On Translation Of English And Chinese Trademarks From The Approach Of Functional Equivalence

Trademark is the result of the development of commodity economy, playing an important role in daily life. With the further opening-up of China and the globalization of international economy, more and more foreign products are coming into China while an increasing number of China-made products are exported to other countries. At present, people have come to realize the significance of trademark in stimulating consumption, marketing and legal protection, etc. At the same time, the difficulties and problems in trademark translation have become big challenges. Trademark translation involves not only linguistics and translation theories but also knowledge about marketing, psychology, aesthetics, cross-cultural communication and advertising, etc. An adequate and acceptable translation of trademark is not an easy task for a translator.Considering the importance and urgent need of the study on trademark translation, this paper focuses on English and Chinese trademark translation, discusses the principles and methods of English and Chinese trademark translation with examples of English and Chinese trademarks and puts forward some suggestions for solving the existing problems in English and Chinese trademark translation.To translate trademarks well, one need to have the basic knowledge about Chinese and English trademarks. Thus, this paper first discusses the definition, formation, principles of formation, motivations of formation, and functions of trademark.Trademark translation must be in conformity with the target culture, including religion, local customs, and values, etc. In the third chapter of this paper, English and Chinese trademarks are analyzed to show the influence of cultural factors. Concepts of value, social development, mythologies and legends, and culture-loaded words'associations all have influences on trademark translation. Thus the translator should take cultural elements into consideration in trademark translation.Trademark translation must go under the guidance of certain principles and criteria. This paper adopts Eugene A. Nida's"functional equivalence"as its basic principle. Eugene A. Nida is the representative of western translation theorists, whose"functional equivalence"theory has great influence on Chinese translators. He holds that translating consists in reproducing in the...