从目的论角度分析服装品牌名称翻译

摘 要服装行业一直是我国非常重要的产业，我国是世界最大的服装生产加工大国。随着经济全球化的不断深入与发展，我国服装产品越来越多的进入了国际市场，也面临着激烈的竞争与挑战。为提高我国服装品牌名称的翻译质量，使国内各服装企业走向世界，在国际市场上成功树立自己的品牌，本文依据翻译目的论的基本原则结合品牌名称翻译中需考虑的因素，试探讨国内服装品牌名称的翻译案例，并与国际知名服装品牌进行对比分析，最后提出了提高翻译质量的一些建议与方法。 关键词：服装；品牌名称翻译；目的论 ABSTRACTClothing industry is an important part of Chinese industries and China is the biggest producer and processer of clothing in the world. With the development of economic globalization, more and more Chinese clothing products have entered into the international market, facing intensified competition and challenges. In order to improve the translation quality of our clothings brand names, to help domestic clothing enterprises reach out to the world and set up their own brand names in the international market successfully, under the guidance of Skopostheorie and its basic rules, this paper tries to analyze some selected cases of domestic clothings BNT and compare with some selected cases of famous international clothings brand names. Finally, this paper concludes some suggestions and methods to improve the translation quality. Key words：clothing; brand name translation; skopostheorie 中国最大的论文知识平台Contents1Introduction12. Skopostheorie and achievements and current situation of BNT22.1 Development and basic rules of Skopostheorie22.1.1 Background and development22.1.2 Basic rules32.2 Previous research of BNT43. The factors to be considered in BNT63.1 Culture factors63.2 Consumer psychology63.3 Commercial factors73.4 Legal factors73.5 Globalization background84. Comparative analysis of cases of clothings BNT with the guidance of Skopostheorie94.1 Comparative analysis of international and domestic clothings BNT94.1.1 Analysis of famous international clothings brand names Analysis within the categories of product attributes Analysis within the categories of consumers114.1.2 Analysis of famous domestic clothings BNT Analysis within the categories of product attributes Analysis within the categories of consumers154.1.3 Comparison of their similarities, differences and gaps184.2 Comparative analysis of domestic clothings BNT in different periods194.2.1 The period after opening up before Chinas entering the WTO194.2.2 The period after Chinas entering the WTO195Conclusion215.1 Main results of comparison of clothings BNT215.2 Suggestions and methods to improve the quality of translation21Acknowledgements22References231IntroductionBrand is an abstract concept which consists of several elements. In general, brand is regarded as a remarkable sign used by commodity producers and operators, for consumers to differentiate the source of commodities 11.Brand has several basic functions such as: distinctive function, namely brand can distinguish and individuate a product and a company from others; legal protection, namely brand can protect the rights and interests of a company; quality assurance, as consumers tend to relate the quality of a good to its brand, a reputed brand can always convince its consumers that the good is of assured good quality; establishing enterprise image, namely a famous brand can help to establish good enterprise image to make the enterprise more competitive among others. It is a precious intangible asset of an enterprise and an inexhaustible resource of property which plays an important role in marketing activity.A brand name is an indispensable element of a brand which can create identities and is of significant value for the whole enterprise in the competitive global market. A well translated brand name can reflect brand image and convey product information while a not properly translated brand name can cause a great loss both of money and reputation to the enterprise. After Chinas reform and opening up, the economy develops rapidly and China has also entered the WTO, numerous Chinese products have come into the world market. In order to establish a successful international brand, an excellent brand name and a good translation should be taken as the first and foremost matter because a well translated brand name contributes to the good reputation of a company and its products.Nowadays Chinese Clothing industry has become an important part of the international clothing industry. In order to improve their competitive strength, many foreign trade enterprises of clothing have attached great importance to brand strategy in order to set up their own brand image in the world market. As a kind of necessary daily commodity, the significance of clothings BNT deserves our special attention. This paper will explore the translation of clothings brand names by analyzing a number of translation cases and try to find out some methods to improve translation quality with the guidance of Skopostheorie. 2. Skopostheorie and achievements and current situation of BNTMany scholars have studied BNT under the guidance of some translation theories and principles such as functional equivalence proposed by Eugene A. Nida and principle of “faithfulness”, “expressiveness” and “elegance” put forward by Yan Fu. However, as BNT has its own characteristics and complexity because many factors such as language, culture, commerce, law should be taken into consideration. This paper prefers applying Skopostheorie as a guidance theory. In this chapter, basic information of Skopostheorie and previous research of BNT will be presented. 2.1 Development and basic rules of Skopostheorie Skopostheorie is a translation theory that is worthy of more attention as it breaks the restrains of traditional translation theories on the basis of inheriting the appropriate elements of traditional translation theories and whats more, Skopostheorie has strong practical significance and feasibility. 2.1.1 Background and development Skopostheorie is a translating theory which sprung from Germany in 1970s. It adopts the concept of skopos which generally refers to the purpose of the translated text in translation. According to Skopostheorie, any translational action, including translation itself, is an action. The development of Skopostheorie has mainly undergone four periods: Reisss Functional Category of Translation Criticism; Vermeers Skopostheorie and Beyond; Holz-Manttaris Theory of Translation and Nords Function plus Loyalty 212. In 1971, it was firstly raised in Katharina Reisss book Possibilities and Limits of Translation Criticism. Reiss develops a model of translation criticism based on the functional relationship between source and target texts on the basis of equivalence 39.Then, in 1978, Hans J. Vermeer, a student of Reiss, published an article A General Framework Theory of Translation. Vermeer calls his theory Skopostheorie, a theory of purposeful action. In Vermeers approach, translation is a form of translational action based on a source text. According to him, the purpose of the translation depends on the expectations and needs of the target readers 310-12. Thirdly, Justa Holz-Manttari places special emphasis on the actional aspects of the translation process, analyzing the roles of the participants and the situational conditions. Her theory is based on the principles of action theory 312-13. Finally, Christiane Nord adds the loyalty principle to Skopostheorie. In her 1997 book Translating as a Purposeful Activity, she points out the limitations of the Skopos model: when the translation brief requires a translation whose communicative aims are contrary to or incompatible with the authors opinion or intention, there would be no restriction to the range of possible ends. According to Nord, loyalty commits the translator bilaterally to the source and the target texts, and it is an interpersonal category referring to a social relationship between people which means that the target-text purpose should be compatible with the original authors intentions. The function-plus-loyalty model is an answer to those critics who argue that the functional approach leaves translators free to do whatever they like with any source text, or worse, what their clients like 3124-128. 2.1.2 Basic rulesBasic rules of Skopostheorie can be divided into two categories: universal rules that adapt to all translation processes and special rules adapt to special situations. The universal rules consist of skopos rule and loyalty rule. (1) The skopos rule“skopos rule” is the key rule that should be obeyed during the translation process according to Skopostheorie. Skopos is a Greek word for “purpose”. Hans Vermeer puts it,What the Skopos states is that one must translate, consciously and consistently, in accordance with some principles respecting the target text. The theory does not state what the principle is: this must be decided separately in each specific case 330. In general “skopos” refers to the communicative goal of the target text. Nord paraphrases the main idea of Skopostheorie as “the translation purpose justifies the translation procedures” and “the end justifies the means” 3124. (2) Intratextual coherence and intertextual coherenceCoherence rules belong to the skopos rule and consist of intratextual coherence and intertextual coherence. Intratextual means the receiver must be able to understand the target text which must be meaningful in target language culture and communication environment. A translation should bear some relationship with the source text. This relationship is called intertextual coherence or fidelity. Intertextual coherence should exist between source and target text. The form of it depends on the translators comprehension of the source text and the translation purpose. Coherence rules are special rules because whether they are applicable or not depends on the concrete purpose of translation 220. (3) Loyalty ruleThe loyalty rule is put forward by Nord as an addition. In Nords function-plus loyalty function refers to the factors that make a target work in the intended way in the target situation. Loyalty refers to the interpersonal relationship between the translator, the source-text sender, the target-text addressees and the initiator 3126. The loyalty rule requires the translator to be responsible for all participants in the process of translation and to mediate their interests and seek the understanding of all sides. 2.2 Previous research of BNTThe research of brand name can be traced back to the beginning of 20th century abroad. At that time, a famous psychologist from University of Minnesota, Harlow Gale, established the foundation of advertising through his book Advertising Psychology in 1900 with Walter Dill Scotts book The Principle of Advertisement 47. In the past few decades, many other scholars emphasize on brand name translation. Some of them focus on the rules and methods in brand name translating. For example, Stewart-Allen and Allyson L consider that competently communicating the brand internationally is one of the first rules of effective marketing 5. Some other scholars have put forward some useful translation methods from a linguistic aspect, like Shi Zhang and Bernd H. Schmitt 6. They conceptualize the local brand-name creation process in a multilingual international market and present a framework that incorporates a linguistic analysis of three translation methods namely phonetic, semantic, and phonosemantic and a cognitive analysis focusing on the impact of primes and expectations on consumer name evaluations. Using dual English-and-Chinese brand names, the authors show that the effectiveness of the translation depends on the emphasis of the original English name and the method of translation used previously for brand names within the same category. By analyzing some cases of brand names translation in Asia, especially in China, some scholars have proposed some essential factors that need consideration in international branding such as language constraints, product attributes, consumer perceptions and localization and they also have mentioned rejuvenation cures for brand name translation. For example, Frank Hong, Anthony Pecotich, and Clifford J. Shultzpoint out that global branding is complicated by the diversity of languages, nationalism, product attributes, and culture. Given such complications, how or whether a manager decides to translate brand name is critical to the success of global brand management 7.In China, many scholars have devoted themselves into the translation of brand names and many really significant studies spring in this field.On the one hand, the majority of the previous studies have been dealing with the formation of brand names, translation principles and translation methods. Many scholars have studied the categorization of translation skills, and the methods and skills they have employed in their studies are more or less the same. For example, He Chuansheng has systematically analyzed the features, motivations and formations of English brand name in his book Brand Name English 834. In terms of translation principles, Li Guisheng 98 proposes three kinds of “faithfulness”, namely faithfulness to pronunciation, faithfulness to meaning as well as faithfulness to marketing strategies while Lu Guangyan 1082 insists that brand name translations should be conformity with the international branding principles. Some scholars adopt the principle of equivalence in brand name translation. On the other hand, brand name translation has its own features and complexity because it needs to take many factors such as language, culture, commerce, law and so on into consideration. Among these factors, a number of scholars have emphasized the importance of culture factor in brand name translation in their studies. Many other scholars also have done a lot inspiring research in this field.3. The factors to be considered in BNT3.1 Culture factors Culture is a big complex concept. Edward Tyler, an anthropologist from England, defines culture as a complicated form which includes knowledge, belief, art, moral, law, custom and other abilities and habits acquired from society 113. As Nida says, language is “a part of culture and one of its most distinctive features” 12150. And the impact of culture upon a given language is something intrinsic and indispensable. Language is the carrier of culture and the tool of communication while translation is the bridge of cross-culture communication. Brand name as a part of language should also be affected by culture. The formation of a brand name can reflect the influence and function of culture factors. When it comes to BNT, it is not just a simple transfer from one language to another but must correspond with target consumers culture. A well translated brand name can seize the target consumers appetite by catering to their habits and aesthetic standard of culture while carefully avoiding their verbal and cultural taboos. 3.2 Consumer psychology Consumer psychology refers to consumers mental characteristics and activities during the process of consumption. The characteristics of children include intuitive recognition of commodities, namely, the appearance factors of commodities such as colour, design, picture, sound etc. can arouse childrens attention and interest. As to the young people, they pursue fashion and personalities and have strong wish to express themselves. Distinctive commodities are their favourite. Women have rich emotions and shows obvious emotional inclination in selecting goods. Men are more rational and less passive than women in purchasing. They pay more attention to the quality of the goods and can make decisions decisively 1389-96. In general consumer psychology can be divided into four kinds, namely conformity, seeking difference, comparing with the higher and being practical. In marketing activities, its an essential point to seize consumers psychology and stimulate immediate consumer purchasing. Various skills and methods would be used by advertisers in order to strike consumers desires to buy their goods. Giving an appropriate, beautiful, meaningful brand name can help to stimulate good mental feelings of the consumers. Therefore, to advertisers and brand name translators, the possession of related information about consumer psychology is of great importance. When translating a brand name, the target consumers psychology should also be taken into consideration carefully. 3.3 Commercial factors Beside the linguistic factors that should be taken into consideration when designing a brand name, the marketing aspect should also be given much attention. Strictly speaking, the design of a brand name belongs to advertising and marketing. Brand naming is greatly influenced by marketing factors such as the products attributes, the target markets and product positioning. One important function of a brand name is reflecting characteristics of products. On the one hand, a successful brand name can imply the quality of the goods. On the other hand, a well designed brand name can also point out the categories and attributes of the goods. Unlike other translation such as novels, plays and poems, clothings BNT has its own special characters for it is a commercial activity taking the commercial factor as its first-line consideration. 3.4 Legal factors A brand name has a legal protection function only when it is registered. The translated brand name must be registered in the language of the target country and must conform to the regulations of these countries trademark laws. In general, people are allowed by the law to register the same name. However, the law does not allow two enterprises to register the same or similar brand name for their products of the sa