The Translating Of Brand Names From The Functionalist Perspective

With the growing of the world economy, brand name translation is arousing increasing attention of corporations and scholars. Different from the translation of other types of texts, brand name translation has its special functions and purposes, that is, to set up a good image of the product in the target market and to persuade the target consumers to purchase it. So the study on brand name translation must be guided by a certain theory systematically.Taking this as the starting point, the author makes a tentative attempt to apply the functionalist theory to brand name translation, aiming at providing theoretical and methodological guidance for it.Besides the introduction and conclusion, this paper consists of four chapters.Chapter One is a general survey, introducing the definition, features, functions and formation of brand names.Chapter Two briefly reviews the current studies on the translation of brand names and points out that the traditional standards of "faithfulness" and "equivalence" can neither meet the special needs of brand name translation nor explain some unconventional methods such as "adaptation" or "blending", etc. So an appropriate theory is necessary to guide and account for the translation of brand names.Chapter Three is the key part of this paper. In this part, the author introduces the development and the basic concepts of the functionalist theory, aiming at providing a theoretical guidance for brand name translation. And then by citing a number of examples, she discusses the feasibility of applying the functionalist theory to brand name translation. Meanwhile she applies some basic concepts of the theory to brand name translation by citing numerous examples. The functionalist theory emphasizes the functions of the target text in the target culture, and brand name translation is also target-culture-oriented, so they share a common ground. The translator is regarded as an active part in the process of the translation and has the right to make full use of all kinds of information and to choose the most appropriate method that can help achieve the expected functions of the target text. The functionalist theory has broken through the traditional equivalent theory. Its main contribution to brand name translation lies in the fact that it provides a theoretical basis for a number of unconventional translation strategies such as...