功能对等理论视角下商标名称的翻译研究

Translation Strategies of Brand Name from the Perspective of Functional EquivalenceAbstractBrand name is important for the success of a product. A good brand name can bring endless profits and a bad one can only lead to the collapse of the manufacturer. In a time where international trade and exchange are more and more frequent, and international competitions are more and more vehement. An entrepreneur that struggles to make profits must be care of the brand name translation. With the brand name gaining its weight in the international trade, the study of translation of the brand name also becomes a major concern of the theorist and translation practitioners. The study of the translation of brand name in this thesis is made under the light of functional equivalence theory proposed by Nida. This is because that one of the major function of brand name is to persuade the consumers to trust the high quality of the product and take actions. This is in line with the essence of the functional equivalence theory, which take the relationship between the consumer and the translation. This thesis will discuss the basic rules and principle of brand names and then analyze the translation methods of brand names in the light of functional equivalence theory and finally some sound conclusions are drawn. The findings show that the translation of brand names should take the functions of the brand name into consideration and combines with functional equivalence theory so that an ideal translation can be obtained.Key words: brand name, translation, functional equivalence摘要商标名称对一个产品的成功至关重要。一个好的品牌可以带来巨额利润尔拙劣的商标只会导致制造商的崩溃破产。在当今时代，国际贸易越来越频繁，国际竞争也越来越激烈。 如果一个企业如果想赚取利润必须考虑品牌名称的翻译。品牌在国际贸易中起的作用越来越重要, 因此品牌名称的翻译的研究也成为翻译理论家和实践者一个主要关心的领域。本文基于品牌名称的翻译的研究是在由奈达提出的功能对等理论指导下进行的。这是因为品牌的主要功能之一是说服消费者信任产品的优良质量和并采取购买行动。商标的这些功能符合功能对等理论的本质，即是以消费者和译文之间的关系为重。本文将讨论商标的一些基本规则和原则, 然后在功能对等理论指导下分析商标名称的翻译方法。最后一章结论部分对本文的结论做了总结。研究结果显示,商标名称的翻译应该考虑商标名称的功能,结合功能对等理论进行处理，从而获得理想的翻译。关键词：商标名称， 翻译，功能对等理论1. IntroductionThe economy develops rapidly and the global business exchange are more and more frequent. In order to enhance the business relationship and enlarge the international trade. As a key factor of the trade, brand name plays an important role in the international trade and business exchange. A good translation of the brand name can bring unexpected huge sum of profit and a clumsy translation may lead to a collapse of a company. Therefore, the translation of brand names attracts the scholars attention and more and more scholars began to make their own contribution to this field. The translation of brand name are studied by scholars from different perspectives and many conclusions and findings on this realm has been obtained. This thesis will make a survey from the perspective of functional equivalence. In this thesis many real cases are collected classified by the authors. Their translation will be analyzed by the author according to the functional equivalence theories. An evaluation of some translation of brand name will also be displayed in the body of the thesis. The author will analyze the translation methods of brand names from three aspects: transliteration, literal translation, and combination of the two methods in one translation. The thesis is divided into five parts. And the organization is like the follows:The first chapter is an introduction of the whole thesis in which the significance and organization of the thesis is displayed.The second part is a literature review in which the previous study of the translation of the brand names at home and abroad will be reviewed and discussed.The third part is a general survey on translation of brand names. In this part the general factors of brand name are discussed. The fourth part is the body of the thesis in which the three methods of translation the brand name are discussed and evaluated.The fifth part is the conclusion of the whole thesis and some sound conclusions are to be drawn in this part.2. Literature ReviewIn this chapter the author will discuss the previous study on translation theories. Various schools of translation theories at home and abroad will be covered hereby. Translation theory refers to the general guidelines on translation practice. Newmark (2001, 9) believes that the translation theory is an independent linguistic discipline which is derived from observations and provides a general guidance for translation practice. The translation of Brand Names is only one aspect of the general translation practice, therefore the rules of general translation can be applied to the translation of Brand Name. 2.1 The Studies on Brand Name Translation at HomeThe discussion of translation theory in China can be traced to the East Jin when Kumrajva translated the Buddhist Scriptures. Since then the argument of literal translation and free translation never ceased and many translators provided their contribution to the development of translation theory. But a new era didnt appear until Yan Fu, a scholar of Qing Dynasty, raised his trinity theory on translation: faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance in the preface of his translation book “Evolution and Ethics“. He expressed his idea on translation as the follows: Translation has to do there difficult things: to be faithful, expressive an elegant. It is difficult enough to be faithful to the original, and yet if a translation is not expressive, it is tantamount to having no translation. Hence the expressiveness should be required too.(translated by Wang Zuoliang) (2010). This trinity principle is advocated and developed by many followers. However, some scholars dont not agree the principle of elegance for they claim that sometimes the original text is not elegant, so how should a translation be elegant? Despite all the different opinions against Yan Fus idea, the trinity principle are so widely accepted till today that even some scholar dont agree with the principle of elegance, they prefer to add new ideas in it rather than abandoning it.Liu Zhongde, an advocator of this theory, believes that the translator should be faithful to the content, language, and style of the source language at the same time. By faithfulness, he asserts that the translator should preserve the all the features of the original as a whole, rather the part of the original, say, the sentence or phrase. He developed the trinity theory and offers his own idea by changing the theory into “faithfulness, expressiveness and closeness.“ He believes that only by this way can a translator preserve not only the meaning of the original but also all the spirit and essence of the original. Later in the discussion with Qu Qiubai about the priority of faithfulness and smoothness, LuXun advocates faithfulness over smoothness. He insist that at the beginning there can be some unsmooth expressions which will be taken as natural expressions after continuous input. Fu Lei later raised the standard by his principle of “spiritual conformation“. Qian Zhongshu proposes a translation should be a “sublimed adaptation“ of the original. Another translator Xu Yuanchong contributes to the translation of poems by his theory of “three beautifulness“: beautifulness in sound, beautifulness in form, and beautifulness in meaning.“ Therefore we can see in the Chinese scholars eyes, the beautifulness is important and this notion is transferred into the translation of brand names. Not only the theorists but also the practitioners attach great importance to this point.When it come to the translation of brand name, sometimes the faithfulness is hard to adhered when the cultural gap is huge between the source text and the target text. As to the other two principles the elegance is usually prior to expressiveness for the characteristics of brand name and the functions of the brand name. A brand name is the representation of the product and a good name may arouse the desire of purchasing. Here are some good examples in question. A Chinese clock is named “金鸡“ is previously translated into “Golden Cock“. From the perspective of faithfulness nothing is wrong, the meaning are identical in Chinese and English. But the word cock is usually used to refer to the male genitals which may cause a unpleasant feeling in the foreign customers. Later it changed the English name to “Golden Rooster” and thus developed its foreign market. Another example in question is a perfume produced by Dior, a cosmetic company enjoying an international reputation is called “Poison”. This band catered the adventurous spirit of western women and are sold good. While when it comes into Chinese market, the name is changed into“百爱神”,rather than “毒药”, to meet the need of eastern womans gentle features and it really works in both cultures. 2.2 The Study on Translation of Brand Names AbroadThe theory of semantic translation and communicative translation was proposed by Peter Newmark, who is not only a theorist but also a famous translator. He developed his translation theory based on his practice in translation. In his practice, he perceived that translators sometimes face two choices, that is to emphasize either on the semantic contents or on the readers comprehension and reaction to the translation. The former type is called semantic translation and the latter is called communicative translation. Two different translation principles are needed to guide the two types of translation. Peter Newmark formed his translation theory of semantic translation and communicative translation based on Buhlers functional theories of language. He expresses his idea in A Textbook of Translation: “I think that all the translations should be based to some degree on a theory of language implicitly. Therefore any translation in some respects can be an exercise in applied linguistics. I am taking Buhlers functional theory of language as adapted by Jacobson as the one which is applied to translation most usefully“. (Newmark, 2001). Buhler believes that language has three main functions, that is, expressive, informative and vocative function. Different genres or styles of text may emphasize one aspect of the three functions. And Newmark holds that the translation strategies should be applied according to the different functions of the text so that the essence of the source text can be well conveyed and the functions be performed by the translation without deviation from that of the original. Usually , literal translation is frequently employed in semantic translation and free translation or liberal translation is needed for communicative translation. In translating the brand names we should also be aware the emphasis of the content and the reaction of the receivers. To pursue the feeling of the readers too much may lead to a deviation of the brand. For example the local cuisine of Tianjin Goubuli(狗不理包子) was translated into “go believe“ in English. The name sounds better than the original actually according to the principle of communicative translation. however, readers just feel bewildered after reading the brand name and they may wonder what on earth this brand refers to. And furthermore, there is no such expression “go believe“ in English. Before Nida, the translation theories are focused on the source text and the target text, and the translation methods by which the relationship between the original text and the target text are bridged. Nida explains that functional equivalence do not seek the absolute correspondence between the source text and the target text in lexical and syntactic level, but a similar function of the two texts. According to Nida, the “functional equivalence“ refers to that “the reader of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did.“ (Nida, 2001:118) Thus we can see that the effect of the translation is what a translator should seek, rather than the mere identical words and sentence. Nidas functional equivalence can be explained from two aspects: first, the translation should be the closest natural equivalent to the source-language text. Second, the target text should produce the same effect on the target language text readers as the original produces on the source language reader. He also points out that the way the readers understand the source language text and the target language text is important and should be carefully dealt in the translation.Nida classifed the equivalence into two types: the formal equivalence and the dynamic equivalence“(1959). The formal equivalence refers to the mechanical identical in terms of form and content, while the dynamic equivalence refers to the message of the original text has been so transported into the receptor language that the response of the receptor is essentially like that of the original receptors(Shuttleworth 2004: 49).Originally, when Nida brings out his dynamic equivalence theory, he defines it in his book The Theory and Practice of Translation as “in terms of the degree to which the receptors of the message in the receptor language respond to it in substantially the same manner as the receptors in the source language“ (1969: 24). And later he changed the term “dynamic equivalence“ to “functional equivalence“ when he publishes his wok From One Language to Another to push his theory to a further step. The new concept emphasizes the aspect of function of the source language text and target language text. Nida further divides the functional equivalence into two sub-categories in his work Language, Culture and Translating: the minimal level and the maximal level. The former is explained by Nida as “the readers of a translated work 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 it“. On the other hand, the definition maximal level is 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“ (Nida1995: 224). From their definitions we can see that the minimal level is actually realistic requirement whereas the maximal level is an ideal. Therefore, a translation should keep the balance between the two polarities of minimal and maximal levels, rather than going to the two polarities. Thus Nidas theory of functional equivalence can be applied to the translation of brand names. 2.3 Critical ReviewIt is obviously that the main function of advertisement is vocative and it stresses the reaction of the readers and expects the readers to take reactions after reading the advertisements. And this is in concord with the requirement of communicative translation. However, things are not so simple. Sometimes both the content and the comprehension of the receivers are equally important. Just as Newmark puts: “one should see semantic and communicative translation as a whole, that means, a translation should be more or less semantic or, more or less communicative, and there must be no one communicative or one semantic method of translating a text.“ (Newmark, 2001:47) . This thesis will analyze the translation of brand name from the perspective of functional equivalence with the hope to contribute to the translation of brand name and shed some new light on the field of brand name translation. 3. A General Survey on Translation of Brand NamesThis part deal with the general knowledge of the brand names, their features and the functions. 3.1 A General Survey on Brand Names Before talking the translation of brand name, first we should get some basic ideas about the brand names. 3.1.1 The Definitions of Brand NameWith the development of the economy and the legal consciousness, we are now more and more familiar with the terms such as brand, brand name, trademark, etc. they are closely related terms and the author will explain them before a thorough discussion.Originally the word brand refers the burnt mark on the hide of an animal to identify the owner of the animal or the skin. The mark is usually a word or a sign that is unique. Generally, a brand in modern sense means “a name, term, sign, symbol, design, or a combination of them which tells who makes it or who sells distinguishing that product from those made or sold by others.“ (Richard T. Hise1979: 257).The term trademark is usually used to refer to any brand that is protected by the law, or in other words, when a brand is granted by the law and gets the legal protection of it, is becomes a trademark. The difference between the brand and the trademark is whether the name is legal or not.A brand name is only vocal part of a brand. It is the vocalized part of the brand which can be called in a phonetic way, rather than seen in a visual way. It can be a letter, a word or a cluster of words. Another part of a brand is the visual part which could be a sign, a symbol, a design or some special marks , be it letters or picture. It is called the brand mark. Therefore we can see that the brand name can be spoken out while the brand mark can be seen only. One is vocal part and one is visual part. With respect to the translation of brand, we mean the translation of the brand name which is the vocal part of the brand. 3.1.2 Features of Brand NameA brand name is of vital importance to the success of the marketing of one product. It bears some special features to fulfill its function so as to improve the sale of the product it stands for. Generally, the brand names boas