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1、Translation of English Film TitleIntroductionWith Chinas policy of reform and opening-up to the outside world and its entry into WTO and the strengthening process of globalization, communication among nations is becoming more and more frequent, of which cultural exchange is an important part. As an
2、important means of cultural communication, films play a very important part. They are also one of the most important elements in the worlds cultural communication, which can be regarded as an effective way of promoting mutual understanding between different counties. Since film titles have always be
3、en put in an eye-catching place, the translation of English film titles becomes more significant. This thesis mainly deals with film title translation from English into Chinese.The translation of film titles is not an easy job, but a very complicate and difficult one. Whats more, many take translati
4、on equivalence as the translation criterion, but many problems cannot be solved by just following the traditional equivalence principle. It is the starting point at which this thesis tries to offer some constructive suggestions for English film translation. This thesis takes German functionalist tra
5、nslation approach, mainly Skopostheorie, as the theoretical basis. Skopostheorie takes the target text as the prime principle guiding the translation action, which sees translation as a purposeful activity. As an intentional intercultural communication, Skopostheorie can be used as a guideline for t
6、he translation of English film titles. “The end justifies the means” 1 is its most distinctive features, which offers much freedom for translators to use a satisfactory method. This thesis is composed of four parts. Part I is a general analysis of English film titles, discussing the features and fun
7、ctions of film titles. Part II is the analysis of factors influencing the naming of English film titles. Besides, these two parts serve as the foundation for the analysis of the following translation strategies. Part III is the literature review of German Functionalist Theory focusing on Skopostheor
8、ie. Part IV offers a detailed analysis of translation strategies under the guidance of Skopostheories. The conclusion summarizes the whole thesis as well as puts forward some suggestions.Part I Analysis of English Film Titles1.1 Features of English film titles Film titles are basically characterized
9、 by conciseness and vividness. Good film tiles may add appeal to the films and contribute a lot to the box-office value. Although films have something in common with other literary forms, they have their unique linguistic, aesthetic, and cultural features, to which translators should pay much attent
10、ion in order to provide a better understanding of the study subject.The first is linguistic features. Generally speaking, as far as their structure is concerned, English film titles are usually very short, concise in language so that they will be easy to read and to remember for the audience. In the
11、 view of the form, they employ one or two words which may be the name of hero or heroine, the place or the key year the story takes place, for instance, Ali拳王阿里, Parrton巴顿将军and so on. However, in most cases, they adopt various kinds of phrases as titles, namely, noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective
12、 phrases, adverb phrases and prepositional phrases. Examples are On Golden Pond 金色池塘, Out of Africa走出非洲, Dance with Wolves与狼共舞, Face off变脸are all titles of this kind.The second is aesthetic features. Generally speaking, the aesthetic characteristics of English film titles are closely related to the
13、application of rhetorical devices, such as simile, metaphor, irony, personification, alliteration, and so on. The application of rhetoric devices to film title has been proved effective and powerful. Each figure has its own characteristic and its own way of achieving certain effect, either to enligh
14、ten the understanding, to arouse the imagination or to move the passion. For example:Dance with Wolves (personification)Pride and Prejudice (alliteration)Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! (repetition)The Age of Innocence (irony)War and Peace (contradiction)True Lies (oxymoron)The third is cultural features. Lang
15、uage does not exist independently and is closely related to culture. “Language has a cultural, not a biologically inherited function, changes in culture often give rise to new types of discourse” 2. All good films are social products of cultural factors and ideological trends of certain eras. Mostly
16、, the cultural features of English film titles are closely related to the quotation of allusions which convey rich cultural meanings. For example, Adams Rid, Seven, Silence of the Lamb, Original Sin, and so on.1.2 Function of English film titles According to Vermeer, “function refers to what a text
17、means or is intended to from the receivers point of view” 3 .In his A Textbook of Translation, Peter Newmark proposes six functions: expressive function, informative function, vocative function, aesthetic function, phatic function, and metalingual function. Nord proposes in Translation as a Purposef
18、ul Activity that the following functions: the referential, the expressive, the appellative and the phatic. Considering combination of the English film tiles and the above theories, here we will study the four main functions, that is, the informative, aesthetic, expressive, vocative functions.The inf
19、ormative function is the most important function for an English film. Newmark proposes that the informative function of language is featured with the external situation as it core, and external situation means the facts of a topic, reality outside language, including reported ideas or theories. In t
20、his thesis, the informative function means informing the audience of the relevant information about the film, for instance, when and where the story happens or whom the film is about. Some titles tell us the hero or heroine of the film, for example, the Forrest Gump阿甘正传, Mr. and Mrs. Smith史密斯夫妇, som
21、e may tell us the content or background of the film, such as Peal Harbor珍珠港, Titanic泰坦尼克, some reveal the theme of the film, which are abstract, only after you see the film, will you know why it was named, for instance, Brave Heart勇敢的心, The Sound of Music音乐之声, and some will provide us with the plot
22、of the film, such as Around the world in 80 days环游世界80天, Saving Private Ryan拯救大兵瑞恩. According to Newmark, language is designed to please the sense. Through the rhyme, sound effect and the rhetoric devices employed in film titles can add more charm to the films. The aesthetic function of the film can
23、 attract and touch the heart of the audience with nice language and satisfy the audience by the conciseness and vividness, for instance, A Walk in the Cloud云中漫步, Gone with the Wind乱世佳人, The Wizard of Oz绿野仙踪.“The expressive function is sender-oriented” 4. And it refers to the senders attitude toward
24、the object and phenomena of the world. The expressive function of the film titles means the authors attitude or feeling to this film. Through the title the audience can sense the theme, the mood and the structure in which the film is organized. For instance, The Shaw Shark Redemption 肖恩克的救赎.Newmark
25、proposes that the core of the vocative function of language is the readership, the addressee. As to film titles, the addressee may refer to the audience, so the vocative function is to attract the audience to buy the tickets with the satisfaction of their psychology which can contribute a lot to the
26、 box-office value. Therefore, many film producers prefer to use the advertisement to promote their films, such as Vice in Miami迈阿密风云, Death on the Nile 尼罗河惨案and Earthquake惊魂夺命, and so on. Part The Factors Influencing the Naming of English Film Titles2.1 Cultural factorsAccording to Nord, “the cultur
27、al-special phenomenon is the one that is found to exist in a particular form or function in only one of the two cultures being compared”5 .We know that there are a lot of differences between Chinese and English cultures. Film titles are closely related to various aspects of societies, religions, phi
28、losophies, histories and so on. So in translating an English film title, we should pay more attention to cultural factors. This paper will discuss cultural factors from three aspects, namely, religion, thinking style and different regions. First, as we all know that the western people believe in Chr
29、istianity, film titles also will be influenced by it. Actually, a lot of allusions, idioms and slangs originate from the Bible, the religious tales which have contributed a lot to the formation of English film titles, such as, Seven comes from the Bible, and it refers to the seven deadly sins, namel
30、y, pride, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, avarice, and sloth. So 七宗罪is more suitable than 七. Second, in translation, there is an important difference in thinking styles between Chinese and western people. The Chinese people prefer to think in terms of images, that is, concrete thinking, however, wester
31、ners prefer to think in terms of abstraction, that is abstract thinking. In English film title translation, translators always try to make English film titles agree with Chinese thinking style. So when we find all the meanings of the words are not suitable, it is necessary to make some changes or re
32、create another title. Third, although people in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan have the same thinking way and cultural background, there are often different versions for one and the same English movie title. We can compare the following examples:Original titleHKTaiwanMainlandPulp Fiction黑色通缉令危
33、险人物低俗小说Pretty Woman风月俏佳人麻雀变凤凰漂亮女人Lolita洛丽塔一树梨花压满堂禁忌情迷The English Patient英国病人别问我是谁英伦情人Legends of the Fall燃情岁月燃情岁月真爱The Terminator终结者未来战士魔鬼终结者 From the comparison, we can see that HK and Taiwan versions are much more fanciful than the mainland ones. They are apt to use inflammatory words that can arou
34、se strong emotion. For one reason, the translation theories and practice of the mainland are more developed than those of HK and Taiwan and another reason, which should not be neglected, is that HK and Taiwan, with their special social system, pay more attention to commercial effects, even to the ex
35、tent of excessiveness, while the mainland is more faithful to the original, taking both commercial and aesthetic effects into account. The third reason is that HK and Taiwan have their own habitual usage of words, especially some words in their dialects. When these dialects are used, titles sound mo
36、re attractive to the local audience.Original titleHKTaiwanMainlandSpace Jam太空也入樽太空也入樽空中大扣篮Multiplicity丈夫一箩筐丈夫一箩筐复制丈夫The Runaway Bride走佬俏佳人走佬俏佳人落跑新娘Titanic铁达尼号铁达尼号泰坦尼克Schinders List舒特勒的名单舒特勒的名单辛德勒的名单2.2 Commercial factorsAs a popular artistic form, films are the product of commercialization. Films ar
37、e apt to attract the public attention and earn a large box-office income. Therefore, as the important part of English film titles are also tinged with commercial color，there have emerged a lot of exciting passionate, mysterious or thrilling titles, while some of these titles are not the reflection o
38、f the original story. For instance, The Shawshark Redemption have three renderings , namely,刺激1995,月黑风高and肖申克的救赎. As far as we know that the film describes the escape of the hero from Maines Shawshank state Prison ,actually, the film is not so exciting, but quite shocking, inspiring and moving, what
39、s more, it has nothing to do with the year 1995 except that the film was released in 1995.月黑风高is more causing because the hero escapes from the prison in one dark night. 肖恩克的救赎is the Mainland version, which is the literal translation, leading confusion and ambiguity. So compared with the Mainland an
40、d HK versions, the Taiwan version is deeply influenced by commercial factors. Another example is Backtrack赤面煞星. After seeing the film, we learn it tell us a story between a woman and a killer. Instead of killing her, the killer falls in love with her and helps her get through the crisis. Actually, t
41、he title offer no information about this film, so the version 赤面煞星is actually tinged with commercial color.2.3 Individual factorsAccording to Nida, “different people will have diverse understandings of a certain text, and, therefore, two entirely different interpretations and translations of a text
42、are always both reasonable. No translator can avoid a certain degree of personal involvement in his work” 6. Due to different peoples different personal experiences, pre-understanding, and cognitive modes, the interpretations are bound to be different. As a vital important part of English film, film
43、 titles share the same feature. First, the translation is a recreative process. The translators subjective awareness, world value, value trend, cognitive mode and the aesthetic taste and so on, will influence understanding and translation of the objective text, that is, the original film titles. So
44、to some extent, the translation of the film titles have tinged with the subjective idea of the translator which can reflect the understanding and realization of the translator, so different translators have different versions of the same film titles. Part III Literature Review3.1 Development of Skop
45、ostheorieAs a relatively complete and systematic theory, functionalist approaches to translation didnt appear overnight. “The 1970s and 1980s witness a move away from the static linguistic typologies of translation shifts and an emergence and flourishing in Germany of a functionalist and communicati
46、ve to the analysis of translation.”7 “Linguistics alone wont help us. First, translating is not merely and not even primarily a linguistic process. Secondly, linguistics has not yet formulated the right questions to tackle our problems, so lets look somewhere else” 8. The prominent figures in this f
47、ield are Katharina Reiss, Hans J. Vermeer, Holz-Manttari and Christiane Nord.Katharina Reiss is one of the initiators of the functionalism. She proposes that the ideal translation would be one in which the aim in the TL is equivalence as regards the conceptual content, linguistic form and communicat
48、ive function of a SL. One exception is when the target text is intended to achieve a purpose or function instead of that of the original. Another exception is when the target text addresses an audience different from the intended readership of the original That is to say; the target text has a specific group of target addresses other than that of the original. Both exceptions have allowed the functional perceptive in the translation process to overrule the equivalence standards. The translation critics can no longer rely
