Skopostheorie And Chinese Translation Of English Brand Names

As China’s economy is becoming more and more integrated into world economy,many English brands are rushing into Chinese market and getting familiarized by localconsumers. A brand name not only helps to distinguish itself from other products, butalso helps to establish product image and has profound impact on consumers’psychology. In this way, Chinese translation of English brand names (EBN) plays avery important role in gaining market shares. In recent years, remarkable progress hasbeen achieved in Chinese translation of EBN, but there still appears to be someproblems.With Skopostheorie as the theoretical basis, the present thesis makes someattempts in the research of Chinese translation of EBN. According to Skopostheorie, themost important factor in a translational action is Skopos which determines thetranslation strategies to be employed. The translator infers the Skopos from thetranslational situation and translates the text according to the purpose for which thetranslation is needed.This thesis is composed of six chapters.The first chapter introduces the background and purpose of this research.The second chapter reviews the definition, features, major functions and formationof brand names.The third chapter introduces the theoretical framework, including a brief review ofSkopostheorie, the three important rules of Skopostheorie, namely the Skopos rule, theintra-textual coherence rule and the inter-textual rule.The fourth chapter reviews previous studies of the translation of English brandnames and points out that there is room for improvement.The fifth chapter applies Skopostheorie to analyze Chinese translation of EBN forthe realization of informative, aesthetic and vocative functions. Guided bySkopostheorie, this chapter summarizes three translation principles: the attribute relevance principle, the cultural awareness principle and the memorability principle.Some often used translation strategies are affirmed and recommended: transliteration,literal translation, literal translation plus transliteration and creative translation. Theprocess of selecting translation strategies is also briefly introduced. With the threeSkopostheorie rules as criteria, sample translations are evaluated for their degree ofsuccess with comments and suggestions on principles and strategies to be followed inreceiver-oriented Chinese translation of EBN.The sixth chapter presents the conclusion of this thesis，which focuses on themajor findings and shortcomings of this thesis and further stresses the significance ofSkopostheorie to Chinese translation of EBN.