<p>Introducing English brand names to the Chinese market has always been a challenge due to linguistic and cultural differences. While there have been extensive discussions on translation methods, Chinese consumers’ actual perception of different types of translation has been understudied. This research aims to investigate Chinese consumers’ perception via an eye-tracking experiment. We selected 20 English brand names and prepared phonetic, semantic, and phono-semantic translations in Chinese. Eighty-seven Chinese native speakers participated and were randomly assigned to read one group of experiment materials. They filled out a questionnaire afterwards to evaluate their purchase intention based on the brand names. Data analyses show that phonetic translations attract more attention and involve more processing effort than other translations, as reflected in higher fixation duration and smaller saccades, while semantic and phono-semantic translations are more engaging, as reflected in higher pupil dilation. In particular, phono-semantic translations have the highest subjective ratings, suggesting better reception by Chinese participants. The results imply that endowing Chinese brand name translations with meaning while keeping the original sound is most effective for Chinese consumers.</p>