On Translation of English Film Titles

王佳利

The first film in world history was released in France in the year 1895. Until now， the film industry has developed for over 100 years. Films have been an dispensable part of peoples life， which is not only one of the most popular ways to entertain the audience， but also a media for cross-cultural exchanges. A successful translation of film titles not only helps the movie win the box office， but also helps the movie get an enduring fame.This thesis is based on the features of foreign film names and mainly discusses the film translation in the light of translation principles.

Principle of Humanistic Culture

Because there is a big gap in culture，the way of expression and habits of thinking are also totally different between China and western nations ， which can be reflected by some film titles. The poetic and artistic titles are employed by the Chinese movies， such as 《花樣年华》（In the Mood For Love），《夜宴》（The Banquet），《无极》（The Promise），etc. Therefore， the style of Chinese movie is adopted by some translated English film names.

Principle of Social Customs

When translating some films have cultural background influenced by distinctive environmental factors， its special background of culture of a movie should be attached much more importance. Whats more， the English film names translation is both a special activity of recreation and a way of the communication of social customs，there are many difficulties in the translation of movie titles caused by diversities in living environment. Even in China， there are totally different versions of some same movie names，which is caused by distinct historical tradition and social customs.In many cases，it is difficult to realize the unification of the translation of English movie names in the mainland， Hong kong and Taiwan.There are lots of differences in form and content due to different living environment and social customs. Take the famous American movie Pretty Woman as an example， which has three visions of translation. The film is translated into “漂亮女人”in mainland，“风月俏佳人”in Hong Kong and “麻雀变凤凰”in Taiwan；the translations of the movie Home Alone are also very different， it is translated into “独自在家”in mainland， “宝贝智多星”in Hong Kong and“小鬼当家”in Taiwan； Another example， the movie American Beauty is translated into “美国丽人”in mainland，“美丽有罪”in Hong Kong and “美丽心玫瑰情”in Taiwan.The differences in social culture that are caused by different living environment also bring another serious problem： mistranslation. the most typical one is the very famous film One Flow over the Cuckoos Nest ， which is translated into“飞越疯人院”in mainland.

Principle of Religious Belief

Sometimes， a fierce conflict may happen to two distinct religion due to the lack of mutual understanding. The most of Chinese people believe in the Buddhism， they dont have a better understanding of the content of Christianity and the Bible. On the contrary，the people of western countries may feel confused about meaning “YuDi” of Taoism， the symbol “YanWang” of Buddhism ， the God of rain “Long Wang” in the myth of the ancient culture of China.Therefore， it is necessary for translators to do some supplement or further explanations in the translation of some films with religious culture， in order to avoid confusing the audience and enhancing their understanding of the film. Take the famous American movie Seven as an example， it is a horror film reflects the seven deadly sins in the Bible.Seen from the westerners religious belief，the number “seven” is mystical， they believe that it is God that creates the whole world within seven days and creates human by giving life to Eve and Adam. There is no doubt that the far-reaching meaning of “seven” is to correct peoples character and religious belief. For the audience of western nations，it is very easy to guess its connotative meaning of the number “seven” in western religious culture.

Features of English Film Titles Translation

Art Feature

In some degree， the film is the product of modern society， which is a living art.There is a distinct difference between the movie and other art forms，such as books ，paintings and cultural relics，the films can give prompt responses to some changes of our society.To grasp its audiences attention immediately is one of the mains goals of the translated movie names，which can be achieved by using the art feature.But， the Chinese and English title have a lot of differences in phonology and rhetoric due to the differences in language and culture， which brings lots of inconvenience to the translation of movie names .English mainly relies on inflection and intonation ， while Chinese lays much more emphasis on tonality. The alliteration and rhyme are often used by the English movie titles to create repetition in pronunciation ：Gone with the Wind（《絕代佳人》）and Sense and Sensibility（《理智与情感》），they have adopted the approach of alliteration；The following two movie names use the method of rhyme：When Harry Met Sally（《当哈里遇见萨利》）and Mutiny on the Bounty（《叛舰喋血记》）；The difference is that Chinese prefers to overlap the same phrase and cause repetition in its structure and rhyme，such as （《甲方乙方》）（The Dream Factory），（《不见不散》）（BeThere Or Be Square），（《甜蜜蜜》）（Comrades：Almost A Love Story），etc.Although it is hard to achieve united repetition between the Chinese and English movie names according to its voice and structure， some extremely successful examples exist in the translated movie names.One of the them is the English movies Singing in the Rain， the word “singing” and the word “rain” employ the method of rhyme， its Chinese version （《雨中曲》）skillfully use the pronunciation of “雨”and “曲”， which also employ the rhyme.

Economic Feature

Film titles should belong to the advertising style in the field of stylistics. A striking and original film title can really enhance the attraction and appeal of the whole film， which may easily arouse the audience's psychological identification ，satisfy the different expectation，meet the demand in visual sense and auditory sense and successfully increase the box office earnings.Some comedies revolve around the children ， translators often use “小鬼”， “小子”to name after the film title： Home Alone

（《小鬼当家》），Are We There Yet（《小鬼上路》），etc； Some action movies tends to employ “豪情”，“铁血”to show the masculinity and manliness：The Three Musketeers（《豪情三剑客》），Predator（《铁血战士》，etc.As we all know，one of its main purpose and innate characteristics of the translated movie names is commercialism ， the filmmakers rack their brains to attract peoples eyes for the sake of high profit. Sometimes， to achieve the films commercial value， they didnt pay much attention to the proper translation of film titles，lots of translated versions are far from the source movie names.For example， Finding Nemo（《海底總动员》），Sister Act（《修女也疯狂》），Leon， the Professional（《这个杀手不太冷》），etc.

Social Feature

English film translation is a part of social activities，which is included in the cultural communication category，some cultural values are revealed in the movie names.It is a very vital task of movie names translation to enhance the exchanges of culture between our nation and the west countries. The well-known movie Tomb Raider， it should be literally translated into “盗墓者”， while digging the grave goes against with the traditional Chinese ethics， which has been regarded as a heinous act. Therefore ，it is skillfully translated into（《古墓丽影》）by clever translators， the version is both loyal to its content and successfully attracts the audiences attention. A good film really reflects certain cultural phenomenon and ideology of certain times， film titles are also a reaction and record of peoples life. Some pressing social problems are even included in the film titles， the audience may be curious about its content ，to imagine the potential endings and put forward their solutions.For example， the well-known film The Third Man， which won the 1949 Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. The film title is translated into “第三者”，there is no wonder that the translation will confuse the Chinese audience， and they may consider it is about a love affair. However， it has no relation with ethic rules. In fact，“the third man” refers to the third man who witnesses a car accident in the film. So the translation“第三者”is totally wrong. Therefore， The other one “黑狱亡魂” is more suitable than the former version .

Up till now， there is no systemic and feasible theory on the translation of film title. Translators should do their utmost to satisfy the audience， they should take all kinds of factors into account， such as， cultural background， linguistic customs and features of movie titles， etc. In all， there is no loyal way in the study and research on the translation of film titles ，but with all the effort of translators， the level of the translation of films will have a great progress， the prospect of the translation of movie titles will be better and better.

References：

[1]A.D.Yashin.Novikov Complete Logics：Translation Techniques [J].Algebra and Logic，2004（43）.

[2]Doreen Kum.Testing to prevent Bad Translation：Brand name conversions in Chinese–English Contexts[J].Journal of Business Research，2010（06）.