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1、论英语电影的片名翻译AbstractAbstract: The idea hat film is a form of art loved by people has been generally accepted. Nowadays, films have been more and more internationalized, and the translation of the films title has become one of the important parts in translating of a film. The translation in this field
2、has its character and good translation of film titles plays a key role in attracting audience. Through analyzing many translated titles, the author found some classical ones. However, not all the translated titles are satisfying. There are some inappropriate ones, which are only made with the purpos
3、e of pursuing the success in business. Therefore, there are also some translations, which have nothing in common with the original English ones. So, in order to avoid these mistakes, translator should pay close attention to the basic principles and methods of film title translation. The basic princi
4、ples of film title translation not only provide a theoretical ground for the dynamic process of translation of movie titles, but also serve as a guidance for standardizing such kind of translation. What is more, with the guidance of equivalent translation theory, through devices such as literal tran
5、slation, transliteration, and free translation, it is possible to ensure that the translated Chinese-English film titles can produce equivalent effects on target audience.Key words: film title translation principles methods 摘要摘要：电影是一种人民喜闻乐见的艺术形式，这一点已得到公认。目前,电影越来越表现出国际化的趋势,而电影片名的翻译是电影国际化的点睛之笔。电影片名的翻译
6、有自身的特点，其翻译质量的好坏将直接影响到能否吸引译入语观众。由于各民族间文化和审美之间存在差异,对外来电影片名的翻译很难把握。本研究通过对大量实例的分析发现，虽然片名的翻译中不乏经典之作，但并不是所有的电影片名翻译都让人满意。有些电影一味追求商业效果而使片名哗众取宠，有些翻译的片名与电影内容大相径庭。因此，在电影片名的翻译中应该注意翻译原则和方法。电影片名翻译的四大原则不仅为片名翻译的动态性过程提供了理论依据，同时对规范电影片名的翻译起到了引导作用。而且，只有在翻译理论的指导下，灵活运用直译，音译，意译等多种手段，才能保证英语电影译名在译入语观众中产生和在原语观众中相似的效果。关键词：电影片
7、名翻译 翻译原则 手段 ContentsAbstract-摘要-Introduction-1Part Review of Related Translation Theory -11.1 The basic principles of film title translation-21.2 The basic methods of translation-3Part The translation of film titles-42.1 The translation of person and place names-42.2 The translation of other types o
8、f films-42.2.1 Literal translation-52.2.2 Free translation-62.2.3 The synthesis of transliteration and free translation-7Part Case Analysis-73.1 美国丽人vs. 美国红蔷薇- -83.2我知道你是谁vs. 有种来抓我-=-83.3 洛丽塔vs. 一树梨花压海棠-9 3.4后天vs. 末日浩劫-10 Conclusion-10Bibiography-12Appendix-13 IntroductionThis is a study of the prob
9、lems in translating the titles of English films into Chinese. This kind of translation is an interesting topic, and it is also an important one. It is interesting because it involves the elements of history, art, culture, nature and literature, which never cease to amuse audiences. Its importance is
10、 due to the fact that the successful translation of film titles determines whether certain movies can be successful or not in the market of China, especially at period of time when the English films are flooding. This thesis will focus on the translation of English films titles, categorizing a numbe
11、r of collected translated terms on the basis of the translating methods translators use and judging the translations based on the rules of culture. It can be seen that the translation of English films into Chinese deploys mainly four translating methods：(1) literal translation; (2) free translation;
12、 (3) transliteration; (4) the synthesis of transliteration and literal translation. However, several cases discussed in this paper dont fall into any categories listed above, and a further study and analysis are devoted to them. As we know, there are many differences existing between China and Engli
13、sh speaking countries in terms of history, culture and language. We lack both translators who know languages as well as cultures well enough, and theoretical guidelines of translation. Therefore, more efforts are required in this field.Part Review of Related Translation TheoryAs a new thing in the l
14、ast century, the development of film factory is amazing. Both in China and other countries, there are many classic works, which are already part of valuable culture. Films have been a new bridge of countries. They can present the history, nature and literature in a direct way. No matter whether it i
15、s a Chinese film or an English film, translation is needed if the film is going abroad. Therefore, the translation of film title is the key point in this field.The film title is the summarization of scenario and thoughts of one film in a few words. The title must be concinnity, dramatic, meaningful
16、and accepted by different kinds of audience. The good examples in this field, such as Waterloo Bridge, Gone with the Wind, and Top Gun, make great contribution to their successful releasing of the films in China. Another case in point is the American film The Matrix. Originally, “Matrix” is a profes
17、sional word of calculating machine, which makes audience puzzled. The Chinese translation of this title is “黑客帝国”. It not only tells people the film is a science fiction, but also arouses audience great interest. In fact, for the audience, the title is the first sight of the film and it makes a lot
18、of sense.1.1 The basic principles of film title translationIn order to provide us with a good basis for observation and discussion, it is necessary to clarify some basic ideas about film title translation. Although the film title translation is one of the important parts in the development of film,
19、in fact there are few determinate rules and theory about it (RuanLi,2006). The problem will be discussed in details in the following paragraphs.As Susan Bassnett puts it, “The purpose of translation theory, then, is to reach an understanding of the process undertaken in the act of translation and, n
20、ot, as is so commonly misunderstood, to provide a set norms for effecting the perfect translation.” (Susan Bassnett，2005) To better perform the job of film title translating, there are several fundamental principles of translation for translators to follow. First, the translator should understand pe
21、rfectly the importance of the culture. Each person has his own way of expressing ideas, and there are also phrases, idioms and names, with particular meaning. It is really important because if the translator does not understand and use them correctly, his translation will be misunderstood by people.
22、 There was a famous American film Seven in 1995. “七宗罪” is the final Chinese title for it, because the film tells us a story about a crazy guy. He thought he was the God and killed person who made mistakes concerning gluttony, greed, sloth, lust, pride, envy and wrath. Based on the plot, the translat
23、ion of “七宗罪” is much better than a simple character “七”.Second, the translator should make connections between language and the story in the film. This is called the rule of information. At this point the translator must have an appropriate word to sum up the plot of the film to making the audience
24、clearly understand about the film. In fact, this is a hard job, especially when there are parallels between the films. For example, the films acted by Arnold Schwarzenegger are translated as the family of “魔鬼”，no matter what they are about. Some of the family members are Terminator (魔鬼终结者), Kinderga
25、rten Cop (魔鬼孩子王)， Eraser(魔鬼毁灭者)， Total Recall(魔鬼总动员). This series of titles greatly lack the information of films, which give the impression that all of these films have the same story.Third, the translator should pay attention to the aesthetics in title translation. Different countries have dispara
26、te definitions of aesthetics. For Chinese, we purse symmetry and rhyme, adore the four-word structure for the film title and sometimes even have recourse to rhetoric. However, English countries prefer the terse ones. We can see it form the film titles. There are many English films titles only have o
27、ne word, such as, Fugitive, Patton, Eraser, Happiness, Bounce and Beautiful. In China ,the names are translated as “亡命天涯”, “巴顿将军”, “蒸发密令”, “童年往事”, “机票情缘” and “美若天仙”. Another way to get the aesthetics in title translation is rhetoric. In this way, we get many good ones, the Chinese name for Gaslight,
28、 the Great Gatsby，Old Wives for New and Love Me Tenderly are “郎心如铁”、“大亨小传”、“旧宠新欢” and “铁汉柔肠”. The aesthetics plays an important role here. Chinese people are familiar with this kind of titles and they will be more willing to watch the movie.Forth, the translator should know that the success in busin
29、ess is the final goal for the title translation. A good title may arouse peoples interest at their first sight and make them pay for the film. If the title makes people think that the movie has a boring plot, the film will fail. Due to this principle, the Chinese name of The Rock becomes “勇闯夺命岛”. Th
30、e suspension in the title makes it novel and brings about the success of tickets selling. Examples of this kind vary , such as It Happens One Night (一夜风流), Sister Act(修女也疯狂) and The Net(网络惊魂).1.2 The basic methods of translationWithout any doubt, the methods of translation are major issues when we a
31、re dealing with translation. So far, there are four major basic translating methods in film title translation, and they are transliteration literal translation, free translation as well as the synthesis of literal translation and free translation. The first method is transliteration. Transliteration
32、refers to the process by which one reads and pronounces the words and sentences of one language using the letters and special symbols of another language. Thus transliteration is meant to preserve the sounds of the syllables in words. The second method is literal translation. Literal translation ref
33、ers to translating a sentence literally, keeping the original message form, including construction of sentence, meaning of the original words, metaphor of the original and so on. Literal translation works when equivalence can be found among the language as well as the target language in terms of for
34、ms and contents, at the same time, the cultural information can be preserved.Another way to translate the film title is free translation. Free translation refers to, according to the meaning of the original, without paying attention to the details and the translation would also be fluent and natural
35、. In free translation, in order to preserve the contents, the literal meaning of the source language would be given up because of certain social and cultural limitations. The last way combined the above-mentioned two ways. The synthesis of transliteration and literal translation is being used in phr
36、ases or sentences that, partly, can use transliteration while the other is confined to free translation.Part The translation of film titlesAfter reviewing the methods used in film title translation, it is necessary to analyze the cases. Generally speaking, the translation of film title can be divide
37、d into two categories: the first one is the translation of person and place names, which usually adopts the method of transliteration; while the second one is the translation of other types of films, which involves much more complicated translating methods. A great number of examples will be analyze
38、d to explain the theoretic above.2.1 The translation of person and place namesAs a part of film title translation, the translation of person or place name adopts transliteration, which preserves the sounds of the syllables. The application of transliteration requires veracity, standardization as wel
39、l as special consideration to traditional translated term. In other words, transliteration requires rigidly abiding the standardized pronunciation rules of the source language and the target language. The films named by person or place take a large part in English films. Transliteration is the best
40、way when the person or place name is famous and known by most public. Usually, there is no right word matching the name of a person or a place in the language into which the translator is translating.Among the collected translated terms of transliteration, Titanic must be the most famous one. As the
41、 name of a boat, there is no real meaning for the word “Titanic”, so the smartest way is to translate by means of transliteration. The same reason goes well in the case of Harry Porter, Casablanca and Sahara. 2.2 The translation of other types of filmsThe first type of films is easy to deal with. Ho
42、wever, comparing to person and place name translation, other translations of film titles do not adopt the method of transliteration; instead, they usually employ literal translation, free translation or the synthesis of literal translation and free translation. The reason leading to the difference i
43、s that, to a films title, the basic principles play key role in the translation. Therefore, transliteration can make the translated term of a person or place name simpler and easier to memorize. However, to other types of titles, we need to know not only their pronunciation but also their meaning. S
44、ometimes, the names of some titles have certain historical or cultural implications; hence, the translation of those types is much more complicated.2.2.1 Literal translationTranslation should be fluent and easy to comprehend by target language readers. Generally speaking, a minority of film title tr
45、anslations employ literal translation. Compared with other methods, it is an easy and intelligent method because this kind of translation keeps the style of the film. So literal translation is the first choice when equivalence can be found between the source language and the target language in terms of forms and contents.
