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1、Analysis on Movie Title Translation ContentsAbstract-3Introduction-4Chapter The Present Situation of Movie Title Translation-4Chapter Basic Approaches to Movie Title Translation-5 Literal Translation-5 Liberal Translation-7 Combination of the two Approaches-8Chapter Criteria of Film Title Translatio
2、n-8 Fundamental Standards -8 The Influences of the Cultural Factors on Translation-9Conclusion-10Bibliography-11 Abstract Short as the title is, it is an essential component and is crucial to its marketing and audience. Movie title is always the first thing of a movie that comes to the audience eyeb
3、all. Thus it is of great importance to translate the title translation. According to the social society, the translation of movie title still has a long way to go. This paper starts with the present situation of English movie title translation, analyzing the methods in translating. Whats more, we ar
4、e also supposed to pay attention to different culture backgrounds. In my thesis, I aim to discuss the basic principles and methods of translating the titles, since how to translate a film title is still a controversial topic in the field of translation.Introduction A good movie need a wonderful titl
5、e. All most every people know this rule. Every time when hear about a film, we always know its title first. And according to the title we decide whether or not to see it. So the title is to the movie what water is to fish. The title is as important as the contents. This paper gives a brief introduct
6、ion to the translation of movie title, in order to tell people that we should not hold one-view on it. We are supposed to take all the factors into consideration. Only in this way can we get the best results of the translation of movie title.Chapter The Present Situation of Movie Title Translation W
7、ith the development of science and technology, more and more foreign films are imported to China. The purpose of the director importing films is not only to broaden our views but also to get benefits from it. Therefore, the first problem of movie title translation is commercial. So when we watch mov
8、ies, we can see advertisements or big brands which are connected to it. Some translators or directors are just for sake high benefits from their investment. They do not care much about the translation of the movie title. The consequence of this phenomenon is that it is difficult to get good movie ti
9、tles. Secondly, it is mechanical. Some titles have no figure of speech. Let us see an example, a very popular Chinese cartoons. Almost everybody know the character “喜羊羊”，but how many people know the translation of it? Some translators translate “喜羊羊”into “Pleasant Goat”. As we all know, in our daily
10、 life, we regard “喜”as “happy” or “pleasant” or something else. In terms of “羊”，there are many different kinds of “羊”. We can say “goat” or “sheep” or something else. Then who knows the reason why the translator choose “Pleasant Goat” rather than “Happy Sheep”. In my own opinion, the reason is that
11、pleasant and goat always come first to our mind in our daily life. Thus people all accept this kind of translation. In brief, when translate a title of a movie we are supposed to concern more aspects.For another thing, I want to take a famous old traditional Chinese film as an instance.霸王别姬，I think
12、almost everybody know it. Since it is a conventional historical play, many foreigners try to translate it. Here I find four different versions of the translation of 霸王别姬. The first one is “Xiang Yu the Conqueror Bids Farewell to His Concubine”. It is too complex to explain the original one. Then the
13、 second is “Emperor Chu and Lady You”. However, its not very elegant. The third one is “The King Parts with His Favourite”. The last one “Farewell to my Concubine”. It is not difficult to find out that the last one is the best one among the four versions. It conveys the goodbye and deep sad feelings
14、. So people consider “Farewell to my Concubine” to be the most proper translation of 霸王别姬.There are also many other problems in it. So when we make translation, we should concern the present situation. Whats more, we should base on the different culture. And hold a right attitude towards the transla
15、tion of the movie title, rather than on specific purpose. Only when we get rid of all these bad things, can we get good results of the translation of movie title.Considering the present situation, I make a study of how to translate the movie title properly. In the following two chapters I analyze it
16、 on two aspects: approaches and criteria of film title translation.Chapter Basic Approaches of Movie Title Translation Literal TranslationLiteral Translation is the most widely used method in the film title translation. Then what is Literal Translation? The Literal Translation is also called as “wor
17、d-for-word” translation. For example, “word-for-word” translation even between two close languages of the same family in most cases will make no sense. But it can convey the source title exactly and properly. We can say that the target title is loyal to the original one. Moreover, there is no imagin
18、ation in this kind of translation. So it can avoid many problems.Some film titles need not be considered and designed again by the translators, just use literal translation that can get the maximum effecttransmitting the original meaning and keeping the unity of the original naming and content of th
19、e film titles. Sometimes, the orders of the translated film titles are the same as the original ones, which are seen clearly to the audiences. Literal translation can keep the form, meaning and information of the film titles to be closely to the original film titles. For example, some western film t
20、itles are translated using literal translation. “Snow White and Seven Dwarfs”.（白雪公主和七个小矮人），Beauty and Beast”（美女与野兽，“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (指环王3：王者归来), “Sleeping Beauty” (睡美人), “March of the Penguins”(帝企鹅日记), “Crocodile Dundee” (鳄鱼邓迪), “Ben Hur” (宾虚), “Madam Currie” (居里夫人), “
21、Stigmata” (圣痕), “The Passion of the Christ” (耶稣受难记), “The Last Temptation of Christ” (基督最后的诱惑) and so forth. People can see from the examples above that it all use literal translation especially with regard to the historical figures and events or religious and ethical concerns which they are familia
22、r with. People should also notice that many other film titles, which are adapted from famous books, also employ the literal translation. For example, “The Old Man and the Sea”(老人与海), “The Godfather”(教父), “Anna Karenina”(安娜卡列尼娜). One reason is to avoid the misunderstanding of the audiences who may be
23、 strange to them, and the other reason is that the effect of famous books titles can attract the eyes of the audiences. Then there are also some Chinese films which are translated use literal translation. Such as ： (断背山)“Brokeback Mountain”, (向左走，向右走) “Turn left, Turn right”, (新警察故事) “New Police Sto
24、ry”, (金刚) “King Kong”, (成吉思汗) “Genghis Khan”, (可可西里) “ke ke xi li”, (如果爱) “If Love”, (暖) “Nuan”, (手机) “Cell Phone”, (阳光灿烂的日子) “The Days Under the Bright Sunshine”. Literal translation of all above are close to the original title in the meaning, forms, information and so on. When we see all these tit
25、les, there is no need to make a note to explain it. Liberal TranslationLiberal translation is also called “free translation”. When it comes to free translation, the translator is never really “free”, but is always restricted by the original text. Many people considered that the translations of film
26、titles are complicated. The reasons are that the original titles of western countries are always literary. However, its cursory if we translate them word-by-word into Chinese. Lets take some film titles as examples, like “Mr. Hollands Opus”, “Walk the Line”, “Lilo and Stitch”, “The Incredibles”, “A
27、Bugs Life”, “Chicken Run”, “Garfield”, “Tarzan”, “The Wizard of Oz”, “Best in Show”，are translated into (春风化雨), (一往无前), (星际宝贝), (超人特攻队), (虫虫危机), (小鸡快跑), (加菲猫), (人猿泰山), (绿野仙踪), (宠物狗大赛) . The Chinese audiences wouldnt have the same feeling with the foreign audiences when they see these original film t
28、itles. They keep this doubt until the translations of the film titles are discovered. It comes the right time that they understand the naming suddenly. Besides, the translator himself must possess abundant cultural knowledge and steady linguistic plane. So the translators ought to elaborate a plan t
29、o change the original titles accordingly.Then take some Chinese movies as examples. They are also translated very well. The (十面埋伏) is translated into “House of Flying Daggers”, (行运超人) into “My Lucky Star”, (霸王别姬) into “Farewell my Concubine”, (日出前向青春告别) into “A Day on the Planet”, (江湖) into “Brother
30、”, (花样年华) into “In the Mood for Love”, (唐伯虎点秋香) into “Flirting scholar”, (上海) into “Flowers of Shanghai”, (无间道) “Infernal Affairs”. We can see that free translation of these film titles to be encouraged.However, can we translate a film title only use literal translation or only use liberal translati
31、on? Of course no. Combination of the Two ApproachesAccording to the real situation, we are not only use literal title translation but also liberal translation. It is necessary for them to keep a balance between literal translation and free translation. So the literal translation and the free transla
32、tion ought to supplement and complement each other. The literal translation combines and keeps some elements of the original titles, adding the summarization of the content of the films. The translators usually adopted this method to translate for its faithfulness. But this method is always consider
33、ed unwisely in the field of translation if not considers the practice on translating a film title. Hence, the methods of combining the literal translation and the free translation appropriately deserve commendation. For instance, “Shot First” into (先发制人), “The Opposite of Sex” into (异性不相吸), “The Thr
34、ee Musketeers” into (豪侠三剑客), “She is So Lovely” into (可人儿). The translation of these film titles were changed which based on the adjustment of the orders of the original titles when they were translated into Chinese, like “The Opposite of Sex” into(异性不相吸). Or the translators add some words according
35、 to the desire of the Chinese audiences, like “ET” (ET外星人), adding 外星人 in it. People can seize the content of the film is about the 外星人. Or they reduce some words to catch the main idea of the original titles, like “She is So Lovely” (可人儿). This change prevents the translation of film titles are too
36、 plain to be remembered. In a word, literal translation has both advantages and disadvantages, liberal translation has merits and demerits. So does the combination of the two approaches.Chapter Criteria of A Good Film Title Translation Fundamental StandardsThe most popular and acclaimed criterion is
37、 the three characters 信，达，雅. We usually translated as “faithfulness”, “expressiveness”, and “ elegance” or “refinement. This is from Yan Fu（严复，1854-1921）. He said in 天演论. The three characters have been regarded as guiding principles for translation for many years in China. So in the translation of m
38、ovie title, we ought to follow this three standards too. Some film titles are translated to be loyal to faithfulness. Some are loyal to expressiveness. And the rest are loyal to elegance.Then there are some good translated film titles according to different standards.Faithfulness :Roman Holidays（罗马假
39、日），Shawshank Redemption（肖申克的救赎），Gladiator（角斗士）.Expressiveness: The Silence of Lamb（沉默的羔羊）， Love at First Sight（一见钟情），Star Wars （星球大战），The Mask（变相怪杰）.Elegance: Terminator（终结者），Fatal Attraction（致命的诱惑） To sum up, we should not only follow the standards but also be according to the real situations. The
40、Influences of the Cultural Factors on TranslationThere is a culture gap in the translation work. Language barrier comes first. Because language is the key to show your own countrys customs, economy, history, belief and so on. The translators should know the source text and target texts language very
41、 well. So that they can do a good job. Therefore, the translators must take the cultural factors into consideration when doing translation. Every country has its own customs and cultures, so there language and there words also have culture-specific meanings.If we do not think about the cultural fact
42、ors, it is impossible for us to know the exact meanings. Especially for a short movie title, if we do not know the culture backgrounds, how can we understand it? Short as the title as, maybe there are many internal meaning such as religious, social customs or something else. That is the very difficu
43、lt point in translation.Most films are from our daily life. But it is different from our life. As for the title, sometimes, it is more important than the content. An instance, a title of a movie “First Blood”. It is an idiom. The original meaning is “首战告捷”， but almost every translator translate it i
44、nto “第一滴血”.It is obvious that “第一滴血” can not convey the specific meanings. Therefore, if we want to get a perfect translated movie title, we ought to put the influences of cultural factors in the first place.Conclusion The translation of the film titles is a special process of re-creation. It isnt s
45、imple to obey the content and the forms of the original titles. So keeping the balance between literal translation and liberal translation is important to the translation of film titles. Because of the diversities of the west and the east, the westerners opinions towards the translation are naturally different from the easterners. We should not only see a part of the film and rush into translating it into literal translation or free translation.