Cultural Differences In Chinese-English Brand Name Translation

English and Chinese are two of the major languages in the world, reflecting two main cultures. It is well-known that language is a part of culture and is the carrier of culture as well. Language and culture cannot be separated from each other. Language would be meaningless without culture and the development of culture would be restricted by language. At the same time, translation is not only the bridge between different languages, but also the inter-cultural communication between different cultures. However, translators often encounter some barriers which are caused by cultural differences in the process of cross-cultural translating. With the increasing cultural exchange in the age of globalization, translation is shouldering the task of communicating and mutual understanding. Cultural studies will undoubtedly clear the path to the future translation to accomplish the task of social development. Now, a lot of translators have been devoted to the study of brand name translation. However, their studies are still far from the cultural factors. Besides, the majority of these studies are based on the descriptive analysis of examples rather than on theoretical foundation and recent translation theories have hardly been fully used, though culture has been repeatedly discussed. Owing to the close relationship among language, culture, and translation and owing to the limitations of present studies of cultural differences in brand name translation, this thesis attempts to explore the cultural differences and the cultural impact on brand name translation between Chinese and the Western countries through analyzing the characteristics of brand name translation. At the same time, the author gives more attention to the main factors of cultural differences: cultural vacancy and cultural clash. Furthermore, the author analyzes the great influence of cultural factors in the process of brand name translating. When translating, translators should adopt some proper and useful strategies to avoid the barriers caused by different cultural backgrounds. With the application of Peter Newmark's semantic translation and communicative translation theory, this thesis provides concrete techniques for the translation of brand names in order to provide some help to the translation between English brand names and Chinese brand names. This thesis includes five parts. Chapter one is the general introduction in which the purpose of the study, the characteristics of brand name translation, the present studies and views on brand name translation are introduced. Chapter two analyzes the close relationship among culture, language and brand name translation. Chapter three analyzes the main two aspects of cultural differences which are cultural vacancy and cultural clash. Chapter four explores the impact of cultural differences on brand name translation, which includes different value systems, different customs and habits, and different customer psychology. Chapter five supports some principles and methods based on Peter Newmark's semantic translation and communicative translation theory. Chapter six is a conclusion based on the discussion in the previous chapters. The thesis emphasizes that brand name translation is a kind of cross-cultural communication. Owing to the close relation between culture and translation, it is impossible to study brand name translation without culture.