浅析商标翻译.doc

学科分类号（二级）740.5011本科学生毕业论文（设计） 题 目A Brief Analysis on Trademark Translation 浅析商标翻译 姓名 道 路 学号 084050001 院、系 外语学院 英语系 专业 英语 (师范1) 指导教师 吴巳英 职称（学历） 讲师 (硕士) 2012年5月10日2012年5月10日独创性声明本人声明所呈交的学位论文是我个人在导师指导下进行的研究工作及取得的研究成果。尽我所知，除文中已经标明引用的内容外，本论文不包含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。对本文的研究做出贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。本人完全意识到本声明的法律结果由本人承担。学位论文作者签名：年 月 日学位论文版权使用授权书本学位论文作者完全了解学校有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，即：学校有权保留并向国家有关部门或机构送交论文的复印件和电子版，允许论文被查阅和借阅。本人授权云南师范大学可以将本学位论文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索，可以采用影印、缩印或扫描等复制手段保存和汇编本学位论文。学位论文作者签名： 指导教师签名：年 月 日 年 月 日STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIPExcept where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or part from a thesis presented by me for another degree or diploma.No other persons work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis.This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any other degree or diploma in my tertiary institution.SignedDated- 1515AcknowledgementsMy thanks go to all the teachers who have taught me and helped me during the four years of my study in Yunnan Normal University. I am deeply grateful to Ms. Wu Siying, my advisor, for her patient guidance, generous assistance, invaluable advice and continual encouragement, all of which have been of tremendous worth to the completion of my thesis.AbstractNowadays, with increasing exchanges in international trading, more and more foreign trademarks have been introduced into our Chinese market, and simultaneously, our home-made products are exported on a large scale. For better promotion and selling, a proper and perfect translation of the trademark is absolutely needed. Nonetheless, translating trademarks is not simple, or at least it can not follow the same way as translating articles, news, manifestos, claims, etc. This requires unique translation methods, for free and literature translations are not enough for it because of different background of various cultures and the comparative flexibility. On the one hand, some improper translations happen now and then, and hence block the sale of the product. On the other hand, there are many excellent trademark translations, and due to their outstanding translations, the products have been recognized by the local market and sold well. Hence, the translation of the trademark is so crucial, not only in the field of language study, but also in the field of current trading.However, the related academic studies on this issue are not focused enough domestically. For instance, the translation of our national trademarks is still deficient and inadequate because of the criteria on the trademark translation is not universally used. Therefore, in the thesis, Id like to make a brief analysis on the field and put forward some solutions of my own.Key Words: the translation of trademark; translation methods; solutions摘 要当今随着国际贸易的增长，越来越多的国外商标进入中国市场，同样，我国商品也大量地出口至海外。这期间必然经过不同语言的翻译处理，为了更好的销售产品，一个恰当出彩的译名是必不可少的。可是，对于商标的翻译来说，并不能按照翻译文章，新闻，公告以及宣言的套路，因为商标翻译其后是不同文化成分的认同与否以及相对较大的随意性，因此，对于商标的翻译也绝非易事，传统的直译与意译法并不能完全胜任其中。关键词:商标翻译；翻译方法；解决方案Contents1. Introduction.12. Literature Review.22.1 Preface.22.2 Theory Framework.22.3 The Reasons for the Differences in Trademark Translation.32.4 Principles and Method in the Adoption of Rendering.32.5 Some Concepts and Academic Works and Theories about the Trademark Translation both in China and Overseas. 43. Study Method.63.1. The Method.63.2. The Instrument.64. The Practical Cases Representation.74.1 Analysis on Improper Cases .7 4.1.1. The Ignorance about the Culture of the Target Language.74.1.2 the Overuse of the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet(汉语拼音) in the Trademark Translation.94.2 Analysis on Proper or Excellent Cases .104.2.1. The Proper Rendering Cases under the Culture and Mental Acceptation.104.3 The Contrast Between Each Case.125. Conclusion.13References.151. IntroductionA trademark is the crucial and the most outstanding symbol of a product, which is often constituted by words. Meanwhile, the trademark is also a surface or representation of a producer and its statues in the market, for example, many companies or producers invest bulks of money on the designing of their own trademarks so that they can get good images and repercussions from the consumers, moreover, an ideal commercial statue they can build. As the international commerce develops dramatically, the function of the trademark translation has also become more and more necessary, for some instances which are quite familiar to us, some good translations, just like Benz, Coca-cola, BMW and Riich could give the consumers a very deep impression, therefore, their markets must be better than those translations which are not remembered easily and involved the local successfully. Based on such condition, it is obvious that the role of trademark translation is quite imperative and vital for the market competition, so, the analysis of the trademark translation is wealth on the field of international or domestic trading. Simultaneously, it is also quite meaningful and valuable for the study about linguistics, culture and translatology.As this issue is so important, and the trademark itself includes many factors in it, such as the difference of culture factors, the emotional factors, the aesthetic factors and the various consumers, etc. Considering these existing complicated aspects, the trademark translators must be careful in the translation. During the work, comprehensive thinking and the overall cautions on these factors should be adopted in, so that can the translator make sure the accuracy and the proper aesthetic standard could be reached. Just like the Hegels words, “beauty is the perceptual appearance of any philosophies”, it expresses that any kinds of beauty is the dialectical combination of the formal beauty and the beauty in its content. Translating a trademark should not only involve the accuracy of the content, but the aesthetic and emotional acceptation factors must be taken into account. While, the current situation does not always go like this, as I can see, there are still many improper and even ridiculous translations of the trademark existing around us, to the more crucial one, most of these improper renderings are the trademark of our Chinese brands. Thus, an improper or even ridiculous translation may lead to the defects in the international market. And from my view, is it a phenomenon of the blind admiration for the foreign brand but the ignorance about our own product?Hence, from the angle of a language leaner, and my national identity, I am eager to scrutinize this field, very daily but also complicated, so that some practical methods could be emphasized and utilized in the trademark translation. 2. Literature Review2.1 PrefaceNowadays, as the larger exchange in international trading, more and more names of trademark have been introduced into our Chinese market, simultaneously, our home-made products export largely. For better promotion and selling, a proper and perfect translation of the name of trademark is absolutely needed. While, the translation of trademark is not simple, or not the same as the way of translating articles, news, manifestos, claims etc. This is the unique translation, the free and literature translations are not enough for it because of different background of various culture. Hence, some improper translations happen now and than and block its selling. To the opposite, there are many excellent trademark translations are well-known, and for their outstanding trademark names, the products have been recognized by their markets and sold well. These theses are a brief analysis on both the neglect one and the successful case by some theories, thus a few standards on the trademark translation is concluded, meanwhile, the authors own opinions are added. During the translation of trademark, not only the “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance(信达雅) ” is necessary, but the unique of source language and the feature of the trademark should be laid stress on them. However, any translation between the source and target language would involve the culture and history. 2.2 Theory Framework Three principles of “信达雅” and the cautions on culture, history factors, principle of correspondence.2.3 The Reason for the Differences in Trademark Translation2.3.1 The Different Cultures Influences.Because of diversities of culture, the different angels of thinking may bring some disputes on the rendering.2.3.2 The Association of Social ValueSocial value is the center of a culture system. The western world is an individual-oriented society, while China is collected-oriented.e.g. Budweiser-百威， Gome-国美，AIWA-爱华2.3.3 National PsychologyDifferent psychology would result some different consuming orientation, e.g. our Chinese nations psychology involves in many aspects which avoids misfortune, there is a perfume named as “Poison”, the Chinese rendering is “百爱神”, averting the original meaning and adopting the transliteration.2.3.4 The Different Background Culture about the Vocabulary.A word maybe associated something, just like the different representations of “Dragon”, in western world; it is the symbol of evilness, whereas in China, it is a representation of supreme, e.g.古龙水2.4 Principles and Method in the Adoption of RenderingTransliteration (under the condition of culture acceptation)Emphasis on the advantage or the peculiar features of production.Innovation by the translatorZero translation(零翻译)Indigenousness (localized)Legalization in the market(1) abide to the region and custom(2) within the scope of the law2.5 Some Concepts and Academic Works and Theories about the Trademark Translation both in China and Overseas2.5.1 The Three Translation Principles Mentioned by Yan Fu, the Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance(信达雅)The criterion of three principles was firstly brought up by the Chinese distinguishable scholar Yan Fu in the late of Qing dynasty. It includes three sectors; they are faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance. This theory mainly focuses on the translation job and is mostly accepted by many translators today.Though this criterion only contains three words, the connotation is very rich and practical. Based on todays scholars research and study, its connotation can be divided into two parts (Shen 10). The first part is the explanation of the faithfulness, which means when the translation is processing, the translator should be always faithful to the source language, and meanwhile, the translating version must be as possibly accurate as the original context. This standard not only requires the accuracy and identity of the rendering version in the lexical and syntaxic symmetry of the source language, but also the accuracy on the message, emotion, idea which the original article conveys. In this level, Yan emphasized that the sense to the sense is the most vital and important aim which the translator must approach. The second part is obviously the interpretation of the expressiveness and elegance. In Yans Evolution and Ethics（天演论）, he put forward that a translator can revise some parts of the rhetoric so that the rendering version could be accepted by the readers who use the target language in an easier way, both in the readers cultural and emotional factors（修辞立诚）. To be brief, the rendering must be easily read by the local readers. The highest level is the last one, elegance. Yan ever said in his book, “except the faithfulness and expressiveness, the highest and ultimate level is the elegance(信达而外，求其尔雅)”(Shen 48). This requires the rendering one could also be as elegant and aesthetic as the original version. In conclusion, the three principles could be used as a judgment on the quality of a rendering. Only if the translation reaches these three principles, it can be assessed as a good rendering. In my notion, the trademark translation is also a common sort of rendering which conveys lots of message, or even the culture, thus, Yans theory is quite proper in it.2.5.2 Nida s Correspondence TheoryIn the contemporary translation theorist and linguist Nidas book Principles of Correspondence, he developed a very distinguishable theory, which is called the Dynamic (functional) equivalence and formal equivalence. Because he found that “there are no two absolutely identical languages either in the meaning given to corresponding symbols or in the ways in which symbols are arranged in phases and sentences” (Nida 5), this reveals that no absolute corresponding between two languages, hence, when rendering is processing, the translators should strive to render as close as the original version.While in this process, there are two main approaches that the translator can utilize the formal or dynamic equivalence. One is the formal equivalence, or the formal correspondence. In this conception, the rendering one must consist of the closest equivalence with the original one, such as the grammatical unites, the word usage and the meaning in terms of source context. The factor of the formal one just “focuses attention on the message itself” (literature fidelity) (Nida 68) to the source text. So, the formal equivalence is only a measure to transmit the insight onto the lexical, grammatical and structural form of the source text. “Typically, formal correspondence distorts the grammatical and stylistic patterns of the receptor language, and hence distorts the message, so as to cause the receptor to misunderstand or to labor unduly hard” (Nida 75), asserted by the Nida and Taber. Hence, all in all, the unilateral use of the formal equivalence may lose the core of the source text for the lesser sake of the factor of the context itself.The opposite of the FE (formal equivalence) is DE (dynamic equivalence). Many scholars paraphrase it as the translation is not measured merely in the aspects whether the words are understandable and the sentences are grammatically constructed, but in terms of total impact the message has on the one who receives it. In brief, DE is more reader-oriented than the FE. This kind of equivalence is emphasized as a way that the target language wording will trigger the same impact on the target context, that means for persuading the same impact of the source context, there is no need for the translator to rigidly follow the lexical, syntaxic or grammatical order in the source context, moreover, he can choose the to revise the source version in order to make sure the target language reader understand the text correctly and get the same enlightenment just like the source language reader can acquired.To some certain degree, Ive found that Nidas theory is partially similar with the three principles of Yan. Both of them put stress on the not only accuracy but expressiveness and the effect of the context in the translation. As Nidas words “the target language should not show interference from the source language, and the foreignness of the ST setting is minimized” (Nida 167-168), the background, the culture and the ability of understanding of the target language readers should be in considerate. 3. Study Method3.1 The MethodSince this thesis is focused on the analysis of the trademark translation, therefore, tremendous of the practical cases need to be collected and discussed. In such sort of thesis, the method of inductive and deductive is much proper and useful.3.2 The InstrumentThe cases of trademark translation are easily to be seen in our daily life. Many sources can be reached and adopted. The main instruments for me to select the cases are the internet, the relevant books, the real trademark on the daily stuffs, kinds of advertisement and commodities.4. The Practical Cases Representation4.1 The Improper Cases and Analysis Based on my deduction, there are at least two categories which can be classified in the currency of the trademark translation. Each of them has ignored the basic translation principles and may lead to serious problems in the commerce. 4.1.1 The Ignorance about the Culture of the Target Language In my opinion, the ignorance of the local culture in the trademark translation is the most severe problem. In Yans three principles, a good translation should not only be faithful to the source language, but also be expressive or even elegant in the target language, in these three aspects, any of them can not be missed. While, in the current translation of the trademark, lots of cases do not follow this basic standard in result that the product may not be introduced well in the local market, or even it may lead the dislike or hostility from the consumers who