毕业论文专用纸
perspectives of thinking modes, language customs and values. It studies cultural elements which affect translation so as to explore how to utilize local culture to translate foreign brands by taking P&G’s brand names as typical examples. By analyzing its brand name translation, this paper explores the influence of cultural factors involved in the process of translation. Hopefully this paper could be of some help for other related studies.
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毕业论文专用纸
I. Literature Review
China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, which generated domestic and
foreign economic achievements contributing to China’s further integration into the global economy. A large number of foreign companies have entered and occupied the Chinese market since then, including Procter & Gamble Company. Due to the Sino-American cultural differences and the fact that P&G is a typical foreign brand, it is necessary to study the influence of cultural differences on its related translation of products and the translating skills involved.
A. A Brief Introduction to P&G Company
Founded in 1837, Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is known as the world’s largest commodity company. It is popular at home and abroad. Procter & Gamble has been pursuing the purpose of “Touching Life, Improving Life” since 27 years ago, which contributes to producing a large number of products with first-class quality loved by customers, mainly including body and hair care products, laundry supplies and women and children articles. Many Brands like “Rejoice (飘柔)”, “Pantene (潘婷)”, “Head & Shoulders (海飞丝)”, “Crest (佳洁士)” have achieved powerful position and high popularity in Chinese commodity market.
B. Categories of P&G Brand Names
P&G brand names are roughly divided into three categories: 1. Body and Hair Care Products; 2. Laundry Supplies; 3. Women and Children Articles. Sales market for each product is very promising. Almost every Chinese consumer is familiar with P&G Chinese brand names. Body and Hair Care Products include “Rejoice (飘柔)”, “Pantene (潘婷)”, “Head & Shoulders (海飞丝)”, “Safeguard (舒肤佳)”, “Olay (玉兰油)”, “Camay (卡玫尔)”, etc. Laundry Supplies include “Ariel (碧浪)”, “Tide (汰渍)” and so on. Women and Children Articles include “Whisper (护舒宝)”, “Pampers (帮宝适)”, etc. Each P&G brand name translation is impressive for every Chinese consumer because of its marvelous diction of Chinese brand names.
C. Elements Contributing to the Success of P&G
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毕业论文专用纸
After occupying a favorable position in the U.S. market, P&G Company can share the Chinese market, which makes a lot of scholars study the reasons for its success. Most of these studies are inclined to be commercial. And the reasons they studied for the success of P&G Company are overall and diversified. Generally, the reasons for the success of P&G Company can be divided into seven categories: First, the development and design of products and the extension of product line; Second, product pricing; Third, the design of package; Fourth, selection of target customers; Fifth, selection of channels; Sixth, advertising culture; Seventh, establishing friendly public relations (罗静思, 丁桂兰, 2006: 50). Among the seven reasons, there is a very crucial reason: advertising culture. That is to say, the application of local culture. Brand name translation is not only a kind of lingual translation, but also a kind of cultural translation. Cultural differences may affect the selection of translation strategies and the diction of Chinese characters. On account of taking cultural differences between China and America into consideration when translating its brand names, P&G Company can succeed in Chinese market. Almost every Chinese word of P&G brand names can arouse Chinese consumers’ abundant and fantastic imagination which accords with Chinese culture. Because P&G takes advantage of appropriate translation strategies and applies Chinese culture into translation so that its Chinese brand names can gain its reputation.
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毕业论文专用纸
II. Brand Name Translation
A. Definition of Brand Name Translation
A brand name is a word, letter, or a group of words or letters to stand for a certain product (Kang Qiang, 2013: 113). Brand name translation is a basic way for other countries’ consumers to identify one’s company’s products. However, there were differences in perceptions that the product name was not authentic to the target countries (Villar & Ai, 2012: 341).
Under the current background of globalization, brand naming and brand name translation are paramount for the successful operation of products in the international market. There is one saying popular in the Western business circles: name is the game (任林静, 吕和发, 2011: 26). In the premise of ensuring product quality and improving sales service, a splendid brand name translation is always a crucial part to decide whether it can succeed in the target market. If to compare marketing to a battle, a successful brand name translation is a flag never fallen in this battle.
B. Strategies of Brand Name Translation
When translating brand names, five main strategies are widely used. They are transliteration, paraphrase, complementary translation, innovative translation and partial or no translation (关国才, 2012: 32). 1. Transliteration
Transliteration is a very significant method with large popularity when translating brand names. Transliteration is usually used in translating the proper brand names according to their pronunciations (Kang Qiang, 2013: 114). This kind of translation usually sounds exotic and attractive for target consumers (关国才, 2012: 33). For example: “Adidas”── “阿迪达斯”; “Rolls-Royce”── “劳斯莱斯”. 2. Paraphrase
Paraphrase means that translation is based on the meaning of the original word. Some brand names have beautiful meanings both in English and Chinese. Under this circumstance, translators
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