The Chinese Translation of Automobile Brand Names from the Perspective of Reception Aesthetics

王慧琼

Abstract：With the development of the automobile industry in the world， a well-translated automobile brand name becomes more and more important in the international trade. Naming automobile brands and having automobile brand names translated into acceptable symbols in international market becomes a challenging business. The thesis has made a study on the Chinese translation of automobile brand names in the perspective of Reception Aesthetics and investigated the translation methods under the guidance of Reception Aesthetics.

Key Words： Reception Aesthetics; automobile brand name; translation

1. Introduction

The brand name of the automobile reflects the aesthetic aspect of different countries and different groups of people and forms the unique characteristics of the automobile culture. It takes the Reception Aesthetics as a guide， and discusses the functions， aesthetic characteristics， and translation methods of automobile brand names. First， the automobile brand name should have information function， aesthetic function and calling function， so as to achieve the purpose of promoting products and promoting sales; Secondly， the aesthetic characteristics of automobile brand name are mainly reflected in three aspects： sound beauty， aesthetic beauty and shape beauty. In the study， the author discovered a number of improvements from the perspective of Reception Aesthetics.

2.An Overview of Reception Aesthetics

Reception Aesthetics， also called Aesthetics of Reception or Reception Theory， originated in the late 1960s and thrived in 1970s， which is put forward by Hans Robert Jauss and Wolfgang Iser of the Constance School in Germany. Reception Aesthetics leads researchers to a new field to study literature， which changes the research direction from the works and the author to the reader. Long time ago， researchers had focused on studying the works and the authors， but ignored the importance of readers who actually were the ones to evaluate if the work was successful， because the work eventually is used to attribute to all the people who live in the society， not only belongs to the author or some exclusive readers. With the emerging of the Reception Aesthetics， researchers began to turn to study readers rather than the works or the authors only.

2.1 Readers Role and Status

Different from the previous theories， Reception Aesthetics highly affirms the importance and uniqueness role of reader， putting the position of author to the second place. The advocates of Reception Aesthetics believe the real literature or art is created by the gathering of the author and the reader rather than the author himself. As Jauss asserts that “in the triangle of author， work and public （reader）， the last is no passive part， no chain of mere action， but rather itself an energy formative of history. The historical life of a literary work is unthinkable without active participation of its addresses” [1：19]. So from this point， the reader is a creator or producer who redefines the meaning of the text according to his own reception， differing from the traditional opinion that the reader is always the role of accepting what the text is conveying without putting responses in.

2.2 Translators Role and Status

Reception Aesthetics emphasized the readers role in the production of a literary work. This provides us with new insights to translation. From Reception Aestheticspoint of view， the whole translation process is made up of two reception stages， reception of the original text by the translator and that of the translated version by the reader. In the first stage， the translator plays a role of a reader who needs to understand the original text depending on his own reception. After reading and understanding the source text， the translator is going to change his role from a reader to an “author” who needs to convey the whole meaning of the source text in target language.

3. An Aesthetic Analysis of Brand Name Translation

From the previous part， we know that Reception Aesthetics provides a new perspective of translation study. Hou Xiangqun states that “it is Reception Aesthetics that exerts profound influence on translation studies and makes translation studies divorce themselves from the text-centered heaven” [2：19-22]. In automobile brand name translation， the role of consumer is equal to the readers who should be taken account in the process of brand name translation by translator. This is the same as the perspective of Nida “the reaction of target readers should be the same with that of the original readers” [3：43]. For brand names， the reaction of customer is the fundamental factor.

4. The Methods of Automobile Brand Name Translation

4.1 Transliteration

Some English automobile brand names are taken from names of people. For example， the brand name Maserati originates from the railway workers Rudolph Maserati; the founder of Chrysler is Walter Chrysler. The Elysee was taken from the Elysee Palace in France; Dodge originated in a small town in Kansas， in the western United States. As consumers are in social and historical environment， they are influenced by specific political， economic， and environmental factors. They have a certain aesthetic expectations. This method of translation takes into account the expectations of Chinese consumers， and on the basis of retaining the foreign languages voice elements， it meets the traditional culture and aesthetic needs of the Chinese people and reflects more Chinese culture， traditional aesthetics， and mainstream values.

4.2 Free Translation

Some automobile brand name adopted the free translation method of Chinese translation， that is， the Chinese meaning of the English automobile brand name. Such as Jeeps Commander， Volkswagens Golf and Beetle， Dong feng Citroens Triomphe， Fords Mustang， Taurus， Explorer， Automobile enival （Fiesta） and Cougar， Honda Pilot， Element and Airwave. Receiving aesthetic theory concerns the readers action， and believes that readers can complete a literary work by filling in the “blank” of the text structure. The transliteration of automobile brand names forms a short and powerful summoning structure. The minds of readers adopt the selection and arrangement of different words of the automobile brand name to form their own specific feelings， thus completing the understanding and acceptance of different automobile brand names.

4.3 Zero Translation

Most of the automotive brand names that use zero translation are character numbers that have certain identification meanings such as automobile model or performance， which includes numbers and letters.  Examples include Ferrari 448 GTB， Nissan NV200， Mazda MX-5， Honda CR-V， Lincoln MKZ and Lexus LX. By using zero translation method， the auto brand name allows readers to imagine and understand the meaning and image of the auto brand name， embodying the “open diagram structure of the reception aesthetics. Zero translation of automobile brand names can， to a certain extent， deepen consumers impressions of automobile brand names and help generate and consolidate brand effects.

5. Examples of Automobile Brand Name Translation

5.1 BMW

BMW is a premium automobile. BMW Groups brands have a clear brand image， and their products have rich product connotations in design aesthetics， dynamic performance， technical content and overall quality.  BMWs Chinese translation is 寶马. It also contains rich added value that can stimulate an infinite trend of thought. Horses represent transportation in the history of China. In the history of Chinese warfare， horses are the magic weapon for good soldiers to defeat their enemies. BMW is a fine horse. In order to seize a large number of “Blood and Blood Badminton，” the Western Han regime under the control of Han Wudi once had two bloody wars with the Dawan Kingdom in the Western Regions. Fast speed， good endurance， body shape， considerate all this BMW is the preferred mount of the emperor. Culture and language are closed each other， which accounts for the difficulty of translation.

5.2 Jaguar

The extended front and its lines are its characteristics， and it looks like a leopard-like figure. To mention the word “Jaguar”， most people naturally will associate words such as “noble”， “elegant”， “graceful”， and “royal style”. If we ignore the movement gene in the deep inside， we can only explain your understanding of it， and stay at the shallow level. Approaching a Jaguar， it is its temperament Elegant， while driving a Jaguar， the real gain is a speed and passion. XKl20 was born to keep writing records and refreshing records， and the brand “Jaguar” does not only mean the appearance of a gentlemans demeanor. I sincerely admire the man who translated Jaguar into “Jaguar”. It is only these two words that can interpret the energy of the brand.

6. Conclusion

Reception Aesthetics， not only focuses on the understanding of the text， but also studies the role of the readers in the literary acceptance. According to Tyler [4]， a good translation is one in which the merit of the original work is so completely transfused into another language as to be distinctly apprehended and as strongly felt by a native of the country to which that language belongs as it is by those who speak the language of the original work. Brand name translation， like the naming of brand names， must make full use of creative methods to attract consumers. Among them， the aesthetic value of a brand name is the key to the success of a brand name translation [5]. In order to meet the increasingly competitive demands of market， the detailed information of commodity and the differences of aesthetic psychology between diverse cultural customers should be taken into consideration in the translation of brand names.

Bibliography

[1]Jauss， H. R. Toward an Aesthetic of Reception[M]. Minneapolis， Minnesota UP， 1982.

[2]侯向群. 接受理論与翻译探讨[J]. 山东外语教学， 1994， （1）： 19-22.

[3]Nida， E. A.Toward a Science of Translating[M]. Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press， 2004.

[4]Tytler， A. F. EssayonthePrinciplesofTranslation [M]. London： John Benjamin Publishing Company， 2010.

[5]唐忠顺. 商标翻译的美学关照[J]. 贵州工业大学学报， 2004， （6）： 62-64.