Some scholars in their articles point out some factors that deserve attention in E-C film title translation. He Ning (1998) points out five factors. Firstly, the translation should be faithful to the original film title. Secondly, in order to give a meaningful and concise translated title, the translator should have a thorough understanding of the plot of the film. Thirdly, the translation should consider the acceptability of the target audience. Fourthly, the translation should take the commercial element into consideration. Lastly, cultural differences should deserve the translator's attention, which may hinder the translation of film titles. Similarly, He Yuemin (1997) also puts forward three points, i.e. the plot and background of the original film should be understood comprehensively; the target audience's psychology, cultural acceptability and language habits should be taken into consideration; the commercial value of the translated film title should be attached much importance to.
There's no doubt that such studies listed above will offer the present research valuable material. The methods the scholars summarize are very useful and practical for film title translation. However, there still exist some limitations in them. Some are merely limited to the enumeration of translation strategies while some cover too broad topics, which do not make a systemic selection of film titles. Although some translators propose certain translation theory or criteria, in practice they may not apply them to the analysis of English film title translation effectively. The translation of film title is a very part of translation studies. It is a kind of "general language translation" (Snell-Hornby, 2002: 3 I ) rather than literary or text translation. Like the literary translation, general English translation needs certain translation theory to explain and guide. This is what the studies the author mentioned above exactly lack of. For this reason, based on the strength and weakness of the above studies, the present thesis will be above all guided by a certain theory to have a further study on English film title translation by offering some constructive instructions.
Chapter Four
Application of Skopostheorie too EFTT
Film is both an artistic form and mental product, with which cultural, political, and ideological elements are conveyed. Nowadays, with the industrialization and commercialization of film industry, film has far exceeded the conventional artistic form. Therefore, films, especially film titles, should not be seen and translated as pure literature under the direction of traditional translation theories, which overly emphasize the linguistic forms and attach much more importance to the source text than to the target cultural conditions and intended audience.
A careful look at Skopos theory may show that it is significant in that it is different from traditional theories. It helps to free translators from the bondage of traditional theories by providing them a new way of thinking, broadens the scope of translation studies by increasing the range of possible translation strategies, and establishes a profound foundation, helping people to penetrate deeper into cultural and translational phenomena.
4.1 A Functional Analysis of EFTT
Based on Justa Holz-Manttari's theory of translational action, Skopos theory postulates that translation is a form of intentional, interpersonal, and intercultural interaction based on a source text. In the following paragraphs the translation of English film title will be analyzed mainly from these three aspects.
4.1.1 EFTT as a Purposeful Activity
According to Skopos theory, the prime principle determining any translation process is the purpose (Skopos) of the overall translational action. For this reason, it is necessary to define the Skopos of EFTT first.
As has been mentioned in the previous chapter, for Nord, there are mainly three kinds of purposes, namely, the general purpose aimed at by the translator in the translation process (perhaps `to earn a living'), the communicative purpose aimed at by the target text in the target situation to instruct the reader') and the purpose aimed at by a particular translation strategy or procedureord, 2004: 27-8). As in the specific case of EFTT, such three kinds f of purpose could be understood in the following way: (a) general purpose: For translator, translating film titles can be regarded as a means of earning his living and a successful translated work may win
him great fame. (b) communicative purpose: also the ultimate goal of film title translation, which is to arouse the audience's interest and trigger them to go to the cinema. (c) purpose of using particular translation strategies: This is to achieve the three functions mentioned in Chapter Two, namely, informative function, aesthetic function and commercial (appellative) function, to instruct and entertain the audience.
The communicative purpose plays the most important part among the three purposes since in Skopos theory the term Skopos usually refers to the purpose of the target text. And who determines the Skopos? According to Skopos theory, the addressee, namely, the intended receiver or audience of the target text with their culture specific world-knowledge, their expectations and their communicative needs, is the main factor determining the target text Skopos (ibid.: 12). In the case of film title translating, the intended audience is the person who pays for the ticket and goes to the cinema to watch the film. Only when the audience's interest and desire are aroused, will they be possibly convinced to taking certain actions to go to cinema, and will the box office value be fulfilled.
How can the ultimate purpose of EFTT be realized? Since the intended audience of the target text is considered to be a very important factor in translation process, the analysis of the intended audience of English films may shed light on such issue. Basically speaking, the intended audience is the general public, who do not know
much or not at all foreign language. For them, the plot takes the first priority. There is no denying that the primary expectation for the most audiences to watch a film is to
acquire full spiritual relaxation and psychological satisfaction. They buy tickets to go to cinema mainly for entertainment after a day's busy and laborious work, especially in those big cities with quick paced life, people are more likely tended to suffer both outer and inner pressure. Therefore, it is proper for them to relax their tense nerves and release their feelings with the help of entertainment. In spite of this, in terms of film itself, from its birth, film is supposed to be a popularized art for! the ordinary audience. The nature of the film determines its entertaining property. Being a spiritual commodity for popular consumption, modern films lay more emphasis on popularity and entertainment to capture the audience's interest, especially those American Hollywood films with high cost and high box office, whose function mainly lies in
entertainment. The term entertainment mentioned in this case is not equal to diverting oneself aimlessly. Instead, it is an important factor that constitutes all the prefect arts.
The purpose that English film title translation tends to realize is closely related to that of the film since film title is considered to be the eyes of the film. When an English film is released in China, its Chinese film title is correspondingly publicly shown to the Chinese audience in cinema. It is an important medium to appeal to the audience and draw the film closer to them, because the audiences pay much attention to the film title before they go into the cinema. Since the film is entertainment-oriented and the Chinese audiences want to be entertained by the film, the translation of English film title should meet the demand for entertainment in order
to win the heart of the audience. In this case, entertainment can be regarded as the foremost goal of English film title translation.
As a multifold popular artistic form, different film types cater to different tastes of the audience, entertaining them from different aspects. For example, western film presents a kind of pioneering spirit and at the same time satisfies a sense of justice, i.e. getting rid of bullies and bringing peace to good people; romance film satisfies the audience's yearn for pure eternal love; scenery film brings the audience closer to the cultures and customs of foreign countries; and the action and adventure films cater to those who have been tired of a dull life and who want to experience a thrilling, tense and suspicious emotion. Different film types lay emphasis on specific function. As has been pointed out in Chapter Two, most film titles possess the informative, the aesthetic, and the commercial (appellative) function with an emphasis on one of the three. In Vermeer's Skopostheorie, the Skopos of a translation is determined by the function which the target text is intended to fulfillord, 2006: 27). Accordingly, translated film titles, as new film titles in the target language, should also possess the three functions with the identical ultimate purpose of entertaining the audience. By providing the Chinese audience with some information of the original in written form, the translated film title is to achieve informative entertainment; by well elaborating translation in form and content through diverse rhetoric devices to please the audience's sense, achieving aesthetic entertainment; by fulfilling the first two functions and well matching the psychology of the Chinese audience to realize the commercial value, becoming a box-office hit.
The above analysis manifests that in order to achieve the Skopos of entertainment the Chinese translations should fulfill the informative, the aesthetic, and the commercial (appellative) function at the same time. In other words, the success of EFTT depends on the harmonious integration of the three functions.
4.1.2 EFTT as an Interpersonal Interaction
As has been stated in the previous chapter, translating is an interpersonal interaction, in which many agents are involved, having certain functions. As a kind of spiritual product, the process of film-making is as complex as other commodities are, consisting of several steps: writing the script, making preparations in preliminary S0 stage, shooting, editing and rearranging. There are some roles involved in communicative interaction. In the process of making film, producer can be regarded as the initiator, occupies an important position in the whole operating process, especially under the Hollywood film production mechanism. He has a decisive influence on the producing
and the style-shaping of the film, because he is the money raiser and the issuer of the film, being responsible for the rewarding of the investment. Director, who can be compared to the boss of the whole cast, plays the role of commissioner and target-text user in one person. Since in many cases, director often cooperates with screenwriter
finishing the script or sometimes writes}it himself, it is the director who sets the tune and theme for a specific film and decides what the film will deliver to the audience and the extent to which it will deliver to them. The director's interpretation of the theme of a film composes a translation brief. For this thesis, in the case of translating English film titles, the author regards that it is the Chinese film company who buys the English f lm plays the role of initiator, comr}ssioner and target-text user. According to Skopos theory, different agent roles can be fulfilled by the one person. The screenwriter, i.e. the original script maker, acts as the source-text producer, who will not be involved in the action of translating film titles. The Chinese audiences are the target-text receiver, and the translator is the target-text producer in this case.
Such roles are interconnected through a complex network of communicative relations. Generally speaking, there is a pair of such relations, namely, the relation between the film company (the initiator, commissioner and TT user) and the translator(TT producer), and the relation between the translator and the audience (TT receiver).For Nord, "the initiator is the person, group or institution that starts off the translation process and determines its course by defining the purpose for which the target text is needed, and the commissioner is the person who asks the translator to produce a target text for a particular purpose and addressee." (Nord, 2004: 20). As has been analyzed in the above, the Skopos and the foremost goal of EFTT is to entertain the Chinese audience and attract them to go to the cinema. The Chinese film company actually needs the translated film title to fulfill the three functions to attract the audience to watch the film, which can be regarded as the translation brief in this case. Then the company asks the translator to translate film titles and use it to make the film
dialogues acceptable to the audience. The translator, employed by the film company, first acts as the receiver of both the translation brief and the source text. After agreeing with the commissioner on the conditions involved, the translator tries his best to meet the translation brief to make the film company satisfied by producing the corresponding Chinese film title that he regards as functional in the sense that it meets the demands of the translation brief. Besides, in another relationship the translator must attach much importance to the audience (TT receiver), because "the intended target-text receiver is the addressee of the translation and is thus a decisive factor in the production of the target text." (ibid.: 22). The audience are from all walks of life, different in age, vocation and educational level. Basically, the intended audience are
