AStudyonTranslationofFuzzyLanguageinEnglishMovieLines

王泉

【Abstract】Fuzziness is a basic feature of human language. In daily communication， people could express their meanings better by using fuzzy language. In English movie lines， for the purpose of concise expression， fuzzy language is inevitable. This paper， from the perspective of fuzzy theory， focuses on translation of fuzzy language in English movie lines by qualitative analysis and case analysis. Under the guidance of skopos theory， the author choosed some basic strategies in translation of fuzzy languages in English movie lines， which can help to remain local flavor of the target language， Meanwhile， a good translation is conducive to the communication between different cultures and then makes it carried out successfully.

【Key words】Fuzzy language； English movie line； Skopos theory； Translation strategy.

1. Introduction

The spread of globalization brings China opportunities to get more involved in international exchanges. With the appearance of mass-media， foreign film works， as a main way of cultural transmission， appears on TV and cinema screens across China. It is admitted that nowadays movies， especially English movies are being deeply loved by people in China. A good translation for English movies lines is very critical for the success of English movie in Chinese market. Zadeh has pointed out that theres no clear boundary for objects in the material world in 1965.

This thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is the introduction part and the second chapter deals with literature review in which the author analyzes development trend and current problems existing in this filed. The third chapter brings forward analysis on features of fuzzy language in English movie lines from two aspects： semantic fussiness and pragmatic fussiness. Chapter four as the main body， discusses translation strategies of fuzzy language in English movie lines based on the translation principle of Skopos theory. The last chapter is the conclusion of the above analysis， and concluding that the translation of fuzzy language in English movie lines have different strategies. In this chapter， the author sums up that translator should find out appropriate methods of translation， when facing with different types of fuzziness in English movie lines. Besides， there is no denying that many difficulties still exist in the translation of English of English movie lines. Expectations and suggestions are also given follow researchers， by whom complement and improvement on this subject can be made.endprint

2. Literature Review

Fuzzy theory as a new concept was put forward by L. a. Zadeh a professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics Research Laboratory， University of California in 1965. It was mentioned explicitly in “Fuzzy sets”， a paper written by Zadeh， which was published on Information and Control. In terms of the use of language， Grice pointed out that attention should be paid to the accuracy of the language on conversational implication （1975）. That is a good illustration of the importance of fuzzy language in communication.

Fuzzy language is so extensively explored because it is the essential feature of natural language. Besides Zadeh， American linguist G.Lakoff （1970） had ever been led fuzzy theory into linguistic studies and insisted on cognitive linguistics. Although there are lots of research about fuzzy language， most of them were not in a deep level， such as fuzzy boundary of word， hedges or such fundamental problems. However， a lot of studies， not only domestic but foreign indicates the study of fuzzy language in English movies lines still exists some shortcomings： the lack of research results is the crucial problem， including single paper， little related monographs and hardly new idea. Recently， fuzzy theory has been applied in translation gradually. It seems that the study of fuzzy language in film translated from English into Chinese have a broad development space.

3. Fuzzy Language in English Movie Lines

3.1 Semantic Fuzziness in English Movie Lines

Essence of Semantic fuzziness is a kind of unconscious vague reaction for objects. It is considered that objects cannot be completely accurate and it is unnecessary. We called it fuzzy reaction. Relevance is one of the essential features for fuzzy language. Different situation and context will produce different effects.

Phonetic fuzziness is also called cross-phonetic ambiguity， mainly existing in colloquial language. It mostly achieve fuzzy effect by utilizing homophone. For example： this example is from Ice Age 3.

- Look！ He's right there.

- Roger.

- No， Sid.

- I know， Roger！

- How about we get， Sid first. And then go back for， Roger.

- Oh， never mind.

This is a conversation between Manny and Diego， who are character role in the movie Ice Age. Now they are facing a serious situation that Sid is right there and they need to save Sid first. His answer roger means that he got it. However， Manny thought Roger is a person， so he said they should save Sid first and then save Roger. In fact， the word “Roger” is extension of fuzzy. Buck meant “I got it”， because it is a kind of radio's answer， but brother opossums distorted “Roger” as a name. The original language achieved humorous results by using the fuzzy significance of “Roger”.endprint

3.2 Pragmatic Fuzziness in English Movie Lines

For proper linguistic effect， people use fuzzy language deliberately to make people grasp the idea what was not expressed in words. Fuzzy language and its pragmatic functions are as a way of interpersonal communication throughout the world. A proper fuzzy language which might promote interpersonal communication is worth to be used widely.

Fuzziness and accuracy are coexisting and relative instead of opposite and absolute. In fact， fuzziness is contained in accuracy to some extent. For example， one day you have a date with a person whom you have not seen before. You have no idea his precise height， therefore， when you describe him， you may say he is more or less 180cm tall. This is a fuzzy language， however， it described somebodys height perfectly.

4. Translation of Fuzzy Language in English Movie Lines

4.1 Skopos Theory

This chapter is main body of the whole paper， which will place the emphasis on the analysis of translation method of fuzzy language in English movie subtitle. The author should study the translation of fuzzy language with the combination of the theory and practice. Therefor， in this paper the author to analyze translation method by using skopos theory.

Teleologists hold that translation is a kind of communicative activity with certain purpose which is influenced by translators. However， it is unnecessary to translate word by word. Loyalty in skopos theory depends on skopos and translators comprehension of original text. Skopos theory emphasis on the importance of original text analysis and the authors intention while choosing translation strategies. In skopos theory， translation standard is not unaltered， which will change with skopos. In English movie lines， it mainly refers to daily conversation， therefore， while translating translator need to translate movie lines based on skopos theory. The ultimate aim of subtitle translation in English movies in to help the audience to stride over the obstacles of language and culture， which can achieve the objective of intercultural communication. To achieve this， translator should adopt various strategies depending on purpose of translation.

4.2 Translation Strategies of Fuzzy language in English Movie Lines

There are many examples of fuzzy language in English movies and different people have difficult appreciation on them. Fuzzy language is not vague language， which can make the person produces misunderstanding. On the contrary， its semantic fuzziness can accurately reflect the fuzzy concept in life. There is an example from movie of GARFIELD.endprint

-God made relatives. Thank god we can choose our friends.

Version 1：

- 上帝决定了我们的亲戚，感谢他让我们可以选择自己的朋友。

Version 2：

- 上帝决定了谁是你的亲戚，幸运的是在选择朋友方面他给你留有了余地。

For sentence， translator should also place emphasis on meaning while translating. In the first version， the sentence was dealt with word by word. In fact， it cannot achieve the perfect translation effect in the view of target language. However， version 2 prefers to free translation， emphasis on meaning of whole sentence， which can make the translation be closer to target language.

5. Conclusion

There is no doubt that fuzzy language in movie lines can be a useful way to make the conversations more accepted by the audience and fuzzy language increasingly attracted translators attention. The author eventually comes to such a conclusion that under the guidance of skopos theory， different translation strategies， such as accuracy versus fuzziness， fuzziness versus fuzziness， or fuzziness versus accuracy， can be employed to produce different effects. In the future， it is hoped that researcher should attach the importance to the exploration of translation strategy for fuzzy language in English movies.

References：

[1]Channell J.Vague Language[M].England：Oxford University Press，1994.

[2]Grice H.P.Logic and Language[J].Syntax and Semantics：Speech Acts 3（1975）：41-58.

[3]Kenpson M.Semantic Theory[M].England：Cambridge University Press，1977.

[4]Lakoff G.Global Rules[J].Language，64/3（1970）：627-639.

[5]Zadeh L.A.Fuzzy Sets[J].Information and Control 8（1965）：338-353.

[6]范守義.翻译研究[M].北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2004.

[7]毛荣贵，范武邱.语言模糊性与翻译[J].上海翻译，2005（1）：11-15.

[8]邵璐.翻译学视角下的语言模糊性研究[J].纵横译论，2007（3）： 72-76.

[9]伍铁平.模糊语言学[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社，1999.

[10]文旭.语义模糊与翻译[J].中国翻译，1996（2）：5-8.

[11]余富斌.模糊语言与翻译[J].外语与外语教学，2000（10）：49-52.endprint