A Study On Brand Name Translation From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

The acceleration of economic globalization has brought about the dramatic increase of business activities in the international market. Therefore, more and more attention should be paid to the internationality of the brand name, the study of which is crucial for the enterprises to be the survival in the fierce competition at home and abroad. Consequently, it is now a matter of urgency to obtain an appropriate and acceptable translated version for the sake of bilateral communication. Brand name translation is an important part of advertising translation, which has its own distinctive features and complexities, requiring a systematic and comprehensive study. With a thorough examination of relevant essays in academic journals in the last decade, the author observes that most researches linger on describing translating the brand name superficially and neglect extra-linguistic aspects, which are essential to the studies on the translation process. The present research explores brand name translation principles and strategies on the basis of Relevance Theory, with the aim of accounting for aspects of the brand name translation from a pragmatic perspective. Meanwhile, the translation process is tentatively designed, intending to expound the workings of the translator's mind on view of cognition.The present thesis mainly consists of the following parts:introduction, literature review, theoretical framework, the brand and the brand name, brand name translation process and strategies, as well as conclusion. Chapterl introduces the purpose, methodology and significance of the present study. Chapter 2 presents a general review of researches on the brand and brand name translation, which includes the studies both at home and abroad. Chapter 3 discusses the theoretical basis adopted in the present thesis, i.e., Relevance Theory. Chapter 4 explains the definition and functions of the brand and the brand name. Meanwhile, the importance of brand name studies is analyzed as well. Chapter 5 is the core of this research, arguing that brand name translation process should be analyzed from relevant respects; such factors as the cognitive contexts of the original brand name creator and target consumers are concerned with, as well as the translator's intention. This part also indicates that the making of appropriate target linguistic choices is psychologically motivated by the translator's striking for optimal relevance. Chapter 6 tentatively summarizes the brand name translation principles and methods from.the perspective of Relevance Theory. The last part concludes that brand name translation is quite different from translation conventions due to its distinctive features and unique functions. The translator can make an accurate assessment of the source and target cognitive environments with the principle of relevance, taking the differences between the original and the receptor contexts together with his/her understanding of the translation task into consideration for the purpose of achieving cross-lingual transfer and communicative function.The originality of this thesis is to research specific translation process on view of Relevance Theory with abundant examples. Through the combination of various aspects in cognitive context and the perspective of pragmatics, the present study explores the translator's psychological motivations hidden behind the choices of target language and effective methods in the course of brand name translation. With reference to Gutt's relevance-theoretic approach, it is tentatively enriched and complemented to a certain degree.