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Abstract:Nowadays， economic communications between countries become more and more frequent. Brand names， which play an important role in international businesses， still haven’t sufficiently caught the attention of many businessmen. However， since the acceptability of a translated brand name to a targeted language is very decisive to the profits， the development， even the survival of an international business， this thesis illustrates the some basic principles and methods of brand name translation， meanwhile points out the difficulties we may meet in this demanding job， so as to help those who want to expand their businesses abroad to get the run upon in the fierce competitions. In another word， they may form some new ideas about doing business.
Key words:economic communication；acceptability；survival；fierce competition
With the economic globalization and the development of market economy， brand names have become m ore and more important. Not only do they symbolize the businesses but also well-established brand names will bring great profits. So the business entities must value the translation of brand names if they want to carve out a place in the international market. In order to exploit foreign markets, many enterprises have their brand names translated to attract customers in the target countries. In this sense, whether the translations a re good or not is of special significance for successful business, especially for international business.
However，to properly translate the brand names is never an easy job. The environment， religious beliefs， economical development and cultural settings are quite different between the West and the East， which result in different thinking patterns，aesthetic conceptions and values. Therefore， to properly translate brandnames， a set of principles should be obeyed.
1. Principles of Brand Name Translation
1.1. Having similar meanings and functions
In order to emphasize the performance and characteristics of the product， each brand name has special meaning and functions. So when we do the translation， we should try to transfer the functions into the target language. Only if so， the consumers could get the most similar feeling as the native language consumers’. For instance， “Pentium” is a CPU chip produced by Intel Corporation. And “奔腾” means high speed， powerful function， and remarkable quality in Chinese. Thus， this rendering can easily impress us with the blooming development of IT industry. Absolutely， “奔腾” is a good rendering which reflects much more than the similar pronunciations.
“Safeguard” is also of this type. It means “安全保卫” in Chinese. But as a cleaning product， “安全保卫”can not express clearly its whole relish. Some translator gave the name a new life——舒肤佳. “舒”means “comfortable”; “肤” implies that it is concerned with skin; “佳” means “fine”， “excellent” in quality. Putting these three characters together， an image of product which makes our skin clean and comfortable successfully is created.
Renderings should inform the consumers of the products. If consumers could tell what the product is for just from the first sight of the brand name， the translated name must be a successful one.
I.2. Paying attention to the cultural differences to make the renderings domestic.
In fact， the translation of brand names is a kind of cultural communication in business circle. But as most brand names have their own inherent native culture essences， even the same word may evoke different associations in different cultural environment.
So， firstly， the renderings should respect the target consciousness. For example， Petrel is a symbol of bravery in Chinese culture， for it often battles with winds and waves， but the bird is not welcomed in the Western world because in their mind petrel is “a person whose presence excites discontentment， quarrelling， etc. in a group” (Longman Contemporary English-Chinese Dictionary， 1998: 1413).
Secondly， brand names were invented by manufacturers and designers of the source languages and all pregnant with their cultures. So， in order to satisfy con sumers of the target languages， such brand names need to be changed into their favorable names. That is， renderings should meet consumers’ psychological preference. For instance， Chinese people like to pursue good luck and they often prefer products named with such words as “乐”， “爽”， “佳”， “顺” and “利”. That is the reason why those products with such words sell well in China.
Thirdly， the renderings should reveal idiosyncrasy of the source culture. To many people， the brands of exports are always viewed as a window through which the outside get to know about the source language culture. And this is especially typical in Chinese. Many names of mountains， rivers， scenic spots and other Chinese characteristic things can be used as brand names to show Chinese cultural uniqueness. For example， Chinese Kung-fu is very popular around the world， so the shoes branded with KUNG FU could sell qui te well abroad.
I.3. Easy to read and remember， brief and novel
As the final purpose of a brand name is to attract the consumers， it needs to be expressed in plain， terse and rhythmical words so that the consumers could easily read and remember the products.
There are many wonderful translations here. The examples are Budweiser(American beer)——百威， OMO(Soap powder)——奥妙， and Haier (Shangdong-home electronics)——海尔. Of course it is unnecessary to add the word “Brand” to such brand names as Eagle Brand（雕牌），Sunflower Brand（葵花牌），and Gold Brand（金牌）， which is a common problem in our translation.
The translated names given to those imported products should also be short， usually consisting of two or three characters， which satisfies Chinese aesthetic trend. Names like “宝洁”，“凌志”，“诺基亚”，are all well-translated ones. We could even say that the short er a name is， the more popular the product will be. Fo r example， it is easy to accept “青霉素” but not “盘尼西林” as the translation of Head＆Shoulders.
2. Main methods of brand name translation
2.1 Liberal translation
Liberal translation is the most commonly used method in brand name translation. The renderings of th is type must be some words which not only sound pleasant and represent good things but also transfer emotion and the information of the original brand name.
As Chinese and English cultures share many similarities， many brand names can be translated by this method， especially those brand names invented after the names of plants， animals， birds or precious things. For example， from English， “apple”(computer) is translated as “苹果”; “Nestle”(coffee) as “雀巢”;“ivory”(soap) as “象牙”. And in Chinese， “熊猫”(TV set) as “panda”; “椰风”(soft drink) as “COCOWIND”; and “钻石”(watch) as “diamond”.
Some brand names which indicate the materials， the quality， the use and the peculiarity of certain products can be translated by this technique as well. For example， in Chinese we have “水晶”(glass)， which indicates the material， can be translated into “crystal”， and “安踏”(sports wear)， which indicates the quality， is translated into “Anta”. In English， we also have such brand names as Crown (car)， which is connected with the King and the Queen， or rather the nobility. Its Chinese rendering is “皇冠”. Hearing such an uncommon name， consumers would be eager to get the car.
No doubt， in many cases liberal translation is aneffective technique for achieving functional equivalence in translating brand names. However， we must make sure first that renderings produced by this technique must be acceptable in target culture and have no negative association. And this is of great importan ce， for we may fail to reproduce the same vocative fun ction of the original brand names if we do something opposite. For instance， “黑人”， a Chinese toothpaste brand， was originally translated into “Darkie” to promote its teeth-whitening effect， but “Darkie”， just like “negro”， is contemptuous and consequently incu rred a series of complaints that the name amounted to racial discrimination against the black. So the company was finally forced to adopt another name “Darlie”.
2.2 Transliteration
Transliteration refers to the way of translating brand names by taking into account the sounds of words instead of their verbal meanings. It is frequently used when the brand names are created by culture-loaded words which can hardly find any correspondence in target languages， or， they come from some special names， like the inventors’ name， or the corporations’ name.
Transliteration， including Pinyin， is often used in the transliteration of most proper names. And coined words that sound like the original brand names are commonly used in the translation. Let’s take some translated names as examples:
English to Chinese: Martell——马爹利， Nikon ——尼康， Porsche——保時捷， Reebok——锐步， etc.
Chinese to English: 康佳——Konka， 乐凯——Lucky， 雪碧-Sprite， 三生(药品)-SUNSHINE， etc.
In Chinese-English transliteration， vowels like [t]， [k]， [b]， [p] and [s] are often used to make brand names clear and rhythmical so as to catch the target consumers’ ears; while translating English to Chinese， we often use short words/ phrases with fine meanings， such as “利”， “美”， “佳”， “爽”to meet Chinese buyers’ psychological preference.
In one word， only short and resonant names can deeply impress the consumers and those long brand names would do no good for the products they refer to.
2.3 Combination of transliteration and liberal translation
This method is also called Pun which consists of a word one part of which is the pronunciation and the other is the meaning. This kind of names can usually tell the consumers about the quality， function and characteristics of the products.
Here， we may take the famous foreign brand of men’s accessories “Goldlion” as an example. At the very beginning， it was translated as “金狮” which sounds like “金死”， “尽输” in some Chinese local dialects. And the product did not sell well until “金利来” was adopted by Zeng Xianzi， a famous Chinese entrepreneur. Here， “金” is of liberal translation from “gold” and “利来” meaning “bringing profit” is of transliteration. It is a good rendering in that not only does it reflect the luxury of the product but also cries out loudly Chinese customers’ pursuit for good luck and fortune. Thus Chinese consumers like it very much and are willing to buy.
The following are some successful translated cases with this method:
Chinese to English: 回力——warrior (rubber products， Shanghai)， 昂立1号——Only One (oral liquid， Shanghai)， 海信——Hisense (telecom equipment， Qingdao)， 乐达——Happy Rider (bicycle， Shanghai)， Ikea——宜家 (furniture， Sweden).
English to Chinese: Strong(智强)奶粉， Quick(快克)止咳药， Canon(佳能)照相机， Ports(宝姿)服装， Decis(敌杀死)农药，Goodyear(固特异)轮胎， Ericsson(爱立信)手机，Colgate(高露洁)牙膏.
This method is not easy to manipulate. It is really a skillful job. When using it， a translator need to decide which part is semantically translated and which part is transliterated.
2.4 Coinage
This method is to invent a new word. Some people believe it is a wise choice for several reasons. First， names obtained in this way are very unlikely to be used repeatedly by other companies and may help to produce an unexpectedly fascinating effect among target consumers. Secondly， it can sometimes overcome intranslatability when translating Chinese brand names into English. Thirdly， sometimes it can be used when the translation by other techniques is likely to cause political ambiguity or disobey relevant laws.
This method is mainly realized by blending， acronym， antonomasia， purposive misspelling and even renaming， as the following part analyzes.
Blending refers to the technique of combining two or three words into one. It abides by the principle that good brand names are not only informative but also concise enough to be memorized. For example， “欧亚”is translated as “Euroasia” by blending “Europe” and “Asia”; “肤美灵” is translated as “Skinice” by blending “Skin” and “Nice”; “金鹿” is translated as “Goldeer” by blending “Gold” and “Deer”， etc.
Acronym refers to the way of combining the initial letters of each Chinese character (syllable) into a brand name. For instance， it causes ambiguity if “芳芳” is transliterated as “Fang Fang”. In order to avoid this， we can translate it as “FF” by linking the initial letters of “Fang” and “Fang”. “云山牌” can be literally translated as “Cloud and Mountain”， but too long to memorize. So it can be altered as “C＆M”. Undoubtedly， Acronym solves some problems in brand name translation in some cases. Yet we should also be very cautious when using this technique， for the renderings by it might happen to be the same as some generally acknowledged abbreviations of some terms or proper words. If so， we have to try other techniques.
Antonomasia is to use another or a close name of the same thing in translation. It is mainly applied to avoid the ambiguity resulting from negative associative meanings of some renderings. For example， ambiguity occurs if “鹦鹉（小提琴）”is translated as “Parrot”(a parrot always repeats somebody else’s words and is very annoying). So， antonomasia can be applied here and “鹦鹉”can be considered as “金丝雀”. Thus it can be translated into “Canary”. Then， we get a good rendering as not only the violin has the beautiful voice like a canary but also their colors are very similar.
Purposive Misspelling means to misspell the words purposely in translating Chinese brand names into English. Brand names translated by this technique often seem to be fresh and novel. For example， “雅戈尔”(clothing) is a famous Chinese brand name. Its English rendering “Youngor” is obtained by intentionally misspelling the English word “Younger”. And the brand name “臣功”(medicine)， which sounds similar to “成功”， is not translated into “Success”， but “Cuccess” instead.
Renaming， as the term suggests， it means giving a new name to the original. It is mainly used to avoid certain negative associations. Take “小白象（儿童旅游鞋）”for example， its literal English rendering is “Little White Elephant” which means something useless and expensive to maintain. So if it is translated as “Pet Elephant”， not only can it avoid the negative association of “Little White Elephant” But also reflect th e deep love of the parents. In some other cases， this technique is used to achieve the brevity and novelty of brand names， especially when we translate some coine d brand names. For example， the famous bran name “新飞”is translated into English as “Frestech”.
2.5 Rhetoric
Besides the four methods mentioned above， there are many other ways that we can adopt. Only if we abide by the principle of equivalence of meaning， and use it flexibly， can we get good results.
Sometimes we use rhetoric to strengthen the attractive power of a brand name. Alliteration， personification， onomatopoeia are always used. When we mee t alliteration， if possible， we’d better keep it， such as Coca-cola(可口可乐)， Clean-clear(可伶可俐)， Rolls-Royce(劳斯莱斯). We also use personification to exert human characteristics on the products. For instance， we translate the famous computer brand Pentium into “奔腾”，as if a person full of energy. Moreover， “潘婷” is Pantene shampoo’s Chinese name， just like a cute girl washing her hair. And speaking of onomato poeia， Kodak is the very example. Does “柯达” have the same effect as the sound produced by the camera when you press the shutter？ All these translations will bring you a good feeling and attract you to buy them.
3. Cultural Influence on Translation of Brand Names
Cultural differences have great influence on brand name translation work. Naturally， the more a company standardizes its effort， the less trouble it incurs and the greater the assumed profitability is. We may analyze it in the following aspects:
3.1 Different beliefs
People living in different cultures hold different attitudes and beliefs towards animals， plants， colors and numbers， etc. And these different beliefs often cause non-correspondence in meaning and cultural barriers in brand names translation.
For Example， such totems as dragon， phoenix， turtle and kylin (Chinese unicorn) are worshiped by Chinese people and believed to be able to bring good luck. So Chinese consumers would like to choose products branded with “龙(dragon)” and “凤(phoenix)”. Yet the Westerners will have a strong aversion to them， for dragon is “a fierce imaginary fire-breathing animal which can only incur odium” and phoenix is “a mythical bird of gorgeous plumage living for centuries in the Arabian Desert， then burning itself to ashes， from which it emerged with renewed youth”.That’s why “Flying Dragon (medicine)” and “Phoenix (bicycle)” cannot sell well in Western countries.As for turtle， in china it’s the symbol of longevity， but many other countries see it as frightfulness.
So we may see that totems are only a part of a nation’s cultural wealth which should be cherished， yet we should not use them indiscriminately everywhere.
People of different nations hold different morals and aesthetic attitudes， which may also be reflected in brand name translation as cultural barriers. For instan ce， most Chinese， especially those who still keep traditional ideas， hold the point that the criterion of Chinese women’s beauty is “柔”， “雅”， “纤”and so words like “柔”， “雅”， “纤” are frequently applied to Chinese brand names for women’s products. While to most English speakers， “beauty” means to be “charming”， “sexy” and “healthy”. “Caress” (scented soap) is a good representative of brand name for women’s products. Therefore， we may find how important the a wareness of these cultural differences is to brand name translation.
3.2 Different figurative associations
People in the east and the west have quite different customs and social values. That is why a great amount of brand names containing words of animals， plants and colors often result in different figurative associations to different nations.
Firstly， as we know， Chinese people often associate bats with good luck because the Chinese character “蝠” sounds the same as “福” (meaning “blessing” or “good fortune”). A red bat foretells even better luck for “红蝠” sounds exactly the same with “洪福” (being supremely fortunate)(Hu Wenzhong， 1995:212). Some Chinese stick to the belief so much that they name their products “蝙蝠”. Then we have “蝙蝠牌电风扇”. However， in westerners’ minds， bat is an annoying animal， which will bring them doom. So it’s not wise to translate “蝙蝠牌” into “Bat” if you want to have a big sale in Europe. Similarly， Chinese brand names like “蝴蝶牌”， “大白兔”， “鹅牌” and “仙鹤”may be hard for English-speaking consumers to accept if they are translated into “Butterfly”， “White Rabbit”， “Goose” and “Crane”. While English brand names like “Owl” and “Grey Hound” may be hard for the Chinese consumers to accept， too. Therefore， if we want to make fewer mistakes， we’d better know more about culture difference.
Secondly， the same plant also acquires different connotations to people of different cultures. People associate their feelings and emotions， happenings and natural phenomena with various plants. For instance， “水仙” is often related to virtues like purity in Chinese， but the English word “narcissus” arouses an unfavorable association: a self-loving person. Thus if the Chinese washing machine with such a brand name is targeted at English-speaking consumers， cultural adaptation is necessary in the linguistic choices. Compared with “Narcissus”， “Daffodil” might be a more suitable target brand name for it. “柏”(cypress)， “松”(pine)， “竹”(bamboo) and “梅”(plum) in Chinese symbolize the durable friendship and lasting love. So they are welcomed as Chinese brand names and we have“岁寒三友”，“松柏常青”. But to the Westerners， such brand names as “cypress”， “pine”， “bamboo” and “plum blossom” may not betreated so， for these plants have no special meaning.
Thirdly， different colors always symbolize different meanings in different cultures. For example， most Americans don’t like purple; western people like white， which is the symbol of pure soul. And the color black symbolizes death in their mind. So we should pay much attention to those brand names with certain colors in them. For the Chinese brand “红星牌电风扇”， we should not translate it directly into “Red Star Fanner”. Because red is the sign of blood， few westerners like the color red; if we use “red” in the brand name， they will easily think of violence and sin. In this case， we can translate it skillfully into “Bright star” Electric Fan. “蓝天牌牙膏” is another example. The word blue always has many negative meanings in English， such as gloomy， obscene， strict， etc. And “Blue Sky” means nonrecoverable bond in English. So， how can you hope a customer buy it？
Finally， we can see the concept of numbers appears in the brand name in all nations. Generally speaking， each culture has certain numbers believed to beeither “lucky” or “ominous”， but this may often differ from individual to individual. It seems that we Chinese have a deep love for the number 5， 6， 9， 双， 万 and believe that they can bring us good luck and wealth. So we often use them in the trademarks. There are “555香烟”， “六神花露水”， “999感冒灵”， “双星运动鞋”， “万宝冰箱”， etc. While in English， there are “Seven-up(七喜) ”， Mild Seven “(万事发)”. And we all know that 13 is an unlucky number in western culture， but 7 is a good number there. And Three-Gun Underwear is welcomed in Japan， Columbia， and North Africa， but the name must be changed if this underwear wants to be sold in Chad and Benin because three means wizardry in their society. Moreover， 666 represents ghost in the Bible， so do not use it on the product which is exported to Britain.
3.3 Different concepts of values
As we all know， China is a country with a long history. We Chinese people have been used to the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius which have been the main trends of Chinese cultural system. The core values attach much importance to home and family. Moreover， we take great pride in our long history and tradition. We are taught to be proud of our ancestors who created brilliant culture. And since we were little kids， we firmly believe that our ancestors were intelligent and diligent. These ideas have been deeply rooted in our minds. Therefore， almost everything related to the Chinese long history and tradition is considered as perfect and valuable. Age and experience then become important in terms of value and are favored in Chinese culture.
However， to the Westerners， things are quite different.They value efficiency， practicality， progress， change， individualism and youthfulness.
Cultural untranslatability occurs when social-cultural factors cover a different range of experience in the SL and TL，but a translator could overcome diffic ulties brought by culture barrier so long as he sets his mind on learning the target culture.
VI. Conclusion
Generally speaking， a brand name is just like a bridge between the customers and the produce of this commodity. To some extent， a good brand name is a blessing to a company. And also， a bad brand name is a curse to the development of a company.
Nowadays， many countries are boosting quality awareness and promoting quality-first strategy so as to gain their place in the international marketplace. A well-known brand name is necessary and a key link in the promotion of products. Thus， brand name translation becomes something urgent. However， a well-translated brand name is not easy to come by， for brand name translation covers language， culture and some a lot of other aspects and it is not as simple as the transferring from one word to another.
In this thesis， some important aspects such as the principles and methods of brand name translation are illustrated. And the influence of cultural differences is briefly mentioned， too. The purpose is to point out that brand name translation is a demanding job， but more importantly， the translatability of brand names. Maybe， “While in Rome， do as Rome does” is the main rule?
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Key words:economic communication；acceptability；survival；fierce competition
With the economic globalization and the development of market economy， brand names have become m ore and more important. Not only do they symbolize the businesses but also well-established brand names will bring great profits. So the business entities must value the translation of brand names if they want to carve out a place in the international market. In order to exploit foreign markets, many enterprises have their brand names translated to attract customers in the target countries. In this sense, whether the translations a re good or not is of special significance for successful business, especially for international business.
However，to properly translate the brand names is never an easy job. The environment， religious beliefs， economical development and cultural settings are quite different between the West and the East， which result in different thinking patterns，aesthetic conceptions and values. Therefore， to properly translate brandnames， a set of principles should be obeyed.
1. Principles of Brand Name Translation
1.1. Having similar meanings and functions
In order to emphasize the performance and characteristics of the product， each brand name has special meaning and functions. So when we do the translation， we should try to transfer the functions into the target language. Only if so， the consumers could get the most similar feeling as the native language consumers’. For instance， “Pentium” is a CPU chip produced by Intel Corporation. And “奔腾” means high speed， powerful function， and remarkable quality in Chinese. Thus， this rendering can easily impress us with the blooming development of IT industry. Absolutely， “奔腾” is a good rendering which reflects much more than the similar pronunciations.
“Safeguard” is also of this type. It means “安全保卫” in Chinese. But as a cleaning product， “安全保卫”can not express clearly its whole relish. Some translator gave the name a new life——舒肤佳. “舒”means “comfortable”; “肤” implies that it is concerned with skin; “佳” means “fine”， “excellent” in quality. Putting these three characters together， an image of product which makes our skin clean and comfortable successfully is created.
Renderings should inform the consumers of the products. If consumers could tell what the product is for just from the first sight of the brand name， the translated name must be a successful one.
I.2. Paying attention to the cultural differences to make the renderings domestic.
In fact， the translation of brand names is a kind of cultural communication in business circle. But as most brand names have their own inherent native culture essences， even the same word may evoke different associations in different cultural environment.
So， firstly， the renderings should respect the target consciousness. For example， Petrel is a symbol of bravery in Chinese culture， for it often battles with winds and waves， but the bird is not welcomed in the Western world because in their mind petrel is “a person whose presence excites discontentment， quarrelling， etc. in a group” (Longman Contemporary English-Chinese Dictionary， 1998: 1413).
Secondly， brand names were invented by manufacturers and designers of the source languages and all pregnant with their cultures. So， in order to satisfy con sumers of the target languages， such brand names need to be changed into their favorable names. That is， renderings should meet consumers’ psychological preference. For instance， Chinese people like to pursue good luck and they often prefer products named with such words as “乐”， “爽”， “佳”， “顺” and “利”. That is the reason why those products with such words sell well in China.
Thirdly， the renderings should reveal idiosyncrasy of the source culture. To many people， the brands of exports are always viewed as a window through which the outside get to know about the source language culture. And this is especially typical in Chinese. Many names of mountains， rivers， scenic spots and other Chinese characteristic things can be used as brand names to show Chinese cultural uniqueness. For example， Chinese Kung-fu is very popular around the world， so the shoes branded with KUNG FU could sell qui te well abroad.
I.3. Easy to read and remember， brief and novel
As the final purpose of a brand name is to attract the consumers， it needs to be expressed in plain， terse and rhythmical words so that the consumers could easily read and remember the products.
There are many wonderful translations here. The examples are Budweiser(American beer)——百威， OMO(Soap powder)——奥妙， and Haier (Shangdong-home electronics)——海尔. Of course it is unnecessary to add the word “Brand” to such brand names as Eagle Brand（雕牌），Sunflower Brand（葵花牌），and Gold Brand（金牌）， which is a common problem in our translation.
The translated names given to those imported products should also be short， usually consisting of two or three characters， which satisfies Chinese aesthetic trend. Names like “宝洁”，“凌志”，“诺基亚”，are all well-translated ones. We could even say that the short er a name is， the more popular the product will be. Fo r example， it is easy to accept “青霉素” but not “盘尼西林” as the translation of Head＆Shoulders.
2. Main methods of brand name translation
2.1 Liberal translation
Liberal translation is the most commonly used method in brand name translation. The renderings of th is type must be some words which not only sound pleasant and represent good things but also transfer emotion and the information of the original brand name.
As Chinese and English cultures share many similarities， many brand names can be translated by this method， especially those brand names invented after the names of plants， animals， birds or precious things. For example， from English， “apple”(computer) is translated as “苹果”; “Nestle”(coffee) as “雀巢”;“ivory”(soap) as “象牙”. And in Chinese， “熊猫”(TV set) as “panda”; “椰风”(soft drink) as “COCOWIND”; and “钻石”(watch) as “diamond”.
Some brand names which indicate the materials， the quality， the use and the peculiarity of certain products can be translated by this technique as well. For example， in Chinese we have “水晶”(glass)， which indicates the material， can be translated into “crystal”， and “安踏”(sports wear)， which indicates the quality， is translated into “Anta”. In English， we also have such brand names as Crown (car)， which is connected with the King and the Queen， or rather the nobility. Its Chinese rendering is “皇冠”. Hearing such an uncommon name， consumers would be eager to get the car.
No doubt， in many cases liberal translation is aneffective technique for achieving functional equivalence in translating brand names. However， we must make sure first that renderings produced by this technique must be acceptable in target culture and have no negative association. And this is of great importan ce， for we may fail to reproduce the same vocative fun ction of the original brand names if we do something opposite. For instance， “黑人”， a Chinese toothpaste brand， was originally translated into “Darkie” to promote its teeth-whitening effect， but “Darkie”， just like “negro”， is contemptuous and consequently incu rred a series of complaints that the name amounted to racial discrimination against the black. So the company was finally forced to adopt another name “Darlie”.
2.2 Transliteration
Transliteration refers to the way of translating brand names by taking into account the sounds of words instead of their verbal meanings. It is frequently used when the brand names are created by culture-loaded words which can hardly find any correspondence in target languages， or， they come from some special names， like the inventors’ name， or the corporations’ name.
Transliteration， including Pinyin， is often used in the transliteration of most proper names. And coined words that sound like the original brand names are commonly used in the translation. Let’s take some translated names as examples:
English to Chinese: Martell——马爹利， Nikon ——尼康， Porsche——保時捷， Reebok——锐步， etc.
Chinese to English: 康佳——Konka， 乐凯——Lucky， 雪碧-Sprite， 三生(药品)-SUNSHINE， etc.
In Chinese-English transliteration， vowels like [t]， [k]， [b]， [p] and [s] are often used to make brand names clear and rhythmical so as to catch the target consumers’ ears; while translating English to Chinese， we often use short words/ phrases with fine meanings， such as “利”， “美”， “佳”， “爽”to meet Chinese buyers’ psychological preference.
In one word， only short and resonant names can deeply impress the consumers and those long brand names would do no good for the products they refer to.
2.3 Combination of transliteration and liberal translation
This method is also called Pun which consists of a word one part of which is the pronunciation and the other is the meaning. This kind of names can usually tell the consumers about the quality， function and characteristics of the products.
Here， we may take the famous foreign brand of men’s accessories “Goldlion” as an example. At the very beginning， it was translated as “金狮” which sounds like “金死”， “尽输” in some Chinese local dialects. And the product did not sell well until “金利来” was adopted by Zeng Xianzi， a famous Chinese entrepreneur. Here， “金” is of liberal translation from “gold” and “利来” meaning “bringing profit” is of transliteration. It is a good rendering in that not only does it reflect the luxury of the product but also cries out loudly Chinese customers’ pursuit for good luck and fortune. Thus Chinese consumers like it very much and are willing to buy.
The following are some successful translated cases with this method:
Chinese to English: 回力——warrior (rubber products， Shanghai)， 昂立1号——Only One (oral liquid， Shanghai)， 海信——Hisense (telecom equipment， Qingdao)， 乐达——Happy Rider (bicycle， Shanghai)， Ikea——宜家 (furniture， Sweden).
English to Chinese: Strong(智强)奶粉， Quick(快克)止咳药， Canon(佳能)照相机， Ports(宝姿)服装， Decis(敌杀死)农药，Goodyear(固特异)轮胎， Ericsson(爱立信)手机，Colgate(高露洁)牙膏.
This method is not easy to manipulate. It is really a skillful job. When using it， a translator need to decide which part is semantically translated and which part is transliterated.
2.4 Coinage
This method is to invent a new word. Some people believe it is a wise choice for several reasons. First， names obtained in this way are very unlikely to be used repeatedly by other companies and may help to produce an unexpectedly fascinating effect among target consumers. Secondly， it can sometimes overcome intranslatability when translating Chinese brand names into English. Thirdly， sometimes it can be used when the translation by other techniques is likely to cause political ambiguity or disobey relevant laws.
This method is mainly realized by blending， acronym， antonomasia， purposive misspelling and even renaming， as the following part analyzes.
Blending refers to the technique of combining two or three words into one. It abides by the principle that good brand names are not only informative but also concise enough to be memorized. For example， “欧亚”is translated as “Euroasia” by blending “Europe” and “Asia”; “肤美灵” is translated as “Skinice” by blending “Skin” and “Nice”; “金鹿” is translated as “Goldeer” by blending “Gold” and “Deer”， etc.
Acronym refers to the way of combining the initial letters of each Chinese character (syllable) into a brand name. For instance， it causes ambiguity if “芳芳” is transliterated as “Fang Fang”. In order to avoid this， we can translate it as “FF” by linking the initial letters of “Fang” and “Fang”. “云山牌” can be literally translated as “Cloud and Mountain”， but too long to memorize. So it can be altered as “C＆M”. Undoubtedly， Acronym solves some problems in brand name translation in some cases. Yet we should also be very cautious when using this technique， for the renderings by it might happen to be the same as some generally acknowledged abbreviations of some terms or proper words. If so， we have to try other techniques.
Antonomasia is to use another or a close name of the same thing in translation. It is mainly applied to avoid the ambiguity resulting from negative associative meanings of some renderings. For example， ambiguity occurs if “鹦鹉（小提琴）”is translated as “Parrot”(a parrot always repeats somebody else’s words and is very annoying). So， antonomasia can be applied here and “鹦鹉”can be considered as “金丝雀”. Thus it can be translated into “Canary”. Then， we get a good rendering as not only the violin has the beautiful voice like a canary but also their colors are very similar.
Purposive Misspelling means to misspell the words purposely in translating Chinese brand names into English. Brand names translated by this technique often seem to be fresh and novel. For example， “雅戈尔”(clothing) is a famous Chinese brand name. Its English rendering “Youngor” is obtained by intentionally misspelling the English word “Younger”. And the brand name “臣功”(medicine)， which sounds similar to “成功”， is not translated into “Success”， but “Cuccess” instead.
Renaming， as the term suggests， it means giving a new name to the original. It is mainly used to avoid certain negative associations. Take “小白象（儿童旅游鞋）”for example， its literal English rendering is “Little White Elephant” which means something useless and expensive to maintain. So if it is translated as “Pet Elephant”， not only can it avoid the negative association of “Little White Elephant” But also reflect th e deep love of the parents. In some other cases， this technique is used to achieve the brevity and novelty of brand names， especially when we translate some coine d brand names. For example， the famous bran name “新飞”is translated into English as “Frestech”.
2.5 Rhetoric
Besides the four methods mentioned above， there are many other ways that we can adopt. Only if we abide by the principle of equivalence of meaning， and use it flexibly， can we get good results.
Sometimes we use rhetoric to strengthen the attractive power of a brand name. Alliteration， personification， onomatopoeia are always used. When we mee t alliteration， if possible， we’d better keep it， such as Coca-cola(可口可乐)， Clean-clear(可伶可俐)， Rolls-Royce(劳斯莱斯). We also use personification to exert human characteristics on the products. For instance， we translate the famous computer brand Pentium into “奔腾”，as if a person full of energy. Moreover， “潘婷” is Pantene shampoo’s Chinese name， just like a cute girl washing her hair. And speaking of onomato poeia， Kodak is the very example. Does “柯达” have the same effect as the sound produced by the camera when you press the shutter？ All these translations will bring you a good feeling and attract you to buy them.
3. Cultural Influence on Translation of Brand Names
Cultural differences have great influence on brand name translation work. Naturally， the more a company standardizes its effort， the less trouble it incurs and the greater the assumed profitability is. We may analyze it in the following aspects:
3.1 Different beliefs
People living in different cultures hold different attitudes and beliefs towards animals， plants， colors and numbers， etc. And these different beliefs often cause non-correspondence in meaning and cultural barriers in brand names translation.
For Example， such totems as dragon， phoenix， turtle and kylin (Chinese unicorn) are worshiped by Chinese people and believed to be able to bring good luck. So Chinese consumers would like to choose products branded with “龙(dragon)” and “凤(phoenix)”. Yet the Westerners will have a strong aversion to them， for dragon is “a fierce imaginary fire-breathing animal which can only incur odium” and phoenix is “a mythical bird of gorgeous plumage living for centuries in the Arabian Desert， then burning itself to ashes， from which it emerged with renewed youth”.That’s why “Flying Dragon (medicine)” and “Phoenix (bicycle)” cannot sell well in Western countries.As for turtle， in china it’s the symbol of longevity， but many other countries see it as frightfulness.
So we may see that totems are only a part of a nation’s cultural wealth which should be cherished， yet we should not use them indiscriminately everywhere.
People of different nations hold different morals and aesthetic attitudes， which may also be reflected in brand name translation as cultural barriers. For instan ce， most Chinese， especially those who still keep traditional ideas， hold the point that the criterion of Chinese women’s beauty is “柔”， “雅”， “纤”and so words like “柔”， “雅”， “纤” are frequently applied to Chinese brand names for women’s products. While to most English speakers， “beauty” means to be “charming”， “sexy” and “healthy”. “Caress” (scented soap) is a good representative of brand name for women’s products. Therefore， we may find how important the a wareness of these cultural differences is to brand name translation.
3.2 Different figurative associations
People in the east and the west have quite different customs and social values. That is why a great amount of brand names containing words of animals， plants and colors often result in different figurative associations to different nations.
Firstly， as we know， Chinese people often associate bats with good luck because the Chinese character “蝠” sounds the same as “福” (meaning “blessing” or “good fortune”). A red bat foretells even better luck for “红蝠” sounds exactly the same with “洪福” (being supremely fortunate)(Hu Wenzhong， 1995:212). Some Chinese stick to the belief so much that they name their products “蝙蝠”. Then we have “蝙蝠牌电风扇”. However， in westerners’ minds， bat is an annoying animal， which will bring them doom. So it’s not wise to translate “蝙蝠牌” into “Bat” if you want to have a big sale in Europe. Similarly， Chinese brand names like “蝴蝶牌”， “大白兔”， “鹅牌” and “仙鹤”may be hard for English-speaking consumers to accept if they are translated into “Butterfly”， “White Rabbit”， “Goose” and “Crane”. While English brand names like “Owl” and “Grey Hound” may be hard for the Chinese consumers to accept， too. Therefore， if we want to make fewer mistakes， we’d better know more about culture difference.
Secondly， the same plant also acquires different connotations to people of different cultures. People associate their feelings and emotions， happenings and natural phenomena with various plants. For instance， “水仙” is often related to virtues like purity in Chinese， but the English word “narcissus” arouses an unfavorable association: a self-loving person. Thus if the Chinese washing machine with such a brand name is targeted at English-speaking consumers， cultural adaptation is necessary in the linguistic choices. Compared with “Narcissus”， “Daffodil” might be a more suitable target brand name for it. “柏”(cypress)， “松”(pine)， “竹”(bamboo) and “梅”(plum) in Chinese symbolize the durable friendship and lasting love. So they are welcomed as Chinese brand names and we have“岁寒三友”，“松柏常青”. But to the Westerners， such brand names as “cypress”， “pine”， “bamboo” and “plum blossom” may not betreated so， for these plants have no special meaning.
Thirdly， different colors always symbolize different meanings in different cultures. For example， most Americans don’t like purple; western people like white， which is the symbol of pure soul. And the color black symbolizes death in their mind. So we should pay much attention to those brand names with certain colors in them. For the Chinese brand “红星牌电风扇”， we should not translate it directly into “Red Star Fanner”. Because red is the sign of blood， few westerners like the color red; if we use “red” in the brand name， they will easily think of violence and sin. In this case， we can translate it skillfully into “Bright star” Electric Fan. “蓝天牌牙膏” is another example. The word blue always has many negative meanings in English， such as gloomy， obscene， strict， etc. And “Blue Sky” means nonrecoverable bond in English. So， how can you hope a customer buy it？
Finally， we can see the concept of numbers appears in the brand name in all nations. Generally speaking， each culture has certain numbers believed to beeither “lucky” or “ominous”， but this may often differ from individual to individual. It seems that we Chinese have a deep love for the number 5， 6， 9， 双， 万 and believe that they can bring us good luck and wealth. So we often use them in the trademarks. There are “555香烟”， “六神花露水”， “999感冒灵”， “双星运动鞋”， “万宝冰箱”， etc. While in English， there are “Seven-up(七喜) ”， Mild Seven “(万事发)”. And we all know that 13 is an unlucky number in western culture， but 7 is a good number there. And Three-Gun Underwear is welcomed in Japan， Columbia， and North Africa， but the name must be changed if this underwear wants to be sold in Chad and Benin because three means wizardry in their society. Moreover， 666 represents ghost in the Bible， so do not use it on the product which is exported to Britain.
3.3 Different concepts of values
As we all know， China is a country with a long history. We Chinese people have been used to the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius which have been the main trends of Chinese cultural system. The core values attach much importance to home and family. Moreover， we take great pride in our long history and tradition. We are taught to be proud of our ancestors who created brilliant culture. And since we were little kids， we firmly believe that our ancestors were intelligent and diligent. These ideas have been deeply rooted in our minds. Therefore， almost everything related to the Chinese long history and tradition is considered as perfect and valuable. Age and experience then become important in terms of value and are favored in Chinese culture.
However， to the Westerners， things are quite different.They value efficiency， practicality， progress， change， individualism and youthfulness.
Cultural untranslatability occurs when social-cultural factors cover a different range of experience in the SL and TL，but a translator could overcome diffic ulties brought by culture barrier so long as he sets his mind on learning the target culture.
VI. Conclusion
Generally speaking， a brand name is just like a bridge between the customers and the produce of this commodity. To some extent， a good brand name is a blessing to a company. And also， a bad brand name is a curse to the development of a company.
Nowadays， many countries are boosting quality awareness and promoting quality-first strategy so as to gain their place in the international marketplace. A well-known brand name is necessary and a key link in the promotion of products. Thus， brand name translation becomes something urgent. However， a well-translated brand name is not easy to come by， for brand name translation covers language， culture and some a lot of other aspects and it is not as simple as the transferring from one word to another.
In this thesis， some important aspects such as the principles and methods of brand name translation are illustrated. And the influence of cultural differences is briefly mentioned， too. The purpose is to point out that brand name translation is a demanding job， but more importantly， the translatability of brand names. Maybe， “While in Rome， do as Rome does” is the main rule?
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