On the Translation of Movie Titles
浅析英文电影片名的翻译
Author: XU Xiaoning
Supervisor: Feng Xiaoling, Lecturer
(College of Foreign Languages, Shandong Agricultural University, tai’an 271018)
[Abstract] The translation of movie titles has become a popular topic in modern life. As is known to all, how to translate the movie title has become a controversial topic in the field of translation for a long time. The translation of western movie titles is quite different from the translation of Chine movie titles. In the process of the translation, sometimes movie titles will have different translations owing to the different translators, becau everyone has his own idea, experience and knowledge. Movies are a very important part of cultural interchanges. Therefore, the culture of the countries is becoming a major content to prent in the films. This paper points out the characteristics and importance on the translation of m
ovie titles and calls on the translators to pay more attention to it. The linguistical, cultural and commercial features characterize the film titles. So the title translation isn’t a process to change one language to another. This article analyzes the current situation and existing problems on the translation of movie titles and introduces veral basic approaches on the translation of movie titles, and then put forward some requirements on the title translation and to translators. Finally, we reach a conclusion: the translation of movie titles has its unique characteristics as a special form of art. Although there are many problems on the current translation of movie titles, we can still translate movie titles better and better, as long as we master the basic translation approaches and principles, and strengthen the requirements for ourlves.
[Key Words] movie titles; characteristics; current situation and problems; approach; requirement
【摘要】心愿的意思当今社会，“电影片名的翻译”已经成为一个流行的词语，众所周知，如何译好电影片名已成为翻译界热烈讨论了很长时的话题；西片的片名不同于中国电影片名，在翻译
的过程中，由于译者的想法、经验和知识不同，翻译也会有所不同。电影是文化交流非常重要的部分，所以，各国的文化成为电影中所要表达的内容。本文指出了电影片名的特点和重要性，并号召译者对其重视，其中语言、文化、商业特征描绘了电影片名，因此影片片名的翻译不只是一种语言向另一种语言转换的过程。本文分析了目前电影片名翻译的现状以及出现的问题，介绍了电影片名翻译的几种基本方法，并由此提出了对电影片名翻译和对译者的要求。最后得出结论：电影片名作为一种独特的艺术形式，有着独一无二的特点。尽管目前的电影片名翻译仍然存在着许多问题，但是只要我们能够掌握基本的翻译方法和原则，加强对自身的要求，就一定能够译出高水平的片名。
【关键词】电影片名;特点;现状和问题;翻译方法;要求
1. Introduction
The movie is more an industry than a comprehensive art. A good movie needs a wonderful title, which is known by the people in the street. Every time they hear about a film, they always get to know its title first. And they decide whether or not to e it. The pleasure of watching a movie comes as much from its content as from its title. The transl
ations of the movie titles require using a few words to express the topics of the movies and at the same time, people shouldn’t forget it after eing it. Therefore, the translation of movie titles is very important.星星的眼泪
2. Features of Movie Titles
关羽的妻子 Everything in the world has its own feature, so do the movie titles. They can’t exist without their own features. o make the titles more impressive, people u many rhetoric devices are ud in the translation of the film titles, such as simile, metaphor, oxymoron and the like. The features of the translation of film titles will be expounded from the linguistical, cultural and commercial perspective as follows.
2.1 Linguistical Feature
Firstly, movie titles must be conci. No matter what type of a movie is, as the first channel to understand the movie for audience, it is usually only a few words. “Conciness " is a prominent feature of movie titles. A long movie title not only lost the c
haracter of titles, but also makes it difficult to be remembered by the audience. Secondly, movie titles must be easy to be understood. The movie, as a mass media, faces a large number of audiences who are different in age, occupation and education degree, so the titles of movies must be easy to be understood. Finally, movie titles must be vivid, attractive, able to attract the audience's eye, and can also give the audience a n of beauty. For example, Dances with Wolves is translated into 《与狼共舞》.The translator in this example has adopted some rhetorical devices to achieve this n of beauty.
2.2Cultural feature
写给爸爸的话 The movie is a special art form of cultural products. The existence of the movie must be able to reflect its people's way of thinking and cultural values. Different language determines the different ways of thinking, behavior and language expression of different peoples. Some English movie titles come from the legend of its culture or the adaptation of English idioms. For example, Seven-year Itch is translated into 《七年之痒》，Red Shoes《红菱艳》.The translator has injected the “红菱”, which is a Chine cultural imag
熊英文怎么读奶油的英文e ,into the translation and created a new cultural image successfully. This new image can be understood and accepted easily by the majority of Chine audiences.
2.3 Commercial feature
As a kind of industry, there is no doubt that the final purpo of a movie is to obtain commercial profit. That’s why film investors try every ways to attract people’s eyes. They rack their brains to ek the high competitiveness of the movie market and put a lot of manpower, material and financial resource from scripting, filming to showing. All of the investments must be rewarded from the box office and finally obtain high profits. Therefore, movie titles have the commercial feature inevitably.
马拉松口号Just for the sake of high benefits from their investment, they didn’t even care much about whether the translation of movie titles has deviated from the theme of the movies. Most of the time, tho improper translations are beyond the understandings of the majority of the audiences. So, even the national conditions have been taken into consideration, it is necessary to find a junction between the market and art. The translation of movie titles sh
ould pay attention to both the art value and the respon of the market. But most investors do the translating work only to pursue the advertising benefit. Some examples will tell us how this commercial features of the movie titles act.
3. Current Situation and Problems on the Translation of Movie Titles
3.1Current situation
The film is a kind of artistic form people love to e and hear. And it is also the main channel of cultural transmission. Moreover, it has the influence that other forms of art do not have. On one hand, the world economic cooperation and culture exchange stimulate the development of the emerging movie translation career. Its operation includes the drawing of materials, translation and showing all over the world. On the other hand, the spread of the cable television and the improvement of the VCD (DVD) also promote the movie transmission.
