A Study Of E-C Translation Of Cosmetic Brand Names From The Perspective Of Linguistic Adaptation Theory

Owing to China s opening-up policy and the rapid development of nationaleconomy, people s living standard has been greatly improved and consumptionpattern has been optimized. The growing need of cosmetics in China encourages alarge quantity of foreign brands to enter Chinese market. Brand name translation isundoubtedly viewed as the first and foremost step to open up the market. As anindispensable part of commercial advertising, brand names are playing a vital role inbuilding corporate image, publicizing products, promoting sales and acquiring marketshares. Therefore, it is self-evident that brand name translation is of great necessityand practical significance.In recent years, though brand name translation has attracted the attention of manyscholars, there still exist some problems in terms of depth and breadth. The researchesconcerning CBNs (Cosmetic Brand Names) translation are even counted. Till now,only a few scholars have studied the topic from the perspective of FunctionalistSkopostheorie and Receptional Aesthetics. However, CBNs translation is not only abilingual communication but also a culture exchange. It is a complicated activity ofrenaming with various factors taken into consideration seriously.The thesis is conducted from the perspective of Jef Verschueren s LinguisticAdaptation Theory. Firstly, the author makes a hypothesis on the adaptive factors thatshould be taken into consideration to get the well-accepted CBNs; Then, from theperspective of the receptors (Chinese consumers), the author carries out a survey inthe form of the questionnaire, aiming to achieve two goals of testifying the feasibilityof the hypothetical adaptive factors and assessing the current situation of E-Ctranslation of CBNs. Lastly, based on the results of the survey, the practical translationstrategies are put forward and a detailed analysis concerning how the strategies areemployed to meet the specific requirements of Chinese consumers will be conducted accordingly. The combination of quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis reducesthe subjectivity to a great extent, which contributes to the novelty of the thesis.The thesis aims at demonstrating the applicability of Linguistic Adaptation Theoryto guide E-C translation of CBNs, by probing into what adaptive factors bothlinguistically and contextually should be taken into account and what translationstrategies can be adopted to realize the adaptation. Therefore, a model within theframework of Linguistic Adaptation Theory is tentatively proposed. This can providea new perspective to direct E-C translation of CBNs to improve the overall translationquality in Chinese market. Additionally, this can provide valuable references for brandname translation of other kinds of products.After a comprehensive analysis, it is concluded that Linguistic Adaptation Theoryis applicable to guide E-C translation of CBNs. As for the adaptive factors, at thelinguistic level, the translator should adapt to the linguistic conventions of Chineseconsumers phonetically, lexically and semantically; and at the contextual level, thetranslator should adapt to the factors in the mental world and the social world. Inorder to realize the adaptation both linguistically and contextually, domesticationshould be the main strategy, while foreignization should be the supplementary strategy.In short, the key to get well-accepted CBNs lies in the successful adaptation tointernal-and external-linguistic factors by flexible manipulation of practicaltranslation strategies.