目的论视域下公司及商品名的汉译——从“通用电气”谈起

Chinese Translation of Company and Trade Names from the Perspective of Skopos Theory Based on the Study of “General Electric”

国内很多非业内人士常常将'通用电气'误作'通用汽车',这是'通用电气'在目的语市场的译名失策,给公司的软实力带去了负面影响。虽然'通用电气'的中译名从译文成果的角度来说无懈可击,然而从译文最终目标的角度来说却并不成功。在翻译公司和商品名的时候,译者应当考虑到接受群体的文化和语言习惯以及译文可能出现的阐释,辩证把握译文忠实原文的程度,从而给出契合公司所面对的市场需求的译名。

Despite its distinctiveness and uniqueness in the US,GE is often mistaken as GM by non-professionals in China,which obviously is unfavorable for the publicity of GE in the marketplace. Although the target name of GE is truthful to its original text,it comes short of the translation objective. Therefore,on the translation of company and trade names,instead of rigidly adhering to the principle of truthfulness,translators are supposed to take the target receivers and their cultural conventions into main consideration and ensure that the target names are to the advantage of the companies.