摘 要

近几年我国化妆品的出口量激增，而国货化妆品商标名称翻译的规范性、雅观性和功能性都会对于客户知名度和外贸订单有一定的影响。国货化妆品商标名称的翻译因其应用场合特殊，具有极强的特殊性和跨文化性。本文将从现有的国货化妆品商标名称的英语翻译实例着手，基于各种翻译理论对已有的国产化妆品商标名称的汉英翻译进行理论分析并对其做出评价。在实用价值上，本文将对已应用于国际市场进行销售的品牌的英文翻译提出看法和改进建议，以及为未应用于国际市场进行销售的品牌翻译提供翻译的建议。本文或将为国货化妆品公司提供商标翻译思路，有助于提高我国国货化妆品的国际认知度，增加外贸销售额。

关键词：化妆品商标翻译；信达雅翻译原则；功能对等理论；生态翻译理论

Abstract

In recent years, the export volume of Chinese cosmetics has increased sharply. The standardization of the Chinese-English translation of Chinese cosmetics brand trademark has a certain impact on customer popularity and the quantity of foreign trade orders. The translation of Chinese cosmetics trademark has strong particularity and cross-cultural characteristics because of its special application occasions. Based on various translation theories, this paper will make the theoretical analysis and the evaluation of the Chinese-English translation of domestic cosmetics trademarks, starting with the existing examples of Chinese-English translation of domestic cosmetics trademarks. In terms of practical value, this paper will put forward opinions and suggestions on the translation of Chinese cosmetics trademarks that have been applied to the international market for sale, which will help foreign consumers to have a deeper understanding of Chinese cosmetic brands and bring about purchasing intention.

Key Words: Cosmetic trademarks Translation; YanFu’ Translation theory; Functional equivalence theory; Eco-translatology

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Research Background 1

1.2 Research Innovation 1

1.3 Research Objectives and Significance 2

2 Theoretical Framework and application 3

2.1 faithfulness、expressiveness、elegance/gracefulness and the order 3

2.2 Eco-translatology 4

2.3 Functional equivalencetheory 6

3 Translation method and the application 8

3.1 literal translation and free translation 8

3.2 transliteration 9

4 Some Matters Should be Pay Attention to 10

4.1 Cross-cultural Communication 10

4.1.1Disengagement of Cultural Background 11

4.1.2 Avoiding Cultural Conflict 11

4.2 Exclusion of Registered Trademarks 12

5 Conclusion 13

5.1 Summary of Cosmetics trademark translation theory and methods 13

5.2 Limitations and Outlook 13

References 15

Acknowledgements 16

A Study of Chinese-English Chinese Cosmetics Brands’ Trademark Translation Based On Three Translation Theories

1 Introduction

Research Background

As we all know, with the rise of China's science and technology, the research capacity of China has also made rapid progress. Nowadays, more and more Chinese cosmetics brands are pushing out new products, which get the favorable reception from domestic consumers. And more and more cosmetics companies are no longer satisfied with the domestic market. They are going to make overseas arrangement, which can bring new opportunities and challenges to their enterprises. When they are making the exports for the record, they need to register their brands’ English name as the first step. And there is no doubt that a well-designed trademark can leave the first and deep impression to the consumers and it also can reveal the brand style, show the brand image and transmit the brand concept. If they want to leave the oversea users a deep impression, an excellent translation of trademark is necessary. But how to translate it becomes a large problem to the cosmeceutical manufactures. On the translation of cosmetics trademarks, we must satisfy two points: some rules of trademark translation and whether the translation is elegant or not. Regarding the first point, it is not necessary to repeat that the cosmetic trademark is also a trademark. Regarding to the second point, people who use cosmetics believe that skin care and makeup can make them more beautiful, therefore elegance is one of the most important elements.

Research Innovation

When I was doing the research, I found out that the direct research or analysis on this area is

almost blank. At present, the translation of cosmetic trademarks can be divided into market

behavior and academic research. The market behavior of cosmetic trademark translation is

mixed. Many manufacturers use a translation at will without investigation and research. There

are obvious problems in these trademarks’ English translation. But there are also some exquisite

translations. In the field of translation studies, some researchers analyze the brand translation

but not on cosmetics, some researchers do the analysis of the English-Chinese translation, etc.

Estee Lauder, Lamer, Make up Forever…The translation of Chinese cosmetics brands is very

special because it contains two elements, one is the brand and the other is the cosmetics.

Different trademarks have different origins and brand concepts. Therefore，we cannot use the single or settled translation theory for each Chinese cosmetics trademark’s translation. The translation must be based on a lot of aspects.(Ji 2011:179)

Research Objectives and Significance

Purpose of the study: This paper will analyze the current situation of Chinese-English translation of cosmetics trademarks based on three translation theories, make the corresponding evaluation and give suggestions for the improvement of Chinese-English cosmetics trademark translation.

For cosmetics companies：Helping the cosmetics companies to find translation ideas and translate the English trademarks which can enhance brand image and embodiment the brand connotation. This will improve the foreign consumers’ recognition of Chinese cosmetic brands foreign consumers. In order to stimulate foreign consumers to buy Chinese brand cosmetics and increase the number of cosmetics foreign trade orders

For foreign consumers: Improving the foreign consumers’ cognition of Chinese cosmetics. High -quality cosmetics trademark translation enables foreign consumers to understand brand positioning at a glance, eliminate their misunderstanding of Chinese cosmetic brands, which can bring them more cosmetic choices and experiences.

For the cosmetics trademark translation study: By integrating different translation theories and methods, this paper will filling in the blank of some research in this field to provide a theoretical basis and ideas for future researchers.

2 Theoretical Framework and application

In my point of view, the trademark’s translation, above all the cosmetics’ trademark translation is so special. There is no doubt that we cannot apply a fixed translation template if we want to do high quality cosmetics trademark translation. But we can identify the most appropriate translation theory which can help us find the right direction of translation and clarify the thinking of translation.(He 2018:504) First, we need to recognize and understand different translation theories, and then find some translation theories that can be applied to the translation of cosmetic trademarks. If we cannot find the most appropriate translation theory that can be used directly, we need to redefine or recombination the existing translation theory and apply them to the different cases.

2.1 faithfulness、expressiveness、elegance/gracefulness and the order

The most universal translation theory is faithfulness and smoothness, but it is not the most appropriate in the translation of cosmetics trademarks. There are many other translation theories which are similar to it, but more suitable than it. One of the most famous is raised by a Chinese translator, Yan Fu. He came up with faithfulness、expressiveness、elegance/gracefulness（信、达、雅）.

People who use cosmetics always believes that skin care and makeup can make them more beautiful, therefore elegance/gracefulness is the most element. Cosmetic consumers are mostly women and beauty-loving people. An elegant trademark name can attract consumers and stimulate consumption.(Wang 2014:627)

And expressiveness is secondary. Every brand has its own brand positioning, sometimes literal translation cannot reflect brand positioning simply. (Keh 2016:1349)Although I ranked faithfulness last, it's undeniably important sometimes.