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This study involves a questionnaire research to analyze the four main methods of brand translation. The data are collected through a questionnaire survey from the participants from New Dynamic Institute and Nanjing University of Science and Technology.
1.2 Definition of Brand
A brand is a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers"(American Marketing Association Dictionary, 2011). Brand name is one of the brand elements which helps the customers to identify and differentiate one product from another. It should be chosen very carefully as it captures the key theme of a product in an efficient and economical manner. It can easily be noticed and its meaning can be stored and triggered in the memory instantly.
This paper consists of 4 chapters in addition to the conclusion.
Chapter 1 is the introduction. It mainly involves the introduction of the whole paper, research design and definition of the keyword.
Chapter 2 is the literature review. Here, the former analysis and conclusion of the four major translation methods and the previous study of customers’ acceptance are presented.
Chapter 3 describes the theoretical foundations of the brand name translation. This chapter mainly discusses the influencing factors of brand name translation and their relationship with each of the four translation methods.
Chapter 4 is about a questionnaire survey of foreign brand name translation and its acceptance and the analysis the interaction of the four translation methods, the influencing factors and the result of the survey.
The last part serves as a conclusion which generalizes the whole paper briefly, summarizes the main points and points out contributions.
2 Literature Review
2.1 Common Brand Name Translation Methods.
2.1.1 Literal Translation
Literal translation of brand names is to directly translate the literal meanings of the brand. The advantage lies in conveying the original information of the product. Although it is not feasible for every brand name to be translated literally, literal translation is still adopted by some foreign brands. In order to be able to apply this method to the translation, the original brand name should be notional words (Bao Huinan, 2004).
2.1.2 Transliteration
Generally, Transliteration can be classified in the following two categories. (1) Direct transliteration. With this method, English brand names are, according to the International Phonetic Alphabet, translated into Chinese with the same or similar pronunciation. (2) Homophonic translation (Chen Quanming, 1996). Gu Jianxin believes that homophonic English letters and words can be used in brand translation. For example, 爱福-AF，优世-Youth(Gu Jianxin, 1997)
2.1.3 Free Translation
The free translation is pided into three kinds: (1) direct free translation; (2) Meaning-selecting translation, which selects words with meanings on the basis of direct free translation to produce an ideal brand name in Chinese. With this method, an abbreviated English brand name is firstly restored to its full name and then the meaning-selecting process is applied on the basis of the direct free translation (Chen Quanming, 1996).
2.1.4 Mixed Translation
The ideal translation method is to retain both the pronunciation and meaning of the words to keep the charm of the original text (Lou Chengzhao, 1994). The "half pronunciation, half meaning translation" put forward by Xu Jinqi (2003) also echoes to this idea.
2.2 Former Study of Consumers’ Acceptance
Most papers on brand name translation in the past 10 years were limited to summarizing methods and principles of trademark translation, while few studied the brand name translation from the point of consumers’ acceptance.
Being aware of the importance and existing problem of brand name, foreign brands will take in-depth research, or even hire specialized consultants when enter the Chinese market. Transliteration and free translation are the main naming methods they choose, while the former one is the most common (He Ying, 2010).