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Ohmyrichard Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Company motto

Hi,everyone.
These days I am invited to give lectures on English writing to adult students on an in-service training programme. Yesterday morning, during recess, one of the students asked me about how to translate a company motto. The company, a building material manufacturer, intends to place the English translation of the motto right under its Chinese equivalent on its Brief-Introduction webpage. Its classical Chinese motto is "???? ????",which is usually used to describe a paragon of virtue and literally means "He always lives up to his words and enjoys high public regard." In my view, although a company seeking prosperity can be compared to a man who always wishes for respect from others, it may be a better idea to have the literal meaning of the Chinese motto slightly altered to suit this business situation. I plan to translate it as "Honesty is the best policy and quality matters most, we believe." I won't have the English translation corresponding word for word with the original version, for literal translation oftentimes confuse and mislead the readers. Rather, I think this treatment works best: the Chinese version will be intended for the Chinese readers while the English version will be instantly understood by international visitors of the webpage. I would like to have your comments on the acceptability of my English translation on the part of native speakers.
Thanks.
Richard
  
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