Translation of English Film Titles

王一帆

◆摘  要：This thesis mainly deals with film title translation from English into Chinese.The present thesis tries to make a further study on English film title translation from the perspective of the Skopostheorie. And under the guidance of the Skopostheories， this thesis explores how the specific strategies are used to translate different film titles.

◆关键词： Film titles; Skopostheorie; Translation strategies

1 The Principles of Translating English Film Titles

1.1 Faithful to the original text

As with any other translations， the translation of English movie titles must put the original text（namely the original title） in the first place， and be faithful to the original film rather than separate from or fabricate it.Otherwise， even if the translation sounds moving， it is not a good one.A appropriate title to a film is what a map to a traveler， which shows us the right direction.Under its guidance， audience of different preferences can select the film they are interested and at the same time applying to their own tastes . Such as Alexander《亚历山大大帝》，Prometheus 《普罗米修斯》，The Young Victoria《年轻的维多利亚， people know that these films are largely classified as historical subjects at first sight， thus they can arouse those who are are interested in western history.

1.2 Unity of form and spirit

Film title translations not only need to convey the original meaning， but also ask the translators to have a comprehensive understanding of the content.As far as their structure is concerned， English film titles are usually very short， concise in language so that they will be easy to read and to remember for the audience.In the view of the form， they employ one or two words which may be the name of hero or heroine， the place or the key year the story takes place， for instance， Attack on Leningrad《列寧格勒》，King Auther《亚瑟王》，Lincoln《林肯》and so on. Therefore， it requires a further understanding of the content on the basis of an accurate understanding of the original film title.

1.3 Comply with language specification and appreciation habits of China

Films titles are carefully designed by film producers. It should be said that some films do not need extra designation， simply require to translate the original title into its corresponding Chinese version. English films often use the hero's name or names of certain places where stories happened as the title of the movie. Although films of this kind aslo can be seen in China， there are only a few cases. In china， we used to summarize the content or point out the main idea. Therefore， Thor translated as《雷神托尔》conforms to Chinese habit.

2 Strategies for English Film Title Translation

2.1 Literal translation

Functionalism does not exclude equivalence so long as it is adequate to “a Skopos that requires that the target text serve the same communicative function or functions as the source text”. Literal translation is advisable on the condition that the translator can find an expression that is completely or almost equivalent in the target language to the one in the source language. Literal translation means translating literally. It keeps both the original from and the original content. For example， Black Swan《黑天鵝》， True Lies《真实的谎言》， Kung Fu Panda《功夫熊猫》， The King's Speech《国王的演讲， 127 Hours《127小时》.

2.2 Transliteration

Transliteration means seeking phonetic correspondence in film title translation. Names of proper settings， heroes（heroines）， or the historical events are often taken by transliteration as its titles. Transliteration helps to keep the original title's rhythm and form， and uses its typical foreign flavor to attract the audiences attention.We should employ transliteration to translate the names of persons or places related to film titles which are well known to the Chinese audience or have rich historical and cultural connotations. Here are some examples： The Great Gatsby《伟大的盖茨比》， Gulliver's Travels《格列佛游记》， Harry potter《哈利·波特》， Hugo《雨果》.

2.3 Free translation

We are all know that there exists no two identical languages， so the translator can not always find an equivalent expression in the target language.When and where necessary translators often turn to free translation in order to make the Chinese version fulfill Skopos of film title translation. Free translation is a strategy that seeks to convey the meaning and spirit of the original title without sticking to the form mechanically. For instance， the animated film Shrek5，《怪物史莱克5》is much more better than《史莱克5》. Because Shrek is literally means nothing at first sight， and "怪物" ， on one hand， makes the film very interesting and highlights the style of the animation; pn the other hand， evokes the audience's curiosity.

3 Conclusion

Under the guidance of Skopostheorie， this thesis tries to make a detail analysis. Now we can see Skopostheorie frees people from the traditional theories from what has been demonstrated above.Moreover， with the analysis of numerous examples， it turns out that taking Skopostheorie as the guiding principle of film title translation is really theoretical and practical.

Bibliography

[1]Jeremy Munday. Introducing Translation Studies-Theory and Applications. London & New York： Routledge， 2001.

[2]杜海燕.浅夕英文电影名称汉译策略，厦门大学外文学院，2008，18（7）： 87-90.