淺析影響電影名翻譯的因素及翻譯策略

1、ignla/vhuawai官林歩橋外db語豐猊吉林華橋外囪錯摩浣本科畢業(yè)論文（2007 級）姓 名:吳瑤學(xué) 號：0101070514院系：英語學(xué)院專 業(yè)：英語（翻譯） 指導(dǎo)教師：趙子明二o一年一月an analysis on factors affecting translation of filmtitles and the translation strategies淺析影響電影名翻譯的因素及翻譯策略姓名：吳瑤院系:英語學(xué)院專業(yè)：英語（翻譯）指導(dǎo)教師:趙子明吉林華轎外廚語拷浣j(luò)ilin huaqiao foreign languages instituteabstractas the gr

2、owth in the living standard and peopled feeling of beauty, english films are more and more favored in chinese market. the translation of english film title has been criticized by some translators. on the one hand, all sorts of the translations of film titles are not inconsistent with the original na

3、mes and the theme of films. on the other hand, the title translation emphasize on the violence and love story.film translation is different from other translations. it should be added into some words that not belong to original name according to the reality. in order to adapt needs of market, the tr

4、anslation can be totally different from original name. but the translation of film titles ha rules to follow.this paper mainly aims at discussing the different factors affecting translation of film titles. the author will take some examples of translations affecting by different factors, such as cul

5、ture, genre and audience, from which translators can learn some strategies. the translators should pay attention to the factors then film title translation can be more proper and attractive.key words: film title; translation strategy隨著國人生活水平和審美情趣的不斷提高，英文電影在中國市場上越來越受 青睞,也涌現(xiàn)了許多耳熟能詳?shù)碾娪捌?。然而，不少英語電影譯名卻遭到

6、了很多 保守的翻譯工作者的批判：一是市場上所見譯名卻是五花八門，根本不顧及電影 英文原名和主題；另一方而，為了吸引觀眾眼球，片名常常過多突出或影射暴力和 感情糾葛，顯得庸俗和夸張。電影片名不同于一般的翻譯，它會因?qū)嶋H需耍而被故 意加進(jìn)片名屮原本沒有的意義，為了適應(yīng)本土市場，電影片名翻譯甚至可以改動 得原先完全不一樣。但是，英語電影片名的翻譯也是有章可循的。本文主要討論不同因素對電影名翻譯的影響。作者用一些例子闡述了文化， 題材和觀眾對翻譯的影響，使翻譯人員學(xué)習(xí)到一些翻譯方法。翻譯人員應(yīng)該注意 這些因素，使電影名的翻譯更準(zhǔn)確更具吸引力。關(guān)鍵字：電影名；翻譯策略contenti . introdu

7、ction1ii. characteristics of english movie titles12.1 briefness and concentration22.2 attraction22.3 heroes, or heroines' names as titles22.4 descriptive titles and implied titles32.5 vividness3iii. the translation affected by different film genres33.1 different film genres43.1.1the titles of ad

8、venture films43.1.2the titles of comedy films43.1.3the titles of fantasy films53.1.4the titles of epics-historical films53.2 the translation strategies6i' .the translation affected by different cultures74.1 different cultures74.1.1 differencesin history74.1.2 differencesin geography74.1.3 differ

9、encesin religious belief84.2 the translation strategies8v. the translation affected by different target audiences95.1 different target audiences105.1.1 children105 1 2young people105.1.3general audiences105.2 the translation strategies11vi. conclusion11bibliography13an analysis on factors affecting

10、translation of filmtitles and the translation strategiesi introductionfilm is not only an entertainment, but also a kind of commodity and a vehicle for culture communication. english film is a important part of film market in china. the audience gets the information about the film only from the titl

11、e of film. a good title would attract many people to go to the cinema the audiences can keep it in the mind for a long time but a bad film title may make people puzzled it may arouse the misunderstanding of the film. as the translation is an important part of film industry, there are many factors in

12、fluence the translation of film titles.the film is an acting and talking encyclopedia of culture and society. the translating of films is the translating of languages and cultures, and the promotion of cross-cultural exchanges. the culture difference includes history, geography and religious brief.

13、so translators should pay attention to the culture difference of different countries.films can be divided into many genres, such as, comedy film, adventure film, fantasy film and epics-historical films. they have their own distinct stylistic features. each genre can be translated in one way. so tran

14、slators should pay attention to the difference in different genres.the audience is an important part of film market. if the title arouses the interest of the audiences, film company will earn a lot of money the audiences can be divided into many kinds, for example, children, young people, general au

15、diences and so on. the translators should translate the title based on the taste of different group of audiences.this paper examines the factors affecting translation of film titles to highlight the importance of different factor influence analysis in the movie title translation. before going to the

16、 discussion about the translation of movie titles, an analysis of the features of movie titles are of great necessity.ii characteristics of english movie titlesas the development of china, there are more and more foreign films appear in china in order to develop the film industry, the characteristic

17、s of film titles should be noticed. most of them are brief and concentrated they are full of attraction. some of them choose the heroes9 or the heroines9 names as the titles.2.1 briefness and concentrationbriefness is the most distinctive feature of the film title. they usually contain only one or t

18、wo key words as possible to generalize the meaning of the whole film. most of the titles are brief and concentrated generally speaking, the titles are made up of nouns and noun phrases, such as titanic, speed, dorothy dandridge, and sound of music. only a few titles are short sentences: while you

19、9;re sleeping, catch me if you can, and saving private ryan.though the titles are brief and concentrated, they are rich in meaning and will not lose the beauty of the film. the titles summarize the main idea of the movie then the audience can easily get the idea of the story. titanic, a romantic sto

20、ry happened on a cruise ship named titanic, tells about a young man and young women fell in love and finally the young man choose to die in order to save the young women. return to me, a love story, tells about misunderstanding between a couple and finally their reunion and reconciliation.2.2 attrac

21、tionmovie is an art of images and also a kind of commodities. film title is not only a symbol of a movie, but also an important part of the commodity. film titles may be the first thing into potential audience eyes to catch attention and stir interests. the title of the movie has to attract the audi

22、ences and then film companies can earn a lot of money so the titles should give the audience suspense, reverie and aesthetic feeling in order to try to persuade people to pay visits to cinema. when the audience see the title never let me go, they are curious to know why they should go. the movie got

23、 overwhelming success and the title made great contribution.some movie titles pay attention to the spelling in order to be special and attractive, to some extent, they9re queer. se7en, thirl3en ghosts, swim give the audience intense impression and be memorized.2.3 heroes5 or heroines' names as t

24、itlessome chinese movies choose the heroes9 or the heroines9 names as the title and the hero or the heroine must be a great hero or a big bug, for example, lei feng and zhang side. however, a great part of the western movies choose the heroes9 or the heroines9 names as the title though sometimes the

25、 hero or the heroine is just an ordinary people or sometimes even the hero or the heroine is a negative character, for example, forrest gump, jfk, aladdin, shreck, lolita, and the terrible bastard hannibal. using the heroes9 or the heroines9 names as the title has two advantages. on one hand, like j

26、fk, aladdin, and lolita, these names are well-know in the western history, fairy tales and literature works, so the audiences are familiar with them and easily get through the main idea of the movie. on the other hand, if the name of the hero or the heroine is strange to the audience, the audience w

27、ill know that the movie is about an ordinary person and there must be some special story about him or her. so the audience will be attracted and eager to see the movie.2.4 descriptive titles and implied titlespeter newmark divided film titles into two kinds. one is descriptive titles, the other one

28、is implied titles. descriptive title is a summary of the film. and implied title is the title using allusion or parable related the main idea of the film. the audiences can get the main idea of the film easily from descriptive title, for example, maid in manhattan (曼哈頓女傭),a story of current cinderel

29、la, tells an ordinary maid meet her mr. right by chance and fell in love with him. although we can not get the main story of the film from implied title, we can get the theme of the film from implied title. for example, true lies(真實(shí)白勺謊言)，conflicting words, vividly expressed the dual personality of a

30、n international policeman2.5 vividnessfilm is an art of images and it has distinct artistry. and the film of title can express the distinct artistry. so the language must be vivid and distinctive. one respect well realizes vividness in film titles is the adoption of various rhetorical devices. the a

31、pplication of rhetorical devices adds elegance, power, humor, or other vivid effects to the title. rhetorical devices include metaphor, alliteration, repetition, contrast and oxymoron etc. all of these rhetorical devices can make the title vivid and be full of attraction. they have been widely adopt

32、ed in english movie titles, such as dumb and dumber阿呆和阿瓜(alliteration), tiger! tiger! tiger!虎！虎！虎 (rhetorical repetition), gloomy sunday黑色星期天(personification), true lies 真實(shí)的謊言(oxymoron) and old wives for new舊寵新歡(contrast). the use of rhetorical devices in movie title can make the title brief, concen

33、trated and vivid. the audience will easily get moved and entertained then the film title will arouse interest of the audiences. they will eager to go the cinema to see the movie.di. the translation affected by different film genresalthough films are regarded as an art of images, they have their own

34、distinct stylistic features. films usually fall into four different groups, namely documentary, scientific and educational films and feature films （konigsberg, 1987: 2-381 ） feature films can be divided into four sub-categories: adventure films, comedy films, fantasy films and epics-historical films

35、.3.1 different film genres3.1.1the titles of adventure filmsadventure films are exciting stories, with new experiences or exotic locales. adventure films are very similar to the action film genre in that they are designed to provide an action-filled, energetic experience for the film audiences. the

36、predominant is not emphasis on violence and fighting that is found in action films, however, the audiences of adventure films can feel exited through the travels, conquests, explorations, creation of empires, struggles and situations that confront the main characters, actual historical figures or pr

37、otagonists adventure films were intended to appeal mainly to men. they want to create major male heroic stars through the years. heroes often fought for their beliefs, adventure films are often set in an historical period, and may include adapted stories of historical or literary adventure heroes. a

38、dventure films include action films, horror films, disaster films, western, gangster films, spy films, crime films and etc. titles of this kind of films are characterized with the application of emotion stirring elements. some of modern adventure films are successful blockbusters. they add resourcef

39、ul action heroes. there are a lot of examples of this kind, such as: the day after tomorrow （后天）,the matrix （黑 客帝國）,2 fast 2 furious （速度與激情）,titanic（泰坦尼克）2012（世 界末日）and others.3.1.2the titles of comedy films"comedy films are "make them laugh11 films designed to elicit laughter from the aud

40、ience. comedies are light-hearted dramas, crafted to amuse, entertain, and provoke enjoyment/9 comedy films are the stories whose central struggle causes hilarious results. comedy is one of the oldest genres in film. some of the very first silent movies are comedies. the comedy genre humorously exag

41、gerates the situation, the language, action. comedies observe the deficiencies, foibles, and frustrations of life, providing merriment and a momentary escape from day-to-day life. comedies have been classified into romantic comedy, crime/caper comedy, sports comedy, teen or coming-of-age comedy, soc

42、ial-class comedy, military comedy, fish-out-of-water comedy, and gross-out comedy. comedy films typically have a happy ending most audience choose comedy films to kill time in the cinema .hence, comedy is one of the most welcomed film types. wit, humor, and happiness are found in many comedy films,

43、such as: sex and the city（欲望都市）,legally blonde（律政俏佳人）, mr. mum （超級奶爸）and mr. beans （憨豆先生）and so on.3.1.3the titles of fantasy films"fantasy film are usually scientific, visionary, comic-strip-like, and imaginative, and usually visualized through fanciful, imaginative settings, expert film produ

44、ction design, advanced technology gadgets （i.e., robots and spaceships）, scientific developments, or by fantastic special effects/' fantasy films consist of heroes, distant planets, impossible quests, improbable settings, fantastic places, unknown and inexplicable forces and so on. many fantasy

45、films are time travels or fantastic journeys, and are set either on earth, into outer space, or even into the future time. the fantasy films are base on some factors. the factors are the imaginations based on scientific knowledge. the fantasy films present an idea or a technology that is not yet, or

46、 may not be, scientifically possible. the film titles are supposed to expose the novel idea of the films and to attract the audience to go to the cinema, for example, journey to the center of the earth （地心游記）,transformer （變形金剛）,star wars （星球大戰(zhàn)）,harry potter（哈利波特）,knowing （先知）,avatar（阿凡 達(dá)）,skyline （天

47、際浩劫），iron man （鋼鐵俠），etc.3.1.4the titles of epics-historical films"epics-historical films often take an historical or imagined event, mythic, legendary, or heroic figure, and add an extravagant setting and lavish costumes, accompanied by grandeur and spectacle and a sweeping musical score.the he

48、ro presented in the context of great historical events of the past in epics-historical films. people follow the continuing adventures of the hero.epics are historical films that reproduce past events they are expensive and difficult to produce, because they require elaborate and panoramic settings,

49、on-location filming, authentic period costumes, inflated action on a massive scale and large casts of characters. epics often rewrite history. it is difficult to recreate the events. we can not know the details, the environment and the behaviors of people in that time. "accuracy is sometimes sa

50、crificed: the chronology is telescoped or modified, and the political/historical forces take a back seat to the personalization and ideological slant of the story." for example, lord of the rings（指環(huán)王）,troy（特 洛伊）,brave heart（勇敢的心）,king arthur（亞瑟王）,prince of persia the sands of time（波斯王子時z刃），alex

51、ander（亞歷ill大大帝）,gladiator （角斗士）etc.3.2 the translation strategiessince there are many different kinds of film genres, translators should pay attention to the genres. film titles should be translated according to the different genres. the audiences can know the genres when they see the film titles wh

52、ich have been translated. if english film titles were translated into chinese literally, they are unlike chinese film titles. although they convey much information of the whole story, they are not impressive. therefore, it is necessary to add strong and even exaggerating words to the titles in the t

53、ranslating process. furthermore, these characters can classify a film. the audiences can know which type the film is. if it is a romantic film, the titles of love story films mostly contain the characters, such as, "love'： "dreamm, "flower", "romance" and “ melody e

54、tc which can be translated into "情”、"夢”、 "花”、"戀”、"曲".if it is a fantasy film , the title often contain the words, such as" soul-stirring, "killing", "dubious", "ghost" and “evil" etc are translated to be "'驚 魂”、"殺”、&

55、quot;疑”、"鬼”、"魔when the audiences see the title at the first time, they can learn from the featured words what type of film it. it is helpful to the audiences when they choose which film they want to see. it also can attract the audiences to go to the cinema to see the film in their favorit

56、e type. such as these ones as follows:example a: the film 2012 is translated into世界末日instead of2012.the title世界末日is based on the main story of the film. if it is named of2012,the audiences can get nothing from it just a number from the title"世界末 ft：the audiences can know the genre of the film w

57、hich is adventure film. it can arouse more interests and attract more attention of audiences.example b: the film mr. beans is translated into憨豆先生in chinese. if the title is just translated into豆先生literally, the audiences may be puzzled at the first glance. they can not realize that this film is a co

58、medy film. if the word"憨 was added, they can know the genre of this film. then the comedy film fans will rush to see this film. and some people who are sad or under great pressure may be eager to see the filmexample c: the film skyline is entitled天際浩劫instead of天際.from the word "浩刼=the audi

59、ences realize that the genre of the film is a fantasy film. this title can arouse lot interests of man and young people. they are the largest group of audiences.iv.the translation affected by different culturesculture is an ensemble of knowledge, belief, art, morality, law, custom and so on. all the things that human being has created or left, spiritual or physical, are the image of culture. the different history, geography, religious belief an