) is special and new in home-made TV sets. Appealing sound is ano

52、ther way to obtain this effect. “Yahoo” and its Chinese version “雅虎” have a very peculiar and strong phonological effect and thus cause a pleasant psycho-acoustic impact on its hearers. Still unusually combination of com

53、mon words,</p><p>　　1.4 Functions of Brand Names </p><p>　　The brand name is intended to appeal to the target consumers favorable meaning so as to spread ideas or information about persuade symb

54、olic, or convince consumers. The basic functions of brand with pleasant sound and the products that will names are informative, evocative and aesthetic.</p><p>　　1.4.1 Informative Function</p><p&g

55、t;　　It is well known that high-information is an important value of advertisement, to say nothing of its core, brand name. Brand name should firstly be informative to provide the consumers with information about the uses

56、, characters, values and the target consumers.</p><p>　　For example, brand names such as “Benz” (car), “Mary Kay” (cosmetics), “蒙?！?milk)，“張小泉”(scissors)，“青島”(beer) provide consumers with product makers, ma

57、terials and producing areas. Those like “Microsoft” (computer), “H20” (cosmetics), “立白” (washing powder), “舒膚佳”(soap) provide us with the information about basic uses of products. Brand names such as “鉆石”(watch) imply t

58、he characteristics and the value of the products. Brand names can also indicate who the potential consumers are, such as “蘭貴人”(co</p><p>　　1.4.2 Aesthetic Function</p><p>　　In order to appeal to

59、 consumers, a good brand name should also have an aesthetic effect on them. Information alone supplied by brand names is far from enough to attract consumers and they should also bring consumers pleasant feelings,

60、 which can be manifested in the following three aspects — sound, form and meaning.</p><p>　　To begin with, sound is not only an indispensable element of a brand name, but also an essential way to attract con

61、sumers, i.e. a means of accomplishing advertising effect. So on TV advertisements, brand names are always articulated. Brand names with beautiful sound are preferred by consumers as well as brand name designers. For exam

62、ple, “Kodak” (camera) simulates the sound when we push the shutter of a camera, while “Pepsi” reminds us of the sudden sound “si-” when we open up a bottle of soda d</p><p>　　Then, form is closely relate

63、d with psychology, and could arouse consumers’ psychological and visual reaction. A brand name with aesthetic features in form is more outstanding. For instance, “S” reminds people of lady’s curvilinear figure. Tha

64、t’s why many female articles are named with “S” added, such as, “Aeress” (underwear), “Finess” (cosmetics), “Simples” (cosmetics), etc.</p><p>　　Last but not least, semantic aesthetics should also be taken i

65、nto consideration. Favorite Chinese characters in brand names include “誠”（honesty）, “夢(mèng)”（dream）, “愛”（love）, “美”（beauty） etc. It is the same case with “淑女屋”(apparel), which attracts girls who desire to be gentlewomen.</

66、p><p>　　1.4.3 Evocative Function</p><p>　　A brand name has evocative function, which means the brand names must interest consumers and stimulate them to make a purchase. According to Newmark, a typ

67、ical example of evocative texts is advertisement. As the essential part of the advertisement, the brand name has the evocative as its basic function, which is based on its informative and aesthetic functions.</p>

68、<p>　　In order to realize its evocative function, many brand names tend to choose words with favorable meanings. They offer consumers a kind of aesthetic feeling and arouse their purchasing desire. It turns out that

69、 brand names with exotic flavor can arouse people’s interest and persuade them to give it a try. For instance, the “Safeguard” (soap) implies that the soap can protect your skin and you more beautiful. And the Chinese br

70、and name “皇冠”(automobile), which means crown, hints the quality of bein</p><p>　　Brand names can also succeed in persuading people by catering to their psychological needs. Brand names with romantic connotat

71、ion can always attract the young customers and stir their enthusiasm of making a purchase. That’s why most costume brand names are common words full of imaginary or romantic connotation so as to meet the purchasing psych

72、ology of those young ladies and thus catch their attention. “Kiss-Me” (lipstick) is a call of love and “Youngor” (clothing) tells you that you will be you</p><p><b>　　Chapter 2</b></p><

73、;p>　　Functional Equivalence Theory and Brand Name Translation</p><p>　　2.1 Functional Equivalence</p><p>　　Translation equivalence is one of the central topics of translation research. Realiz

74、ing that no translation is able to attain complete equivalence to the original, Nida advocates the idea of “functional equivalence”. According to Eugene A. Nida, a minimal, realistic definition of functional equivalence

75、could be stated as “the readers of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and appreciate</p><p>　　I

76、n addition, a maximal, ideal definition could be stated as “the readers of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did” (1993:118). However,

77、 this maximal level of equivalence is rarely achieved in practice. In fact the idea “equivalence” is approached on the basis of degrees of closeness from minimal to maximal effectiveness. </p><p>　　To put it

78、 more specific, a minimal adequacy of translation is that the target readers can conceive of how the source readers must have understood and appreciated the source text; a maximal adequacy of translation might be that th

79、e target readers can understand and appreciate the translated text in essentially the same manner as the source readers understand and appreciate the source text. Nida suggests that when literal translation fails to atta

80、in satisfactory equivalence, adjustments in form ar</p><p>　　Furthermore, in order to produce functionally equivalent translation, he proposes “the great the differences in the source and target cultures, th

81、e greater the need for adjustments; the greater the differences between the source and target languages, the greater the need for adjustments” (1993:129).</p><p>　　2.2 Consideration of Factors in Brand Name

82、Translation</p><p>　　2.2.1 Consumer Psychology</p><p>　　Consumer psychology in a narrow sense refers to the mental state of a consumer and in a broad sense; it means the science of consumer psyc

83、hology. It can be defined as “the mental or psychological activities of consumers in their realization, adjustment, and control of purchasing and consuming actions according to their own needs and abilities under the inf

84、luence of the general social environment of consumption and economy”.(Gu Wenjun, 2002: 7)</p><p>　　The majority of consumers are the intended reactors of marketing activities. Brand name translation, an indi

85、spensable procurer of such activities, is consumer-oriented. Consumers in the target market play the roles as the reader, the addressee, and eventually the reactor of a translated brand name. And the translator of a bran

86、d name can be regarded as a target-market brand name producer expressing a source-market brand name producer’s intentions.</p><p>　　Information about the target-text addressee is of crucial importance for th

87、e translator of the brand name, and the goal of sales promotion is to stimulate immediate consumer purchasing. Therefore, the translator should enable a brand name to attract the attention, to arouse the curiosity and in

88、terest of the consumers, to satisfy their psychological needs and further stimulate their motives to purchase the particular commodity.</p><p>　　2.2.2 Cultural Factors</p><p>　　Culture has its c

89、ertain underlying characteristics which can be associated with brand names. Culture exists to satisfy the needs of the people within a society. It offers order, direction and guidance in all phases of human problem solvi

90、ng by providing “tried-and-true” methods of satisfying physiological, personal, and social needs.（Jiang Lei，2003） For example, culture provides standards and “rules” about when to eat, where to eat, and what is appropria

91、te to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and</p><p>　　Besides company image strategies, many well-known brands spotlight their cultural connotation. They emphasize what they sell is not a product, but a certa

92、in culture, a national spirit. In this regard, “Haier” means aiming higher and being sincere. So, cultural meaning can move from the culturally constituted world to consumer goods and from there to the individual consume

93、r by means of various consumption-related vehicles, including brand names of course.</p><p>　　Since culture is considered as the totality of beliefs and practices of a society, nothing is more important and

94、effective than language through which the beliefs are expressed and transmitted and by which the cultures are conveyed and transferred. It is believed that where there is language, there is culture hidden behind. Languag

95、e is a kind of institutional culture in some sense. It is not grasped by individuals but shared by a certain society. It is influenced by certain culture and in turn m</p><p>　　2.2.3 Aesthetic Factors</p&

96、gt;<p>　　As has been discussed in the first chapter, brand names possess the aesthetic function. In the process of translation, it is vital to reproduce the original aesthetic features of the brand names to the ad

97、dressees. Brand name translation is demanded to be practical and aesthetic and translators will not only have to reserve the essence of the original brand name but also conform to the aesthetic psychology of consumers. X

98、u Yuanchong (2006:73) argues that translation is an art to transfer one lang</p><p>　　2.3 Application of Functional Equivalence in Brand Name Translation</p><p>　　As Nida’s functional equivalenc

99、e the equivalent function indicates, an effective translation version should be able to produce or in other words the most proximal function to both the target and the original receptors. A translator must be clear about

100、 the functions of the source language, which is the prerequisite for a translator to achieve functional equivalence. Thus, brand name translation should take the functions of original brand name into full consideration i