Movie Title Translation

李静娅

【摘要】电影名在整个作品中占有非常重要的地位，好的译名应该是在观影之前能吸引观众注意力的。因此，电影片名的翻译非常重要。本文以历届86部奥斯卡获奖影片的片名为例对其翻译进行分析研究，基于两岸三地不同翻译译本，从直译，音译，意译的角度进行分析研究。

【关键词】电影片名；翻译方法

I. About the movie title traslation

Movie title plays a crucial role in expressing the meaning of the whole film. The functions of the movie title can be expressed through the following three aspects: first, since the movie title is the summary of a movie, so it can give readers a clear idea about the whole content; second, according to the movie title the potential readers will make a decision whether or not go on to watch the whole movie just by having a look at the title; third, whether the movie title is eye-catching or not, affects the selling and the influence of the movie. So to translate the title means to find a suitable version or equivalence to fulfill the same functions in the target language just as in the original situation. Different translation methods are adopted to serve for the purpose.

Because of the different culture backgrounds and society system as well the lifestyle, there comes into being three different movie title translation versions among Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Free translation refers to, according to the meaning of the original, without paying attention to the details and translation would also be fluent and natural. It is used when the movie title cannot be expressed properly by literal translation. When we translate foreign movies into Chinese, we should pay much attention to the functional equivalence between culture and aesthetic (Feng 2008).

II. Comparison of Movie Title Translation in Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan

1. Movie Title Translation Features of Oscar Best Pictures in Mainland

Literal translation is often used by mainland translators. For example, Million Dollar Baby is translated into 《百万美元宝贝》，A Beautiful Mind is translated into 《美丽心灵》. These two versions both keep the original words directly and also very easy to understand for audience. Mainland versions are brief and create a bigger imagination space. Mainland version of The Sound of Music 《音樂之声》, comparing to Hong Kong version 《仙乐飘飘何处寻》, while the latter is much more pretentious. Economic and cultural factors have little influence on movie title translation. For example, Pirates of the Caribbean is translated into《加勒比海盗》, American Beauty is translated into《美国丽人》. Titanic is translated into 《泰坦尼克号》 by mainland translators rather than 《泰坦尼克号》. The former replenish the noun to make a clear understanding for audience before watching this movie. Shakespeare in Love is translated into《莎翁情史》by both Taiwan and mainland translators agreeably. There is no doubt that this is a good version in that it refers to us the topic of the film. At the same time, it adds indigenous factors by cultural reconstitution, audience have a great interest in Shakespeares love relationship. This kind of version is far exceeding Hong Kongs 《写我深情》. Gone with the Wind is translated into《飘》，which is clearly expresses the original meaning“随风逝去”( 盛青2008).

2. Movie Title Translation Features of Oscar Best Pictures in Hong Kong and Taiwan

Hong Kong and Taiwan movie title translation have many common points to some extent, especially focus on commercial value. Translation versions are more flexible and relaxed than those from the mainland. literal translation or free translation, or both is used. Taiwan translators translate A Beautiful Mind into 《美丽境界》，while it is 《美丽心灵》 in mainland, 《有你终生美丽》 in Hong Kong. However, there are some problems. Taiwan translators are fond of using regular words which looks more stylized. No Country for Old Men, mainland version is 《老无所依》，Taiwans is 《险路勿近》，Hong Kongs is《二百万夺命奇案》. Although this film is full of violence and fierceness, it discloses ruthlessness of human nature, the ending calls for deep thoughts. So, 《老無所依》matches both meaningfully and rhetorically, which leads to a sense of dismal.

Translators in Hong Kong and Taiwan have a favor in using following words:雷霆，神鬼，迷情，悍将 and so on. This makes a great gimmick without a close connection of the film. And it may lead to an extortionate or even wrong expectations.

References:

[1]Nida A.Eugene.Language and Culture—Contexts in Translating[M].Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press 2001:3,82.