A study on translation tactics and methods of Engl.doc

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1、A Study on TranslationTactics and Methods of English Movie TitlesAbstract: The movie, a popular art with both artistic and commercial values, is one of the most influential mass media nowadays. With the increasing pace of Chinas opening to the outside world as well as the development of cultural com

2、munication between China and Englishspeaking countries, more and more English movies are pouting into the market of Chinas mainlandAs an indispensable part of the translated English movies, the translated movie titles build up a bridge over the initial connection between the movie and the audience.

3、Therefore, movie title translation has become a more and more important and significant part of translation studies. So under this condition, this paper mainly talks about the translation methods and tactics of the English movie titles. There are many translation methods listed in this paper, such a

4、s the transliteration, literal translation, liberal translation and so on. What is more, with the guidance of equivalent translation theory, through devices such as literal translation, transliteration, and free translation, it is possible to ensure that the translated Chinese-English movie titles c

5、an produce equivalent effects on target audience.Content1. Introduction1.1 Research Background1.2 Research Purpose2 General Analysis of English Movie Titles2.1 Functions2.2 Features3. Translation Methods3.1Transliteration3.2 Literal Translation3.3 Liberal Translation4. Translation Tactics4.1 In Plac

6、e and Persons Names Translation4.2 In Other Types of Movie Titles Translation4 Conclusion4.1 Summary of Mistranslation4.2 Principles 1. IntroductionThe translation of movie titles has become a popular phrase in modern life. As is known to all, how to translate the movie titles has become controversi

7、al topic in the field of translation for a long time. Translation of foreign movies, to which the translation of their titles is vital, is viewed as a direct and easy way of introducing the foreign. The first chapter will be the introduction part, mainly talks about the previous study on English mov

8、ie title translation and the purpose of this paper. 1.1 Research Background In recent years, as more and more overseas movies have been introduced and shown in China, foreign movies have become an indispensable part of our daily life. The academic study on movie theory experiences flourishing growth

9、 both at home and abroad. However,comparatively speaking, theoretical study on the translation of foreign movies and TV programs remains far from touched upon. Professor Qian Shaochang（2000）in his article points out that in China nowadays the number,of the movie and TV series audience is much larger

10、 than that of literary works, and the audiovisual translation has no less influence than literary translation. However, in contrast, the Chinese translation academia pays much less attention to audiovisual translation than it does to literary translation. reflecting an imbalance with the significant

11、 social role that foreign movie and TV series play. Encouragingly,some Chinese translation scholars and researchers have become aware of the movie titles translation and have made some respectable endeavor. Bao Huinan(2001) in his book discusses the translation of special terms that are rich in cult

12、ural connotations, including names, titles of books and movies, addressing term idioms，etcHe reviews the current situation of movie title translation in China, pointing out the fact that a movie title is usually translated into several versions，causing confusion to the audience and management proble

13、m for the marketIn addition，he also classifies the translation methods adopted in English movie title translation. Although his analysis concerning movie title translation is insightful and illuminative, it is still comparatively incomplete and inadequate Apart from this, recently many articles can

14、also be seen in various kinds of academic periodicals Unsatisfactorily, some of them are limited to the enumeration the methods of translating movie title while others lack theoretical framework,wim a few or even no translation theories used to support their ideas. For example, Ning Zhishou (1997) p

15、oints out two main strategies used in the translation of English movie titles, namely, literal translation and liberal translationFor him，literal translation includes the following three cases maximally maintain the form and meaning of the original movie title; change the word order or structure of

16、the original one according to the characteristics of the target language; make some addition or omission of the original one. As for liberal translation, it does not refer to the liberal translation of the original movie title but. the translation in accordance with the plot of the original movie. I

17、n the end, he concludes that no matter which strategy is chosen, it should serve. the goat that the form of the translated movie title should be in accordance with the content of the source movie titleBesides，Yao Qinhua (1999) also proposes these two strategies but with an emphasis on the study on t

18、he translated movie title named after the protagonists name. There are also many other articles that can be classified into this type，whose conclusions are more or less the same：transliteration, literal translation, liberal translation, the combination of literal and liberal translation, etc. For th

19、is reason，based on the strength and weakness of the above studies，the present thesis will be above all guided by acertain theory to have a further study on English movie title translation by offering some constructive instructions1.2 Research Purpose Nowadays, movies have been more and more internat

20、ionalized, and the translation of the movies titles have become one of the important parts in translating of movie. The translation in this field has its character and good translation of movie titles plays a key role in attracting audience. Through analyzing many translated titles, the author found

21、 some classical ones. However, not all the translated titles are satisfying. There are some inappropriate ones, which are only made with the purpose of pursuing the success in business. Therefore, there are also some translations, which have nothing in common with the original English ones. This pap

22、er is mainly deals with the translation methods and tactics of the English movie titles. This paper is composed of four parts. Part I is a general analysis of English movie titles, discussing the features and functions of movie titles. Part II is the analysis of factors influencing the naming of Eng

23、lish movie titles. Besides, these two parts serve as the foundation for the analysis of the following translation strategies. Part III offers a detailed analysis of translation strategies under the guidance of Skopostheories. The conclusion summarizes the whole thesis as well as puts forward some su

24、ggestions. The first chapter is the introduction part. First, it will deal with the importance of the English movie titles translation. With 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

25、is becoming more and more frequent, of which cultural exchange is an important part. As an important means of cultural communication, movies 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

26、 promoting mutual understanding between different counties. Since movie titles have always been put in an eye-catching place, the translation of English movie titles becomes more and more significant. Then, the function and the features of the movie title translation will be showed off. Liu Zongqing

27、 summried a movie title has four functions: the aesthetic, the informative, the expressive, and the vocative function(2005). Its importance is due to the fact that the successful translation of movie titles determines whether certain movies can be successful or not in the market of China, especially

28、 at period of time when the English movies are flooding. Chapter two presents the difficulties in English movie titles translation. The translation of movie titles is not an easy job, but a very complicate and difficult one. It is difficult because it involves the elements of history, art, culture,

29、nature and literature, which never cease to amuse audiences. Chapter provides some practical translation methods and tactics of English movie titles with examples. As a matter of fact, there are so many mistakes in English movie titles translation, in order to avoid these mistakes, translator should

30、 pay close attention to the basic principles and methods of movie title translation. The basic principles of movie title translation not only provide a theoretical ground for the dynamic process of translation of movie titles, but also serve as a guidance for standardizing such kind of translation.

31、What is more, with the guidance of equivalent translation theory, through devices such as literal translation, transliteration, and free translation, it is possible to ensure that the translated Chinese-English movie titles can produce equivalent effects on target audience. Without any doubt, the me

32、thods of translation are major issues when we are dealing with translation. So far, there are four major basic translating methods in movie title translation, and they are transliteration literal translation, free translation as well as the synthesis of literal translation and free translation.(1997

33、) For example, in terms of literal translation, The movie The Duke is translated as 公爵 at first. But the movie is about a dog which gets a large heritage. The title 亿万神犬 is a much better choice than 公爵 for this movie. Another example is The Third Man. If it is translated by the way of Literal transl

34、ation, the Chinese title for it should be 第三者. Therefore, the third man here means the third witness of a traffic accident, not a mistress. But Chinese will lose interest in it because they think it is a movie which talks bout family life. Later, the movie has a new name, 黑域亡魂. This one is perfect b

35、ecause the movie tells us a series of mysterious incidents while someone is looking for the truth of anothers death. Another example is about the free translation, Forrest Gump is a good case in point. Its Chinese name is 阿甘正传. The Translator keeps the last part of the title and adds Chinese culture

36、 in the translation. It will remind Chinese of of the two stories tell us an unusual era from the eyes of a person. Both heroes are asinine and many historical events happen in their ages. Although 阿甘正传 has no relation with , the title makes audiences interested in the movie because the latter one i

37、s classical and known by almost everyone in China. There are also many other examples,I cant list them one by one. And the last chapter is the conclusion. Based on all the talking above, it is easy to get the idea that there are many differences existing between China and English speaking countries

38、in terms of history, culture and language. We lack both translators who know languages as well as cultures well enough, and theoretical guidelines of translation. Therefore, more efforts are required in this field.and we should get some translation principles from the misunderstanding translation of

39、 the movie titles. To sum up, one of the important purposes of English-Chinese Translation of movie titles is to introduce culture outside world to Chinese. Although these movie titles are easy to memorize, most of the methods of transliteration as well as synthesis of transliteration and free trans

40、lation could not fully express the implications beyond the Chinese characters, that is, the superficial meaning. Therefore, further studies in terms of translation of the English movie titles will be of great necessity.2 General Analysis of English Movie Titles Movie is both an artistic form and men

41、tal product, with which cultural, political and ideological elements are conveyed.(2004) The translation of movie titles may be quite different from that of other kinds of literary forms，such as novels，poems, etc. As has been stated above, a good translation of movie titles may add charm to the movi

42、e and contribute a lot to the boxoffice value. The movie title, being short in form but rich in meaning, has its own linguistic, aesthetic and cultural features, to which the translator should pay much attention. Before we come to the core of the thesis, it is quite necessary to make a general analy

43、sis of English movie titles in order that it will provide a better understanding of the research subject2.1 Functions According to Munday, the functions of movie title are to summarize the content of movie briefly and adequately, reveal movie themes concisely, and stimulate the audiences abundant in

44、terest.(2001) Therefore, movie titles have the following three functions. The first one is informative function. In many advertising posters of movies, the titles are always put in a marked position. They can express the content of movies, and thus more details about the movies are conveyed to the a

45、udience. The second one is aesthetic function. Graceful, fluent and vivid language is often employed in movie titles to make the audience enjoy the art of movies, and arouse the audiences appreciatie enjoyment. The last is the appellative function. In order to increase the income of box office, movi

46、e title should arouse the audiences enthusiasm to the movie. The informative function and aesthetic function serve for the appellative function. The third function, which serves as the final aim of those advertisements is to attract the audience to appreciate the movie.2.2 Features Movie titles are

47、the first thing that people get to know about the new movies. Some people judge the movies by their titles at the first sight. The movie titles are usually so simple that everyone can name them. In general the English movie titles have the following three characteristics. First the leading position

48、nominal phrases, second, conciseness and clearness of diction; third the reflection on philosophical thought of western culture. According to recent researches, the dominancy of nominal phrases promotes the plentiful employment of names of people, place and event in English movie title. From the yea

49、r 1928 to 2000 among the seventy two best pictures of Oscar, fifty eight movies titles are nouns or nominal phrases, for example Rainman 雨人, Godfather 教父and so on. Consequently, the frequent use of nominal phrases in movie titles makes the leading position of noun phrases more stable and firm. English movie titles are settled randomly. The short ones consist of o