Abstract:
Since China joined the World Trade Organization, more and more firms go into international business, which plays a crucial role in the development of the economy. Naturally, the companies have to translate their trademark into English so that the foreigners can understand. What’s more, the translated trademark should be accepted by the foreign consumers in order to open the overseas market. There are a lot of trademark translation methods, such as transliteration, liberal translation, transliteration and meaning implication, literal translation and non-translation. It’s hard to say which method is better, and the most important point is that no matter which kind of translation method is used, the translator has to take the Chinese-English cultural differences into consideration. Only by doing so, the translation can be successful. Because each country has its unique culture, if the translator does not pay attention to the cultural differences, it may cause misunderstanding and the products may fail to have a good market overseas. From the trademark translation, people can see the differences in language, including pronunciation differences, semantics differences and vocabulary differences, and the differences in geography, differences in politics, differences in taboos, differences in the connotative meanings of animals, differences in the connotative meanings of colors, differences in legends and mythologies, and the differences in habits and consumers’ psychology. Besides, there are differences in people’s thinking pattern. As long as the translator pays attention to the cultural differences, the products will have a good opportunity to have a good sale overseas.

Key words: cultural differences; trademark translation; translation methods
                            
摘  要：
自从中国加入世贸组织以来，越来越多的公司加入了对经济发展起着重大作用的国际贸易中。当然，公司必须把它们的商标名翻译成英文，这样，外国人才能看懂。不仅如此，只有当外国顾客接受翻译后的商标，产品才有机会打开外国市场。商标翻译的方法有很多，如音译法，意译法，音译结合法，直译法，不译。很难说哪种翻译方法更好，但不管采用何种翻译方法，译者都必须考虑中外文化差异，只有这样，翻译才算得上成功。因为每个国家都有各自独特的文化，如果译者忽视文化差异，就可能引起误解，产品在海外也无法拥有一个良好的市场。从商标翻译中，我们可以看出语言的差异性，包括发音、语义、词汇方面的差异；地理位置的差异；政治、禁忌、动物含义、颜色含义、传奇神话、消费者心理与习惯以及思维方式的差异。只要译者注重文化差异，商品就有可能在海外销售良好。

关键词：文化差异；商标翻译；翻译方法

1 Introduction
Culture is a complex concept. Edward Taylor, a British scholar, defined “culture” in his book Primitive Culture as “a complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by individuals as members of a society”. Each country has its unique culture, and we learn each other country’s culture through different ways. Since China joined the World Trade Organization, a considerable number of firms take part in the international trade competition. Therefore, the exported products become one of the important windows to show the culture. Trademark translation plays a crucial role in the transmission of culture, through which people can see the differences of cultures.