‚Kostbares Pferd‘ oder ‚elegantes Mädchen‘ – ausgewählte Aspekte der Übersetzung deutscher Markennamen ins Chinesische

The aim of the article is to present selected aspects of the translation of German brand names into Chinese. First, the concept and functions of the brand are described, then the question of whether brand names should be local or global. Features of the Chinese language and writing, relevant to the translation of brand names, are also discussed. In the analytical part, linguistic and graphic features of Chinese brand names are characterized and methods of translating foreign names into Chinese are presented. These are (i) direct translation, (ii) free translation without regard to the original pronunciation, (iii) mixed translation, which takes into account both the pronunciation and the meaning of the original name. Of the 27 brand names examined, 11 were translated using method (i), 8 using method (ii) and 8 using method (iii).