Zero Translation Of Brand Names: A Functionalist Perspective

With the growth of the world economy, brand name translation became more and more important. Zero translation was first brought out by Professor Qiu Maoru and entitled"Translatability and Zero Translation"on Chinese Translators Journal of Jan.2001. Then, there came several articles and theses talking about zero translation, which paved the way for the further study of this thesis.Taking the functionalist theory as the starting point, the writer analyzed the main points of the German functionalist representatives and made a tentative attempt to apply zero translation to brand name translation, aiming at providing theoretical guidance to the phenomena of zero translation in brand names.In this thesis, the writer put forward a new term—Brand Zero Translation. It means translating brand names in the SL without using the ready-existing words in the TL. She also divides brand zero translation into Absolute Brand Zero Translation which includes Transference and Relative Brand Zero Translation which includes transliteration and complementary translation. Then, the writer analyzes the advantages of every kind of zero translation compared with other translation methods in brand names. According to brand name translation, which kind of brand zero translation is better? The writer analyzes the concrete methods of brand zero translation from functionalist translation theory, that is, to build up a translation criterion.The emergence of brand zero translation has its necessity and certainty. The writer studies its essence, function and significance. Then she concludes that zero translation makes translators have a balanceable position in brand name translation. It keeps the essence of the original, and at the same time is accepted by consumers in the target market. In practice, it also answers the questions, such as, why do we choose brand zero translation but not others? What effect can we achieve by brand zero translation?Zero translation may become the main stream in brand name translation. It will develop better in the future. Besides, the overuse of brand zero translation should be controlled.