An Analysis On Brand Name Translation From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

Brand is the product of the modern economy, which is closely related to the enterprise management. A good brand name of a corporation or a product can always be transformed into a sort of intangible wealth. As the development of the economic globalization, more and more enterprises are taking part in the international marketing competition, because of which the brand name translation, in turn, becomes the key step after naming the brand. Imaginative and accurate translated brand name can not only reflect the types, features and functions of the goods, but appropriately present the different cultures which are contained in the goods in a new environment. Brand name translation is not only to translate the original language to the target language like some simple texts, but to recreate the brand name based on the usage of linguistic knowledge and some corresponding context infonnation. So the brand name translation especially seems to be full of challenge.The main theoretical frameworks of this thesis are the Adaptation Theory of Jef Verschueren and Eugene A. Nida's five categorizations of culture. As for the Adapation Theory, Verschueren views that it contains four analysis angles, namely contextual correlates of adaptability, structural objects of adaptability, dynamics of adaptability and salience of the adaptation processes. Eugene A. Nida(1964) presents the categorization of culture, in which culture is simplified as ecological culture, material culture, social culture, religious culture and linguistic culture.Firstly, the significance, the purpose and the research background of the thesis are briefly introduced. Secondly, based on the previous study of brand name language, this thesis puts forward the functions, word formation methods and some rhetorical devices of brand name language, and then the previous study of brand name translation, that of Adaptation Theory and present problems of them are summed up. Furthermore, the study of some brand name translation methods summarized before is carried out by questionnaire in order to explore whether there exit some differences about their acceptance level, which is one creative point of this thesis. Finally, based on the four analysis angles of Verschueren's Adaptation Theory, Nida's five classifications of cultural context and the collected corpus, a detailed analysis and discussion of brand name translation is acquired, which is the other creative point of this thesis.This thesis aims to point out some cultural and linguistic factors which ought to be paid attention to during the course of brand name translation, and to supply a certain theoretical foundation and translation guidance to future study of brand name language and brand name translation, for example, which brand name translation method is more popular than others; which cultural and linguistic factors need to be paid attention to during the brand name translation and which word formation method is available to form an English brand name, etc.