英语电影片名的汉译.docx

英语电影片名的汉译.docx

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英语电影片名的汉译

1.Introduction

Movieisakindofart,whichisdifferentfromotherworks.Itactsonhuman’ssensesthroughavarietyofmedia,sothetranslationoffilmtitlesisalsodifferentfromthetranslationofotherworks.Ontheotherhands,asChinaandWesternculturalexchangeisstrengthened,moviesbecomethetoolofinter-culturalcommunicationactivity.

Asanimportantmeansofculturalcommunication,filmsplayaveryimportantpart.Theyarealsooneofthemostimportantelementsintheworld.Sincefilmtitleshavealwaysbeenputinaneye-catchingplace,thetranslationofEnglishfilmtitlesbecomesmoresignificant.

FewdomesticscholarsinvolvedthetranslationofEnglishfilmtitles,butithasgraduallybroughttotheforefront.HeYuemin（何跃敏，1997.4，当前本片译名中的问题对策）pointedouttheproblemsofthetranslationofwestfilmsandputforwardthecorrespondingcountermeasure.AccordingtothefunctionalequivalencetheoryandcombiningwiththecharacteristicsofEnglishfilmtitles,HeYing（贺莺，2001，电影片名的翻译理论和方法）putforwardthefourvaluestandardoffilmtranslation,summarizedthemainmethodsofthetranslation.XiaoLujin（肖陆锦，2001.3，英语影片名汉译技法探讨）analyzedtechniquesoftheChinesetranslationoftitle.

Goodtitlescouldattractaudience.Thequalityoftranslationoffilmtitleshasdirectlydeterminedthefateofthefilm.Inthispaper,theauthorbasesontheexperienceofpredecessors,collectstheoriginaltranslatedtitlesofEnglishfilms,analyses,classifies,anddiscussestheprinciples,methodsandstandardsofthetranslationofEnglishfilmtitles.

2.FeaturesofEnglishFilmTitles

Filmtitlesarebasicallycharacterizedbyconcisenessandvividness.Goodfilmtitlesmayaddappealtothefilmsandcontributealottothebox-officevalue.Althoughfilmshavesomethingincommonwithotherliteraryforms,theyhavetheiruniquelinguisticaestheticandculturalfeatures,whichtranslatorsshouldpaymuchattention,inordertoprovideabetterunderstandingofthestudysubject.

2.1LanguageCharacteristic

Generallyspeaking,asfarastheirstructureisconcerned,Englishfilmtitlesareusuallyveryshort,conciseinlanguagesothattheywillbeeasytoreadandtorememberfortheaudience.Intheviewoftheform,theyemployoneortwowordswhichmaybethenameofheroorheroine,theplaceorthekeyyearwhenthestorytakesplace,forinstance,Parrton《巴顿将军》.However,inmostcases,theyadoptvariouskindsofphrasesandprepositionalphrases,suchasTitanic,Speed,SoundofMusic.Onlyafewtitleshavesomeshortsentences,forexample,CatchMeIfYouCanandSavingPrivateRyan.

2.2Artistry

Translationcanbeconsideredasanartandthemovieitselfisanart.Agoodtranslationmustbeagoodartisticwork.Inordertowellsatisfytheaudience’saesthetictastes,filmtitlesgenerallyhavetheartisticquality.Generallyspeaking,theaestheticcharacteristicsofEnglishfilmtitlesarecloselyrelatedtotheapplicationofrhetoricaldevices,suchassimile,metaphor,irony,personification,alliteration,andsoon.Theapplicationofrhetoricdevicestofilmtitlehasbeenprovedeffectiveandpowerful.Movietitlescanthroughareasonableapplicationofrhetorictoachieveitsartisticeffect.SuchasSenseandSensibility,OldWivesforNew,Tiger!

Tiger!

Tiger!

andsoon.Whetherthetitleshaveartisticqualityinfluencetheevaluationtothewholemoviemadebytheaudiences.

2.3Commercial

Asamoderncommodity,amovieisexceptedtoearnalargeboxofficeincome.Movietitlesareinevitablyinfluencedbythispurpose.Sotherearemanyexciting,passionate,mysterious,andthrillingtitles,althoughsomeofthesetitlesactuallyreflectnothingoftheoriginalstories.FindingNemo《海底总动员》isamodel.

Thismovietellsthestoryoftheover-protectiveclownfishnamedMarlin,whosearchesforhisabductedsonNemoallthewaytoSydneyHarbour.TheEnglishtitletranslatedintoChineseis《寻找尼莫》,butitisnamed《海底总动员》,itbecomesmoreexcitingandmysterious.Moreover,inrecentyears,manymovieshavegoodboxoffice,whichisnamed总动员,suchasCars《赛车总动员》，ToyStory《玩具总动员》.Sothetranslatortranslatesitinto《海底总动员》formorecommercialreasons.

3.TheTranslationMethodsofEnglishFilmTitles

FilmisasyntheticalartandthetranslationofEnglishfilmtitlesisabranchofnon-literarytranslation.Thesetwofactorsdemandtranslatorstofollowsomecertaintranslationprinciplesandskillsandpossessrichculturalknowledgeandsolidlanguagefoundations.Englishfilmtitlestranslationisnottotranslatesimplyandmechanically,buttobebasedonthestoryandconsiderthesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweeneasternandwesterncultureaswellastheacceptanceoftranslation.Weshouldusedifferenttranslationmethodstotranslatedifferentmovietitles.

3.1LiteralTranslation

Accordingtothecharacteristicsoftheoriginallanguageandthetargetlanguageinthetranslationofmovietitles,literaltranslationcanpreserveboththecontentandtheformoftheoriginaltothemaximum.Whenthefunctionsoftheoriginallanguageandthetargetlanguagereachhigherauthoritiessuperposition,literaltranslationhasbecomethemostsimple,effectivemethod.

Therearefourmeritsofliteraltranslation,firstly,itissimpleanddirect,suchasIceAge《冰河世纪》,theSoundofMusic《音乐之声》.Secondly,itmaintainstheoriginalstyle.HarryPotterisadoptedfromthebest-sellingfictionnovelorfairytale.Ifwereplacetherenderings,thentheaudienceswillfeelstrange,andthemoviepropagandawilldefeat.Thereforeliteraltranslationcanavoidthesequestions.Thenitrequeststhetranslationofmovietitlesandthemoviecontenttobeunified.Forexample,SavingPrivateRyan《拯救大兵瑞恩》.Finally,itisadvantageoustointroducethenewvividwords.CatsDogs《猫狗大战》,thetranslatordidnottranslatedthetitleintodirectly,becauseitseemsthat《猫狗》issounsuited.Inordertomakethetitlebecomemoreattractive,andcanbedistinguishedfromfreetranslation,weshouldbringsomenovelandvividwordstoenrichtheexpressionofthelanguage.Thegreatestbenefitistheliteraltranslationtomaximizetheretentionoftheoriginaltitleoftheformandmeaning,totheaudiencecreatedafamiliarfeeling.

3.2FreeTranslation

“Freetranslationisalsocalledliberaltranslation,whichdoesnotadherestrictlytotheformorthewordorderoftheoriginal.WhenthereexistdissimilaritiesorgreatdifferencesbetweenEnglishandChineseinthesequenceofvocabulary,ingrammaticalstructureandartisticdevices,freetranslationshouldbeused.”（黄友义，从中文书名的英译谈起，《中译英技巧文集》，1992，第40页）

Tosometitles,especiallysomeallusiveones,whoseliteraltranslationcannotdescribethestoryexactlyandfailtoprovideinformationandattracttheaudience,moredetailshavetobeaddedtomakethemmoreexplicit.Insteadofbeingchosenrandomly,thesedetailsshouldbebasedonthestoryandabletohelpclarifythetitles.Forexample,StuartLittle《精灵鼠小弟》，wewouldn'tknowwhatitaboutfromthetitle,itjustaname.MaybeitsaysastoryofalittleboyoralittlegirlwhonamedStuart.However,themovieisastoryaboutalittletalkingmouse,StuartLittle,borntohumanparentsinNewYork.Therefore,《精灵鼠小弟》isanicechoice,it’sbetterthan《斯图亚特·里特尔》orotherliteraltranslation.

Anotherexample:

TopGun《壮志凌云》.Itwouldbetranslatedinto《最好的枪》,ifthetranslatordoesnotknowthatitisthecodenameofAmericanNavy’sprestigious.Actually,themoviepraisestheschool’sspirit---ahighpremiumplacedonthepilots’will.Thus,《壮志凌云》isnodoubtthebestchoice.SimilarinstancesareOliverTwist《雾都孤儿》,SisterAct《修女也疯狂》,andCharles’Angel《霹雳娇娃》.

Butthefactisn’tneglectedthatsomefilmtitlesusefreetranslationtohavetheoppositeeffect.AfilmcalledMoulinRouge,whichwasshownontheyear2001.Itistranslatedinfreetranslation《梦断花都》whenitwasintroducedtoChina.Thetranslationofthisfilmtitlediscardsthemeaningoftheoriginalfilmtitleandignorestheforeignculture.Atthesametime,thetranslatorswhotranslatedthisfilmunderestimatetheaudiences’planeofunderstandingtheforeignculture.Weshouldtranslateitinto《红磨坊》,whichappealstopeoplewhowanttofurtherknowaboutthebackgroundofthisfilm.

3.3Transliteration

Transliterationreferstoaccordingtothepronunciationoftheoriginaltitle,thendirectlytranslateditintocorrespondingChinesecharacters.Thismethodusedless,butindispensable.TransliterationismainlyappliedtotheChineseaudiencemorefamiliarwiththenames,places,events.SuchastheRobinHoodsounddirectlyinto《罗宾汉》.RobinHoodisaBritishGrandTheftAuto-styleheroes,folktales,manyoftheaudienceisfamiliarwithhisstory.Titanic《泰坦尼克号》,JaneEyre《简爱》,andHamlet《哈姆雷特》arealsothetranslationoftheChineseaudiencemorefamiliarfigure.AndwhensomenewEnglishwordsappear,wecan’tfindcorrespondingChinese,wealsochoosetransliteration.Avatar《阿凡达》,it’sacreatedword,wejusttranslateitaccordingtothepronunciation.

Althoughinmanycases,weshouldusetransliteration,ithasitsownadvantagesanddisadvantages.Ontheonehand,itmaybekeeptheforeignflavortoattracttheaudience’sattention;furthermore,itmaypromotetheculturalcommunicationbetweenChineseandWesterners.Ontheotherhand,transliterationneedstoseekthecorrespondence,todescribetheEnglishsyllablesthroughthecorrespondingChinesesyllables.DuetotheintrinsicinadequacyofphoneticcorrespondencebetweenEnglishandChinese,sometimestheChinesepeopleareunfamiliarwiththesheerforeignnames,soitisunnecessarytousetransliteration.CleopatraisthehistoricalandpoeticdramaofQueenCleo