On Translation Of Company Names From The Perspective Of Reception Theory

Company names represent the image of a company, and they are the first advertisement for companies. Translated company names are playing a more and more important role in the process of company internalization and localization. The author holds that company names are the embodiment of the subjective intent of company founders and they should also be consumer-oriented. However, the status and the role of target consumers have not yet been given enough attention in the study of the translation of companies. The thesis aims to apply reception theory to the translation of company names with a special focus on exploring effective ways of translating names for Chinese companies from the aspect of the reception of translated names on the part of target consumers.The data for this thesis comes from Fortune500of the year2011and the electronic bulletin for the111th Canton Fair held in2012, including the English company names and Chinese company names of214companies.On the basis of the data, the thesis first analyzes the features of original Chinese and English company names, finding that "distinctive name" is the most important component in company names, and then proposes that the study of translation of company names should focus on the translation of "distinctive name". The thesis also finds that compared with original English company names, the horizon of original Chinese company names is broader, and so Chinese-English translation of company names is more difficult than English-Chinese translation of company names. Then the author analyzes the major methods for translating company names:transliteration, homophonic translation, literal translation, and conducts a comparative study on the methods employed respectively by English-Chinese and Chinese-English translation of company names. According to the comparative study, the thesis finds that the share of transliteration and homophonic translation is smaller among the methods for Chinese-English translation of company names than it is among the methods for English-Chinese translation of company names. Moreover, transliteration and homophonic translation are more frequently employed by small and medium-sized companies other than larger-sized companies in China for translating their company names. After analyzing corresponding examples of translated company names according to reception theory, the thesis claims that the choices of translation methods for company names are related to the extent to which the role and status of the target consumers is emphasized by the translator in the reception process of the translated names.Based on reception theory, the thesis finally proposes the principles for translating Chinese company names into English:to achieve linguistic and nonlinguistic fusion of the horizon of translated names and the horizon of expectation of target consumers.Linguistic fusion of horizon is discussed from two aspects which are to achieve fusion of horizon in terms of language itself and to achieve fusion of horizon in terms of language for company names. As for the fusion of horizon in terms of language itself, the thesis proposes some solutions such as using already existing English words, creating new words, modifying Pinyin and using abbreviations. For the fusion of horizon in terms of language for company names, the thesis holds that English versions of Chinese company names should be in conformity with the linguistic features for original English company names.Nonlinguistic fusion of horizon is discussed from the aspects of the reservation of the original horizon and the creation of new horizon in the translated names. The thesis points out that literal translation can be employed to reserve the original horizon; and at the same time, the creation of new horizon can be achieved by reserving the sound of the original name, and by abandoning the sound of the original name and according to the request of the company and the horizon of expectation of target consumers.By applying reception theory to translation of company names, the thesis theoretically serves to be a reference for the further study from other perspectives such as aesthetic tendency and consumption psychology. Practically the thesis proposes the principles of fusion of horizon and relevant solutions for the English translation of names for Chinese companies, which can effectively increase the acceptability of the English versions of names for Chinese companies, and help Chinese companies gain rapid acknowledgment and acceptance on the part of target consumers and then open the new market quickly.