Evaluation Of Fast Fashion Brand Name Translation

Fast fashion is a new brand management strategy,especially in the apparel industry.Uniqlo,for instance,occupies a strong international presence.It is especially popular among young consumers in China.Currently,fast fashion is a highly competitive market force,which brings in a new focus on strengthening its brand recognition.The promotion of the brand name is a fundamental element in brand building.In the Chinese market alone,a large number of fast fashion brands are localized through translation,aiming for a wider and more effective brand recognition.However,the quality of their translation,especially target consumers' ready acceptance of the translated brand name,is a question that remains unanswered.It is therefore important to study how to optimize the localized translation of fast fashion brand names.This research studies the translated brand names of fast fashion,especially the apparel brand names,by means of conducting questionnaires and interviews of young Chinese consumers.It aims to discover their recognition and acceptance of such brand names.The research procedures started from selection of Fast fashion brands,which were based on listings of most popular brands in authoritative brand name websites.26 international and 4 local Fast fashion brands were selected and presented to target consumer subjects.By filling out questionnaires and answering interview questions,target consumer subjects evaluated the translation quality of brand names by classifying each translated brand name into satisfactory,moderate,or unsatisfactory brand names.Therefore,based on such classification,the researcher deduced the translation methods that were regarded acceptable or unacceptable.Then the results of target consumers' evaluation were discussed and validated by recourse to the theoretical framework of Skopos Theory,specifically by an integrated analysis of translation quality on textual coherence,culture,loyalty and adequacy,as well as translation perspectives.The discussion and validation reveals that the analysis under Skopos Theory is in line with the target consumers' evaluation.The research has yielded several interesting findings.Firstly,target consumer subjects have a lowest acceptance of transliterated brand names.Under the framework of Skopos theory,transliteration violates the principle of Skopos Theory,thus making transliteration an undesirable method to use when translating a fast fashion brand name.Secondly,target consumer subjects give high ratings to those brand names using zero translation,abbreviation translation,free translation+transliteration.These three methods are all in agreement with Skopos Theory.For instance,for translated brand names using zero translation and abbreviation translation,they receive a higher acceptance among young Chines consumers because of their higher level of education,English literacy,and openness and familiarity with western language and culture.All in all,zero translation,abbreviation translation,free translation+transliteration,and graphic translation are more suitable for the translation of fast fashion brand names,whereas transliteration is not a preferable method.Other findings include such relevant factors when evaluating translation quality: semantic recognizability,meaningfulness,pronounceability,conciseness and length of brand names.The significance of the research lies in the application of translation theory in brand name translation of a new business industry: fast fashion.It provides an insight into young consumers' acceptance of fast fashion brand names,and it can help businesses make better decisions in band name localization so as to better promote their brands.