英语专业电影片名翻译技巧研究.doc

1、Acknowledgements My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to my Ms Zhang Xiang, my supervisor, for her constant encouragement and guidance. She has walked me through all the stages of the writing of this paper. Without her consistent and illuminating instruction, this paper could not have reache

2、d its present form. Second, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Zhang Xianbin, who led me into the world of translation. I am also greatly indebted to the professors and teachers at the Department of English who have instructed and helped me a lot in the past years.Last my th

3、anks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years. I also owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and my classmates who gave me their help and time in listening to me and helping me work out my problems during the difficult course of

4、 the paper. May 10, 2010【摘 要】 电影作为一种雅俗共赏的艺术形式，既具艺术性，又具商业性。随着国际交流的日益频繁，越来越多的外国电影涌入我国的电影市场，同样中国的电影也越来越频繁的出现在海外的市场。电影的翻译不仅是商业的需要，也是文化交流的一种重要形式。电影片名是一部电影的重要组成部分，它承担着传达电影的信息，吸引观众等功能。一个好的电影片名，除了能够吸引观众之外，还能为电影带来巨大的商业利益。本文从电影片名的特点入手，分析了英语电影汉译与中文电影英译的主要技巧，并对每一技巧进行分析，说明当前的电影片名翻译，还是在功能对等的理论指导下进行的，并未形成一套完整的理论。

5、本文从直译和意译的角度探讨了中英文电影片名翻译的问题，指出直译和意译在电影片名翻译方面各自起到的作用，并通过具体例子来说明这两种翻译策略的应用。最后指出，在当前电影片名翻译中，直译和意译在一定时间内是要并存的。【关键词】 电影片名翻译；功能对等；直译；意译；音译【Abstract】 Movie as a type of art caters to both refined and popular tastes. Its functions are not only in art but also in commerce. Along with international communicati

6、on becomes frequently, more and more foreign films emerge in our countrys movie market, similarly Chinas movies also more and more frequently appear in overseas market. The translation of movie is not only service for the commercial need, but also for the cultural exchange. The film title as an impo

7、rtant component of the movie, it undertakes the function to transmit movies information and attract the audience. A fabulous film title besides could attract the audience but also could bring huge commercial interest. This article begins with character of film title then analyzes the main skill abou

8、t the English-Chinese translation between English film and Chinese film .And analyze every style of skill deeply, explaining that the current film title translation is still under the functional equivalence theorys instruction and not form a set of complete theories.This article has discussed the Ch

9、inese and English film title translation from the literal translation and the free translation, pointing each function of literal translation and free translation in film title translation. And according to concrete example to explain the two kinds of translation how to use in film title translation

10、. Finally point out that in the current film title translation, literal translation and free translation will coexist for a long time.【Key Words】 film title translation; functional equivalence; literal translation; liberal translation; transliterationTable of ContentsChapter One Introduction1Chapter

11、 Two The Features and Functions of Titles of Films22.1 Features of Movie Titles22.1.1 Concision22.1.2 Earthliness22.1.3 Attraction22.2 Functions of Movie Title32.2.1 Information Function32.2.2 Commercial Function32.3 Summary4Chapter Three Film Title Translation Principle and Skills53.1 Principle53.2

12、 Skill63.2.1 Combine with cultural background63.2.2 Understand the movie content73.2.3 Consider Aesthetic Characteristicsfour-character7Chapter Four Translation Method94.1 Literal Translation94.1.1 Take Leading Roles or Place as the Title94.1.2 Take the Main Content as the Title104.2 Liberal Transla

13、tion104.2.1 Adding and Omitting114.2.2 Recasting and Rewriting134.3 Combination of Literal Translation and Liberal Translation134.4 Transliteration144.5 Summary15Chapter Five Conclusion16Bibliography17中国地质大学长城学院2010届毕业设计(论文)Chapter One IntroductionNowadays with the rapid development of science and t

14、echnology audio-visual media is playing a more and more important role in our daily life. Movie title translation is undoubtedly one of the commonest forms of translation encountered in everyday life in our contemporary society. Therefore, movie title translation research as an important branch of p

15、ractical translation studies came into being. The film title could deliver important information about the film to the audience and it can grip the attention of the audience at first sight. A good translation of movie titles will undoubtedly contribute a lot to the charm of the film. It should not o

16、nly reveal the theme of the movie concisely and comprehensively, but also should generalize the content of the film tersely and succinctly. Currently the film title translation has not formed a complete system and there is no unification standard. For the same film titles translation often has a lot

17、 of translation editions. One film was translated in very different ways. The translation of one film even has mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Internet, the publication magazine and many kinds of translation editions. But each kind of translation transmits different information so the effects

18、 they got are unlike. This article plans from the film title characteristic and the film title translation function to carry on the discussion.Chapter Two The Features and Functions of Titles of Films2.1 Features of Movie TitlesAlthough film is a kind of literary form it possesses some unique featur

19、es which make it different from other literary forms. Audiences are usually read the film titles firstly. Good film titles will impress the audience deeply. Let people feel desire to watch the movie. Undoubtedly film titles play the role in advertising for the film. Features of movie title include t

20、he concision, the earthliness and the attraction.2.1.1 ConcisionBecause the title of film featured with high generality, we can say that concision is the major and distinctive characteristic. The title usually shows the main role or story of the movie with very few words. The majority English titles

21、 often with three to five words, they are simple and brief. And Chinese titles usually use idioms or four character words as the title. For instance, the title of Titanic is very succinct, it tells audiences the place where story take place with one word, at the same time summarize the movie content

22、 highly.2.1.2 EarthlinessFilm title besides the function of generality, it also considers whether the audience can accept or not. So titles wont use the glossary which too difficult to understand, the ordinary audience could accept and understand. And it also conforms to the films characteristic of

23、suiting both refined and popular tastes.2.1.3 AttractionIn the movie market a film whether success is judged by box office. It is the movies biggest duty to attract the audience to watch, at the same time its also the titles biggest duty. Guarantee that the audience can understand and accept titles,

24、 movies regularly use some new words in titles to attract the audience.2.2 Functions of Movie TitlesMovie titles condense the main theme of the film. Film titles main function is to help the audience to understand the film and give them some information about the movie. Movie is a kind of spiritual

25、product with art attributes. At the same it is also a kind of material product with merchandise attributes. Movie title is not only a symbol of film and it is an important component of the movie too. In order to attract the audience and increase the box office receipts. So the film titles also have

26、commercial factors. Hence the functions of film title include informative function, commercial function.2.2.1 Information FunctionThe informative function of movie title is reflected by helping the audience to know about some facts and relevant information about the movie. Film titles contain a larg

27、e number of content, titles should accurately express the information which movie contains. Audiences can get a lot of information through movie title then they could choose which one to watch. Translated titles also need to express the information which original titles contain precisely. For exampl

28、e, Original Sin, the title was translated into 枕边陷阱 in Taiwan, people may think it is a thriller at first sight. It completely didnt express the meaning that the movie wanted to convey. And this work was translated into 原罪 in Mainland China. Just use the literal meaning of the original English name

29、but the translation is very appropriate. Even without knowing the content of the movie, people can easily get some information that the movie wants to express from the title. While “original sin” is also the problems westerners prefer to discuss. So this title is not only conveying the information a

30、nd content the movie contains, to a certain extent, it reflects the cultural level.2.2.2 Commercial FunctionIn the modern society the box office is a key factor to judge whether a movie is successful or not. The movie besides as one kind of artistic form, but also has the commercial value. Translato

31、rs usually tend to make titles attractive, avoid using plain words and make movie box office power loss. Shooter was translated into 辣手枪. Watching the film title, we dont know what the movie wants to express. The title gives audiences a kind of befuddled feeling. But the mainland translated it into

32、生死狙击, We have already felt tense rhythm of the movie just solely from the title translation. And it also attracts the audience to want to watch this movie.2.3 SummaryThe three features of film titles, the concision, the earthliness, the attraction make the film titles translation different from othe

33、r translation. The above two functions of film titles, the informative, the commercial functions are closely interrelated with each other. Most film titles include all the three features and the two functions, maybe with an emphasis on one of them. The concision and the earthliness of the film title

34、 make the film title more attractive. So these features have very close relationship. Generally speaking, these two functions operate throughout a film title and the second commercial function in that the ultimate goal of filmmaking is to entrain the audience and to become a great box-office hit. Fr

35、om the above analysis we can see that in the process of film title translation, the translator should take these factors into consideration and they may adopt flexible translation methods so long as they can fulfill the listed functions and features.Chapter Three Film Title Translation Principle and

36、 Skills3.1 PrincipleMovie title translation is a cross-cultural communication process. In order to achieve the expected effect in the movie title translation, the translators need to pay attention to the principle. I think the principle that translators should follow is the functional equivalence.Eu

37、gene A.Nida firmly believes “Anything can be expressed by one language; it is able to be expressed by other language. Between language and culture we can communicate through searching translation equivalence or reorganizing original form and semantic structure.” “In the progress of translation, the

38、translator must respect the characteristic of target language, do not create new language in your own words as soon as encounter difficulty.(Jiang Shan,2007) And we should try our best to dig the express potential of target language, because each language, including the so-called original language,

39、has abundant means to express ideas, therefore the rendering should be translated in a way that the translation receivers love to see and hear and conform to the standard of target language expression form.” This viewpoint led to his later “Functional Equivalence”.Nidas “dynamic equivalence translat

40、ion” or “functional equivalence translation” refers to from the semantic to style of language, in the target language using the coordinated language that the most close to nature to reappear the information of source language. He believes that “The relationship between translation receivers and tran

41、slation information should keep the same with the relationship between original text receivers and source information.” In other words, the information receiver of target language ought to produce the basic same reaction as the receiver of source language.” (Jiang Shan, 2007)From the point of Nidas

42、translation we can see that when we deal with the difference between two languages, we should use the advantage of target language then find out each effective method for target languages. And in the most natural and close way to express coordinate information of original text. First is in the ideol

43、ogical content aspect, next is in the form of style aspect. Make readers who read translated text can produce similar aesthetic effect as readers who read original text. Namely achieve the best approximate in kind of esthetic transmission function.Based on the theory of functional equivalence, tryin

44、g to make the audience read the title translation and the original title could get similar feelings and aesthetic effect in translation of film titles.3.2 SkillThis part will discuss some translation skills that are adopted in move title translation with rich examples to show how they are used. Ther

45、e are three types of skills in the present theses, namely, combination of cultural background, understanding the movie content and considering aesthetic characteristics.3.2.1 Combine with cultural backgroundFilm titles not only express the main content and central thought but also carry certain cult

46、ural information. Culture deals with the way people live. Movie as a special form of art is also a cultural product. We should pay attention to difference between English and Chinese culture when we do translation. In order to adjust in proper time and avoid conflict of cross-cultural communication.

47、 We should recognize that language is the carrier of culture and culture is the soil that language exist and develop. English and Chinese belong to two totally different kinds of culture. Inevitably there will be significant difference in expression. Hence especially translate English into Chinese w

48、e should pay more attention to culture translation and we shouldnt be confined to the literal translation. Due to the cultural differences between English speaking countries and China. It usually happened that some mistranslations are caused by misunderstanding of cultural information. American movie One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest was transla