1 ON TRANSLATION OF BRAND NAMES 浅谈品牌翻译 A thesis paper su bmitted in partial fu lfillment of the requ irements For the degree of Bachelor of Arts in English 2 ABSTRACT The 21st century is the age of economic globalization. The export and import of domestic and overseas products become much more frequent. Therefore the translation of brand names shows its great importance in helping the transnational companies to open new markets on foreign lands. A successful version will, to a large extent, improve the brand image among customers. Though many companies have realized the significance of brand name translation, some problems still exist today like abusing pinyin, over-complexity and neglecting cultural association. To avoid these mistakes, translators are required to get familiar with the basic theories in translating brand names. Generally speaking, there hasn’t been systematic study on translation of brand names. But some scholars like Nida and Newmark have ever established their theories in this area. On the basis of their theories, some main translating methods are introduced in this article. They are transliteration, literal translation, free translation, combining transliteration and free translation, and transference. All of them have their own advantages and disadvantages, so translators should make cautious use of them when translating brand names. To reflect the best effect of advertising, the translation should stick to principles of concision, equivalence and association. At last, the conclusion is reached that the standard of how good the translation is lies in how successfully the version achieves the advertising function. So with the purpose of attracting customers, translators should pro...
