people to read. Furthermore, it should generalize the content of the film tersely and succinctly and at the same time give the audience aesthetic enjoyment. As has been
stated above, the success of English film title translation also depends on the harmonious integration of the tluee functions. Guided by the Skopos of entertainment, the translator should try to fulfill the three functions at the same time or with particular emphasis on one of them in some cases. The informative function requires that the translator entertain the audience through the conveyance of the information of the original film title, such as the generalization of the plot, the highlight of the main character, the clue of the development of the plot and the background of the film. Titles of different cinematic type bear different stylistic features, either full of romantic charm, heart-stirring atmosphere or comic flavor. The translator should have a good eye to distinguish them, and transplant the aesthetic value by adopting different methods flexibly. Commercialism is the innate feature of the film. Therefore,
the translator must have a good sense of the commercial value of translated film titles in order that they can become a box-office hit and bring large profits.
Secondly, being an important link in the network of the communicative interaction, the translator should be aware of the role of the initiator (the Chinese film company in this case) and target audience. Initiator is the one who starts the translation process and determines its course: On one hand, employed by the film company, the translator should take careful account of the requirements of the company and try to produce the corresponding Chinese film title .that meets the demands of the translation brief. On the other hand, since the film, company is a non-expert or even a layman in translation, the translator has more rights to discuss with and give advice to the film company about what kind of method would work best in translating. The target audience is another important factor the translator should take into consideration, the importance of whom has been emphasized for several times previously. The intended audience of film titles is the general public, which
decides that the language of film titles should be popular and easy to understand. The translator should use simple words if possible to guarantee that most audiences could
comprehend the literal meaning and the connotation of the translated film title.
Basically speaking, the intended audience is the general public, who do not know much or not at all foreign language. Aiming at this group, the translator can mainly
adopt domesticating method. Besides, there are also viewers who have certain amount of knowledge of foreign language and who see a foreign film in order to improve
themselves. For this group, complete domesticating may not be satisfying. Given this, the translator should make several assumptions about the target readership and adopt
different methods to better meet the demands of the target audience.
Thirdly, a competent translator should be bicultural, since film title translation is an intercultural activity. This point has been made clearly in 4.1.3, and in this part the author will not give more details. The point the author wants to emphasize is that the culture is all-embracing and a complex knowledge system. Being a transmitter between different cultures, the translator must make himself a master of the source culture. Only possessing the superficial foreign knowledge the translator will not do a good translation job.
Besides all these, at last it is well worthwhile to mention the problem of vulgarization in film title translation, since seeking money is of utmost importance for some distributors who care for nothing but profit. Aiming to seek the commercial value, some translators deliberately use "shocking" words to draw the audience's eyeballs. To be specific, bloody, wild, violent, and "fire" and "killing".related words often appear in the translation, even though the original title does not contain images. For instance: Avalanche Express《血腥快车)),The True about Charlie
情迫杀》,In- the Heat of the Night《月黑风高杀达夜》. Words expressing passion, intimacy and Woolf《灵欲春宵》, even some erotic words are a Disclosure《叛逆性骚扰》. Besides, the image of“神,鬼魂 魔”are also prevalent and words like“终极,致命,灭口,绝,'and so on are For example: The Terminator《魔鬼终结者)),Somewhere Final Ana《致命恋人》.The entertainment nature in the Night 《惊魂骇魄》
of film determines that the version should be to the taste of the average audience. However, vulgarization doe not mean popularization. The vulgarity not only runs counter to the purpose translation, but also does great harm to language and culture. Therefore, the translator with high sense of responsibility, should have popularity and elegance harmoniousl integrated with each other and offer good versions that suit both refined and popul taste.
4.3 Translation Strategies Adopted in EFTT
This section will discuss various translation techniques and methods adopted English film title translation with rich examples to see how they are used to intended functions of film titles. There are four types of translation
fulfill the
strategies
altogether
translation
adaptation.
in the present thesis, namely, transliteration, literal translation,
liberal
(including the combination of literal
and liberal
translation)
and
4.3.1 Transliteration
In film title translation, transliteration means to seek phonetic correspondence, that is, to describe the English syllables through the corresponding Chinese carrying similar sounds, which is usually used in the translation of proper names the name of persons and places in film titles. Although this approach is not widely used in film title translation, it turns out to be indispensable. form of the original title and attract the audience's It helps to keep the rhythm and attention by its typical foreign flavor. Film titles are not only for the eyes but also for the ears .By showing the target audience the phonetic sonority, the translated titles may be sonorous for them to read and easy to remember. Besides, the foreignness may arouse the audience's curiosity to explore what is exotic and unknown to them, thus the appellative function may be fulfilled.
When the name of the person or place involved in the title is very familiar to the Chinese audience or full of historical and cultural connotations, they should be transliterated in this case. For example, Manic《泰坦尼克号)),Mulan((花木兰》,
Patton
adapted
already
((巴顿将军》,Chicago《芝加哥》.In particular, the names in film titles from world-famous novels should be transliterated, because such titles are of great cognitive value to the novels. For instance, Romeo and Juliet viewers who have already read such classical 《罗密欧与朱丽叶》,Jane Eyre《简爱》,Tess 《苔丝)) .Transliteration can enable the target audience to know more about the original history and culture. By contrast, if they are translated in other ways, the viewers may take it as an ordinary film and may feel no interest in it, which will in turn do great harm to the box-office value of the film.
The above statement does not necessarily mean that transliteration can be used in all such cases, because in some cases it may make no much sense to the target audience since the title gives little information about the film but a sheer foreign name. This point can be exemplified in the title Erin Brockovich, which has been mentioned in 4.2;2. If Erin Brockovich is transliterated into《埃琳·布罗克维奇》,it will quite possibly be understood only as a foreign people's name. Consequently, it will lose the opportunity to reach a larger group of audience. There are other similar examples:
Cleopatra《埃及艳后》not《克利奥帕特拉》
Kate and Leopold《隔世情缘》not《凯特与莱波得》
Annastasia《真假公主》not《安娜斯塔西亚》
4.3.2 Literal Translation
Functionalism does not exclude equivalence so long as it is adequate to "a Skopos that requires that the target text serve the same communicative function or functions as the source text."ord, 2004: 36). In film title translation, literal translation strives to achieve the Skopos by reproducing both form and content of the original in most cases. Since Chinese and English cultures share some similarities, me film titles can be translated literally. There are three kinds of literal translation in this thesis.一a 4.3.2.1 Word-for-word Translation
Word-for-word translation requires precise fidelity to the wording of the original title. When titles reflect almost exactly the content and theme of a film, they could be translated word for word, for its corresponding expression in the target language can achieve the same informative, expressive and appellative functions of the original film title. Under this circumstance, the audience can find a perfect match between the content and the film title and are interested in the foreign elements in the title, thus attracted to go to the cinema. For example:
Four Weddings and a Funeral《四个婚礼和一个葬礼》
Schindler's List《辛德勒的名单》
When Harry Met Sally《当哈里遇上莎莉》
Pearl Harbor《珍珠港》
My Best Friend's Wedding《我最好朋友的婚礼》
Pan's Labyrinth《潘神的迷宫》
4.3.2.2 Adjustment of Word Order or Structure
The target language has different layers in terms of quality. When literal approach is applied in film title translation, the translator needs to pay attention to the
wording of the Chinese version. Word-for-word translation may violate Chinese idiomatic ways of expression and their aesthetic taste, therefore the word order or structure of the English title has to be slightly altered.
A case in point is the film A Walk in the Clouds《云中漫步)) . It tells a beautiful romantic story in which two young people fall in love with each other in the vineyard.
The vineyard is called Las Nubes, which stands for "the clouds". Based on the information provided by the original film title and the 1州c nature of this romance film, the Chinese version((云中漫步)) better conforms to the Chinese audience's aesthetic judgment, thus producing better effect compared to the version((走在云中)). The former version first inverts the position of the adverbial modifier, putting“云中”in the front instead, of translating in linear order. In terms of wording, the Chinese version changes "walk" in the original title from a noun into a verb and translates into “漫步”instead of“走”,which may sound plain and unromantic to the audience. In this way, the Chinese four-character expression conveys not only the main plot of the film but also the lyric tone in a concise and popular phrase, producing a romantic and elegant atmosphere.
Besides, there are other examples: A Streetcar Named Desire((欲望号街车》, Women in Love《恋爱中的女人》,A Room with a jrew《看得见风景的房间》and
so on.
4.3.2.3 Transliteration plus Paraphrase
Literal translation has the advantage of retaining a unity of the form and content between the version and the original. The method of transliteration mentioned previously can be regarded as a form of literal translation. In this part, through preserving the pronunciation of the English film title and adding some necessary information which is not included in the original title, the approach of transliteration plus paraphrase aims at helping the audience grab the meaning of the title and have a better comprehension of the content of the film.
Take the film Shrek((怪物史莱克》as an example. By the means of transliteration, the pronunciation of the name is preserved to make the Chinese audience know something about the main figure in the film. At the same time the translation is paraphrased by the new information of a modifier“怪物”to explain the identity of "Shrek", who is an animated figure. If Shrek is literally translated, the audience would have no way to know that it is a film to the taste of the children. Once ‘怪物,,is added, it produces some kind of fantastic atmosphere, thus attracting the eyeball of the audience. Through the way of transliteration plus paraphrase, the Chinese version of this title is clear in meaning and facilitates the informative function and commercial value of film title.
There are also other examples: Bambi叼通班L匕))), Tartan((左遍泰山))), Patton《巴顿技生》,Ali《全工阿里》,Titanic《泰坦尼克呈》.
4.3.3 Liberal Translation
Since no two languages are identical, it is impossible for translator to find equivalent expressions in the target language all the time. To make the Chinese version fulfill the Skopos of film title translation, the translator often resorts to liberal translation when and where necessary. Liberal translation is a strategy that seeks to convey the meaning and the spirit of the original title without sticking to the form mechanically. The liberal translation in this thesis inclines towards the combination of both literal and liberal translation since they have been `two sisters' ever since the work of translation came into being. The strongpoint of this technique is that such combination can transmit the message to the most extent and add to the artistic appeal
of the title since literal translation can deliver the literal meaning of the title at surface level, and at the same time liberal translation expresses the implied meaning of the