영문 브랜드네임의 중문 브랜드네임 전환 방식에 대한 중화권 소비자들의 브랜드 평가에 관한 연구 -브랜드컨셉의 조절효과를 중심으로-

Evaluations of Chinese Brand Name by Different Translation Types: Focusing on The Moderating Role of Brand Concept

중화권 시장의 지속적인 성장으로 글로벌 브랜드들은 중화권 시장에 성공적으로 진입하기 위해서 다양한 노력을 기울이고 있다. 중화권 시장에 속한 국가들은 중국어를 공통적으로 사용하기 때문에 이 시장에 진출하려는 기업들은 영문 브랜드네임을 중문 브랜드 네임으로 전환해야 한다. 중문 브랜드네임에 대한 기존 연구들을 살펴보면, 중화권 시장에 진출한 글로벌 브랜드네임에 대한 사례분석에 초점이 맞추어져 있을 뿐 브랜드가 제공하는 편익과 중문 브랜드네임 전환방식과의 관계를 실증적으로 검증한 연구는 부족한 실정이다. 따라서 본 연구는 영문 브랜드네임이 중문 브랜드네임으로 전환되는 방식에 대해 살펴보았으며, 브랜드컨셉에 따라 중문 브랜드네임 전환방식에 대해 중화권 소비자들은 다른 평가를 내릴 것이라 예측하고 이에 대해 실증적으로 검증하였다. 연구결과 중화권 소비자들은 기능적 브랜드 컨셉제품의 경우 음운과 의미가 반영된 음운어의론식 전환방식에 대해서 가장 호의적으로 평가하였으며, 다음으로 의미가 반영된 의차식 전환이 호의적인 평가를 받았다. 반면에 상징적 브랜드 컨셉제품의 경우는 음운어의론식 전환방식을 가장 호의적으로 평가하였으며, 다음으로 음운이 반영된 음차식 전환에 대해 호의적으로 평가하는 것으로 나타났다. 실증결과를 토대로 글로벌 브랜드를 담당하는 브랜드 매니저들에게 자사 브랜드가 중화권 소비자들에게 제공하는 목표 편익에 따라서 중문 브랜드네임 전환방식이 달라져야 함을 제안하였다.

Brand names are often considered as a part of product and important extrinsic cues of product evaluation, when consumers make purchasing decisions. For a company, brand names are also important assets. Building a strong brand name in the Chinese commonwealth is a main challenge for many global companies. One of the first problem global company has to face is how to translate English brand name into Chinese brand name. It is very difficult decision because of cultural and linguistic differences. Western languages are based on an alphabet phonetic system, whereas Chinese are based on ideogram. Chinese speakers are more likely to recall stimuli presented as brand names in visual rather than spoken recall, whereas English speakers are more likely to recall the names in spoken rather than in visual recall. We interpret these findings in terms of the fact that mental representations of verbal information in Chinese are coded primarily in a visual manner, whereas verbal information in English is coded by primarily in a phonological manner. A key linguistic differences that would affect the decision to standardize or localize when transferring English brand name to Chinese brand name is the writing system. Prior Chinese brand naming research suggests that popular Chinese naming translations foreign companies adopt are phonetic, semantic, and phonosemantic translation. The phonetic translation refers to the speech sound that is produced, such as the pronunciation of the brand name. The semantic translation involves the actual meaning of and association made with the brand name. The phonosemantic translation preserves the sound of the brand name and brand meaning. Prior brand naming research has dealt with word-level analysis in examining English brand name that are desirable for improving memorability. We predict Chinese brand name suggestiveness with different translation methods lead to different levels of consumers' evaluations. This research investigates the structural linguistic characteristics of the Chinese language and its impact on the brand name evaluation. Otherwise purpose of this study is to examine the effect of brand concept on the evaluation of brand name. We also want to examine whether the evaluation is moderated by Chinese translation types. 178 Taiwanese participants were recruited for the research. The following findings are from the empirical analysis on the hypotheses established in this study. In the functional brand concept, participants in Chinese translation by semantic were likely to evaluate positively than Chinese translation by phonetic. On the contrary, in the symbolic brand concept condition, participants in Chinese translation by phonetic evaluated positively than by semantic. And then, we found Chinese translation by phonosemantic was most favorable evaluations regardless of brand concept. The implications of these findings are discussed for Chinese commonwealth marketers with respect to brand name strategies. The proposed model helps companies to effectively select brand name, making it highly applicable for academia and practitioner. name and brand meaning. Prior brand naming research has dealt with word-level analysis in examining English brand name that are desirable for improving memorability. We predict Chinese brand name suggestiveness with different translation methods lead to different levels of consumers' evaluations. This research investigates the structural linguistic characteristics of the Chinese language and its impact on the brand name evaluation. Otherwise purpose of this study is to examine the effect of brand concept on the evaluation of brand name. We also want to examine whether the evaluation is moderated by Chinese translation types. 178 Taiwanese participants were recruited for the research. The following findings are from the empirical analysis on the hypotheses established in this study. In the functional brand concept, participants in Chinese translation by semantic were likely to evaluate positively than Chinese translation by phonetic. On the contrary, in the symbolic brand concept condition, participants in Chinese translation by phonetic evaluated positively than by semantic. And then, we found Chinese translation by phonosemantic was most favorable evaluations regardless of brand concept. The implications of these findings are discussed for Chinese commonwealth marketers with respect to brand name strategies. The proposed model helps companies to effectively select brand name, making it highly applicable for academia and practitioner.