Analysis of Cultural Distortion and Compensation in Brand Name Translation

AbstractB：rand， working as symbol of product and representative of corporate image， is in essence a unique and concentrated language. However， brand's cultural connotations are usually distorted and the unique culturalimage doesn't exist after translation.In the view of that， the article will first generate the definition， function， characters of brand and current situation of brand translation， then introduce theoretical basis of cultural distortion and compensation， in the end， propose three strategies to compensate the cultural images. In this article， examples of brand name translation will be illustrated and case studies will be carried out.

Key words：brand name； cultural distortion； cultural compensation；

摘要：商標作為產品標識和企業形象的代表，在本質上是一種精煉，濃縮的獨特語言，然而在商標翻譯過程中其本身所具有的豐富文化內涵和獨特的文化意象往往失真或消失。本文將會從商標翻譯的概念、功能、特點和現狀出發，在\"功能對等\"，\"目的論\"等理論基礎上，分析各種成功或失敗的商標例子，并提出進行文化補償的策略。

關鍵詞：商標 文化失真 文化補償

1.Introduction

With the acceleration of globalization and China’s entering into WTO， the international economic communication becomes much more frequent. The enterprises must take many aspects into consideration to maintain competitive in this heated and fierce global market. One thing that matters is brand name of their products.As an integration of several disciplines， such as linguistics， aesthetics， advertising， marketing， psychology， inter-cultural communication， a good translation should consider from multiple angles， the thesis will mainly focus on the distortion of Chinese cultural connotation and replace with a better name to compensate.

2.Background

2.1 Definition and function of brand names

A brand name is a distinguishing symbol， mark， logo， word， sentence， or a combination of them （Zhou Yu1， 1991）. The basic function of brand name is to distinguish products， provide information， symbolize guarantee and stimulate consumption.

2.2 Characters of brand names

As a factor to distinguish products， the primary character of brand name is distinctiveness and exclusiveness. Therefore， brand names are always seemed as the specific Proper Nouns. In the age of economic globalization and competition， all the enterprises hope to maintain a unification of brand name in national and overseas markets， which can save advertising and promoting cost and setup a good corporate reputation and image.Other characters such as brevity， novelty， readability and elegance are also very important.

3.Theoretical basis

Functional Equivalence

1969 the famous American translation theorist Eugene A. Nida put forward “Functional Equivalence” theory， He raise the definition of “Dynamic Relationship” which indicate that ‘the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message’ （1969： 159）. They choose different methods according to the different genres and types， which make “Functional Equivalence” more confusing （Nord， 2001： 8）.

4.The strategies of cultural compensation in brand translation

The transfer of cultural information is completelyavailable by understanding other countries culture. We can abide by the principle of “Functional Equivalence” and “Skopos Theory” in several ways.

4.1 The misunderstanding of cultural connotation

If the target text is similar to the original text in form but may cause cultural misunderstanding， the translator should make some changes. For example， transliteration with some explanation attached behind. In the year of 1949， there was a famous Chinese battery called “白象” . So when the company went into the overseas market， it was translated into “white elephant” according to its meaning. However， no one wanted to buy it regardless of its high quality and low price. they found the translation was a big mistake because in western cultural “white elephant” means big but useless thing.

4.2 The loss of cultural connotation

If the target text is similar to the original text in form but may cause the loss of cultural connotation， then it is very important to adjust for a better understanding of original connotation.

5.Conclusion

The main reason why the brand is so popular to national consumers， besides the high-quality and good after-sales service of product， is that it condenses the deep and abundant cultural intension of nationality.Brand-naming itself represents a strategically important issue and may determine the success or failure of a product. Thetranslation of brand names will inevitably be the challenge as well as opportunity for both entrepreneurs and translators.

Bibliography：

[1]Cheng， J. （2008）. Analysis the effect of cultural differences on business English translation.Guangxi Financial Institute Journal， 3（11）：21-23.

[2]Comfort， J. （1998）.Analysis of the cultural distortion in C-E translation.Oxford University Press， 2（2）：21-24.