On the Translation of English Food Brand

澹台林琳

【摘要】商标是一种特殊的语言符号，是商品的一种标记，是商品生产者或者经营者区别其他同类商品而用的一种标记。食品商标是众多商标中的一种，形式多样。食品商标翻译不仅是一种语言翻译，更是一种文化翻译。本文从欧美食品商标的定义和特征入手，并选取欧美食品商标的典型翻译范例来分析英文食品商标的基本翻译策略。

【关键词】食品商标 文化差异 翻译

Introduction

Nowadays， with the tendency of increasing globalization and competitive economy， in order to have a place in the world economy， a good brand translation is very important and essential. Successful brand represents beautiful package， high quality and reasonable prices， and its translation is also full of distinctive personality and rich connotations. Successful food brand can help businesses to win a broader international market in fierce competition. Successful translation plays an important role to win in the wave of the world economy. However， food brand translation has a rich cultural meaning， with special language reflecting the cultural characteristics of the target language country and characteristics of consumers， a good food brand translation is not an easy thing.

Literature view

The major linguistic features of English food brand and their translation have been studied and explored for many years. This article will investigate major researches available on language features of English food brand and then it would overview major studies of English food brand translation.

1. Theoretical basis of English food brand translation

1.1 The definition of translation

To define translation， however， is not very easy. Definitions of translation are abundant， but till now no consensus is reached upon a unified satisfactory definition.

Definitions by two main schools are introduced here. From the points of view of the first school， any interpretation is translation. Translation thus defined includes intra-lingual rewording， inter-lingual translation and inter-semiotic transmutation. Roman Jacobson is the first linguist who summarizes all the three phenomena under the heading “translation”.

According to the second school， translation is an activity that progresses in either oral or written form between two distinct languages， i.e. the source language and the target language. Roger believes that “translation is the expression in the target language of what has been expressed in the source language， preserving both semantic and stylistic equivalences” （Roger T.Bell，2005）.

1.2 The Characteristics of Food Brand

1.2.1 Simple beauty

The simple beauty of food brand and its translation is reflected in the concise and simple form to remember. Design and translation of food brand names are intended to infect consumers so as to win a place in the fierce competition. Therefore， design and translation of food brand are generally required to follow five principles that are “easy to read， easy to listen to， easy to say， easy to write and easy to remember”， and it is the only way to deeply impress the consumer in the possible shortest time. We can see this characteristic from following popular foreign brands， like Mcdonald.（麦当劳）， Marxwelly （麦氏）， Nesty Nestle（雀巢）， SEVEN-UP（七喜）.

1.2.2 Phonology beauty

Phonology beauty of food brand refers to the name of the lively rhythm and beautiful melody. A well-known international drink brand— Coca Cola，has been translated into “可口可乐”，coca and cola have the same alliteration and rhyme， catchy sound of loud reading and strong sense of rhythm. Coca-Colas Chinese translation in pronunciation can produce good sound effects of crisp and sweet. It is really a successful case. This method not only draws on the structure of the original brand， but also caters to the cultural aesthetic consciousness of Chinese consumers.

1.2.3 Artistic Beauty

The Artistic beauty refers to the translation of a food brand with associative meaning. It may produce a beautiful reverie when a person see or hear， so that the goods will be favored and popular. Advertising pays attention to the artistic mood to ensure the artistic beauty of product image. The poetic translation could strengthen the charm and the unique personality quietly undergoing role of brand. From this perspective， the Chinese translation of English food brands should try to use the rich connotation to produce a beneficial association of words， thus translation has the beauty of artistic conception. For example， Sprite has been translated into “雪碧”， which not only has the bright color， but has a rich connotation.

2. Basic Strategies for Translation of English Food Brand

Based on the previous part， the three main strategies of translating English food brand， i.e. transliteration， liberal translation and phonetic transliteration method would be expounded and proved in this part.

2.1 Transliteration

The strategy of transliteration is the technique to combine the pronunciation with emotional meaning. Due to the reason that there are some cultural differences， sometimes it is not that easy to obtain equivalence in the target language from the source language. In such a case， the translator can use the means of transliteration to implant the expressions of the source language into the target language.

For examples， “Snicker” is a trademark of an English food and the Chinese version “士力架” implies the supplement of energy and this pertinent translation can just convey the inner meaning of this English food brand. For Chinese people， they value the good meaning and wish of good luck.

Another example like“百事”reflects not only the longing for a better future， but also can guarantee the preference of vibrant youth for personalized， innovative food brand. The above translated versions successfully combine meaning， sound with peoples emotion and keep in a good harmony. However， simple transliteration of brand names sometimes may not achieve the goal. Therefore， it is essential to adjust translation strategies in accordance with specific requirements and combine transliteration with other useful strategies. For example， Good Companion（良

友）are literally translated into Chinese， while “7-up” is rendered as “七喜” in which “up” is translated as “喜” which is favored by Chinese people.

2.2 Liberal translation

Liberal translation is also known as the free translation. Relatively flexible， it gives prior place of the target language readers. Therefore， it is easier to understand from Chinese peoples perspective.

It is another major translation strategy in which the general meaning and intention of the original is reproduced， but the form and rhetorical device are not closely followed. Usually the translated paragraph is much longer than the original. In a word， liberal translation pays more attention to target readers and target culture.

For examples， the translation of Nestle（雀巢）. Although， this is also a good combination of food brand and animal ， it is not difficult to find out that the translation“雀巢”is just to convey the concept and meaning of “security， nature， and nutrition” to people. Therefore， the translator cannot transmit the original implied cultural meaning of source language well without a good knowledge and understanding of the cultural distinguishes involved.

To sum up， in order to effectively transmit messages and produce a more readable version， the translator has to apply the strategy of liberal translation to make a little bit change on forms， expressions or even on rhetorical device of the source language when literal translation cannot succeed in communicating.

2.3 The phonetic transliteration method

The phonetic transliteration is one of the most common and most important translation strategies， by which the ideas and the writing style of the original work can be reproduced in the target language. Whats more， the phonetic transliteration， also known as flexible translation methods， considers the original language pronunciation and expresses the meaning of commodity. So a translator who resorts to the strategy of literal translation strives to translate each word， convert the structure of the source language to the closest related one and retain the rhetorical devices in the target language. Here are some examples with phonetic transliteration method.

（1） Coca - Cola （可口可乐）

US beverage Coca – Cola is translated into “可口可乐” in Chinese which has a similar pronunciation， rhyme， and alliteration with the English trademark itself. At the same time， there is a strong sense of rhythm， a catchy sound， and a form to be easily remembered， and this translation is a clever fusion of Chinese traditional culture which can convey positive optimism and give a deep impression.

（2） Dove（德芙）

Dove （DOVE： D = DO， U = YOU， V = LOVE， E = ME）， in the Chinese word for dove， it has a meaning of peace， then transliterated as Dove， which has a homophonic as “得福” that means to be happy. By using homophonic translation， it gives a better sound and meaning to imagine a better mood with words containing， and wins more consumers.

3. Conclusion

We can see that most of the food producers while translating their food brand would choose the strategy of transliteration， liberal translation， and the phonetic transliteration method. For the decision to adopt which method， it depends on the original language of the English food brand that acts as the decisive factor. Generally speaking， the use of brand translation has real meaning in the original language， and can be found the equal words， terms， forms in the target language. The three strategies of food brand translation illustrated in this paper are aimed to offer instructions about food brand translation and to make contribution to the development of the advertising industry and the prosperity of the global economy.

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