On Localization and Standardization in Brand Name Translation

Based on the assumption that the “free translation – zero translation” continuum is the linguistic realization of “localization – standardization” continuum of marketing strategy adopted by multinational corporations in the process of globalization, the present research classifies the translation methods used by the 10 most popular American companies and their brands in China in 2012 and attempts to testify the hypothesis in a quantitative way.