Chinese Translation for Cosmetic Industry: 4 Highly Effective Tips to Help Your Business Thrive

Recently updated on February 21st, 2024 at 07:58 pm

One of the sectors with the biggest growth at the international level has always been the beauty and cosmetics industry. Moreover, the rise of the Internet and e-commerce has allowed companies in the industry to boost their sales by reaching many more customers.

Therefore, it’s important to advertise and market beauty products in different languages to maximize the ability to attract new customers and increase sales.

In this article, we’ll look into the strategies of a professional Chinese translation for cosmetic industry in the world’s second largest cosmetics market.

Translating Cosmetic Brand Names into Chinese

More and more foreign cosmetic brands come into the Chinese market and successfully attract Chinese consumers’ eyes. At the same time, companies are beginning to realize the importance of getting brand names in Chinese.

A brand name conveys a variety of meanings, both literally through its actual meaning (if it has one) and connotatively through its sound and the variety of associations and public meanings it has built up through use over time.

Gardner and Levy 1955

Why is it Important to Translate Cosmetic Brand Names into Chinese

Translating cosmetic brand names into Chinese comes with many perks.

• Distinguish the products
• Create branding image
• Display the characteristics of the products
• Increase sales

Chinese Translation for Cosmetic Industry: 4 Highly Effective Tips

To achieve the purpose of marketing, the translator should make a good reserve of knowledge with the standard of “content faithfulness, language conciseness, content optimization, cultural adaptation” and translate based on specific practice in order to achieve the marketing goal of an enterprise.

💡 Here’re 4 commonly used methods to translate cosmetic brand names into Chinese.

#1 Transliteration

Transliteration means translating text according to the original pronunciation and using words with similar pronunciation as a translation.

For example, Estee Lauder, an American manufacturer and marketer of prestige skincare, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products, is translated into Chinese  “Ya shi lan dai” (雅诗兰黛). The pronunciation of the Chinese name is similar to that of the original one and both Chinese and English names have 4 syllables while the literal meanings and associated meanings of the Chinese name are quite different from those of the English name.

“Estee Lauder”, the English brand name, is named after one of its founders and has been reinforced in the advertising strategy and copy over a number of years, particularly through slogans that emphasize and reinforce the associated meanings, which were lost when crossing Chinese borders.

“Ya shi lan dai” (雅诗兰黛), the Chinese name, is meaningless as a whole and characters in it have nothing to do with the literal meaning of “Estee Lauder” while each character is meaningful and can arise associations of “elegance, fragrance, fashion, and taste”, core ideas or benefits of the brand.

The phonetic adaptation of the Chinese name of “Estee Lauder” helps the brand build a consistent global image in the Chinese market and promote the perceived quality of Estee Lauder products.

💡 Some one-syllable brand names are translated into two-syllables or three-syllables and two-syllables into three-syllables or four-syllables because two and three syllables are often adopted in Chinese names to meet the cultural-psychological needs of Chinese consumers.

Examples:

Original Brand Names	Chinese Translation
Mary Kay	玫琳凯 (Mei Lin Kai)
Pond’s	旁氏 (Pang Shi)
Sassoon	沙宣 (Sha Xuan)

#2 Literal Translation

Literal translation is to translate directly according to the name of the original cosmetics, in other words, it is translated into the same or similar target language according to the meaning of the original text.

It is a common translation method in trademark translation and is also an ideal translation method and the advantage of which is to convey the information and emotion of the original name accurately.

💡 In literal translation, sometimes the order of the translation is adjusted to make it more consistent with the expression of the target language. In addition, to pursue a more concise expression, the original translation can also be omitted in the literal translation process.

For example, “Clé de Peau Beauté” should be literally translated into “开启美丽肌肤的钥匙” at first, but the final version is “肌肤之匙”. Overall, this literal translation method has made little changes to the original meaning and the Chinese translation for cosmetic industry is more compatible with the composition, packaging, and design of the product.

#3 Transcreation

Transcreation is a fusion of the words “translation” and “creation.” Sometimes transcreation is also called “creative translation.” Namely, because the content isn’t translated word for word. However, it remains faithful to the heart of the original text. This often means that adapting words, adding idioms, and adjusting figures of speech is necessary to the transcreation process.

For example, “Revlon” Chinese translation is “露华浓”. The Chinese translation for cosmetic industry does not simply combine several Chinese characters together. In fact, it is cited from the Chinese poet Li Bai’s “Qingping tune three” “云想华裳花想容，春风拂槛露华浓”, which describes the beauty of Yang Guifei – the beloved consort of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang dynasty, she’s also known as one of the Four Beauties of ancient China.

Other examples of transcreation are:

Original Brand Names	Chinese Translation
Johnson’s	强生 (Qiang Sheng)
Maybelline	美宝莲 (Mei Bao Lian)
Nivea	妮维雅 (Ni Wei Ya)
SLEK	舒蕾 (Shu Lei)
PORTS	宝姿 (Bao Zi)
L’Oréal	欧莱雅 (Ou Lai Ya)

💡 In the above examples, the pronunciation of the Chinese translation for cosmetic industry is similar to the English counterparts, however, the Chinese translation has better meanings reflecting the features of the cosmetics.

#4 No Translation

The no translation method is often used when the original brand name is of simplicity and of both phonology and visual beauty. From the perspective of aesthetic psychology, people will emerge a kind of expectation while perceiving something with a beautiful rhythm.

Taking SK-II as an example, the pronunciation of the original name can bring about a sensation of beauty and the “-” in the middle makes the brand name distinctive and fashionable. In addition, the length of the original brand name is perfect, and the content is easy to remember, so it’s a wise strategy to keep the original name.

English-Chinese Glossary of Cosmetics Terms

The following is a list of commonly used Chinese translation for cosmetic industry.

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