从跨文化交际看英汉商标翻译—以汽车商标翻译为例.doc

届 别 2014 届 学 号 201014030525 毕业设计（论文）从跨文化交际看英汉商标翻译以汽车商标翻译为例 On English-Chinese Trademarks Translation from the Perspective of Cross-Cultural Communicationthe Car Brand as an Example 姓 名 唐思 院系、 专 业 外国语学院、英语 导 师 姓 名、职 称 张建佳、 教授 完 成 时 间 2014年5月 On English-Chinese Trademarks Translation from the Perspective of Cross-Cultural Communicationthe Car Brand as an ExampleA ThesisSubmitted in Partial Fulfillment of the RequirementsFor the Bachelors Degree in English Language and LiteratureByTang SiUndergraduate ProgramDepartment of Foreign LanguagesXiangnan UniversitySupervisor: Zhang jian jia Academic Title: Lecturer Signature_ Approved May 2014CONTENTSAbstract in Chinese.iAbstract in English.iiIntroduction11. Cross-cultural communication and car trademark3 1.1 Understanding of the trademark3 1.1.1 Definition of the trademark3 1.1.2 Classification of the trademark3 1.1.3 Features of the trademark4 1.2 Car trademark4 1.3 Introduction to cross-cultural communication5 1.3.1 The cross-cultural communication5 1.3.2 Significance of intercultural communication to car trademark52. Car trademark translation and strategies applied to trademark translation7 2.1 Car trademark translation7 2.1.1 Resources of the car trademark7 2.1.2 The importance of car trademark translation in cross-cultural communication.7 2.2 Strategies applied to trademark translation8 2.2.1 Domestication theory8 2.2.2 Foreignization theory9 2.2.3 Foreignization applied to trademark translation10 2.2.4 Domestication applied to trademark translation103.Problems in trademark translation11 3.1 Problems in Chinese trademark translation11 3.1.1 Tendency of Chinese “Pinyin”11 3.1.2 Word-for-word translation12 3.2 Problems in English trademark translation13 3.2.1 Tendency of transliteration13 3.2.2 Improper use of Chinese diction13Conclusion13Bibliography14Acknowledgements15摘 要商标俗称产品的黄金名片,决定着产品销量并与企业声望和经济利益息息相关。国际国内市场激烈的商品竞争决定了商标词翻译研究更为重要有意义。随着中国加入世界贸易组织，中国对外发展的速度更快，范围更广。汽车作为一种商品现在犹如“旧时王府堂前燕，飞入寻常百姓家”。外国汽车公司蜂拥进入中国市场，面对众多的国际汽车品牌许多消费者不如其意，更不知道如何从这些著名的汽车品牌中选择。本文将从跨文化交际角度分析汽车商标翻译，以求等效。文章的第一部分将从商标的定义，分类以及特征介绍商标；再深入展开对汽车商标的分析；并说明为什么从跨文化交际角度写汽车商标翻译。文章的第二部分将分析汽车商标翻译并提出汽车商标翻译所采用的技巧和原则。文章的第三部分分析一些商标翻译的常见错误。本文主旨在于探索一些适合的翻译方法以有助于提高当前商标的翻译水平，以帮助汽车公司促进产品促销，激发消费者的购买欲望。关键词：汽车商标；跨文化交际；商标词的翻译ABSTRACT Known as the golden business card of the product, the trademark determines the sales amount of the product and is closely connected with reputations and profits of businesses. The drastic competition in the domestic and international market leads the study of trademark to be more valuable. With Chinas entry to the World Trade Organization, the development of Chinas opening up becomes faster and wider. Car as a commodity is now very common in every household. As many foreign auto companies swarmed into the Chinese market, facing the numerous international car brands, many consumers do not know how to choose cars from these well-known brands. This thesis analyzes the car trademark translation from the aspect of cross-cultural communication. The first part introduces the trademark, such as its definition, classification and features; then the car trademark is further explored; and the reasons why introducing car trademark from the aspect of cross-cultural communication are explained. And the second part particularly analyzes the car trademark translation , whats more, some principles and strategies are introduced .the last part shows some common mistakes in some trademark translation. By doing so, the thesis aims at exploring some suitable translation methods to improve the current automobile trademark translation, so that the automobile companies can use the trademark to influence the sales of their products and persuade customers to make purchase. Helping the translators acquaint with more automobile brand names; Localized automotive trade mark translation would allow the product advertising, better suited to target markets in the language and culture.Key words: car brand trademark; intercultural communication; the translation of trademarkvii外国语学院2014届本科毕业论文Introduction With rapid development of national economy and significant improvement of peoples living standards, and after Chinas entry into WTO, Chinese automobile industry grow so fast and becomes the dominant industry in newly industrialized era. China has become the third biggest automobile market in the world after America and Japan. Chinas dominant automobiles, with their special brand names, however, are imported from foreign countries. In order to make great success in Chinas marker, its urgent for these automobile brand names to be translated. Besides, with the considerable increase of both urban and rural incomes and the improvement of residents consumption patterns, Chinese people have increasingly better food, clothing, housing, transportation and other daily necessities. More and more people make purchases. In the framework of Skopostheorie, translation is essentially a purposeful, communicative, and cross-cultural action. Skopostheorie who considers the purpose and aim of translation as dominant translation brief should be the best choice to be the guide. However, previous study on the automobile brand names in the light of Skopostheorie is rare. Though some articles can be found in academic journals, they lack systematic researches. In the process of automobile brand translation, the translator should surpass linguistic and cultural barriers to make the target language receiver understand the essence in the source language. While translating, taking the reproduction of the accurate effects of the source language as the chief principle, the translator should choose adequate translating strategies to make the target language receiver perceive the meaning of the source language in accordance with the target language receivers expectations and the cultural customs of the target language. Many researches have been studied this field for many years. In our country research, the translator Yuan ping ,who thinks car trademark is a cross-cultural and cross-language activity ,and point out that the cultural factors should be considered during its translation. In Wang Jin book trademark translation and culture, he points out, trademark should be in harmony with the principle of advertisement. Guangzhou times and New York Times made a research on the relation between automobile brand names and their sales. It showed that over 80% readers thought that automobile brand names had much to do with the sales of automobile models. Over half of the readers expressed that they would not buy a car without an auspicious name. In foreign country, Edward T.Hall propose the further culture and public culture, which is the exact barrier of target .Some theories lay emphasis on linguistic aspects, some on cultural aspects and some on communicative aspects. Among the many schools of translation theories, which one is suitable to be the guide to the automobile brand names translation? Over the past decades, extensive explorations in the field of brand and brand name translation theories of all these findings are almost based on Yanfus “faithfulness”, “expressiveness”, and “elegance”, Eugene Nidas “equivalence” or Peter Newmarks “semantic translation”, which did little to help serve the purpose of brand name translation in commercial competition. The purpose of trademark name translation is very clear, that is to stimulate the purchasing desire of the target language readers so that the producers of the trademark names can gain commercial interests to the utmost. Hence, in commercial translation, the target market should be considered.1. Cross-Cultural Communication and Car Trademark 1.1 Understanding of the Trademark 1.1.1 Definition of the TrademarkIn the New Columbia Encyclopedia, the trademark is defined as: “Distinctive mark placed on or attached to goods by a manufacturer or dealer to identify them as made or sold by him. The use of a trademark indicates that the manufacturer or the dealer believes that the quality of the goods will enhance its standing or good will .And a known trademark indicates to a buyer the reputation that is stuck on the commodity. Registration of a trademark is necessary in some countries to give an exclusive right to it.” (Erns-August Gutt,2004:421-433)The random House history of the English language defines the trademark as follows, trademark:“1. any name, symbol, figure, letter, or word, or mark adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant in order to designate his or her goods and to distinguish them from those manufactured or sold by others. A trademark is a proprietary term that is usually registered with the patent and trademark office to assure its exclusive use by its owner: 2.a distinctive mark or feature particularly characteristic of or identified with a person or thing. ” (Nida,1997:17-20)From the definition mentioned above, it could be seen that a trademark can consist of a word or words, letters, numbers, symbols and monograms .it is protected by law and used exclusively by the particular manufacturer or owner that registered it in accordance with prevailing laws and customs. The most essential elements designed in a trademark should include as follows:1.It should suggest something about advantages, qualities and attributes of the product.2. It should be distinctive and attractive.3. It should be easy for pronunciation, recognition and memory. 4. It should not carry negative meanings or associations on target consumers 1.1.2 Classification of the TrademarkMarket economy and drastic competition lead to the existence of various kinds of markets. It can be classified, according to its form of expression, as word trademark, graphics and combination of word and graphics. It can also be classified on the ground of region, nature of commodity and trademark. Other trademarks can be classified as registered and non-registered, connotative and non-connotative. .It can also be divided into plane trademark, stereo trademark, sound trademark, and smell trademark. Trademark name is different from trade name (商号). Trade name is not used for identifying commodity but for identifying manufacturer, company engaged inproduction and operation of commodity. Trademark name can be used individually but trade name not. .The classification of trademark s can be vividly shown by the following classification in study of trademark naming(商标命名研究)by Wang Zuo Liang (王佐良，2001:127-132)商标（制造方式） (区域特点) （载体形式） （使用动机） 纸印商标 本国商标 平面商标 联合商标 金属商标 外国商标 立体商标 防御商标 压印商标 商品商标 音响商标 证明商标 织制商标 服务商标 气味商标 1.1.3 Features of the Trademark “Used for identifying commodities, unique features of the trademark distinguish trademark texts from ordinary texts. Their unique characteristics include exclusivity suggestibility.” (李东芹，2005:31) So long as the trademarks registered, they are granted exclusivity and only possessed by their proprietor. Whats more, the suggestibility is one of the features of the trademark. Suggestibility of the trademark means that attributes, functions, characteristics and target consumers of commodities are inferred from the trademark. 1.2 car trademarkA car trademark is one of the most important business assets youll ever own. Its cars name, cars logo, or any other symbol that distinguishes your car company or other car products in the marketplace. and the trademark is quite different from the patent and the copyright. Here are their different features. “A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, and design that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. ” (刘美芳，2001:30-31)A service mark is a word, phrase, symbol, and design that identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than goods. The term “trademark” is often used to refer to both trademarks and service marks.Must all marks be registered? No, but federal registration has several advantages, including a notice to the public of the registrants claim of ownership of the mark, a legal presumption of ownership nationwide, and the exclusive right to use the mark on or in connection with the goods or services set forth in the registration. A patent is a limited duration property right relating to an invention, granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in exchange for public disclosure of the invention. A copyright protects works of authorship, such as writings, music, and works of art that have been tangibly expressed. The Trademark Operation of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) handles trademarks only. For information on patents, please visit Patents or contact 800-786-9199. For information on copyrights, please contact the U.S. Copyright Office a division of the Library of Congress 1.3 Introduction to Cross-Cultural Communication 1.3.1 The Cross-Cultural Communication What is Cross-Cultural Communication ? When we hear this question ,we may have three basic aspects in our mind: culture, communication, cross-cultural communication .Actually Cross-communication is an new discipline with short history. The term cross- cultures, was first mentioned in R.Lados work linguistics across cultures: Applied Linguistics for Language Teacher (1957) .The concept intercultural communication was first proposed by Edward T. Hallin The Silent language(1959), in which Hall puts forward key concepts to explain the nature of intercultural communication, such as high and low context, the hidden culture etc. Halls conceptualization of the process of intercultural communication and his contributions to the field laid the solid foundation for the later research. His statement draws peoples great attention to hidden culture and high context culture. It is hidden culture and high context culture that cause misunderstanding in the process of intercultural communication. Edward Hall describes a culture in which information about procedure is not overly communicated as a high-context culture. Members are expected to know how to perform. Information and cultural rules remain implicit. The context is supposed to be the cue for behavior. In a low-context culture, information is explicit. Procedures are explained, and expectations are discussed. According to Carle, the most frequent intercultural communication difficulty, considering high-context and low-context systems, occurs when one person assumes a high-context mind-set, while the other person expects an explanation, looking for a low-context condition. If we want to know more about a given society or community by examining the behavior of its members, we are doing an intercultural communication study. That is to say, we are doing a research at a macro level of investigation. At this level of discussion things that we are interested in include culture and its backgrounds. 1.3.2 Significance of Intercultural Communication to Car Trademark Cross-cultural communication is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they try to communicate across cultures. Intercultural communication is a related field of study. Origins during the Cold War, the economy of the United States was largely self-contained because the world was polarized into two separate and competing powers: the East and the West. However, changes and advancements in economic relationships, political systems, and technological options began to break down old cultural barriers. Business transformed from a purely one individual-country capitalism to global capitalism .Thus, the study of cross-cultural communication was originally found within businesses and the government both seeking to expand globally. Businesses began to offer language training to their own employees and programs were developed to train employees to understand how to act when abroad. With this also came the development of the Foreign Service Institute, or FSI, through the Foreign Service Act of 1946, where government employees received trainings and prepared for overseas posts. There began also implementation of a world view perspective in the curriculum of higher education.In 1974, the International Progress Organization, with the support of UNESCO and under the auspices of Senegalese President Lopold Sdar Senghor held an international conference on The Cultural Self-comprehension of Nations which called upon United Nations member states to organize systematic and global comparative research on the different cultures of the world and to make all possible efforts for a more intensive training of diplomats in the field of international cultural co-operation and to develop