A Study On Trademark Translation From The Perspective Of Plural Complementarism

With the development of economics and the acceleration of globalization, the economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries are becoming increasingly extensive and in-depth. As the "golden name card" and "golden passport" of the enterprises, the trademark is attaching more and more attention. Under these circumstances, the study of the trademark is of greater importance both in theory and practice.This thesis firstly launches an overview on trademarks, in which the four perspectives-linguistic, graphic, legislative and commercial-are distinguished. Given the nature of trademarks, the author believes that a comprehensive approach should be adopted in the research on trademark translation. The thesis proceeds to conduct a detailed analysis on Gu Zhengkun's theory of "Plural Complementarism of Translation Standards", which functions as the theoretical frame for this thesis. Based upon these research results, the supreme standard and the system of concrete standards are summarized. As the core concept in supreme standard for trademark translation, the "optimum closeness" can be interpreted as: 1) the TL receptors should be taken as core; 2) the ST function should be fully transmitted into the TT; and 3) the "equivalent effect" between the ST and TT receptors should be achieved. The system of concrete standards for trademark translation include:1) linguistic standards (phonetic, grammatical and semantic equivalences),2) aesthetic standards (beauty in sound, form and sense),3) cultural standards (conforming to the TL receptors'values and consuming psychology), and 4) legislative and commercial standards (distinctiveness and informativeness).It is the first time that the PCTS is fully analyzed and applied to the research on trademark translation. Under the guidance of PCTS, a plural system of standards for trademark translation is established. This is the main contribution this thesis made to the study of trademark translation. Moreover, it is an attempt to further explore the theoretical value of the theory, from which the merits and limitations of the theory can be recognized.Although the system of concrete standards for trademark translation has been established in the thesis, further research needs to be done in terms of trademark translation from the perspective of PCTS, for changes and development are constantly occurring in the field of trademarks and trademark translation, as well as in the theory of "Plural Complementarism of Translation Standards".