翻译英语毕业论文-翻译理论与实践(共9篇,真正全文)

英语毕业论文-翻译理论与实践(共9篇,真正全文)目录

1.The Translation of Brand Names

2.The Strategies to Avoid Bad Brand Translations

3.English-Chines e Advertis ement Culture and Translation

4.On Idioms and Their Translation from Chinese into English

5.On the Use of Rhetoric in English Advertisement

6.英文谚语的文化场景在中译文中的缺失与弥合

7.Different Translation to Idioms under Chinese and Western Cultures

8.Cultural D ifferenc es in English-Chines e Adv ertisement Translation

9.The Colour Terms‘Translation in English and Chinese

1、商标语的翻译

Abstrac t

Translation of brand names is a form of intercultural communication.However we translate the Chinese brand names into English ones or translate the English brand names into Chinese ones,language laws,cultural psychology,aesthetic interest and some other factors will be involved.The translators should also pay attention to some cultural taboos and choose appropriate method to translate.Of course,brand name translation is not a simple thing.

Sometimes the good translated name likes the inherent one,when we translate brand name there is something we can do to strive for perfection.One good kind of commodity adding on a good name is not different with improving on perfection,and its charm is infinite.

Key Words

Translation of brand names;principles;methods;cultural taboos;

摘 要

商标名的翻译是一种跨文化交际形式不管是中文商标的英译还是英文商标的汉译都会涉及到语言规律、文化心理、审美情趣等方面的因素。商标翻译者在遵循翻译原则的同时也要注意一些商标翻译的文化禁区并且选择适当的方法来进行翻译。当然商标的翻译绝不是简单的问题。

有时好的译名也有自然天成的味道所以在翻译商标时我们大有文章可做可以精益求精。一种好的商品加上一个动听上口的名字无异于锦上添花魅力无穷。

关键词

商标翻译原则方法文化禁区

Introduc tion

The human society has entered the 21 st c entury.The international trade is developing fast.The national boundary concept desalinates gradually,when the scale of the commercial cooperation and the commodity import and export expand unceasingly. Import and export product in foreign

land whether can develop the market and seize the market successfully; the brand name translation is playing the pivotal role,besides medium advertisement.The commodity brand name is similar to human's name.The translated brand name is the second name of commodity in other country,its importanc e is self-evident.

D.Equivalence Principle of Brand Name Translation

Equivalence is the core in the west translation theory. In 1961,a famous person pointed out:―The influence which the translated works gives us should be identical with the influence which the original text gives its first audience.‖ The principle of equivalence is suit for brand name translation best in all the translation theories.According to the principle of equivalence, translated brand name must have two factors:a.Translated name should have the brand name form.b.The translated one must have the ability to produce the same or approximate functions of the original brand name. That is to say, the translated name should be reading easily, pleasant to hear,good-looking. It must be the perfect unity of tone, form and meaning.Let us see some examples:cosmetic “Clean&Clear” means clean and fresh.The information of the original is if you use the product,your skin will be clean and fresh.The original name is bright and makes consumers feel clean and neat. If it is translated into “干净清爽” , the comfortable feel which it gives us may disappear. If we use “可伶可俐”,the product is the girl’ s favor sure.Because it makes consumers associate it with clever and bright girls. In the example,both the original and translated words give the same influenc e to different acc epters.

E.Observing the International Standard

The general country all stipulated that, the word of brand name must not have narration to the commodity nature, the quality, the function, raw material and so on.As a result of the historical reason, there are many registration trademarks opposed the above stipulation in our country.For example, “永久自行车”,“金杯足球”,“羊毛毯”, “钻石手表”and so on. If uses their English names which are translated directly in the overseas application registration, they are easy to encounter the veto.The Shandong “Qinqi” group produces “Qinqi‖motorcycle, ―Qinqi―are not translated into English directly, so as to evade the suspicion of implication commodity quality,but used Chinese Pinyin form"Qinqi ", it passed on Chinese pronunciation and meaning by used Latin alphabet.Compared with"Forever " (永久), “GoldCup” (金杯)and"Best " (百得), it registers easily in overseas.

F. Obs erving Our Country's Relevant Law s

"The People's Republic of China Brand Name Law" stipulated that we can not use the word which is similar with the name of People's Republic of China, also can not use the word which has the national prejudice. In 1988, a factory in Hangzhou registered brand name ―PRC―for its product industry chain link. But ―PRC " is the English abbreviation of People's Republic of China,therefore, this brand name is impossible to allowed to register.As a result of the contrast intense,black's tooth appear very white, therefore some one used "黑人" as the brand name of the toothpaste.But its English name "Darkie " is one kind of derogatory names to black's, so this brand name which has used several dozens years in mainland China cannot continue to register and be avoided to use just because of including the racial discrimination ingredient.

Revised in February, 1993, "the People's Republic of China Brand Name Law" didn‘t limit the kind of language of brand name;we might use the Chinese word,Chinese Pinyin, the foreign languag e or the minority language. If we use Chinese and the foreign languag e together as a brand name, the industry and commerc e department requests that the two kinds of language are mutually

consistent, or requests that Chinese and the foreign language divide into two brand names to register, and then use the combined form of the brand names. In fact, commodity packing design should take into consideration the internationalization and the modern market, if it is,we can use the foreign language as the commodity brand name. There are many Chinese products only thought the local role during the development period,and till the scales are big enough to march to the international scene, they just then discovered the images fall behind America, Japan and some other c ountries obviously.

Ⅱ.The Methods of Brand Name Translation

“Brand name means business.‖Brand name concerns image,credit,and actual strength…a series of significant elements of enterprise.When the west advertisement designers design the brand name, product and manufactory, they rack their brains to produce vivid and unique brand name which in order to give consumers deep impression and win in the fierce market competition.When The Standard Petroleum Company designed the brand name ―EXXON‖, they invited many faceted specialists including package-linguists to research the language situation of 55 countries. It took 6 years and cost more than 1,400,000 dollars to complete.Of course,brand name translation doesn‘t likely cost so much effort,but we should adopt different methods carefully on the basis of different c onditions.

A.The Method of Chinese Pinyin

Chinese Pinyin is the form of Latin words and the sound,meaning of Chinese. It is popular in Chinese brand name words.Chunlan 春兰空调 ,Lishen 力神咖啡 , etc. Some use the abbreviation of Chinese Pinyin to express brand names:LL 露露饮料 ,LC浪潮集团 ,TG

天歌集团 .When we use Chinese Pinyin to translate brand names,we should pay attention to that it only marks tone to brand names,but it has no sense itself and its meaning is the content of corresponding Chinese words. Some Chinese Pinyin words have sense in English in some translation practic es. “芳芳”c osmetic’ s Pinyin is “Fang Fang”,and “Fang” is “the teeth of snake” in English.There is a brand name “F•U•C•K” of pliers.Maybe it is the abbreviation of company’ name.But “fuck” is also an English word. Its meaning is “cheat,dupe” , even “have sex” in slang. Sowhen we use Pinyin to translate,we have to be careful. “永芳”cosmetic supplies us some inspirations. “永芳” has been marked as “Yin Fang” to avoid ambiguity.

B.The Method of Paraphrase

It is popular that brand names of company and commodity are translated into English according to their sense in daily life. “开元集团”is translated into “Create”, “雪莲羊绒衫”into “Lotus”,“椰风饮料” into “Coc onut Hit” , “巨人集团” into “Giant Group” , “H型强场磁化杯”into “H-Type Magnetize a Drinking Water Cup‖.When we paraphrase brand names, exc ept that some registered English words have other senses in their culture background,we must pay attention to that because the brand names of most enterprises in China are ready-made words;maybe they are same with the brand names which have been registered abroad.For example, there is a “浪潮计算机集团公司” in China,and there is also a famous “Fiae” 浪潮 c ompany in America which produces detergent specially;Or some brand names involve the quality, nature,function and raw material etc.All the above cannot paraphrase to English directly.We need re-consideration.Maybe we can register another English brand name.The brand name “美加净”has another corresponding Latin brand name “MAMAM” abroad; “广”beer of Guangzhou Beer Company has another English brand name―Guang‘s‖.

C.The Method of Transliteration

We can adopt or create English words which the tones are near to the Chinese words to translate brand name.These English words are very particular because they not only have the approximate tone of Chinese, but also meaning of itself. “风华” refrigerator has been translated into “Forward” 向前 , “四通计算机集团公司” into “Stone” 石头 , “黛妹牌生眉笔” into “Dame” 夫人 , “好娃友口服液” into “How Are You Oral Liquid” 你好口服液 , “海信电器公司” into “Hisense” 高灵敏 .All these give people deep impression.

D.The Method of Word-Building

We can use mechanics, spelling wrongly on purpose and adding prefix or suffix to create many new words according to the specialty of English.Then adopt these words to translate brand name and express the distinction of the product.Although the sharps of new and original words are different, the meanings are remained.The new words not only are vivid and interesting,but also can spread information of product effectively.

1.The Method of Piecing Together and Adding Affix

Sometimes we tailor two words and choose the beginning or end to make up a new word which is used as a brand name.东方星表is translated into “Eastar” East东方+Star星 ,新意达集团is into “Newit” New新+Wit智慧肤美灵化妆品is into “Skinic e” Skin皮肤+Nic e 美 ,金霸王电池is into “Durable c ell” Durab le耐久的+Ce ll电池 ,康立戒烟灵is into “Convene Smohquit” Smoke烟+Quit戒除 .

2.The Method of Misspelling

There is a―Kasn Karry Supermarket‖abroad. ―Kasn‖and―Karry‖is the wrongly spelling word of ―Cash‖and―Carry‖. It indicates the supermarket where if you pay money you can leave at once.Although there are only a few examples which use this method to translate brand names, it’ s very successful. “奥林饮料”is translated into “Orien”.Although “Orien” is the wrongly spelling word of “Orient” 东方 , the sense is remained. It makes consumers recall the mystical “orient” life spring in the west legend; “清妃化妆品”is into “Chine”. “Chine” corresponds to “China ” 中国.Consumers didn’ t use the product yet; they have seemed to see the beauty of Chinese woman already.

3.The Method of Compounding Words

The method means we make up new word by arrange two or more than two words according to some order.translated into “Dream Moon ”Dream梦+Moon月亮, “清脑助学器”is into “Brain Bright”

Brain大脑+Bright聪明.At present,we use paraphrase or pinyin to translate trad.Ch.medicine and health products generally. 胃苏冲剂is translated into Stomach Comfortable Lotion, 555神威丸is into Three Five Shenwei Pill, Jie Shen Chun and Jie Er Yin are both the pinyin of their Chinese name.Because they don‘t have the proper names, the features of the medicine cannot be showed up completely.Maybe the method of compounding English words could start a new road of translation.

4.The Method of Using the Corresponding English Words

Some products’ names are the corresponding English words of Chinese names. So we can just find the original English words when translate them. “乔士衬衫” is translated into “Choice”

精选 ,雅戈尔衬衫is into “ Younger” 更年轻 ,康巴丝钟表is into “Compas” ,奇士美is into “Kis s Me” ,凯瑞按摩笔is into “Carry” .

Ⅲ.The Cultural Taboos of Brand Name Translation

In international commerce,we can find easily that the product which uses the same brand name is

welcome in some countries but in other countries it may be treated coldly.Whether the brand name can be ―in Rome do as the Romans do‖ is very important to cater to the aesthetic sense of consumer.Wang Zuoliang said: ―A translator must be a real educated person.‖ It is undoubted problem that how to get rid of the barrier which is caused by nation‘s cultural diversity in brand name translation.The translation of Chinese brand name into English may do wrongly easily, if the translator doesn’ t have good comprehension of the target language and its culture. For example, there is an electric al equipm ent “蝙蝠” , “蝠” is the homophonic of “福” .But if we translate it into “Bat” , the west people are disgustedwith it.Because they dislike this kind of animal very much. It is bad to translate “蓝天” toothpaste which is made in China into “Blue Sky” ,as “Blue Sky” means “the debenture of a enterprise which cannot be taken back” in English.The “白翎”pen cannot be translated into “White Feature”.Because “To show the white feature” means “escape and flee” in English. Someone translates “金鸡”clock into “Golden Clock”, it gives person vulgar and uncultured impression.Except cock, “Cock” also means penis.As we known, “白象”is left out in the cold in America,as it is translated into “White Elephant”.And “White Elephant” means “big but useless thing” in US A. Some animals have different allusions in the west and orient. So if we want our products sell well in other countries,we should pay more attentions to the brand names and patterns of animals.Dragon 龙 is totem in Chinese history,but in the west dragon represents crime and evil. In Chines e tradition,phoenix凤凰 is a mysterious animal, but in the west culture, it is a kind of birds which will never die and has meaning of revivification.Magpie 喜鹊 is lucky bird in our country,as means hateful person in English.Turtle龟symbolizes longevity in Japan,as is seemed as hideousness in many countries.Because panda 熊猫 likes pig, it is hated by people of Islamic countries.There are many examples which like the cases above caused by translator lacking culture.

Ⅳ.The Problems in Brand Name Translation

Brand name translation means translate brand name including name of product and manufactory from Chinese into English.The translated brand name must be Standard English which conforms to the international usual practice and cultural customs of target countries. So that it can develop overseas market and improve celebrity of product, eventually create good factors for founding Chinese international famous brand name.Because of economical development, there are more and more products join in the competition of international market.According to the international usual practice, the words on the package must be English.Besides,when many products of other countries come into Chinese market,many products sold inside the country use English names which are used together with Chinese words and have auxiliary function. It may improve the product‘grade and makes people have association with the fashion and high quality of imports.Thus when more and more English names of products and manufactories appear on the package,some problems are made out.

A.Chinese consumers are puzzled that all the words on many products‘packages are English.The phenomenon breaks the Chinese law. It doesn‘t worth the effort that some other products which use English and Chinese together stress English excessively and limit the conveyance of Chinese information.

B.The limited English level makes translators translate wrongly or spell mistakenly. So it takes opposite effect.The wrongly translated brand name cannot improve the grade of brand name,but make consumers doubt about the knowledge level and credit of product.

C. Because translator doesn’ t understand customs and social culture, the translated name of

product has another meaning in other countries. The sale and credit of product are affected seriously. “白象电池” and “山羊闹钟” are not sold well in Britain as their translated names have derogatory sense which is useless and burdensome thing or satyr.

Conclusion

To sum up,a simple trade mark not only relates initially to the sale of products,but also reflects the quality and style of the country.The advertising message today is addressed to a vaster,more satisfied public, and it plays a fundamental and unequalled role in the altering of customs and habits, the spreading and fixing of cultural and esthetic clichés. It is also the translator‘s duty to translate refraining from falling into the culture trap and promote a good international image.So the brand name translation is a difficult and important job.On the basis of unders tanding of product‘s natural capacity, translator must see the change of products on market clearly and try to figure out the feature of consumer‘s mentality.He should apply the pragmatic s, sociolinguistic s,folklore, aesthetics and the study of cultural language, selling, consumer‘s mentality,advertis ement and intercultural c ommunic ation exactly.He also should adhere to the princ iples of translation as advertis ing nature, inductive, aesthetic and equivalence, and understand the differences between different cultures.The translator ought to choose appropriate methods to suit different conditions and in order to embody the information and functions which the original language brand name bears.Thus it can help the national products enter the target country market successfully.

Ac know ledgements

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my tutor------Peng Xinyue.During my learning of English Language Teaching,he gives much advic e on my study,and offers me many opportunities.Because of those opportunities, I can accumulate many practical experience and precious theories for my paper. In the process of composing this paper, he gives me much academic and constructive advice,and helps me to correct my paper.

At the same time, I want to thank my roommates,who offer me excellent environment to write my paper. I hope I can apply my knowledge to my job in the future.

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Ⅰ  The Principles of Brand Name Translation

A successful brand name translation both must retain the original text the essence,has with the original text same level effect, and must conform to consumer's brand name psychology simultaneous ly,but also must give dual attention to the cultural differenc e of English and Chinese.

A.The Advertising Nature of Brand Name Translation

The translated brand name must conform to the product‘s nature and the characteristic,manifests the localization concept in the original text,plays role which informs widely.At the same time, the translated name should conform to the commodity characteristic, succinct novel, the pronunciation is sweet. It is advantageous to spell, read,write and remember,and easy to cause the consumer to produce the good association and impression about the commodity.For example, ―Dynasty‖ ---the English trademark of “皇朝葡萄酒” , let us cannot help associating the old mystical orient country, so we have deep image of the good aged wine. “Forever” is the trademark of “永久自行车”. It tally with the advertis ement “经久耐用直到永远”of the bicyc le c ompletely. “飞鸽自行车” was translated “Flying Pigeon” . “Pigeon” is the symbol of peace and “flying”makes the character of the bicycle vivid. “蜂花化妆品” is translated into “Bee&Flower”.We may feel comfortable and fragrant after we use it.The translated names above give consumers relaxed feeling and they also can be remembered easily.

B. Inductive Principle of Brand Name Translation

The final goal of the brand name is bringing consumer's attention, taking consumer's demand,stimulating consumer's purchase desire,and finally serving with the purchase behavior. Inductive principle of brand name should regard as the soul of brand name translation.The Chinese-foreign jo int venture washing product “飘柔” is the classics of brand name translation about inductive principle work.The translator did not transliterate the “Rejoice” or translate it literally to “欢乐” or “欢欢” ,but adopt free translation boldly.He used “飘柔” to show the brilliance of it.At the same time, this translation also has the very strong inductive.Generally speaking, the shampoo expense group is almost female, and each woman vainly hoped for has mild-mannered sharp luxuriant. “飘柔” has held the dream of the expense groups, lured them to choose this product.Prokids (小淘气婴儿用品)using the love of mother to the child indicated all these are for your lovely baby;Are you not willing to take out money?Therefore,when translation brand name,we must study consumer's psychology carefully, consider repeatedly, translate exquisitely,lofty,brief, easy to record,can arouse the customer interest, let persons have the happy association,makes the deep impression to the customers.

C.Aesthetic Principle of Brand Name Translation

The translated brand name cannot let the consumer have the bad association; otherwise the good product also cannot sell out.This requests the translator considering the culture and the historical perspective fully.For example, if―Goldlion‖ (men‘s clothes) is translated into “金狮” , it has a

homophonic one as “金失” . That is the taboo of factory. They believe that if they use the translated name, the product never be sold well in China.But “金利来” is a lucky name. It has already been familiar and loved by consumers. In Japan, lotus is the symbol of death, so the brand name“荷花”should be changed to another one.However a ship has the best quality and the lowest price, if it uses the name “Titanic” ,nobody may buy it.Japanese car manufacturer “Toyota”presents a kind of luxurious car whose brand name is “Lexus” .When the car begins to sell in china, the administrant of Toyota c ompany decided to translate “Lexus” to Chinese “凌志” .To the mainland Chinese, the name may recall their memory about Chairman Mao’ s majestic poem “久有凌云志重上井冈山” . So when we translate brand names,we have to avoid the words which are tabooed by consumers carefully,and choose propitious names meticulously.

2、消除不良商标翻译的策略

Abstrac t

In recent years, there are barriers and risks caused by international culture difference in export corporations of China.Now and again, there are cases that the sales of the export commodity are blocked because of mistranslation of brand names. In this paper, through unsuccessful cases, the author wants to make the readers know that an unsuccessful translation to the brand may make the sales of products fall quickly. The basic reason that caused the different results is cultural difference,which really makes the translators have difficulty in translating the brand names.Then,how to surmount the barriers caused by cultural differenc e in brand translation b ecomes an urgent task for the translators.Firstly, for the translators the characteristics of the brand and commodity should be taken into consideration; secondly, the target countries‘cultures and the psychology of consumers are involved in translation of the brand names; finally, the translators should pay attention to the innovation and the standardization of the language. In a word, only when the translators improve their skills of translation, should the export of China have a bright future.Key Words

Brand translation; export c ommodity;culture differenc e

摘 要

当前,中国出口企业正面临国际文化差异造成的传播障碍与风险,因商标翻译失误影响商品出口的案例时有发生。本文将通过案例分析说明不成功的商标译名可使产品的销售一落千丈。造成此种现象的根本原因在于语言文化差异。语言文化差异确实给中国译者的翻译工作带来很大的难度,中国译者任重道远,怎样超越语言文化差异进行商标翻译工作成为一个不容忽视的问题。针对这一问题,本文为商标译者提供一些翻译策略:首先,应深入了解所译广告及商品的特点其次,应了解广告受众国的文化传统及消费心理,了解翻译时应注意的禁忌。最后,要注重创新和语言的规范化。总之,只有提高译者的商标翻译水平,才能从根本上解决中国出口问题。

关键词

商标译名商品出口文化差异

Introduc tion

With the development of the international labor-divis ion and the tense of globally integrative economy, the commodity circulates from state to state frequently. The country which w ants to enter into the global market must achieve it by means of advertisement.As the words and time are limited,now in this thesis the author only discusses a part of it---the improper brand translation in China. Through the unsuccessful cases of the brand translation, the author wants to make the reader especially the enterprise and the person who engage in the brand translation pay more attention to it.And nowadays China has entered into WTO, so the translation will play more and more important role in international communication. So it is certain that the brand translation will be an essential part in the international trade.This article is not an investigation about the skills of the translation but a research of the methods to surmount the cultural difference in brand translation. The brand translation is just like a pair of wings for the enterprise to enter into the global market.While most people think that translation is a difficult work,which lies in the fact that it is difficult for a foreigner to understand the country‘s cultural background knowledge.And the brand translation is not just a language transformation problem, and it also has great relationship with the cultural elements, such as: social culture, folk custom, esthetics,psychology,economical market and so on.How to solve the problem effectively?From the point of translators,they should first know the characteristics of the translated brand and commodity;at the same time,they should also understand the target countries‘ cultural traditions and the psychology of consumers;what‘s more, they should pay attention to the innovation and the standardization of the language.From the point of the export corporations, they should put more investment on the brand name‘s translation.

Ⅰ . Introduction to Brand Name

It is well-known that the trademark of the commodity just as human‘s name, the word has had been usually referred when the manufacturers would like to build a new brand as the public praise.It would be an invisible property to the enterprises.

A.Edification of Brand Naming Question