4.2 Strategies Adopted in Successful Cosmetic Trademaks Translation....13 

   4.2.1 Pay Attention to the Associative Meaning of the Ttranslation....13

   4.2.2 Emody information of commodities...13

   4.2.3 Cater to Consumers’ Psychology...14

    4.3 The Successful Examples of Foreign Cosmetic Trademarks from 

    Reception Aesthetics.14

Chapter Five Conclusion....18

5.1 Findings.18

5.2 Limitations of the Study.18

5.3 Suggestions for the Future Study..18

References.20

A Study on Translation of Cosmetic Trademarks from the Perspective of Reception Aesthetics

Chapter One Introduction

In modern society, commodity economy has developed rapidly. Since the reform and opening up, China has experienced rapid economic development for more than 30 years, cosmetics in particular. There is an increasing number of people paying attention to their appearances and pursuing beauty by using cosmetics, especially women. So, English cosmetics trademark translation has become a real problem. Whether or not foreign cosmetics brands can achieve the expected economic benefits depends on consumers’ understanding, recognition and acceptance of the translation to a large extent. For the cosmetics company, a good trademark will help it gain a great success, in turn, a bad one may cause a great loss. Therefore, brand translation has to faithfully convey the cultural information. Also, it has to be be accurate, simple, flexible and innovative, for it can arouse peoples interests and desire to purchase.

1.1 Significance of the Study

Cosmetics, a product which could make people look younger and more beautiful, is playing an increasing role with the development of economy and trade. The translation of cosmetic trademarks is important to the development of international trade. A well-formed translation outweighs much, for it could attract people and increase their desire to purchase, thus helping the enterprise gain a great success.

1.2 Structure of the Thesis

This paper consists of five parts. The first part briefly introduces the importance of cosmetics trademark translation and the structure of this article. The second chapter is literature review, mainly introducing Reception Aesthetics Theory as well as its application in translation studies, which provides a theoretical foundation for the following research. The third chapter introduces some knowledge of the trademark translation, mainly including the three main principles of trademark translation as well as some factors that will influence cosmetics trademarks translation. The fourth chapter discusses problems in cosmetic trademarks translation according to Reception Aesthetics, strategies adopted in successful cosmetic trademarks translation, and some examples of cosmetics trademark translation under the guidance of Reception Aesthetics. Then in the fifth chapter, we arrive at a conclusion, which includes the major findings, limitations of the thesis and suggestions for the future study.

Chapter Two Literature Review

2.1 A Brief Introduction of Reception Aesthetics

Reception Aesthetics sprung up during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The representatives of Reception Aesthetics are Hans Robert Jauss and Wolfgang Iser, who belong to the University of Constance in Germany. There are five main schools that help form the theory of Reception Aesthetics. “They are Russian formalism, Roman Ingarden’s phenomenology, Prague structuralism, Hans-George Gadamer’s hermeneutics and Sociology of literature”(Liu Rui, 2011, p.10) . 

This theory critically absorbs the essence of the theory of hermeneutics, aesthetics and phenomenological aesthetics. It stresses the recipients’ aesthetic consciousness to the regulatory mechanism of the the works of art. It also emphasizes the recipients’ subjectivity and creativity.