中英文化差異背景下英語(yǔ)商標(biāo)的漢譯

摘 要：商標(biāo)是商品的標(biāo)志，它是商品顯著特征的濃縮，是商品文化的核心部分。商標(biāo)的翻譯是由解碼到編碼的逆向轉(zhuǎn)化過(guò)程，融入了不同文化間的思想感情、知識(shí)水平、文化修養(yǎng)、宗教信仰、生活環(huán)境等各種因素。好的商標(biāo)翻譯能傳神地譯出原商標(biāo)的名字、特色或者內(nèi)涵，有利于提高產(chǎn)品知名度，打開(kāi)銷路，加強(qiáng)市場(chǎng)占有率。特別是在經(jīng)濟(jì)全球一體化不斷深入的今天，世界各國(guó)貿(mào)易空前繁榮，而一國(guó)的產(chǎn)品想要成功地打入目標(biāo)市場(chǎng)國(guó)，品牌貼切的目標(biāo)語(yǔ)翻譯就成為了關(guān)鍵。本文就是在此背景之下，以中英商標(biāo)的文化差異為切入點(diǎn)，對(duì)英文商標(biāo)進(jìn)行了探討，借以找出正確的翻譯策略，以利于促進(jìn)中外經(jīng)濟(jì)文化交流的進(jìn)一步發(fā)展。

關(guān)鍵詞：英語(yǔ)商標(biāo)；文化差異；翻譯

[中圖分類號(hào)]：H059 [文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識(shí)碼]：A

[文章編號(hào)]：1002-2139(2012)-16-0-02

1 Introduction

A trademark is a distinctive sign which identifies certain goods or services as those produced or provided by a certain entity or person. The translation of trademark is a very practical translation action with high commercial value. It also transmits the culture from the source language to the target language. The ultimate purpose of translating trademark is to persuade the consumers in the other countries to buy the products and earn commercial benefit. Above all， the effective translation of trademarks may be urgent and necessary.

Based on this， this paper discusses the English trademarks and attempts to help promoting the economic and cultural exchanges with other countries by using appropriate translation tactics.

2 The Disparity between the English and Chinese Cultures in Trademark

The differences between English and Chinese cultures may be obviously reflected in the use of trademarks.

English is a typical phonetic language and compared with Chinese， most of the English trademarks are just designation code for commodities， without any function of instructing product quality characteristics， which is quite distinct from Chinese ones. Since there is a tradition of pursuing good fortune and avoiding disaster in Chinese culture， more emphasis is put on the reference meaning of the Chinese trademarks. So in Chinese culture， choosing proper words is very crucial， so is for Chinese trademarks.

“Transformers”， quite popular in the U.S.， is a very famous toy. If the trademark is literally translated as “變形”， which means “distortion”， it can hardly be accepted by Chinese consumer， because it is only an illustration for the function of the toy， without any connotative meaning. However， the Chinese translation is skillfully attached “King Kong”(金剛)--- a quite unique Chinese name for a person who is very strong and powerful--- after the original trademark， fitting to the mind of eager expectation from parents to their children， making it a great success.

Another example is the world renowned automobile “Benz”， whose full name is “Mercedes-Benz”. This trademark is composed of two parts， both of which originally are names of people. “Mercedes” is a girl’s name， whose father is a diplomat and very successful businessman in Austria. “Benz” is the car’s first name and it comes from its producer Karl Benz. As one world top car “Benz” is translated as “奔馳” in the mainland of China， which is a vivid description for its high quality and superior property， just like a strong horse galloping on the way. Besides its good connotative meaning， “奔馳” also resembles its English version in pronunciation， which helps it be a quite popular car in China. From “Benz” to “奔馳”， the disparity between the two cultures can be seen obviously.

3 The Features of English Trademark and Its Translation Tactics

3.1 Deep Cultural Meaning of English Trademark

As culture carrier， language in a sense conveys the connotation of its culture， then so can the trademark， one of the elements of language. During the translation of English trademarks， their deep cultural connotation should be firstly understood before appropriate translations in target language come forth. For example， “Greyhound” is the trademark of U.S. coach. If it was just literally translated as “灰狗”， its original cultural meaning would disappear. In American culture， “greyhound” is a kind of dog with slender body， a swift runner. Selecting “Greyhound” as a trademark for coach would arouse special association of convenience and efficiency， inspire consumer psychology; another example is the world wide popular sports brand “Nike”. The original meaning of its trademark refers to the triumphant goddess in the fairy tale of ancient Greek. In English culture， Greek mythology possesses very high reputation， so named as “Nike”， this sports product gets very popular in western world， with its deep cultural meaning of conquering and victory.

3.2 The Features of English Trademark’s Forming

English trademark not only has the properties of rich imagination， vivid comparison and implicit meaning etc.， but also forms its unique characteristics in special cultural background， especially its unique forming pattern.

3.2.1 Named after Person or Place

Most English trademark are named after popular person or place， such as the U.S. airplane trademark “Boeing”， which is named for commemorating the founder of the supersonic aircraft， William Edward Boeing. Similarly， “Pierre Cardin” clothes is named for the manufacturer Pierre Cardin; the cosmetics “Pond’s”， is named in memory of the pharmacist Theron T. Pond; the automobile “Chrysler” is named after its founder Walt Percy Chrysler; and “Colgate” is originated from its British initiator William Colgate’s family name. As for place name， “Santana” (automobile) is firstly a valley’s name in California; “Nokia” originally is a small town Finland; so is the worldwide famous watch “Longines”---Les Longines in Switzerland and camera “Olympus” can be traced to a holy mountain called Olympus in ancient Greek mythology.

3.2.2Named by Creation

There are many English trademarks which are new words created by English trademark designers according to word formation or just as their subjective imagination. The largest oil company in the US， Exxon Company， its trademark is “Exxon”. Linguists， psychologists， and sociologists had made contributions for six years before this trademark came forth.

Besides these ones， there is another kind of creation of trademark whose connections with regular words can be easily founded. “Compaq” is a deliberately wrong spelling of compact， with the same story of “Gree”， whose source is glee. “Nescafe” is combined with “nestle” and “cafe”; “Motorola” is “motor” added an Italian suffix “ola”. Domestically take the biggest computer company-Lenovo Co. as an example. Its trademark name “Lenovo” is also a created word. “Le” derives from the word “l(fā)egend” and “novo” is a word in ancient Latin with the meaning of innovation.

3.3The Main Tactics of Translation of English Trademark into Chinese

As is stated above， the cultural differences between Chinese and English can not be neglected in the translation of English trademarks， then what kind of tactics should be adopted?

3.3.1Transliteration

Transliteration refers to the way of translation according to the pronunciation of the words. In the translation of English trademarks， it means translating the trademarks according to their English pronunciation. As one of the simplest and most common method， it is mainly suitable for trademarks in proper nouns， for example，

Sony—索尼 ;Cadillac凱迪拉克；Chanel-香奈爾；Disney-迪士尼；Pantene—潘婷etc..

3.3.2 Literal Translation

Literal translation is the translation according to word meaning. In the translation of English trademark， it is based on the original meaning of English trademark and is often used when the English trademark can find the corresponding expressions in Chinese. In other words， both the source language name and target language one are culturally similar. As long as the target language consumers can accept the translated trademarks from the source language， literal translation is the best way for promoting cultural exchange through the translation of the trademarks.

Playboy(sportswear)-花花公子

Crocodile—鱷魚(yú)

Camel —駱駝

Bluebird—藍(lán)鳥(niǎo)

Microsoft—微軟

Apple-蘋(píng)果 etc.

3.3.3The Combination of Transliteration and Free Translation

This method means that the rendered trademarks get rid of the limitation of the sound and meaning of the source language one， that is， the pronunciation and meaning of the translated name just resemble the original one’s partially， not strictly the same to the original. The translated trademarks getting from this kind of method are always very vivid， lively， distinctive， fresh and striking. One example is the famous shoe brand “Belle”. Its literal meaning in English is “beauty”. With the combination of transliteration and free translation， “百麗” includes both the original meaning as \"ever-changing and beautiful\"， and the implied meaning of Chinese traditional aesthetic views， so it wins the hearts of most ladies. The trademark for the U.S. multinational company “Procter Gamble” is“PG”. For its numerous brands， many of their Chinese translations are classic samples of combination of transliteration and free translation method. For example， people always associate “飄柔”(Rejoice) with joy when using it. “舒膚佳”(Safeguard) not only maintains the original English pronunciation， but also retains similar meaning as “security guard”， giving a feeling of relax. Famous glasses Bausch Lomb’s first translation is “鮑?！埐肌保?which has nothing to do with the product’s specific property. It’s substitute “博士倫” is much better， which has the connotation of being full of profound knowledge. Pepsi-Cola’s Chinese version is “百事可樂(lè)”. It dexterously expresses Chinese wonderful hope that everything is going on well and pleasantly.

4 Conclusion

To summarize， cultural disparity is somehow the invisible shackles in the translation of trademarks. Trademark translation is practically a special way of communication in business. Therefore， in the trademark translation， cultural disparities should be taken as background， and then an appropriate translation in target language should be employed to maximize the potential markets， promote foreign trade and assume the responsibility of cultural diffusion.

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