Font Size: a A A

The Translation Of Chinese Brand Names:A Cultural Perspective

Posted on:2002-10-17Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:T WangFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360032453497Subject:English Language and Literature
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
As a considerably essential component of advertisement, brand name plays a more and more important role in the society. And along with the development of Chinese economy and the continuity of the Open Policy, people come to realize the importance of good brand names and their proper translations in the process of promoting sales and cultivating foreign markets. Thus, it is not only necessary but urgent for people to make study on Chinese brand names and their translation. At present, many Chinese translators have done research on this topic. But their work is still far from enough so far as the cultural aspect of brand names is concerned. Besides, these studies are not thorough or systematic enough to help provide naturally acceptable English renderings of Chinese brand names.Owing to the limitations of the previous studies and the significance of Chinese brand names translation study, this paper attempts to make a thorough and systematic study on this topic from a cultural perspective, with the help of the sociosemiotic theory, so as to provide a theoretical guide to the translation of Chinese brand names.It is acknowledged that good brand name translation means complicated work and a wide knowledge, which involves not only linguistics, translatology, but also marketing, psychology, aesthetics, cross-cultural communication and the like. And since a brand name is not only a linguistic phenomenon, but also a cultural one, the following questions arise naturally. What are the cultural characteristics of Chinese brand names? How can we overcome the cultural barriers in translating Chinese brand names into English? This paper intends to supply the answers. And the key point in question is on how to make the translations function in the same way in the target culture as its original does in the source culture.This thesis first examines such features of Chinese brand names as the basic functions and principles observed by them, motivations of their formations and cultural elements conveyed by them, and then analyzes the cultural barriers in the translation of Chinese brand names from a sociosemiotic point of view. Based on the above discussion, it proposes 揻unctional equivalence?as the principle for producing culturally effective English renderings of Chinese brand names. And in accordance with this principle, it summarizes some techniques for Chinese brand names translation.iiiAs we know, people encounter a large quantity of brand names every day. These brand names can be classified into different types from different angles. From the angle of the products they refer to, they can be roughly classified into brand names of clothing, beverage, foods, cosmetics, home appliances and vehicles. From the perspective of their linguistic structures, they can be classified into proper name brand names, common word band names and coined word brand names. However, no matter how complex the categorization is, brand names share some common features, which are mainly manifested in their functions, principles, motivations and cultural characteristics. Although there are various brand names distinctive from each other, their ultimate purposes are to promote sales and to exploit markets. In order to fulfill these purposes, the basic functions of brand names are mainly informative, aesthetic and vocative in nature. And brand names are often invented based on three basic principles, namely, the 揔ISS?principle (the brevity principle). the novelty principle and the readability principle. To perform the basic functions and to observe the three principles, brand names are mostly formed psychologically, commercially, sociologically and culturally motivated. And being a particular form of practical writing and culture, brand name shows its peculiar cultural characteristics, which are mainly demonstrated by the meanings of language signs, to be specific, the designative meaning, the linguistic meaning and the pragmatic meaning. These cultural characteristics are often quite unique in nature. And this uniqueness is to...
Keywords/Search Tags:brand name translation sociosemioticscultural barriers functional equivalence
PDF Full Text Request
Related items