Brand Name Translation: An Adaptation-based Approach

The present study largely derives from a feeling of increasing unease about the status quo of Chinese brand name translation. China's entry into the WTO and the trend of globalization will dramatically increase competition for the Chinese businesses. We are convinced that it is now a matter of urgency to understand how we should conduct the problematic brand name translation. With a retrospective presentation of the related literature in translation studies and brand naming, we observe that scant attention has been paid to this field and most researches linger on the level of describing translating techniques superficially. Rather than merely focus on a particular dimension of brand naming, this paper attempts to provide a holistic exploration by integrating a sound theoretical foundation into the practice of brand name translation. On the strength of the Adaptation Theory proposed by Verschueren (1999), we build up a brand name translation model and investigate the translator's language use from a pragmatic perspective. Translating brand name is, in nature, a generation and regeneration process in which the adaptation approach functions in various aspects to produce the ideal target brand names. We sort the objects of adaptation into two categories: linguistic adaptation and extra-linguistic adaptation. In effect, brand name translation entails that the translator must grapple not only with structural differences between languages but also with extra-linguistic motivations and constraints. To adapt or not to adapt on the part of the translator determines the fate of the translated brand names in the target market context. In practice, the decision-making goes through the entire process of translating brand names. As compared to brand naming, translating brand names is a linguistic, artistic, strategic, and creative endeavor. We hence tentatively redefine brand name translation as a brand renaming process. The translated brand name is the result of the translator's adaptation to the linguistic as well as extra-linguistic parameters in translation.