An Analysis of the English Translation of Chinese Cultural Symbols in Huawei’s System Naming

In the context of globalization, Chinese enterprises’ cross-border communication involves both technological-product export and cross-context cultural symbol transmission. As a representative Chinese tech enterprise, Huawei integrates traditional Chinese cultural symbols such as myths, philosophical thoughts and natural imagery into its system naming, forming a unique brand cultural system. This study takes Huawei’s system names as the research object to explore effective international translation and communication of such cultural symbols. Based on cultural translation theory, it analyzes four English translation strategies adopted by Huawei: transliteration, free translation, phonetic-semantic translation and cultural image reconstruction. The results indicate that these diversified strategies balance cultural authenticity and overseas acceptability to some extent but face dilemmas like diluted cultural connotation transmission and cognitive barriers for overseas audiences. This study aims to provide theoretical references and practical guidelines for the international communication of Chinese cultural symbols, and facilitate the efficient external translation and global dissemination of Chinese culture.