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1、Cultural Differences in the Translation of Trade MarksCatalogueAbstract.3Introduction3Body4i. History of trade marks.4ii. Cultural differences in the translation marks5Conclusion7Reference8Cultural Differences in the Translation of Trade Marks【Abstract】As more and more Chinese products are getting i
2、nto foreign markets, it is important to translate a Chinese trade mark into English properly. This paper points out what is a trade mark and its importance in the modern world. It then gives reason why it is necessary to translate the Chinese trade marks properly into English. It also gives the stan
3、dard of a good trade mark. Furthermore it analyses several kinds of improper translation and the cause of these mistakes. Last it introduces the main rules and four main skills of translation of trade marks.【Key Words】Trade marks, Translation ,Cultural differences【Introduction】Today almost everythin
4、g in our daily life should have a trade mark which has become an important aspect of the modern economic life. A trade mark identifies the goods or services of one seller and differentiates them from those competitors. A good trade mark has profound significance. Though it is only a name, it contain
5、s an immense wealth with the denotation of the enterprises reputation and the firms managing achievement. A good trade mark can be respected by consumers and encourages them to buy. The success of the commodity may depend on whether their trade marks attract many consumers, especially when a new bra
6、nd enters a new market.Nowadays, as China is becoming a new member of WTO, more and more Chinese products are getting into foreign markets. So to translate a Chinese trade mark into English properly is significant for the product with that brand to enter the world market successfully. When we want t
7、o give a Chinese trade mark suitable name, first it must be easy to remember. Short crisp names like Tides(汰渍) or Only One(昂立一号)are good examples. Second, it must create the right image as good as that in the mind of the domestic consumers. For instance, the name of a nutritious drink is Apollo(太阳神口
8、服液) which can also suggest being young and vigorous in English. We should establish a good image for Chinese products which are planning to go into foreign market and compete with foreign brands. However, many good images implied in the Chinese trade names may not remain; even become rejecting when
9、the name is translated literally into English. Only if the translator understands both the Chinese and English culture well, he/she can avoid misunderstandings of the products caused by improper translation and gain a distinctive, resounding and meaningful trade mark in English of a Chinese original
10、 trade mark.i.History of trade marks1).Patents, trademarks, and copyrights have an extensive history dating as far back as 5,000 years ago when the Neolithic man marked cave walls to show that he owned the cave. These marks are the predecessor to todays trademarks. Inventors, authors, and others who
11、 develop ideas and inventions that have potential commercial value petitioned lawmakers over time to enact regulations that classified their ideas and inventions as assets. Those regulations are known as patents, trademarks, and copyrights. 2).The differences among patents, copyrights, and trademark
12、s can be confusing. A patent grants an inventor sole rights to a new idea, new method, or new process. A copyright grants authors, musicians, and artists the exclusive rights to publish and sell literary, musical, or artistic works. Copyrights cover artistic, dramatic, musical, literary, and other s
13、cholarly worksboth published and unpublished. 3). A trademark is a word, phrase, slogan, design, or symbol that is used to identify merchandise and is used to distinguish merchandise from competing products. Trademarks indicate the source of a product (i.e., brand names). A trademark was the first w
14、ay a tradesman identified his goods and services. Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and the Chinese used these markings to identify the maker of a product so that a buyer would know the workmanship of the goods or services that he or she was buying. 4）.One of the first trademark laws was “The Bakers Markin
15、g Law” passed in England in 1266 under the reign of King Henry III. “The Bakers Marking Law ”required bread makers to mark their work with either pinpricks or stamps. Nearly a century later in 1363, silversmiths were required to mark their products as well. Soon after, bottle makers and porcelain ma
16、nufacturers were also obligated to mark their products. 5).Nearly four centuries after “The Bankers Marking Law”was enacted, one of the first cases of a trademark infringement appeared before the courts in England. A trademark infringement is an action of another that violates the trademark of a tra
17、demark holder. In the 1618 case, a company that made a lower-quality cloth tried to pass their product off as their higher-quality competitors in the marketplace through the use of their markings.ii. Cultural differences in the translation marks 1)The translation of trade marks is closely connected
18、with culture. Since the translation of trade marks is transmitted over different cultures, it should reflect the source language culture and customs,and cater for the aesthetic psychology of the target language people. However, today there are still many problems with the translation of Chinese trad
19、e marks into English. 2）Today, some of the translations of the Chinese marks are from the literal meanings of their characters without the consideration of cultural differences; therefore, the translations are sometimes not consistent with the western culture. The translation does not apply for the
20、culture of the target language. For instance, British people dislike elephants but pandas; Italian and Spanish are in favor of roses while chrysanthemums are their taboo; in Chinese culture, dragon is the symbol of royalty, thus many Chinese brands consist of the character of dragon, while in Englis
21、h, dragon is an evil monster that is vicious and deserve eradicated. As a result, there are no mentions of dragons in any English brand. Another example would be that in Chinese tradition, bat is harmonious with luck in pronunciation, so that bad is also considered auspicious. Some products are name
22、d after a bat such as the Bat light and the Bat fan. However, in western culture, bats are crazy and blind animal that feed on blood with any sense of goodness. In this way, products mentioned above are surely not popular in Britain. Some use the skill of transliteration directly without considering
23、 the profound meaning of the brand names in Chinese. For example,“春兰”is just“Chun Lan“ without association with the warmth of spring in Chinese;“红豆”is only“Hong Dou”without the beautiful feeling about romantic love in ancient Chinese poem;“健力宝”is merely“Jian Li Bao”without the meaning to strengthen
24、the body in Chinese. And such transliteration sometimes may not only be unable to express the cultural implication of its Chinese trade mark but also lead to misunderstanding, for example,“芳芳牌爽身粉” is translated into “Fang Fang”which not only has no beautiful feeling but also indicates poisonous teet
25、h. So no one would like to use this with such a name. Second, Many Chinese trade marks are translated into English according to the original meaning, which cannot disclose the cultural implication or may even lead to negative effects because the Chinese people and other people see the same thing in
26、a totally different way. For example,“跃进牌地板蜡”is“Great Leap Forward Floor Polish”in English，this trade mark is not only too long, but also easy to make English-speaking people associate it with the embarrassed look of falling down. It is not good for the promotion of the goods.“紫罗兰”, mans shirt, is t
27、ranslated into Pansy, which indicates a homosexual and a man without manliness, for such a brand named shirt, most men would refuse to buy it. Most of these failures are due to the different implications of the same thing in different cultural backgrounds.Many animals, numbers or colors have complet
28、ely different indications in Chinese and in English. The number 13 has no special meaning in Chinese but in English it is an ill number because of “The Bible story”. Some of the improper translation may even connect to political issues.For example, a brand of canvas shoes“大鹏”was translated into ROC
29、in English which is the same as the abbreviation of Republic of China(中华民国) which was overthrown in the mainland of China fifty five years ago. So it is extremely improper to use such a name in the world market.3)Therefore, to avoid those problems mentioned above, the translation of our Chinese trad
30、e marks into English should abide by the following four rules: l The translator should respect and recognize the differences in the two peoples concepts and make clear of the implication of the trade name in the target language; l The translator should pay attention to the political and economic imp
31、lications of the trade name; l The translator should know the target consumers of the products with the brand and choose the attractive words to that specific group;l The trade name should show the kind and characteristics of its products.4)In fact, the different characteristics of the two languages
32、 and the different cultures make such translation become a re-creation process. It requires that the translator should break away from rigid restraints and make an innovation to find an effective and excellent translated name, which will attract the consumers attention. 5) At present, the main skill
33、s of translating trade names are transliteration, free translation, combination of transliteration and free translation and transformation, etc. First of all, transliteration is translating the name according to its pronunciation. Transliteration is the habitual practice when we translate foreign tr
34、ade marks, for example, “Whisper”“护舒宝”and“Nissan”“尼桑”. If we use the transliteration skill properly, sometimes, it make an ordinary name become distinctive suddenly, for example, the sports shoes “Peak” translated as “匹克”. It has made full use of similar pronunciation of English and Chinese while it
35、 also makes people associate the name with Olympic Games. Transliteration is not perfect, so we cannot use it all the time. For example, the famous German car brand “Volkswagen” which is translated into “大众”,not only conforms to the Chinese customs, but also encourages everybodys interest. This skil
36、l is free translation. Free translation is the skill of translating which is translated according to the original meaning. We should pay special attention to the translation of Chinese trade marks when we use the skill of free translation. Many advertising designers will rack their brains to invent
37、trade marks which are full of wit, vividness and uniqueness to give a deep impression to the consumer and triumph over the opponents in keen competition. For such kinds of trade marks, we prefer to use the skill of combination of transliteration and free translation.ConclusionThe translation of a tr
38、ade mark is important for the thing that the trade mark stands for to enter the overseas markets, therefore the translators must know clearly those main mistakes in the translation of trade marks and adopt useful skills to try their best to avoid mistakes and give a good English name for the product
39、 as well. It is also the translators duty to translate the trade mark properly to let the outside world know much about our nation and to promote our national commodities to a good international image.References1Xiao Hui, The Translation of Trade Marks and Culture, 2000, (11).2 Tao Yukang ,Foreign L
40、anguage and Teaching, 2000, (11). 3Yangxu. The Exploration of the Translation of Trade Marks. Guangdong Youth College Journal,2001,(1).4Xu Xiaoqing. Also Talking about the Translation of Trade marks. Foreign Language College Journal of Shandong Normal University, 2002. 5Jianglei. Cutural Differences and Mistakes in Translation of Trade Marks. China Science and Technology Translation, 2002(3).
