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Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 18:2 (2008), 225–246. doi 10.1075/japc.18.2.07sanissn 0957–6851 / e-issn 1569–9838 © John Benjamins Publishing Company

Communication across languages and culturesA perspective of brand name translation from English to Chinese*

Jian Sang and Grace ZhangCurtin University of Technology

Communication across languages and cultures is a markedly complex issue, and translation is more than just a careful linguistic transfer: it is a purposeful action designed to achieve the most effective result in a target group. Few studies have discussed the role of communicative intent in translation, and this paper is a small step towards filling the gap. The conceptual framework adopted in this study is Skopostheorie (Vermeer, 1989), a functionalist approach with an emphasis on communicative Skopos (purpose or aim), target texts and audi-ences. Using a method of contrastive comparison among effective, ineffective and controversial brand name translations from English to Mandarin Chinese, a systematic analysis is conducted regarding four translation strategies: phonetic appeal, suitable meaning, socio-cultural adaptation and consumer acceptance. The findings demonstrate that any effective communication strategy needs to be in accordance with the communicative purpose of achieving an optimal impact upon the target group, and a successfully translated brand name should function in a target culture as effectively as the original name in a source cul-ture. They suggest that a function oriented approach, rather than a source-text oriented approach, holds the key for a successful outcome. The most important thing is that translated brand names suit the needs of Chinese consumers. This study is significant in that it challenges the traditional sound/meaning-based approach, and provides enriched understanding of the importance of achieving communicative purposes and optimal functional impact in a target group. The insights gained from this study add a vital conceptual dimension to the study of translation, and cross-cultural communication in general. In addition, the findings of this study may also provide practical assistance for an effective outcome in translation, and have pedagogical value in the teaching of translation. While the discussion in this study is based on Chinese data, the find-ings have implications for the translation of other languages.

© 2008. John Benjamins Publishing CompanyAll rights reserved

226 Jian Sang and Grace Zhang

1. Introduction

A brand is a name, term, symbol, design or combination thereof that identifies a seller’s products and differentiates them from competitors’ products (Summers, Gardiner, Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2003: 184). An intrinsic part of branding, the brand name, consists of words, letters and/or numbers that can be vocalised, as op-posed to a brand mark that appears in the form of a symbol, design, or distinctive colour or lettering, and which tends to be visualised (Miller, Layton, Etzel, Walker and Stanton, 2000: 308). Lawson and Loudon (1996: 391) describe a brand name as a vehicle which allows marketers to communicate with consumers. Essentially a brand name acts as verbal shorthand for specific products and services.

Brand name translation comes with globalisation, in which fierce competi-tion transcends national borders. To be recognised on a global basis, a business has to be branded, most importantly with a translated brand name, when making inroads into a new culture. The translation of brand names from one language into another requires translators to have a thorough understanding of translation principles, the cultural values of the target group, communication and market-ing conventions. If selecting an effective brand name demands a well-thought-out concept, then translation of a brand name into another language is equally, if not more, challenging. It is not only the translated brand name itself, but the associa-tions and images attached to it, that matter to the target culture.

This study aims to research the effectiveness of brand name translation from English (primarily English, examples also include some non-English cases to pro-vide more extensive discussion) to Mandarin Chinese, through examining four commonly used communicative strategies: phonetic appeal, suitable meaning, socio-cultural adaptation and consumer acceptance. It is expected that any of the four strategies will be used to achieve the communicative purposes required by particular translated brand names. This paper, taking Skopostheorie (Vermeer, 1989) as a conceptual framework, studies the role of communicative purposes in translating English brand names into Chinese, through a systematic analysis of internationally well-known brand names. The objective of this study is to demon-strate that the most essential issue in brand name translation is the communicative purpose. A contrastive method is used to provide a comparative study of effective, ineffective and controversial brand names. The criterion for the selection of effec-tive translated Chinese brand names is that they have to be well-performed global brand names; the ones in this study were chosen from Special Report: the 100 Top Brands published by Business Week (2003). They are exemplary in illustrating how to translate foreign brand names without losing the consistency and coherence of the originals.


Communication across languages and cultures 227

The focus of this paper is the translation of existing brand names. The original brand name takes shape in English and then is represented in Chinese. Translation does not usually pose a challenge for a newly established brand name, because the company takes time to screen possible brand names for multilingual suitability (Kotler and Armstrong, 1994: 293). However, some older, already successfully-promoted brand names were chosen without reference to international markets. If the company is to capitalise on the reputation these brand names already enjoy, the names generally need to be translated; translation of such brand names cannot be taken lightly as a mere exercise in language competence. Making sure the brand name travels well from one culture to another is one of the most basic, and most important, international marketing challenges of all (Allyson, 2000: 16). The very first appearance of a good translated name is influential in a target market because first impressions are lasting. The consequences of a poorly translated name can be counter-productive, as in the cases discussed in Section 4 below. It is hoped that the findings of this study will provide useful clues to assist companies and transla-tors in choosing an effective translated brand name.

In this paper, ‘Chinese’ refers to Mandarin Chinese, the Chinese people or the culture of mainland China; and ‘China’ refers to mainland China. The phonetic system adopted in this study is the pinyin system, used in the People’s Republic of China.

2. Previous works

In this section, literature on brand name translation and translation theories will be reviewed, and their relevance to this study will be discussed.

2.1 Brand names and their translations

Over the past two decades, much has been documented on the characteristics of and criteria for a good brand name. Lamb, Hair and McDaniel (2000: 268) state that effective brand names usually have several of the following features, given the fact that in the real world a brand name can hardly hold on to all of them. A good brand name

– is easy to pronounce;– is easy to recognise;– is easy to remember;– is short;– is distinctive and unique;



– describes the product;– describes the product’s use;– describes product’s benefits;– has a positive connotation;– reinforces the desired product image;– is legally protectable in home and foreign markets of interest.

Kotler and Armstrong (1994: 293) stress that one of the most common screening criteria being used for a desirable brand name is how easy it is to pronounce for both domestic and foreign buyers. It is also agreed that it is important that the adopted brand name can be legally protected for exclusive use by its owner, and is readily identified by consumers (Kotler, Brown, Adam and Armstrong, 2001: 357; Kotler and Armstrong, 1994: 293; Lamb et al., 2000: 269; Gregory & Wiechmann, 2001: 9; Etzel, Walker and Stanton, 2004: 271; Temporal, 2000: 21). Etzel et al. (2004: 264) claim that being adaptable to future additions to the product line is also desirable for a good brand name. For instance, in the air transportation industry, the names used to suggest a specific location in US, like Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines, may later deter geographic expansion more than a name such as United Airlines. Despite the fact that short names stand out, such as Tide, Aim and Puffs, Kotler and Armstrong (1994: 293) assert that longer ones are sometimes exceptionally effec-tive: one can come across ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter’ in any good supermarket. That is to say, the list above cannot be considered an exhaustive list of desirable features, but rather is instructive about what is deemed most desirable.

The criteria apply to the original and the translated brand names, because once an English brand name is translated into Chinese, the new Chinese name be-comes a brand name itself in a new culture, and therefore should be endowed with the same desirable features as the original. Dong and Helms (2001: 103) suggest that ideally, the translated names should be easy to pronounce, pleasant, familiar, meaningful and distinctive.

Brand name selection is a strenuous but rewarding management task for any business. Most large multinational companies have a strong in-house marketing department that can work on a well-developed, formal brand name screening pro-cess. A brand name translated into a foreign language has to be seriously consid-ered before it is rolled out. Such rigorous testing proved worthwhile for Standard Oil of New Jersey, which tested 54 languages in more than 150 different markets before adopting its currently used, official name Exxon. During its name trial, it discovered that the initially proposed name Enco referred to a stalled engine when pronounced in Japanese (Kotler et al., 2001: 357).

Translation methods for brand names have been primarily developed from the opposing polarities, semantics and phonetics. Zhang and Schmitt (2001: 315)



discuss three interrelated translation methods used in translating English into Chi-nese. The phonetic translation method aims to resemble the sound of the original English brand name as much as possible in Chinese, overlooking its meaning. On the other hand, the semantic translation method strives to reproduce the meaning of the original brand name as much as possible in Chinese, ignoring its sound. The combined phono-semantic translation method takes the middle ground and looks at both phonetic and semantic aspects of a translated brand name. Fan (2002: 182) stresses that among the three translation methods, the sound of the original brand name is the starting point in the translation process, and then it comes down to the combined translation method. This method aims to attach a desirable meaning to a brand name which is translated into something that corresponds to the sound of the original brand name. While Fan maintains that the meaning of the translated brand name is the more important concern, he does not explain the reasons why the meaning deserves more care and attention than the sound. It calls for insight into deep-rooted differences between English and Chinese cultures and languages, which will be addressed in this study.

Going beyond usual sound and meaning methods, Dong and Helms (2001: 107) uncover the relationship between the meaning and the sound of the trans-lated brand name, developing four subcategories that operate on a sliding scale depending on the degree of favourability towards either meaning or sound. They also note another method called creative translation, which does not maintain a link with the original brand name in terms of either meaning or sound. The trans-lated new name is a completely new creation.

Prior studies on brand name translation from English into Chinese are few, and have primarily focussed on marketing benefits, such as the influence of brand names on brand equity (Dong and Helms, 2001: 101; Zhang and Schmitt, 2001: 314). Few have done research on the basis of translation theory and practice. There is need for a systematic study from the perspective of translation principles and methods; this study is an attempt to meet the need. More importantly, previous studies have overlooked a crucial factor: communicative purpose that demands the effective functioning of a translation product. Any good brand name, particu-larly a translated brand name, has to function well in the target culture. That is what Skopostheorie emphasizes (see Section 3 for details), and what this study is set to elaborate.

2.2 Translation studies

Catford (1965: 1) states that translation is an operation performed on languages: a process of producing one language based on the knowledge of another language; therefore, any theory of translation must draw upon a theory of language. Cat-



ford’s view is representative in that translation used to be considered primarily as a match of sound and meaning, which did not work effectively because it failed to consider socio-cultural factors. By then, a linguistically-oriented approach was prominent and translation was considered as one of two branches of linguistics: applied or comparative linguistics (Snell-Hornby, 1990; Nord, 1997). ‘Equivalence’ as a technical term in translation was used to measure the degree of fidelity to which a translation should be produced. Equivalence became such a focal point that scholars rarely questioned it ‘as a basic concept or even constituent of trans-lation’. ‘Translation leads from a source-language text to a target-language text which is as close an equivalent as possible and presupposes an understanding of the content and style of the original’, as Wilss argues (quoted in Nord, 1997: 7).

However, searching for an equivalent was sometimes a mission impossible for some genres or text types due to intrinsic differences between source and target languages and cultures. The equivalence theory had been criticised by various theorists for ‘lack of consistency’ (Nord, 1997: 9). Equivalence-based approaches came to be seen as rather perplexing and misleading. Since the 1990s, transla-tion scholars and practitioners have witnessed a new attitude towards translation studies. Bassnett and Lefevere (1990: 8) argue that what functions as the opera-tional unit of translation is the culture: neither the word nor the text. The ‘cultural turn’ is now accepted as the ‘real breakthrough for the field of translation studies’ (Gentzler, 1998: xi). Culture, central to any well-formed society, is the common set of values shared by people that determine what is socially acceptable. Translators and marketers must understand the way that a target group’s culture and its ac-companying values influence their perceptions (Lamb et al., 2000: 121).

While cultural values are important in translation, it seems cultural focus alone does not make a good translation, as other factors like linguistic appeal and commercial conventions must also be considered. There is a need for a theory which can tie all these aspects together, and a number of functionalist approaches have been developed to meet the demand. Among others, Reiss (1977, quoted in Nord, 1997: 9) developed a model of translation criticism based on the functional relationship between source and target texts to evaluate translated works. Transla-tion critics can no longer merely look at source-text features, but must examine whether translation has fulfilled its functions in the context of the translation.

The most influential functionalist theory is Skopostheorie. It was developed by Hans J. Vermeer in the 1970s. ‘Skopos’, a Greek word, is used as a technical term referring the aim or purpose of a translation (Vermeer, 1989). Skopostheorie, as a theory of purposeful action, attaches importance to functionalism in transla-tion, focussing on the functions that a translation has in the target language. The formation of Skopostheorie and its relevance to brand name translation will be discussed in greater detail in Section 3 below.



Once a theory comes into being, it is likely to attract heated debate over its applicability and limitations. No exception was made with Skopostheorie. In large part because of its generality, the functionalist approach was not highly thought of by some critics, who found it rather banal. For example, Newmark (1990: 106) says that since functionalism is developed from something as obvious as the fact that human actions are with purpose, the theory cannot be regarded as a break-through on the theoretical level. This argument seems to overlook the possibility that a fresh new theory can be derived from an obvious fact, and that the very significance of Skopostheorie lies in its elevating an obvious fact to a theoretic level which provides new insights into the obvious fact.

Another objection claims that there exist purposeless actions with respect to the production of works of art, often presumed to be literary texts (Nord, 1997: 110). In a functionalism framework, the source text becomes secondary to and no longer the only benchmark for the translation. In such a case, the main task a trans-lation has is to fulfil the purpose for which the source text is being translated. This stance could be devastating and destructive, especially for literary translators, be-cause in literary translation the source text has a different status (Nord, 1997: 120). However, this objection does not hold true to most translations, because purpose-less translations are small in numbers. Brand name translation does require a well-defined Skopos that aims to correspond to the effect that the original brand name intends to create in the source culture. Indeed, any change that manages to create the impact of the original brand name can be seen as an effective translation.

3. Applicability of Skopostheorie in brand name translation

Among a wide range of translation theories developed over the decades, a func-tionalist approach, such as Skopostheorie, is most likely to be applicable for the translation of pragmatic texts such as brand names. A closer look at the theory will enable us to see how relevant Skopostheorie is to the translation of brand names, and why the theory can provide us with insight into how translation into Chinese can be achieved.

Skopostheorie asserts that translation is intentional, purposeful behaviour that takes place in a given situation — not as a process of transcoding, but as a spe-cific form of human action based on a source text (Vermeer, 1989). According to Skopostheorie, the prime principle determining any translation process is the pur-pose of the overall translational action. Knowing this, the translator will be able to employ strategies thought most appropriate to achieve the purpose of the target text in the target context. Whether the way the purpose is fulfilled is standard or not is not a great concern (Shuttleworth and Cowie, 1997: 156).



The theory was initially developed as a general theory of translation embracing theories dealing with specific languages and cultures. It does not tell the translator how to accomplish a specific translating job, nor what translation strategy to implement (Nord, 1997: 12). What matters is the Skopos that a translated text is designed to fulfil. Skopostheorie reflects a general shift from predominantly lin-guistics-based translation theories to a more function-oriented concept of transla-tion. As a result, Skopostheorie dethrones the source text, on which equivalence-oriented approaches were based and developed (Nord, 1997: 119). It considers the source text to be of secondary importance. The functional Skopos model allows the translator to attach more importance to the target text and the identified audi-ence. What the translation is meant to accomplish determines the strategies. To adopt a successful translating method, a translator has to work in accordance with the Skopos that has been identified before the actual translation takes place. This is particularly so in the case of brand name translation, because what concerns the translator and the marketer most is whether the translated brand name functions in a target culture as well as the original does in the source culture.

As discussed above in 2.1, a good brand name has a number of desirable fea-tures. The well-justified Skopos of translating an English brand name successfully incorporates as many desirable features as possible. The long-time convention that translation accomplishes the transfer of the meaning of the original, if any, takes a back seat to conveying the desired attributes, benefits and values that the original brand name delivers to consumers. In other words, the perception of the translated name by a Chinese consumer is one of the most important aspects of translation. The functions that the translated brand name is meant to have take precedence. The original brand name in English serves only as a departure point for the enter-prise of translation, since the product of translation, the Chinese brand name, is far more important.

Skopostheorie addresses issues of culture in translation in broad terms; a translator has to dig deep into source culture conditions to appreciate fully the impact of a source text in its original cultural surroundings (Vermeer, 1994: 14). Brand name translation does not occur in a vacuum: underlying cultural factors strongly influence the product of translation. As businesses expand globally, the need to understand the cultures of foreign countries becomes imperative. Brand name translation demands a sound understanding of other cultures. Cultural sensitivity in Skopostheorie is influential and decisive in formulating an effective translating method for brand names.



4. The analysis of brand name translation

Sections 4.1 and 4.2 provide a detailed discussion of brand name translation from the perspectives of language and cultural specifics, laying the foundation for a deeper understanding of issues arising from brand name translation. Then there will be a systematic analysis of effective and ineffective translated brand names, to show how Skopostheorie works.

4.1 Linguistic suitability

Central to communication and closely related to translation, language wields a profound influence over understanding of cultures. While a detailed discussion on the phonetic and semantic aspects of the languages is beyond the scope of this study, a sound understanding of linguistic differences is required, because it is necessary to appreciate how these differences affect brand name translation.

The most basic and important difference is that the Chinese language is based on a system of ideographs, whereas the English language is based on a system of phonograms. Chinese characters are meaningful but do not provide much clue for pronunciation, while English works in reverse: that is to say, any English syllable has a sound, but not necessarily a meaning, whereas a Chinese character almost al-ways has a meaning, sometimes more than one meaning, but no much indication of sound. The differential effect of writing systems adds weight to English-Chi-nese brand name translation practice, since it relates to the question of whether meaning, if any, should be carried over to the Chinese language, or whether sound should be imitated, or both.

A native speaker of Chinese tends to attach greater importance to the mean-ing a character carries. A native speaker of English may be inclined to pay more attention to the pronunciation of a word. Unlike English, the Chinese language possesses a great many homonyms, which are pronounced exactly the same way but with distinct meanings. This is the main reason why visual acuity is essential: to remember the visual patterns of a Chinese character to distinguish the hom-onyms. For instance, ‘shi’ with the fourth tone (Mandarin Chinese has four tones, which change meanings), corresponds to at least 18 characters with distinct mean-ings, including ‘being’, ‘test’, ‘room’, ‘city’, ‘fit’, ‘ceremony’, ‘thing’, ‘world’, ‘soldier’, ‘persimmon’, ‘oath’, ‘look at’, ‘show’, ‘try’, ‘die’, ‘serve’, ‘mop’, and ‘decorate’. Some of the characters have self-deprecatory or negative connotations in Chinese culture, such as ‘serve’ and ‘die’. Translators have to be mindful of the pitfall of homonyms in the Chinese language which may lend unwanted, nonsensical or adverse mean-ings to a translated brand name.



Some brand names may create unwanted linguistic difficulties for the con-sumer. For example, Schwartzkopf, a leading brand in hair products, creates pro-nunciation difficulties even for English-speaking consumers, let alone Chinese-speaking consumers. The problem of pronunciation and the associated effect upon marketing endeavours have been widely documented (McDonald and Roberts, 1990: 15). Häagen Dazs ice-cream is another name likely to create pronuncia-tion difficulties. In such cases, brand names that are hard to pronounce should be translated into Chinese with extra care, to show Chinese consumers that they are actually not unpronounceable nor untranslatable, but approachable and sale-able. Conversely, some properly translated brand names have built-in advantages over their competitors in terms of pronunciation, such as Flora margarine and Fa toiletries in Cantonese-speaking markets, where the ‘a’ vowel sound is extended to ‘aah’ at the end to soften the tone and make the word aurally appeasing (ibid).

Because of the different writing systems of Chinese and English, an English-speaking consumer may respond to the sound of a brand name quite differently from a Chinese-speaking consumer. This is because, as previously discussed, an English name is likely to indicate sound and have no specific meaning attached, whereas a Chinese name carries meaning as well. Many English brand names are the names of people and places and do not necessarily have a meaning. When translating an English brand name, a problem arises from whether the sound of the name in English is more important than the meaning it carries, if there is any. The Chinese translation of an English brand name needs to balance meaning and sound, because English-to-Chinese translation is usually accomplished by the sound, the meaning, or both.

It seems well-established that the translated brand name should sound simi-lar to, if not exactly the same as, its original name. Transliteration can well reach this criterion. For example, Midea sounds like its Chinese name Mei Di; so does MAXAM with Mei Jia Jing. In China we find a number of foreign brand names phonetically similar to their translated names. Examples include Pepsi (Bai Shi), Pentium (Benteng), Siemens (Xi Men Zi), Motorola (Mo Tuo Luo La), Yahoo (Ya Hu).

More often than not, translation into Chinese calls for a transfer of the mean-ing from the source language. The meaning of a Chinese character is more im-portant than its pronunciation (with some exceptions). For example, the number four sounds quite similar to ‘death’, and fourteen sounds like ‘definitely die’. This is why four or fourteen, as a number, is avoided in such instances as selecting a telephone number. However, a relatively large proportion of English brand names have no meaning to convey, like Ford or McDonald’s; or are words coined artifi-cially and deliberately, like Rolex or Kodak; or are what might be called acronyms, like IBM and GE. What attracts Western consumers is perhaps the jingle of the



brand names when pronounced, rather than the meanings they represent. The sound may matter more because of English being phonogramic. For example, cer-tain vowels sound bigger than others, and therefore attract more attention; the word ‘splash’ describes perfectly the action (McDonald and Roberts, 1990: 8).

4.2 Cultural adaptation

Lamb et al. (2000: 121–2) state that culture is pervasive, functional, learned and dynamic. All the things that people do without serious consideration are culture-bound because values, beliefs and rituals are ingrained in their daily lives. This pervasiveness requires care to be exercised at all times when translating such cul-turally-bound things as brand names. Culture is instrumental in giving order to society, in shaping the way that people do things according to prescribed values and norms. In a naming process, whether translating or giving a new name, cul-ture has an important role in specifying what is acceptable and appreciated, and what is taboo.

This is particularly true when translating an existing successful international brand name. When a business decides to go international, its marketers and trans-lators must take care to translate brand names with cultural sensitivity, so as not to convey a wrong meaning. For example, Mitsubishi Motors had to rename its Pajero model in Spanish-speaking countries because the term describes a sexual activity. Toyota Motor’s MR2 model dropped the number 2 in France because the combination sounds like a French swearword.

It is therefore wise to test for cultural sensitivity before a translated name of-ficially comes into being. This should include consideration of the non-static na-ture of culture: it changes over time, adapting to changing needs and the evolving environment. Although it is unrealistic and unthinkable to change a brand name from time to time to cope with a changing world, it is possible to counter adverse effects rising from the dynamic nature of culture to some degree by ensuring that the translated name adheres to the essentials of a culture. Lamb et al. (2000: 122) assert that the most defining element is cultural values which are enduring over time and shared by members of a society.

In traditional Chinese culture, business people have always attached impor-tance to choosing a good name for a business. In this deep-rooted tradition, the name chosen should be perceived to be able to bring good luck to the business: a concern that continues to be valid and highly valued. Schütte and Ciarlante (1998: 65) report that Asian firms are willing to expend an extraordinary amount of time and resources in hunting for a name that will bring good luck to the business. The belief in the importance of the ‘fate’ of a name results in businesses consulting fortune tellers as part of the naming process. Schütte and Ciarlante illustrate the



strong belief in luck and fate prevalent among Asian cultures including China, with an example from Hong Kong, where the Chinese name for Philip Morris cigarettes was changed from three syllables (Mo Li See, ‘no luck’) to four syllables (Mor Ha Li See, ‘plenty of luck’). This change transformed the product from one associated with no luck to the one in which a small touch conferred luck upon the consumer. Since beliefs and values associated with any culture have an enormous effect on people’s perceptions and preferences, it is worth understanding, which will help translators and marketers to adopt appropriate translating methods.

When cultural values or beliefs (including the association of expressions with literature, historical figures and legends) mingle with language, it is harder to learn and handle connotative meanings. With thousands of years of accumulated cul-tural snippets to sift through, the Chinese language is filled with culturally-bound puns and homonyms that may be either embarrassing or unlucky. For example, according to Chinese custom, giving a clock to a Chinese may be inappropriate, because in Chinese words ‘to give a clock’ sounds the same as ‘seeing someone off to his end’. Some brand names are very likely to have no luck when they come into contact with Chinese consumers because of the association of historical in-cidents and cultural beliefs. The choice of Opium as a brand name for an YSL perfume could be deemed a poor naming practice if the business is looking to China’s market. The Opium Wars of the 19th century continue to evoke notions of being invaded and exploited by ‘foreign devils’ for many Chinese (McDonald and Roberts, 1990: 13). Translators and marketers learn to take pains to avoid cultur-ally unacceptable terms if they are to ensure translation and marketing programs are not futile and costly.1

Upholding the relationship between translation and culture, Vermeer (1994: 10) states: “Translation as a cultural product and translating as a culture-sensitive procedure widen the meaning of translation and translating beyond a mere lin-guistic rendering of a text into another language.” Indeed, as our behaviour tends to be culturally specific, what happens around a translation is also, inevitably, culturally specific; and the way a translation is received by the target culture is culturally specific, too. It is important to realise that cultural differences require profound understanding in order to avoid unfortunate results in the naming and translating process.

4.3 Skopos in control

Having considered issues of sound, meaning and culture in relation to brand name translation, the question is, which is more important? The answer often becomes uncertain when one faces the choices. According to Skopostheorie, a translation is obliged to fulfil the functions assigned. The translation of an English brand name



into Chinese can be guided by the overall aim of bringing about the same fond-ness for the product among the Chinese consumers as it enjoys elsewhere, even if this involves changing the original in terms of the meaning or sound. The impor-tant thing is that the translated brand name must function and cater for China’s consumers.

As mentioned previously, translation of English brand names into Chinese follows one of three basic methods: translating by sound, by meaning, or by a combination of sound and meaning. However, it would be problematic to say one translation method is generally more effective and favourable than another unless we are examining a specific brand name in detail. In the naming and translation process a number of desirable features are sought by the marketers, so having as many of these features as possible in a new Chinese name is obviously the Sko-pos of the translation. The more desirable features, the better the translated brand name.

In the process of translation, translators and marketers should not only be able to catch hold of as many features as possible, but also to evaluate which features are more important or appealing to the consumers than others. In Coca-Cola, for example, the successfully translated and promoted Chinese name has had almost all of the desirable features listed in Section 2.1. The translated brand name, Kekou Kele (可口可乐, ‘tastes good and makes you happy’), turns out to be perfect in terms of the sound matching the original and of the new positive meaning gener-ated. The translated name projects a sunny image for a soft drink, in combina-tion with the Chinese most-loved colour, red, which symbolises happiness, joyful festivities and prosperity in the Chinese tradition. The new name highlights the desired connotation that represents the benefits of using the product and the char-acteristics of the product — the drink the business sells tastes so good that the consumer will feel happy. The Skopos of translating Coca-Cola as a favourite soft drink is well sustained across the cultures. The translation sounds like the original, but fills in a new meaning that is absent in the original. It is successful on the basis of the imitation of the sound and of the new meaning.

Translation of the prominent auto manufacturer Mercedes Benz into Chinese offers a similar scenario. The officially translated name, Benchi (奔驰, ‘running fast’ or ‘speed on’), bears some resemblance to the original in terms of the sound for Benz. The combination of the two characters is rather common in the Chinese language in relation to speed, and thus fulfils the qualities of being easy to pro-nounce and remember. The combination denotes vehicles or animals travelling at speed. The left radical in the second character, 马, signifies a horse, an animal closely related to movement and speed. A horse is a highly regarded animal in Chinese culture, commonly found in the subject of traditional Chinese painting as a heroic creature and a friend to human beings. The acoustic and visual image



deriving from the new Chinese name elicits the expected associations of speed, performance and dignity, which are the precise qualities that the brand strives to be associated with. The Skopos of translating Mercedes Benz with the desirable features is well accommodated. The new name sounds similar to the original while accentuating the added value arising from the meaning of the Chinese characters. The translation method is the same as that of Coca-Cola, a sound-based transla-tion with a desirable new meaning. In both cases, the translation has turned the original brand name with no specific meaning into a new Chinese name associ-ated with positive and much desired meanings and images that consumers wish to look forward to and identify with.

Brand names using a similar translation method as the one used by Coca-Cola and Mercedes Benz are numerous. Examples include Ford (Fu Te, 福特, ‘fortune and uniqueness’), Nike (Nai Ke, 耐克, ‘endurance and victory’), Desis (Di Sha Si, 敌杀死, ‘enemy, kill, dead’, a brand of pesticide) and Johnson & Johnson (Qiang Sheng, 强生, ‘strong and energetic’). Clean-Clear is an internationally well known cosmetic brand, has as its Chinese name Keling Keli (可伶可俐, ‘cute, as bright as a button’). The Chinese name has a sound close to the original English name, and the characters depict a young, vibrant, smart image. The Chinese name functions ef-fectively to make the product a desirable choice for the targeted group of young fe-males. Another example is the Chinese name for Revlon, a cosmetic brand: Lu Hua Nong (露华浓, ‘dew, beautiful, thick’). This has an added advantage: it is not simply a pile-up of Chinese characters, but in fact is a phrase from the famous Chinese poet Li Bai’s classic poem, ‘Qing Ping Diao San Shou’, which describes a beautiful woman. The name encompasses the nature of the cosmetic product and well serves its communicative purpose. The extra touch of a quote from a classic Chinese poem cleverly adds a sense of elegance absent from the original English name.

A great number of translated brand names are seen as lucky names. As men-tioned earlier, choosing a lucky name is an established custom in Chinese culture, so the Skopos of having a lucky name for a brand is significant and feasible. The world’s leading brand in grooming products, Gillette, in China is Ji Lie (吉列, ‘lucky, sharp’). What the two characters 吉列 mean are virtually unrelated and nowhere else used together as a word in daily language. 吉 means being fortu-nate and lucky, while the image of 列 in the form of Chinese character vividly depicts sharpness with its right-hand side radical — something related to cut-ting equipment, though 列 itself has nothing to do with sharpness in its ordinary sense (which means ‘series’, so another way of understanding the meaning of Ji Lie would be ‘lucky grooming product series’). As for the combination of the two characters, one of the possible messages Gillette wishes to send is to indicate that using the blades, which are sharp, is fortunate and lucky. Gillette, a meaningless personal name in English, has become a lucky name in China’s market. The Skopos



of describing the product benefits and reinforcing the desired product image is well upheld in Gillette’s renaming endeavour in China’s market. It is no surprise that the translating method used is similar to the one used by Coca-Cola and Mer-cedes Benz, based on the imitation of the original sound but reinforced with the added meaning of the new name and its acknowledgment of Chinese culture.

Goldlion is a world-renowned menswear brand name whose Chinese name is Jin Li Lai (金利来, ‘gold, profit, come’), which has positive connotations of el-egance, luxury and good fortune. This name has an added lucky meaning that another possible translation of Goldlion, Jin Shi (金狮, ‘gold lion’), does not carry. Other translated Chinese brand names of this kind include Carrefour (Jia Le Fu, 家乐福, ‘family, happiness, fortune’), Dunhill (Deng Xi Lu, 登喜路, ‘step on to, happy, road’). It is notable that in transliterations, translators tend to avoid unlucky and taboo words in Chinese, including ‘si’ (死, ‘dead’), ‘shu’ (输, ‘loss’) and ‘zhe’ (折, ‘break’); and use lucky words, including ‘fu’ (福, ‘blessing’), ‘lu’ (禄, ‘money’), ‘shou’ (寿, ‘longevity’), ‘xi’ (喜, ‘happiness’), ‘bao’ (宝, ‘treasure’), ‘li’ (利, ‘profit’) and ‘fa’ (发, ‘getting rich’).

In a slightly different fashion, BMW has been extremely successful with its Chinese name. The translated name of BMW, Bao Ma (宝马, ‘precious horse’), suggests that it runs so fast that it is a treasure highly sought after. The first let-ters of each character ‘Bao Ma’ correspond exactly to the first two letters of BMW. It skilfully manipulates feelings of Chinese consumers, rather than focusing on mechanics alone, the quality promoted in Western nations. In English, BMW’s catchphrases, like ‘sheer driving pleasure’ or ‘the ultimate driving machine’ place emphasis on manoeuvrability, which is not necessarily an influential factor in Chi-nese culture. This is because the Chinese feel comfortable with horses, and this penchant is decisive when everything else, like the mechanic capabilities of dif-ferent vehicles, is equal. The much-loved horse thus helps promote the new name, and successfully establishes a rapport with Chinese consumers. The translation gives a new life to the original name in Chinese culture and has a favourable image well placed in the mind of Chinese consumers. By supplementing the original im-age of being precious, and thus highly desirable, the translated name has fulfilled the goal that represents the product’s use, benefit and positive connotation among consumers. Even though this translation method is slightly different from the one used with Coca-Cola and Mercedes Benz, it should be clear that BMW’s Chinese translation is just as successful.

BMW’s translating method is designed to create a meaningful name with special, effective reference to Chinese culture but without much resemblance to the sound of the original name. Similarly, Hewlett-Packard has a Chinese brand name, Hui Pu (惠普, ‘kindness, universal’). The characters take the first letters of Hewlett-Packard, and mean ‘serve all and benefit all’. Similar examples include the



translation of HSBC (Hui Feng Yinhang, 汇丰银行, ‘gathering, harvest, bank’), Avon (Ya Fang, 雅芳, ‘elegant and fragrant’) and Colgate (Gao Lu Jie, 高露洁, ‘highly, reveal, clean’).

Microsoft, the software giant, took a different approach. The two morphemes are meaningful on their own in English (a morpheme is the smallest meaning-ful linguistic unit). ‘Micro’ usually works as a prefix, indicating ‘tiny’ and ‘small’, while ‘soft’ is a standalone word. It is believed that ‘micro’ is a shortened form for ‘micro-computer’, and ‘soft’ is a shortened form for ‘software’. The combination of two words suggests the products the company produces are computer-related and software-related. The name is easy to pronounce, as it combines two morphemes that are already in existence, and easy to remember because of the meaning they have, descriptive of the product and suggestive of its use. The translated Chinese name Wei Ruan (微软, ‘tiny, soft’), literally corresponds to its English counterpart. Both characters in Chinese were commonly employed to suggest computer-relat-ed and software-related technology at the time when IBM was a giant in computer manufacturing and software development in China’s market. The translated brand name of Microsoft inherits the benefits of the original name, is easy to memorise, and offers a relatively clear description of both product and product use. The Sko-pos of being descriptive and suggestive as well as connecting to the English brand name has been fully accomplished.

Similar to Microsoft’s translating method, the Chinese translated name for Oracle is Jiaguwen (甲骨文, ‘inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells’). The in-sightfulness of this Chinese name is that it refers to the earliest pictographic form of Chinese written language with thousands of years of history behind it. It was used to record information in the most advanced way in its time, as well as be-ing used for prophecy and forecasting. The ancient Chinese pictographic charac-ters best represent what Oracle’s business is — database applications and business intelligence applications. Similar brand names using the meanings-only method include Apple (Pingguo, 苹果, ‘apple’), Times (Shidai, 时代, ‘times’), Fair Lady (Gui Furen, 贵夫人, ‘fair lady’), American Standard (Mei Bao, 美标, ‘American standard’), Crown (Huangguan, 皇冠, ‘crown’), Good Companion (Liang You, 良友, ‘good friend’), Concorde (Xiehe, 协和, ‘harmony’), Shell (Ke Pai, 壳牌, ‘shell, brand’), Red Bull (Hong Niu, 红牛, ‘red bull’), Nestle (Que Cao, 雀巢, ‘sparrow’s nest’), Walkman (Sui Shen Ting, 随身听, ‘bring with, listen’), and Sprite (Xue Bi,雪碧, ‘snow, green jade’).

There are other brand names that use a combination of sound and meaning, which functions as effectively as previously discussed methods. For example, in Mickey Mouse, the first word is a proper name and the second word is meaningful in English. Its translated Chinese name is Mi Laoshu (米老鼠), where Mi taken from the first syllable of Mickey, and Laoshu means ‘mouse’. This translation mixes



sound and meaning of the original name, and produces the Chinese name with its foreign origin (‘Mi’, sound component) and added Chinese flavour (‘laoshu’, meaning component). The mix makes the translated name unique and easy to use. Another similar translation is Donald Duck, in Chinese Tang Laoya (唐老鸭). ‘Tang’ is taken from the first syllable of Donald, and ‘lao ya’ means ‘old duck’.

Even though the Chinese language emphasises the meaning of a brand name, it is still possible to find English brands translated into Chinese names with no meaning attached. To have an English name translated into Chinese without refer-ence to meaning, i.e. transliteration, refers to the process of converting one lan-guage to another based on imitation of pronunciation. This sometimes becomes necessary when two writing systems differ greatly, as do Chinese and English. This sounds-only translating method is not without benefits. For example, the famous film brand name Kodak has as its Chinese name Ke Da (柯达). The sound is not only close to its original sound, but also mimics the sound of a camera taking a picture. This unique combination has been loved by Chinese consumers from the beginning.

International entertainment giant Disney is translated as Di Si Ni (迪斯尼) in Chinese, which sounds almost exactly the same as the original. The three charac-ters are totally irrelevant to each other in any sense and never otherwise used in such a combination in Chinese daily language. It is easy to detect the brand name is a translated one, foreign to the Chinese language and culture. The translated name projects a distinctive and unique image. The characters in Disney entertain-ment are foreign, not native to the Chinese customers. Chinese literature, which extends back thousands of years, has a well-developed tradition of story-telling. Chinese fairytales are quite different from Western ones in terms of narration, beliefs, values, and imagery. In this case, it is perhaps better to appreciate, than to assimilate, the differences between the cultures. On this basis, the Skopos of trans-lating Disney into Chinese is defined by maintaining the exotic nature of the origi-nal name. The foreignness attracts attention from entertainment seekers curious about other cultures. In this case, embedding Chinese elements in the translated name would threaten to reduce the otherness embedded in the original.

This kind of transliteration can be powerful in maintaining the country-of-ori-gin effect, indicating the brand is foreign (Fan, 2002: 183). This caters to those con-sumers in China who adore foreign brands, so it is understandably desirable and sensible to transliterate a brand name to take into account what consumers want. Transliterated brand names include Nokia (Nuo Ji Ya, 诺基亚), Morgan Stanley (Mogen Shidanli, 摩根·士丹利) and Louis Vuitton (Luyi Weideng, 路易·威登), Cadillac (Ka Di La Ke, 卡迪拉克), Lincoln (Linken, 林肯) and Sportsman (Si Bo Zi Man, 斯波兹曼). They all favour retention of the original pronunciation without any added meaning.



It appears that the majority of translated Chinese names are based on the pro-nunciation of the original names as a starting point and, where possible, select characters with suitable meanings, and are also culturally adapted. This practice may be the result of the fact that Chinese consumers traditionally think highly of a name with a meaning, especially a positive one. A brand name without any mean-ing can be problematic for Chinese consumers to make sense of. When translating an English name, translators and marketers are look out for characters that not only correspond to the sound of the original name, but also denote or connote a meaning that can be positively associated with the brand. A translated Chinese name with matching pronunciation, plus a positive meaning either newly created or directly transferred from the English name, is highly favoured. However, when in accordance with the Skopos of the translated brand name, transliteration also works well in some cases. The claim that there is a clash between sound based and meaning based methods is invalid, as the above analysis shows that it doesn’t matter which translators and marketers use: as long as the method serves the com-municative purpose, it will work effectively.

4.4 Controversial cases

In this section, an analysis of controversial cases illustrates that an effective trans-lated brand name has to serve a Skopos that is not only satisfactory to the market-ers, but is also acceptable to consumers.

Google is a well-known name that functions successfully in English. In 2002, Google started to coin a Chinese name for its vast Chinese-speaking market. It came down to Gu Ge, which in Chinese has two forms: 谷歌 or 谷哥. While the two have exactly the same sound, very similar to the sound of Google, the second characters of the two names are different, and therefore have different meanings. The first name means ‘song from (Silicon) valley’ or ‘song of harvest’, and the second one ‘older brother from (Silicon) valley) or ‘pioneering technology’. In 2006, after long consideration, a decision was made, and Gu Ge (谷歌, ‘song from (Silicon) valley’) was officially announced (Jin, 2006). It was thought that this new Chinese name not only fitted the image and history of Google, but also implied a Chinese style of beautiful and poetic sensation (Google’s Chinese name Gu Ge, 2006).

However, the announcement of Google’s Chinese name attracted criticism from certain Chinese consumers. They set up a website (http://www.noguge.com/) around thsat time to express their dissatisfaction. On the site were slogans like, ‘We love Google, but not its translated Chinese name’. The general feeling appeared to be that Google fans felt disappointed, as for them the Chinese name implied a sense of archaism, that did not fit what Google represented, the spirit of a modern, vibrant, progressive and new generation. Objectors also said that the

http://www.noguge.com/

http://www.noguge.com/



name was clichéd, with an overdone and odd countryside romantic tone and not enough feeling of might and power which they believed Google’s Chinese name should manifest.

It should not be a surprise that a translated brand name could have been done differently or could be improved further. KFC, for instance, has been translated into Chinese as Ken De Ji (肯德基, a transliteration of the English word of Ken-tucky). The marketers of KFC chose the sound-only method for the Chinese name; perhaps with the communicative purpose of conveying ‘foreign’ and ‘otherness’. However, Ken De Ji (肯德鸡, ‘Kentu, chicken’) could be an equally good, if not better, name. It has exact the same pronunciation as the former, but with a differ-ent third character meaning ‘chicken’, so is a combination of the sound component of ‘Ken De’ (Kentu-) and the meaning component of ‘ji’ (chicken). The advantage of the ‘Kentu(cky)-chicken’ translation is that it not only represents the (partial) sound of the original name, but also the meaning of ‘chicken’, a trade mark of KFC. This name would have been more Skopos effective, as the sound and meaning mix make the business of fried chicken more salient to its consumers. As chicken is after all the core of KFC’s business, the name seems more appropriate, as well as sounding more like the original name of ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’.

In another case, Lexus used to be translated in Chinese as Ling Zhi (凌志, ‘rise high, aspiration’), which is a meaning-based translation and was popular in China. However, the Chinese name was later changed to Lei Ke Sa Si (雷克萨斯, a transliteration), which has not been received well (Zhang, 2006). The American brand Rank Xerox (xerox equipment) was initially translated as Lan Ke Shi Le (兰克施乐, a transliteration). As it was sound-based, not many people knew what it represented. It became known much better after its Chinese name was changed to Quan Lu (全录, ‘all, record’), as it is easy to remember this meaningful name in Chinese (Zhang, 2006)

One of Skopostheorie’s foci is audience and target group, and the discussion in this section demonstrates that there is still space to improve. These controversial cases show the difficulties faced when conflicts between the marketers’ vision and the perception and preference of their consumers occur. A good name in the eyes of the marketers may generate negative connotations in the minds of customers, because people have different tastes and different ways of making sense of the world. Hence, a prior test is necessary to ensure the successful launch of a trans-lated brand name. One can never assume that what a company considers a good name will be seen as such by consumers.



5. Conclusions

This study demonstrates that one of the basic criteria for a successful brand name translated for China’s market is to determine to what extent the translated name can function in the target culture as effectively as the original name does in the source culture. In other words, the primary Skopos of translating an English brand name is to create a translated Chinese brand name capable of functioning opti-mally in China’s market.

This study shows that any effective strategy needs to be in accordance with the communicative purpose of achieving an optimal impact upon the target group, whether through a sound-based translation, a meaning-based translation, or a combination of both. This corresponds to the essence of Skopostheorie, which upholds that the end justifies the means. The end or the goal, that the translated Chinese brand name should have as many desirable features as possible, is para-mount and decisive in determining whether it is a success or a failure. Desirable features include phonetic appeal, suitable meaning, socio-culturally adaptation and consumer acceptance. The function — and communicative intent — oriented approach holds the key to a successful outcome. While it appears that a trans-lated name in Chinese with an added positive meaning is favoured because of the Chinese language being ideographic in nature, if the translated name in Chinese achieves the expected goal and caters to Chinese consumers effectively, then it does not matter whether the meaning or the sound, or both, are sustained.

This study challenges the traditional sound/meaning-based approach to trans-lation, and provides an enriched understanding of the importance of achieving communicative purpose and optimal functional impact in the target group. While the discussion in this study is based on Chinese data, the findings have implica-tions in translation of other languages. The insights generated add an important conceptual dimension to the study of translation and cross-cultural communica-tion in general. The findings of this study may also provide practical assistance for an effective outcome in translation and have pedagogical value in the teaching of translation.

Notes

* The authors are indebted to Herbert Pierson and anonymous reviewers, for their encourage-ment and valuable suggestions which have been incorporated into the final version.

1. There are also anecdotes of translated brand names from Chinese to English. A Chinese brand name does not always translate well into English if it is culturally unsuitable. For example, in China Fang Fang (芳芳, ‘fragrant’) is a well-known and readily accepted lipstick brand name.



However, Fang Fang would not go well to English speakers, because ‘fang’ in English means ‘sharp, pointed teeth of a snake or a dog’. Who wants to wear a lipstick with a name associated with poisonous teeth? Moreover, in China, there is a popular brand of poker cards called Maxi Puke (马戏扑克, ‘circus poker cards’). However, if we translate this brand name literally into English, it would be Maxi Puke, which would not be a good choice for marketing this brand. Bai Xiang (白象, ‘white elephant’) is a well-known Chinese battery brand name, but in English it means something that is generally useless but too valuable (to the owner) to throw away. There is a Chinese brand of carpets called Fanchuan (帆船, ‘sailing boat’). Its translated English name used to be ‘Junk’, but it was not received well in the West. The company later changed it to Junco.

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