英语电影片名的翻译-开题报告(十)

c) New Attitude toward Translation Strategies

    Skopos theory can be paraphrased as "the translation purpose justifies the translation procedures"., 2004: 124). If a translation fulfills the primary purpose of translation, it is believed to be a successful translation, whatever translation strategies according the translator takes. Translation methods can be various as they vary to the different purposes the translator intended to achieve. Theory accounts for the different methods in different translation situations. In this sense,

Skopos theory takes a more tolerant attitude to translation practice, especially those that are usually considered to be against the existing translation criteria but proves to be satisfactory and successful in outcome(陈小慰，2000: 9-12).

d) Significance for Translation Criticism

    According to Skopos theory, the intended purpose of the target text is essential in the evaluation of translation, and the criterion for translation evaluation is "adequacy" instead of "equivalence". As long as a translation fulfills the primary purpose of translation, it is believed to be a successful one. In this sense, Skopos theory has come to widen the narrow visions of traditional translation criticism, implying the acceptance of multiple versions and the evaluation of individual versions with respect to the purposes for which each version is intended (Baker, 2005: 208) and expanding the possibility of translation.

    Meanwhile,  with  loyalty  as  a  compromise,  it  stresses  the  translator's responsibility for translation, demanding the translator's respect for the author, and limits the excessive practice of subjectivity in translation. Therefore, compared with the traditional linguistic approach, which focuses on the text and author, Skopos

theory lays more emphasis on the purpose of translation, the translator, the target audience and the situation in which the translation is produced. In this way, it has brought a new perspective on translation criticism.

3.2 Previous Studies on English Film Title Translation

    In recent years, as more and more overseas films have been introduced and

shown in China, foreign films have become an indispensable part of our daily life. The academic study on film theory and filmmaking technology also experience

flourishing growth both at home and abroad. However, comparatively speaking, theoretical study on audiovisual translation, the translation of foreign films and TV programs remains far from touched upon. Professor Qian Shaochang in his article《影视翻译一翻译园地中愈来愈重要的领域》(Film Translation---A More and More Important Field in Translation Studies) points out that in China nowadays the number of the film and TV series audience is much larger than that of literary works, and the audiovisual translation has no less influence than literary translation. However, in contrast, the Chinese translation academia pays much less attention to audiovisual translation than it does to literary translation, reflecting an imbalance with the

significant social role that foreign film and TV series play (Qian Shaochang, 2000:

61).

    Encouragingly, some Chinese translation scholars and researchers have become aware of the audiovisual translation and have made some respectable endeavor. Bao Huinan in his book((文化语境与语言翻译》(Cultural Context and Translation) discusses the translation of special terms that are rich in cultural connotations, including names, titles of books and films, addressing term, idioms, etc.. He reviews the current situation of film title translation in China, pointing out the fact that a film title is usually translated into several versions, causing confusion to the audience and management problem for the market. In addition, he also classifies the translation methods adopted in English film title translation. Although his analysis concerning film title translation is insightful and illuminative, it is still comparatively incomplete and inadequate.

    Apart from this, recently many articles can also be seen in various kinds of academic periodicals. Unsatisfactorily, some of them are limited to the enumeration of the methods of translating film title while others lack theoretical framework, with a few or even no translation theories used to support their ideas. For example, Ning Zhishou (1997) points out two main strategies used in the translation of English film titles, namely, literal translation and liberal translation. For him, literal translation  includes the following three cases: maximally maintain the form and meaning of the original film title; change the word order or structwe of the original one according to the characteristics of the target language; make some addition or omission of the original one. As for liberal translation, it does not refer to the liberal translation of the original film title but the translation in accordance with the plot of the original film. In the end, he concludes that no matter which strategy is chosen, it should serve the goal that the form of the translated film title should be in accordance with the content of the source film title. Besides, Yao Qinhua (1999) also proposes these two strategies but with an emphasis on the study on the translated film title named after the protagonist's name. There are also many other articles that can be classified into this type, whose conclusions are more or less the same: transliteration, literal translation,' liberal translation, the combination of literal a.}d liberal translation, etc. are suitable for film title translation. This kind of articles, to some extent, can offer readers a general idea about how many translation methods are used to translate the film title, but they lack the translation theory to support their conclusion.

    Some translators base their studies on some translation theories. For example, He Ying (2001)puts forward "one center and four basic points". "One center" refers to functional equivalence, meaning "the information of the original film title has been so translated into the target language that the response of the target receptor is essentially like that of the source receptor." "Four basic points" refer to four basic value criteria for translating English film titles, namely, informative value, cultural value, aesthetic value and commercial value. Zhao Chunmei (1998) proposes Yan Fu's "faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance" as the criteria for English film title translation. For her, "faithfulness"  is  meant  to  be  faithful  to  the  original  film  title  and  plot; "expressiveness" is meant to conform to the Chinese language habits; and "elegance" is meant to be vivid and concise. Although such translators propose certain translation theory or criteria, in practice they may not apply them to the analysis of English film title translation effectively. For Zhao, she does not apply the three criteria to the analysis of film title translation but turns to the discussion of literal and liberal

translation. Therefore, the three criteria fail to play the due role in her study.