Various goods and services have been arranged by the International (Nice) Classification of Goods and Services into 45 Trademark Classes (1 to 34 classifying goods, and 35 to 45 services). The establishment of this system is to specify and draw the boundary of the intellectual property rights by deciding which products or services are included by the mark, and to unify classification systems among the world.
It should be noted that there is a gap in understanding and acceptance of a trademark considering the differences among geographic locations, religious beliefs, races and financial development. People are predisposed to comprehend trademark through various aspects, involving cultural traditions, thinking patterns, aesthetic values, consumption concepts and social values, which render a host of difficulties in trademark translation. Therefore, the translation of products’ trademark is not an uncomplicated transformation of two languages but an intercontinental culture exchange with high essence. In the intercultural communication, translators ought to follow the theory of linguistic adaptation and realize that the translation of a trademark is a process of dynamic adaptation chosen by a language. In order to make an appropriate and effective translation of products’ trademark with a high recognition among consumers, the translated versions of trademark have to adapt diverse cultures, take different social and economical systems into consideration and gain a rough understanding of the extra-textual factors such as ethnic cultural psychology, forms of government, historical resources and so forth.
1.2 A brief introduction of principles and skills of trademark translation
With the increasingly fierce competition in the global market, the choice and translation of products’ trademark play a more and more significant role in international business. Thus, a successful translation of trademark is highly related to the sales even the fates of the enterprises.
There would be no exaggeration to say that the translated versions of products’ trademarks have direct connections to the reactions and feedbacks of customers, reflecting on the sales of the goods. A perfect translation of the trademark is able to reap numerous benefits for the company while an infelicitous or inaccurate translation may impose a serious threat or damage to the reputation and prosperity of the manufacturer. In addition, the prospect of the commodity would be bleak in the global market, if a newly launched product is considered as an inferior-quality good because of the wrong adaptation of trademark translation. Consequently, the translated versions of a trademark have to reinstate the meanings and functions of the original one.