英文电影名称的翻译及其经济效益的外文翻译资料.doc

1、学年论文题目 英文电影名称的翻译及其经济效益 学生姓名 李月 学 号 20081352019 院 系 语言文化学院专 业 英语实用翻译指导教师 刘丽梅 二一一 年 十二 月 三十 日Translation of English Movie Titles and Its Commercial Profit By Li YueIn partial fulfillment of the requirement For the B.A. degreeDepartment of English TranslationSchool of Languages and CulturesNanjing Univ

2、ersity of Information Science & Technology December, 2011AcknowledgementII am indebted first and foremost to my advisor Mrs Liu Limei for her attentive guidance and great encouragement for conducting a creative article and trusting myself about my ability. I am also grateful for her insight and valu

3、able feedback in the process of my paper writing. Im also grateful to my classmates for their company during my university life. Because of them, I got so many encouragement and motivation. Because of them, I know the value of friendship. Because of them, I know competition is always with the compan

4、y of cooperation. The most important people I want to thank to are my parents. Without their dedicated care and deeply love, I will not have the chance to open my eyes to see the world and enjoy the study life in the university. Without them, I will not get the chance to perform on the stage of yout

5、h. am indebted first and foremost to my advisor Mrs Liu Limei for her attentive guidance and great encouragement for conducting a creative article and trusting myself about my ability. I am also grateful for her insight and valuable feedback in the process of my paper writing.Translation of English

6、Movie Titles and Its Commercial ProfitLi YueDepartment of English School of Language and CultureNanjing University of information Science & TechnologyAbstract: English movies, especially American giant pieces, have penetrated in our daily life and rank first among all kinds of filmmovies without dou

7、bt. Then how to attract attention of audience at first sight and make them have a cursory understand about the movie? The key is the translation of movie titles as they can reveal the story to some level. ThereforeSo it requires some skills and principles in translation of movie titles. beside the i

8、ntroduction of some translation skills in allusion to classification of movies, certain principles and requirements will be mentioned here, which all translators should follow. MeanwhileMeanwhile I will analyze the commercial profit and value of movie titles in which way we can get a further underst

9、and about the titles.Key words: English movie titles, translation, skill and principle, commercial profit摘要：英文电影，尤其是一些美国大片，已经深深填满我们的日常生活，而且毫无悬念的位居榜首。然而，一部电影又能如何让观众一眼就注意到并且对电影有个大致的了解呢？关键就在对英文电影名称的中文翻译上，因为一个电影名称能够在一定程度上显现出整个故事的中心。所以在翻译片名的过程中，我们介绍了一些针对不同类型电影的翻译技巧，除此之外，还提到了译者必须要遵守的相关准则与要求在翻译时我们需要一定的翻译技巧

10、和原则，从而译者能够拿出专业的翻译态度，并选出最适合的翻译策略。与此同时，我也将为大家分析一下恰当合理吸引眼球的影片译名所潜在的商业价值， 并揭露一下当今社会中，一些译者或电影公司为片面追求经济利益而对影片名称的胡乱扭曲的现象，电影名称的商业价值，从而使我们对电影名称翻译有更深一层的认识。关键词：英文电影名称，翻译，技巧与原则，商业效益1. Introduction:Nida says : “Translation consists in the reproduction in the receptor language of the message of the source languag

11、e in such a way that the receptors in receptor language may be able to understand adequately how the original receptors of the source language understand the original message” (马会娟，2003：28). Therefore, when we undertake the translation of English movie titles, which is the threshold of a audiovisual

12、 feast, we should follow certain skills and principles through which the Chinese audience can accurately comprehend the soul of the movie and enjoy the filmmovie fully and delightfully. As titles of English movie can be stimulated with the plot and offer some clues, we should pay certain attention a

13、nd take careful investigation as a translator. The introduction of foreign films into our country plays an important role in motivating cultural communication between east and western, enriching our leisure time and mental life. Nevertheless, currently translation of movie titles remains a problemat

14、ic issue. Often the same movie title has several different translations. Mainland of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong can hardly reach an agreement which induces confusion and inconvenience for the audience.Skills of Ttranslation of English Movie Movie Ttitles Movie is a comprehensive art and the translatio

15、n of English movie titles is a branch of non-literary translation. These two factors demand translators to follow some certain translation principles and skills and possess rich cultural knowledge and solid language foundations. English movie title translation is not to translate simply and mechanic

16、ally but to be based on the story and consider the similarities and differences between eastern and western culture as well as the acceptance of translation. We should use different translation skills to translate different movie titles.of films 2.12.1Classification: As the case stands, before we se

17、t up to do the translation of titles, we could systematically classify the movies in terms of the content. It is regularly classified into four categories, comedy, Dracula movie, science fiction and love story. According to the skills of classification, the translation could be more easily done and

18、tightly catch the eyes of audience by its vivid and lively title. 2.1.1 2.11Science fiction: First of all, I want to start from science fictions of America are the hottest ones, science fictions of America, which enjoy most popularity among audience ranging from kids to middle-age men and women. The

19、 skill of translation of this classification is word-for-word translation. Referring to “Avatar”, I think everybody knows and most peopleof you have enjoyed the audiovisual feast in the theatre. In China, the title is translated into 阿凡达,，I think this name may be more familiar to you. Some others li

20、ke Iron Man, Spider Man, Super Man, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park are respectively translated into 钢铁侠，蜘蛛侠，超人，哈利波特，侏罗纪公园，these are very familiar filmmovie titles to our audience. By word-for-word translation, we can get the major role of the movie or the place where the story happens. Why do translato

21、rs give such a concise and condensed Chinese title to the movie? I think Iit is just where the enchantment of the original names of American science fictions manifests.2.1.2 2.12Dracula movie: This kind of movies also has a mass of audience, who tend to enjoy the identifiably horrific feeling from D

22、racula movies. Before we set to translate titles of this kind, we need to ferment for a while in mind and addict ourselves to the terrible context. The title we translate should make audience help trembling at the sight of it. Here follows some good examples: Final Destination(死神来了), Wrong Turn（致命弯道

23、）, Saw（电锯惊魂）, Insidious（阴儿房）, LADDA Land（阴佣花园）. 2.1.13Comedy: When translating comedies, we just try to keep the relaxing atmosphere and a wee smile in our face. Have you heard of a famous comedy “just my luck”? The response may be not, but the Chinese translation of the filmmovie must be familiar t

24、o you. It is 倒霉爱神, with the famous leading role Lindsay Lohan. Another typical comedy is Bruce Almighty(冒牌天神)，which tells a story about an ordinary newscaster, who challenges the god for his power, then becoming a god, and finally knows being a god is challenging. From the Chinese title, we could fe

25、el the relaxation and humor. Spooky Dog(恐怖狗狗)，Dairy of a Wimpy Kid(小屁孩日记)，Babe(宝贝小猪罗), these are all highly appreciated by audience. 2.1.14Love story: Love stories usually emphasize the softly fragrant feeling and deeply and sincere emotion. We can also conclude to one word: Romantic. Many classical

26、 love storiesy may come to our mind, impressed on our mind. Here we cite some examples by ways of explanation. Waterloo Bridge(魂断蓝桥)，its Chinese title reveals the desolate but beautiful story by means of its particular comprehension of the filmmovie. “Once”, a famous Ireland filmmovie isare translat

27、ed into 曾经拥有，a perfect translation that reveals the deep and quiet love between a couple. When we translate filmmovie titles in the way of its classification, the priority is to seize the essence and connotation of the filmmovie. Then we can make a good translation as easily as winking.2.2.1 Literal

28、 translationLiteral translation is frequently used in movie title translation. By converting the source language grammatical constructions to their nearest target language equivalents, literal translation can preserve both the content and originality in most cases. In occasions when a title matches

29、the story of a movie perfectly- Saving Private Ryan, Around the World in 80 Days, and if the target language is similar-拯救大兵瑞恩，环游世界八十天 not sounding awkward or unnatural, are capable of describing the story, literal translation can be adopted. As most English movie titles consist of nouns or noun phr

30、ases, literal translation is the simplest and most effective technique used in movie title translation. Most descriptive titles, such as a Beauty and the Beast 美女与野兽, Gladiator 角斗士, The Butterfly Effect 蝴蝶效应, Rambo: First Blood 第一滴血, Schindlers List 辛德勒的名单, Anna and The King 安娜与国王, Roman Holiday罗马假日

31、, The Age of Innocence 纯真年代, The Shawshank Redemption 肖申克的救赎, Sleepless in Seattle 西雅图未眠,and so on. 2.2.2 Free translationTo some titles, especially some allusive ones, whose literal translation cannot describe the story exactly and fail to provide information and attract the audience, more details

32、have to be added to make them more explicit. Instead of being chosen randomly, these details should be based on the story and able to help clarify the titles. For example, Top Gun壮志凌云, it would be translated into 最好的枪, if the translator does not know that it is the code name of American Navys presti

33、gious. Actually, the movie praises the schools spirit-a high premium placed on the pilots will. Thus, 壮志凌云is no doubt the best choice. Similar instances are: Oliver Twist 雾都孤儿, Sister Act 修女也疯狂, Mission: Impossible 碟中谍, Charles Angel 霹雳娇娃, Armageddon 绝世天劫(This word come from Bible, means end of the

34、day, good and evil decisive battlefield), War 游侠2.2.3 Transliteration As we have mentioned above, a lot of western movie titles are the heroesor heroinesnames and the settings. If the heroes or heroines names and the settings are familiar to the Chinese audience, transliteration is the best skill fo

35、r these movies because transliteration will convey the most exact information. JFK(肯尼迪),Gandhi(甘地),Aladdin(阿拉丁),Ali(阿里) are well-known around the world, so the Chinese audience can easily understand the main idea of the story. Titanic(泰坦尼克号), the greatest ship at that time, sank in her first sail. A

36、lso, the Chinese audience know Casablanca is a city in Morocco and Chicago is a city in east America. Through transliteration, the sound effects, i.e. the rhythm .Principles of Ttranslation of English Mmovie Ttitles We can do the translation in terms of classification,classification; meanwhile we ne

37、ed some theoretical principles to guide our translation work. Some professional principles should be followed in order to make the translation of English movie movie titles more influential for audience. 3.1 Understanding of the Source LanguageDuring the process of interpretation, both aspects of so

38、urce language and target language should be paid attention to, say, translators should master the knowledge and cultural background of the source language. As for the distinction between Chinese and Western culture, liberalism and open mindedness in foreign movies should be conversed by translators,

39、 into which Chinese can accept. Without enough knowledge, translator may fail to comprehend the connotation of the movie, thus misinterpretation ensuing. In the movie The Reader, a May-December romance reflects the tragic lifetime of a poor lady, a criminal in the World War two. Sensibility between

40、them is sacred and delicate. If we fail to be acquainted with the historical event and given social 3.2 Conformity to favor of Audience of Target Language In English movies, names of hero or heroine tend to be used to name them constantly, nor the same phenomena be seen in Chinese ones. Instead, bri

41、ef or main idea of a story will be applied to names of movies.(龙千红，2003) When we undertake translation of movie names, aesthetic standard of Chinese audience should be taken into account. Translation of movie names ought to conform to linguistic norms and appreciatory level. For instance, the movie

42、Hamlet is translated into 王子复仇记，which gives expression to the main idea of the movie. Another example is the movie Gone with the Wind, the translated name is 乱世佳人，which reveals the background, the world war two, as well as the heroine and her tough life during the war. Then, highly accepted translat

43、ion could be achieved by conformity to appreciation of target language audience. 3. 1 Literal translationLiteral translation is frequently used in film title translation. By converting the source language grammatical constructions to their nearest target language equivalents, literal translation can

44、 preserve both the content and originality in most cases. In occasions when a title matches the story of a movie perfectly- Saving Private Ryan, Around the World in 80 Days, and if the target language is similar-拯救大兵瑞恩，环游世界八十天 not sounding awkward or unnatural, are capable of describing the story, l

45、iteral translation can be adopted. As most English movie titles consist of nouns or noun phrases, literal translation is the simplest and most effective technique used in movie title translation. Most descriptive titles, such as a Beauty and the Beast 美女与野兽, Gladiator 角斗士, The Butterfly Effect 蝴蝶效应,

46、 Rambo: First Blood 第一滴血, Schindlers List 辛德勒的名单, Anna and The King 安娜与国王, Roman Holiday罗马假日, The Age of Innocence 纯真年代, The Shawshank Redemption 肖申克的救赎, Sleepless in Seattle 西雅图未眠,and so on. 3.2 Free translation.To some titles, especially some allusive ones, whose literal translation cannot describ

47、e the story exactly and fail to provide information and attract the audience, more details have to be added to make them more explicit. Instead of being chosen randomly, these details should be based on the story and able to help clarify the titles. For example, Top Gun壮志凌云, it would be translated i

48、nto 最好的枪, if the translator does not know that it is the code name of American Navys prestigious. Actually, the movie praises the schools spirit-a high premium placed on the pilots will. Thus, 壮志凌云is no doubt the best choice. Similar instances are: Oliver Twist 雾都孤儿, Sister Act 修女也疯狂, Mission: Impossible 碟中谍, Charles Angel 霹雳