ABSTRACT

With the acceleration of globalization, the international economic communication becomes much more frequent. Brand names not only convey information concerning commodities, but also transmit cultural information to receivers in the target culture as cultural messengers. This paper studies translation of brand names from the perspective of culture taking the example of “Dior Poison Perfume Series”. This paper proposes flexible translation methods according to the associations of cultural correspondence, cultural collision, paraphrase, free translation, and combination of the above-mentioned methods. It is pointed out that translation of brand names in Chinese market will bring us as much attention as possible to commodity information. However, failing to transmit cultural information contained in original brand names in translation may arouse cultural conflict and unfavorable association, which inevitably result will end up failing to promote the sales of related products. Thus, translation of brand names should be able to convey the image of commodities and, at the same time, transmit the original culture.

Keywords: brand names; culture; translation

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter One INTRODUCTION-1

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW-3

2.1 Translation of Foreign Brands into Chinese-3

2.2 Studies of Translation of Brand Names in the Perfume Industry-4

2.3 Problems and Limitation of Previous Studies of Translation of Brand Names-5

Chapter Three Analysis of Translation of Brand Names from the Perspective of Culture-6

3.1 General Studies of Brand Names-6

3.1.1 Definition-6

3.1.2 Functions-6

3.2 Cultural Elements in Brand Names-7

3.3 Analysis of Translation of Brand Names from the Perspective of Culture-8

Chapter Four Suggestions for Translating Brand Names-10

4.1 Consistent with the Culture of Target Market-10

4.2 Paying Attention to Word Choice-10

4.3 Adopting Aesthetic Conceptions in Translation-11

Chapter Five CONCLUSION-12

REFERENCES-13