论文总字数：33125字

摘 要

本文首先研究了前人在不同视角下的翻译策略，然后从品牌强国战略的角度，通过分析品牌强国战略提出的背景及主要内容，进而探讨了品牌强国与品牌英译的关系，品牌强国战略下中国品牌英译的原则及策略。本研究对中国品牌走向世界具有一定的积极意义。

关键词：品牌强国；英译原则；英译策略

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Brand Power 4

3.1 The Background and Content of Brand Power Strategy 4

3.2 The Relationship between Brand Power Strategy and Translating Chinese Brand Names into English 6

3.3 The benefits of good translation of brand names 6

3.4 Principles of Translating Brand Names into English 8

4. Strategies for Translating Chinese Brand Names into English 9

4.1 Free translation and homophony 9

4.2 Literal translation 10

4.3 Transliteration 11

5.Conclusion 11

Appendix 13

Works Cited 16

1. Introduction

Nowadays, our country is vigorously implementing the strategy of "brand power"(Liu 40), and brand translation is an important part of the implementation of this strategy. Compared with foreign multinationals, there is a big gap between Chinese enterprises and foreign multinationals in brand translation. In the international market, only 1 / 3 of our country"s enterprises have their own brands, 1 / 3 of them have no brands, and 1 / 3 of them are affixed to foreign enterprises. This shows that in the international market, the independent well-known brands of Chinese enterprises are very few. Therefore, the first task for Chinese enterprises is to develop their own brands and shape their brand images. Brand translation is the first step for enterprises to develop international brands, but this step is easily ignored by enterprises. In the United States, brand translation has become a new industry, but in China, the translation of most local brands is mainly based on the personal preferences of the entrepreneurs. Such brand names are often difficult to adapt to the cultural tendencies and language habits of local language users.

2. Literature Review

The existing research system of translation theory is mainly based on the translation of religious classics, social classics, literary masterpieces and so on, with the emphasis on "faithful to the content of the original text". Brand name translation, on the other hand, pays more attention to the function of the text (acceptable to the reader of the target country) and the purpose (easy to promote, spread, etc.). The translation theory introduced in the study of brand name translation mainly includes the "functional equivalence theory" advocated by the linguistic school represented by Nida. The manipulation school, represented by Touri, pays attention to the influence of target language culture on translation. As well as "purpose-function theory", represented by Vermeer, Reiss,etc; the theory of cross-cultural communication, which is represented by Holz-Manttari, Niranjana (the translator"s school of action); the theory of deconstructuralism represented Derrida and Robinson; the linguistic theory represented Saussure and the semiotics theory represented by Husserl and so on.

From the perspective of structural linguistics, Ira Bachrach, a foreign scholar, put forward that brand naming should mainly take form, semantics and etymology into consideration. In recent years, it is pointed out from the perspective of semiotics that the semantic meaning of a brand name is not enough to indicate the information of the product, and its pronunciation and font should be related to the attributes of the commodity. At the same time, it is believed that iconicity will be the main idea of brand naming in the 20th century. Li amp; Shooshtari studies brand translation in Chinese market from the perspective of sociolinguistics. Jia Yuhong, a domestic scholar, uses the theory of intercultural communication to explore the internationalization of brand names. It is pointed out that in the translation of brand names, we should not only understand the literal meaning of brand names, but also understand the extended meaning and cultural implication of them. Gu Jianxin, Zhang Xiao Yun, Dai Rong, Li Yuxiang, Chen Xuebin, Kang Canhui, etc. discussed the principles and skills of English-Chinese trademark translation from the perspective of Skopos theory, including principles of nationality, identifiability, artistry, adaptability, seeking fortune and avoiding evil, seeking elegance and abandoning vulgarity. Li Shuqin(Li 7) and Ma Huijuan, from the angle of social semiotics and interlingual transformation, put forward that the translation of Chinese trademarks should be homophonic and synonymous and try to follow the principles of customer supremacy and pragmatic equivalence. According to adaptation theory, Bai Shuxia puts forward the adaptation model of trademark translation.

As for the strategies of translating Chinese brand names into English, domestic scholars have put forward their views from different perspectives, but so far, there has not been a unanimous view on the translation of Chinese brand names into English(Liu 52). Xiong Wenhua, the first person who studied translation of brand names in China, proposed three translation methods: (1) transliteration; (2) free translation; (3) phonological combination. At that time, most of the brand translation methods were transliteration or Pinyin. Lv Guangyan, Wen Zhen pointed out that there are four ways to realize the internationalization and localization of well-known brands: (1) pinyin and transliteration; (2) free translation; (3) the combination of transliteration and free translation; (4) copying the original text. Liang Zhijian proposed three translation methods: (1) literal translation; (2) phonetic translation; (3) free translation (innovative translation). Fan Ying points out that the methods of westernization of Chinese brands can be as follows: (1) pinyin such as Haier(海尔); (2) pinyin acronym: such as SVA(上广电); (3) translating original Chinese name into English, such as the Great Wall（长城）; (4) according to the meaning of the original Chinese name, there is another foreign name: such as lenovo（联想）;. (5) translating original Chinese name into English according to the pronunciation, such as HiSense(海信）; (6) giving the brand a new name, which has nothing to do with the original Chinese name; (7) no changes: such as TCL.

The above-mentioned literature shows that in the study of English and Chinese brand name theories and methods, foreign scholars mainly pay attention to: (1) the application of linguistics and semiotics in brand naming and translation; (2) explore the translation methods of English and Chinese brand names by using the test method of the influence of Chinese translation of English brands on consumers" brand attitude or brand equity.

However, domestic scholars pay more attention to the research on the translation theories and methods of brand names in English and Chinese: (1) a lot of existing translation theories and related language theories are introduced; (2) explore the translation theories and methods of Chinese and English brand names from multiple angles. These studies have laid an important foundation for further research, and are of guiding significance to the translation/naming practice of Chinese and English brand names. However, there are still some shortcomings: (1) although a large number of relevant translation and language theories have been introduced into the existing studies, they are still in disorder, unsystematic and superficial, and need to be further systematically deepened; (2) the research on the translation methods of English and Chinese brand names by Chinese scholars is mainly through the qualitative analysis of the relevant translation examples, and the lack of qualitative and quantitative research methods makes it difficult to obtain more rational and scientific results.

As summarized above, former scholars have put forward some methods of translation from the perspective of structural linguistics, semiotics, sociolinguistics, Skopos, etc. However, brand name translation from the perspective of brand power has never been studied before.

3. Brand Power

We all know that no well-known international brands are borderless. Brands not only have national boundaries, but also represent a country"s core competitiveness, cohesion and interests. In the US, even though Coca-Cola（可口可乐）, McDonald"s（麦当劳）, Microsoft（微软）, Citibank（花旗银行）, Ford（福特） and other brands have spread around the world, been widely recognized by consumers and accelerated the growth of the world economy, they still belongs to the US. Most of the profits they create also belong to the United States. However, China, with the world"s first-class production and processing capabilities, why we do not have our own brands ?

3.1 The Background and Content of Brand Power Strategy

The word "brand" is derived from the original meaning of "Brandr," in ancient Norwegian. In ancient times, pottery, carpentry and other craftsmen left a special brand on their own products in order to facilitate customers to identify the origin of a product or manufacturers. Nowadays, brand is important to the success and value of the organization. It is found that more than 80% of corporate financial value is invisible, and brand equity is a large part of this value. More than a century later, for example, Coca-Cola"s brand is worth $67 billion, while Google"s brand is worth $29 billion in less than 20 years(Green 1）. Not just Coca-Cola and Google, but for any business, brand strategy is the key to building and maintaining brand value. Brand is not only the image and symbol of the enterprise, but also the intangible asset of the enterprise. Relying on the quality of the product, it becomes the basis of consumers" choice and becomes the compass for consumers to choose and buy goods in the field of marketing.

"The only way to own a market is to have a dominant brand," asserts American marketing expert Ritter. "(Liu 36) In order to get an invincible position in the fierce market competition, enterprises must have a strong brand. On the one hand, having a strong brand means having quality and efficiency, the brand is competitiveness. As early as 1967, Walmart, a former vice president of Coca-Cola, said: " If Coca-Cola"s factories all over the world are burned up overnight, as long as the "Coca-Cola" brand is still there, it is certain that big banks will scramble to lend to our companies. Because Coca-Cola"s entry into any company in the world will bring it a lot of profits. "

In the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), president Xi made an important conclusion that socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and scientifically calibrated the new historical orientation of China"s development(Liu 2). Standing in the new era, Chinese brands are also in the critical period of transformation, upgrading and accelerating leapfrogging development. Chinese brands are shown in front of the world with unprecedented new ideas, new experiences, new images and new word of mouth. It’s the high time to construct the brand strategy and promote Chinese brands to move towards the high end of the global value chain.

Brand is the symbol of national soft power, the foundation of enterprises" existence and intangible assets. Brand power means striving to build an innovative country, successfully completing the transition from "made in China" to "created in China", strengthening the brand awareness of the people, making national independent brands stronger, and laying a solid foundation for the rapid rise of China"s independent brands. Then through the power of the brand to show China"s national image and realize the rejuvenation of our country.

In Creating Powerful Brands, de Chernatony, McDonald and Wallace, three international scholars and consultants, approach branding strategy with a unified vision from within and outside the organization. This is achieved by beginning with a highly integrated organization from not only across functional areas but also between managerial and executive levels. As they point out, “Ultimately brands succeed because the management identifies an attractive customer value proposition that engages everyone inside the organization. Through an integrated, coherent approach, a business delivery model is developed that capitalizes on the core competencies of the organization”. Such value propositions and approaches may be composed and the integration of three components for stronger brands – functional (e.g. product or service performance), psychological (e.g.emotional aspects, customers" motivational needs), evaluative (e.g. how customers" judge the brand). Therefore, consumers purchase a brand for more reasons than just the functional capabilities (component). The Harley Davidson owner evaluates the purchase by more than just a high performance bike but also the value-added psychological aspects, e.g. personality, social values, that provides Harley a sustainable competitive advantage.

3.2 The Relationship between Brand Power Strategy and Translating Chinese Brand Names into English

How many international brands a country owns is one of the important indicators of a country"s economic strength. China"s lack of world-class well-known brands is not commensurate with the economic position of China. For a national enterprise(Zhang 62) that wants to go abroad and create an international brand, it is essential to have an excellent translated name for its brand. Brand translation is an indispensable part of brand strategy. It is of great importance for an enterprise to perfect its brand system.

3.3 The benefits of good translation of brand names

The English translation of Chinese brands is actually the renaming of brands in western countries. An excellent brand name, can not only help new products seize the business opportunities, unknown products resurrect, but also make the products maintain mature and powerful, even evergreen. This is the first, critical, and necessary step in implementing brand strategy. To quote an advertising slogan from IBM, "no matter one small step or one big step, it will lead the world to move forward". This step of brand naming is the first step of brand success and the key step of brand value creation. Its specific functions are as follows:

It is conducive to improving the grade of commodities. People can read out characteristics of the goods, brand culture and corporate culture directly from the brand name. A good name full of beautiful association will give customers a good, deep impression. For example, Pamp;G"s（宝洁）women"s sanitary napkins "护舒宝", which is aptly described in Chinese, and its English name "whisper" gives people a kind of intimate feeling. And the Chinese and English pronunciation is also very beautiful, the tone is basically the same, this is a very successful product naming. If the enterprise can be so fastidious and attach importance to the brand name, its product must be worthy of respect and trust.

It is conducive to improving corporate image. Commodity’s image is the main carrier and important embodiment of enterprise’s image and culture. A good corporate image is easier to win the trust of customers and obtain social support for the enterprise. For example, Lenovo’s original English name is"LEGEND", which gives people the impression of being positive and aggressive. This greatly enriches the image of the enterprise and makes it easier for customers to accept its products while being infected by its spirit.

It is conducive to shaping the brand image. Beautiful brand names are easy to identify and weave brand story, so as to make the brand image easy to remember. For example, American brand" ESPRIT", from French, means: talent, spirit, vitality, which well reflects the brand culture, without a lot of elaboration and praise. A french female dress brand GUESS is very vivid and interesting. The naming of Germany "ANTANO"（蚂蚁阿诺）(children"s clothing) is also very good. First of all, the ant is all the children’s love. Secondly, ants have team spirit and perseverance, which is easy and convenient to recognize and shape the brand image, and weave a moving story.

It can save a lot of advertising costs. A product that is difficult to read in the beginning and cannot trigger a good association of customers will have to invest more publicity expenses in opening up the market. So, its brand image and brand culture will be difficult to shape. Even though the popularity is quite high, the reputation is insufficient. Customers just barely have heard of your product, but do not agree, let alone to cultivate their loyalty. The final market performance is fragile. This is a consequence of innate malaise. On the contrary, an excellent brand name will reduce the resistance of brand promotion, thereby greatly reducing the cost of brand promotion. This is the power of the name and the great meaning of accurate naming, such as "JUST DO IT!" (NIKE) and so on.

Rapid appreciation of brand equity. Generally speaking, enterprises make profits and accumulate assets by manufacturing products or providing services. But entrepreneurs must realize that brand is also an asset, and even more important. As we have said before, the operation of enterprises is brand operation. Either in manufacturing or services, the product is more and more homogeneous. If you want to excel in the vast market, you must win the favor of your customers. And the brand is the only way for you to survive and develop.

3.4 Principles of Translating Brand Names into English

The first one is the principle of universality(Yao 94). The principle of universality refers to actions that have legal legitimacy within the law and morality. These principles and rules govern human behavior, which is the most common concept of acceptable and practical applicability, so it is considered to be legal.

The second one is the principle of conciseness. Brand name translation requires to be easy to understand. Don"t use remote words as much as you can. It"s better to have a rhythmic sense of beauty and a combination of rhyme and phonology, which will impress consumers. For example , Coca-Cola (可口可乐), Sprite (雪碧), Fanta (芬达), Rejoic (飘柔), these brand names are not only easy for consumers to understand, reflecting the commercial value of the products, but also have a high sense of art.

The third one is the principle of cultural differences. The traditional culture of a country is the sum of material and spiritual wealth produced and created in the practice of common production and life for a long time. National culture also reflects the level of historical development of a nation. There are many cultural differences among different ethnic groups, each nation has formed its own brilliant culture in the long history. The differences in ecological environment, religious belief, politics, economy and culture lead to the difference in consumption psychology of every nation. The ultimate goal of brand name translation is to stimulate consumers" desire to buy products and attract consumers" attention. In translating this type of text, translators should try their best to overcome the obstacles such as cultural differences, geographical environment, ecological civilization, psychological characteristics and so on. Therefore, in translating brand names, translators should know which country the goods are to be sold to, understand the culture, historical background, and other aspects of the countries in advance, and find out what are popular and what are tabooed. It is of great importance.

The last one is the principle of brand positioning. In the current market, there are target market localization and product orientation. Generally speaking, the prices of different products in the same category are different, because the quality, function, materials and workmanship of commercial products are different, so the consumers are also different from each other in terms of consumption capacity. This is the product positioning. If the position of the product is shown in the translation, it is convenient for the consumer to choose the more suitable product, and at the same time, it is also beneficial to the sale of the product. Milo, a famous drink produced by Nestl é, for example, also has two Chinese translations: "美禄" in the mainland and "麦露" in Taiwan.

4. Strategies for Translating Chinese Brand Names into English

Since most of the enterprises in our country did not pay much attention to the internationalization in the early stage of brand naming, most of the English names were English words corresponding to Pinyin or literal translation, and such English names not only do not play a role in promoting products, but also lead to side effects. When “Legend” entered the international market, it encountered the problem that "Legend" has already registered in the United States, then “Legend” changed the logo to "Lenovo". Since then, Chinese enterprises have begun to attach importance to the English name of the brand. For Chinese enterprises in the process of internationalization, an English brand name, which is simple and vulgar, has become the first business card for enterprises to participate in international competition. Under the internationalization strategy, Chinese brand names can be translated into English according to the following three naming models.

4.1 Free translation and homophony

The English name of the brand should be easy to pronounce and memorize, and we should consider the relationship between English name and Chinese name from the homophonic aspect and inspire the positive association of consumers. The model of "free translation homophony" (Zhang 140) emphasizes the contrast between Chinese and English names and the similar pronunciation. It requires positive words in English, and emphasizes the skillful combination of phonology and meaning to give people space to imagine. For example, “百丽”(shoe brand) is translated as "Belle", meaning beautiful woman; Guangzhou department store is translated as "GrandBuy", meaning a large number of purchases; “衣本色”(clothing brand) is translated as "Ebase", in which E is the homophonic of "衣", "base" is homophonic with "本色". The brand of Longhu Real Estate Group is translated as "Longfor", meaning looking forward to, hoping, which is not only homophonic with Longhu, but also incisively and vividly express the enterprise"s idea of "treat your life well"; Clothing brand "Jeanswest" is not only similar to the pronunciation of "真维斯", but also convey the enterprise’s business direction; The translation of “以纯” into Yishion is the homonym of “衣” in Chinese, and Yishion is transformed by the English word fashion, which reflects the scope of its business; Founder does not emphasize the complete convey of meaning, but emphasizes the similarity of pronunciation. "Free translation homophonic" mode is the most ideal naming mode, which is not only beneficial to the expansion and extension of brand connotation, but also preserves certain characteristics of Chinese pronunciation.

Coinage also belongs to this type. The advantage of coinage is that the self-invented vocabulary can give people a novel, innovative, distinctive, avant-garde impression and accords with the thinking habits and psychological characteristics of the foreigners. Such as Hisense（海信）, Gree（格力）, Midea（美的）, Geely（吉利）, Chery（奇瑞）and so on. In the process of creating new words, we should choose the roots or affixes which can present products’ features, and it is easier to identify and call them by using burst sounds as the initials. For example, the English name of Xinfei is "Frestech"(freshtechnology), Fang Tai is translated as "Fotile", Lian Xiang is translated as "Lenovo", which is a masterpiece of innovation. These brand names are not only easy for consumers to understand, reflecting the commercial value of the products, but also have a high sense of art. These successful translations pay much attention to the cultural differences as well.

4.2 Literal translation

The biggest advantage of the literal translation is that it is convenient for foreign consumers or investors to memorize and associate with the brand name, so that they can understand the product or service attributes of the enterprise, which can reduce the resistance of international promotion, and improve the brand"s popularity in a short period of time. For example, Septwolves（七匹狼）, FreeBird（自由鸟） can accurately convey the meaning of the brand name; Chinalife（中国人寿）, China Mobile（中国移动）, Goodboy（好孩子）, Sinopec can make foreign consumers understand the connotation of the brand as soon as they see it. Again, real kung fu global Chinese food and drink chain is translated as "KUNGFU", effectively convey Chinese culture.

There is a special but common method belonging to this category-acronym. It is to form a new word by combining the first letters of each word, such as COSCO（中国远洋运输）, CNOOC（中海油）, BOC（中国银行）, ICBC（中国工商银行）, which can not only reflect the company"s brand influence, but also comply with the principle of conciseness. But the disadvantage is that the meaning of the brand can not be clearly expressed.

4.3 Transliteration

Transliteration, which uses Chinese Pinyin as the brand name, is the most commonly used method of translation, such as Haier（海尔）, Huawei（华为）, Lining（李宁）, Changan（长安）, Changhong（长虹）, Lilang（利郎）, Wanxiang（万象）, etc. The adoption of this method mainly depends on whether the enterprise has a long history, whether the brand has accumulated a certain brand value and popularity abroad. Such as Chinese time-honoured brand(Wu 1800): Wanglaoji（王老吉）, Yunnan Baiyao（云南白药）, Wuliangye（五粮液）, Tongrentang（同仁堂）, Goubuli（狗不理）, Guan Sheng Yuan（冠生园）. These brands are the intangible cultural heritage of our country, so the adoption of transliteration is conducive to maintaining their brand equity, saving the cost of remolding the new brand name. However, due to the great differences in pronunciation, meaning and grammar between Chinese and English, the transliteration pattern should be modified according to the pronunciation habits of English on the basis of pinyin, with the increasingly fierce competition in the international market. For example, “Shineway”（双汇） is easier to understand than “Shuanghui”; "Guizhou Moutai" is translated as “Kweichow Moutai” （贵州茅台）; and “Qingdao” beer is translated in “Tsing Tao Beer”（青岛啤酒）.

5. Conclusion

The first step of internationalization strategy is to do a good job in brand name translation. Successful translation will bring huge economic benefits, but unsuccessful translation will not only bring heavy economic losses to the company or the country, but also has a negative impact on the image shaping of the company or country. The paper starts with the strategy of brand power, combined with the principles of brand name translation, and three models suitable for Chinese brand name translation is discussed. It is hoped that this paper can help Chinese enterprises improve their international brand awareness and achieve development.

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