Studies On Brand Name Translation From The Perspective Of Cuiltural Difference

With the rapid development of global economic integration and the adoption of open-up and reform policy, more Chinese enterprises have been active in the global market. They are increasingly realizing the importance of brand names as well as their translations in stimulating consumption and expanding domestic and overseas market. It is hardly too much to say that a good brand name and brand name translation influence consumers'attitude to a particular goods and its consumption. As a result, scholars and translators have been interested in brand name translation (BNT). The author of the paper attempts to explore the techniques of brand name translation from the perspective of cultural differences. After an investigation on some famous brand names in Zhejiang province and other parts of China, the author summarizes the existing translation methods as Chinese Pinyin, word-to-word translation, abbreviation, and free translation. Through analysis, the author finds one serious problem in BNT in China that many translations ignore the cultural differences between the source language and the target language, resulting in cultural loss or distortion and puts forward some advice on how to improve the current situation. In addition, the paper makes a research on Nida's theory in BNT. In the end, the paper concludes that BNT is a complicated work concerning not only linguistics, translatology, but also marketing, psychology, aesthetics and cross-cultural communication. In the author's opinion, the key to producing a successful brand name translation is to overcome the cultural barriers between the original culture and the target culture, especially in Chinese - English brand name translation, because most Chinese brand names have their peculiar cultural characteristics. It is this uniqueness that always poses cultural barriers in translation. Thus, the author proposes three procedures and some translating techniques to solve the problem.This paper consists of five parts. Chapter One is the introduction to the paper. Chapter Two analyzes brand name and brand name translation, giving some basic information and evaluation criteria of brand name and brand name translation. Chapter Three involves culture and cultural differences, concerning cultural influence on brand name translation. Chapter Four includes an investigation on the existing brand name translations and some advice on BNT. Chapter Five is the conclusion. To overcome the barriers brought about by cultural differences, translators should follow Nida's theory of Functional Equivalence and choose proper techniques.