A trademark of a commodity is a symbol (words, graphics, letters, numbers, colors, three-dimensional symbols, etc.). ) is used to distinguish products or services provided by individuals or groups. It is the concentration of the remarkable characteristics of commodities and the core component of commodity culture. It not only provides a logo for goods, but also instills the brand impression of self and self into customers. Good trademarks can bring great wealth to enterprises, while bad trademarks may make enterprises lose the business opportunities they could have. Therefore, trademark is an important marketing means and tool in marketing. It plays an important role in realizing the marketing objectives of enterprises. In the international market, trademarks are often regarded as simplified enterprise names by the market and customers, and trademarks become the symbol of enterprises. Nowadays, the economic exchanges between China and the world are in a very frequent and close period. A large number of products made in China are being exported to all parts of the world, and foreign products are also pouring into the domestic market. At this time, how to translate the vivid image of brand names is particularly important. However, due to the great differences between Chinese and western cultures, even the same thing may contain different pragmatic meanings and cultural connotations in Chinese and English. Therefore, in the specific translation process, we need to consider the appropriateness of translation from a cultural perspective and make appropriate adjustments and adaptations.

First, the cultural differences caused by the translation of trademark names

In the long process of human historical development, all ethnic groups have gradually formed their own unique historical background, religious beliefs, ethnic systems, customs and cultural traditions. People's way of thinking, aesthetic taste, consumption concept and values are bound to be different. Language is not only a part of culture, but also a carrier of culture, which reflects the colorful cultural phenomena of a nation. Cultural factors include geographical environment, social history, political economy, customs, religious beliefs, aesthetic orientation, values, ways of thinking and many other aspects. In the process of translation, cultural differences between China and the West will mainly lead to the following corresponding situations:

1 The object referred to in the source language does not exist at all, and is rarely or ignored in the target language culture.

The source culture has a clear entity in concept, while the target culture is indistinguishable or just the opposite.

The same reference in the target language may be referred to by words with different literal meanings.

As a language, brand names must contain their own cultures and have different cultural characteristics. The problems caused by cultural differences in the translation of trademark names mainly include the following aspects:

1 Cultural differences lead to incomplete or vague information conveyed by brand names. Due to cultural differences, people's association with the same word is also very different, and some information hidden under the surface of brand names is lost in the translation process. For example, "Yuanyang" brand pillow is translated as "Yuanyang pillow" by the translator. Mandarin ducks often pair up on the water and love each other. It is said that once they are paired, they will be together for life. Therefore, in China, it has been regarded as a symbol of loving couples since ancient times, with a beautiful meaning of loving each other and growing old together. Lu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, once wrote such a quatrain as "I would rather be a mandarin duck than a fairy" in the poem "The Ancient Meaning of Chang 'an". Therefore, using "Yuanyang" as the trademark name of the pillow can easily arouse people's beautiful association. But when westerners see "Yuanyang", they will only realize that it is the name of a bird, and there is no other association. At this time, the most critical metaphorical meaning of trademarks has not been seen.

Cultural differences lead to incorrect information conveyed by trademark names. In China, there are many trademarks with the word "dragon" in their names, because the dragon is a symbol of the Chinese nation, which is formed by gradually absorbing the most magical parts of totem animals of various clans with the characteristics of deer, snake, tiger, eagle and carp. The word "dragon" in English has a completely different image and figurative meaning from dragon. Dragon is an evil winged monster, huge and clumsy, dark gray in color and with huge wings. It spits out flames and devours people and animals. It's ugly and scary, and it also means "vicious bitch" Satan in biblical stories is considered as a "great dragon". Therefore, if the dragon in the brand name is translated into dragon, what westerners associate with is definitely not the Swiss beast in China's mind, but the fierce and cruel beast they know, which greatly reduces the image of the whole product.

Second, the skills and methods of trademark name translation

The translation of trademark names is not simply to change a commodity name from one language to another, but to pay attention to cultural differences in the process of translation, taking into account the cultural background of consumers in the target market, such as knowledge, language, national customs, religious taboos and aesthetic tastes, and truly show the deep meaning of brand connotation. Translator Eugene? Nida also said: "To do a good job in translation, it is even more important to master two cultures than two languages, because words are meaningful only when used in a specific culture." The translation of trademark names mainly adopts the following methods:

1 transliteration. The so-called transliteration method refers to finding words with similar pronunciation for translation according to the pronunciation of the original brand name without deviating from the target language norms and causing false associations and misunderstandings. This translation method has great universality, retains the rhythm of the original brand name and is full of exotic flavor, thus attracting the attention of consumers. Generally speaking, this method is mostly used for trademarks named after people or places, or other situations where there is no corresponding consistent expression in the target language, such as Walter Disney (Walter Disney? Disney) production company, Nokia. Of course, sometimes we will make some adjustments to individual words on the basis of pure transliteration and replace them with words with similar pronunciation. Through this adjustment, the translated names of trademarks are more vivid and can better convey the characteristics of products. A classic case is Coea-Coht, the Chinese translation is "Coca Cola", which not only conforms to the rhythm of the original name, but also makes people know that the commodity is a drink at will. But also fully conveys a feeling of dripping after drinking, which is very attractive to consumers. This makes the translated text more colorful and icing on the cake on the basis of respecting the original. Unforgettable, this is also an example worth learning.

Literal translation. Literal translation is to directly convert the source language into the target language. When the source language and the target language are basically equivalent in function, literal translation is often used. Due to various natural and cultural factors, people living in different areas have formed their own different cultures, which are different, but they also have something in common. This commonality is the basis of translation. Therefore, in some cases, one language can find completely equivalent descriptions or words in another language. For example, when "Microsoft" is translated into "Microsoft", "micro" and "soft" correspond to "micro" and "soft" in Chinese respectively, which coincides with the company's product "software"; There are countless examples of "Diamond" brand watches translated into "Diamond".

However, due to different cultures, literal translation often leads to ambiguity or misunderstanding of translated words. Sometimes, even though things in one language can find equivalent descriptions in another language, they have completely different cultural connotations. This is because there are differences in understanding, colors and numbers between Chinese and western cultures. The translation of "dragon" mentioned above belongs to this situation. For another example, violet stands for romance in Chinese, while pansy in English refers to "a man without masculinity and femininity" or "a man who engages in homosexuality". Imagine that if you translate the "Violet" brand men's shirts into PansyShirt and sell them in the British market, it should be difficult to open up sales.

3 Free translation method. Free translation refers to a newly created name in order to convey the connotation of the product to consumers without sticking to the form of the original word. This is because there are differences between Chinese and western cultures. If we pay too much attention to the original form of the trademark name, it will lead to the loss of meaning. For example, when walkman first entered the China market, if the manufacturer turned it into a "walker", I don't think many customers would be interested in it. However, the clever manufacturer recreated it and called it "Walkman", which fully demonstrated the functions and characteristics of the product and was full of novelty, and won the China market in one fell swoop. This kind of free translation can be a complete re-creation of new words, or it can be a re-creation on the basis of retaining some phonology of the original words. Anyway. Translators are required to give full play to their imagination, not only to show the characteristics and functions of commodities, but also to arouse consumers' beautiful associations on the basis of respecting the source language and the target language.

In a word, the differences between Chinese and western cultures make trademark translation extremely challenging. In order to do a good job in trademark translation, translators should be familiar with not only their own culture, but also the cultures of other countries. In the process of translation, we should respect the differences between the two cultures, embody the connotation of trademarks as much as possible in a vivid, imaginative and creative way, convey the charm of commodities, and be a good messenger of commodity trade exchanges.

(Author: Jiangsu Nanjing Vocational and Technical College of Special Education)