英语电影片名的翻译-开题报告(十四)

title in a depth.

    A typical example is the translation of Waterloo Bridge into《魂断蓝桥)}，which tells a tragic love story. The word `bridge' is kept and translated considerably important part in the film where the story takes literally, for it plays a place and the heroine eventually commits suicide. Taking the cultural connotation into consideration, the translator skillfully resorts to the Chinese folktale of Blue Bridge(蓝桥相会)， implying an emotion of departure, which may easily arouse resonance among the Chinese audience. Considering the mood of the story, the two Chinese character‘魂断’are added to conform to the tragic atmosphere of the film, which can easily kindle the audience's curiosity about a heart-stirring love story hidden between the lines. In addition, the selection of the Chinese four-character structure well suits the taste of the Chinese audience and is in accordance with the Chinese aesthetic standard, thus having a great attraction to the audience. For these reasons, compared with the slavishly translated version((滑铁卢桥))，which sounds lifeless and tasteless and which may cause the Chinese audience to associate it with a historical film about Napoleon, the version((魂断蓝桥》surpasses in  successfully  achieving  the informative, aesthetic as well as the appellative functions.

More successful cases could be found in film title translation practice, such as Madison 《出水芙蓉》

County Bridge《廊桥遗梦》，Ghost《人鬼情未了》 ，Forrest Gump《阿甘正传》，The Devil Wears Prada《时尚女魔头》and so on. Due to limited space, the author will not elaborate on them respectively.

4.3.4 Adaptation

    Unlike traditional linguistic equivalence-oriented translation theories, Skopos theory gives ample space for translators' creativity. In Skopos theory, translators are viewed as target text authors and are released from the "limitations and restrictions imposed by a narrowly defined concept of loyalty to the source text alone" (Schaffner 2005: 238) and have the initiative in translation. In the process of English film title translation, sometimes it may occur to the translator that neither literal translation nor liberal translation works in some cases. In some cases, the Chinese versions turn out to be either obscure and misleading or flat and ordinary only through the combination of these two methods. In this situation, the translator has to give full play to his initiative and creativity to fulfill the ultimate purpose of film title translation.

    Adaptation is very creative in that it completely abandons the form and content of the original film title and makes a fresh start based on the content of the film. That

is to say, by using adaptation translators place more emphasis on the content of the original film than on the title itself. In this sense, to a large extent, adaptation in film title translation can be viewed as a process of generalization and summarization of the content of the film, and a process of reproduction and recreation. This method aims

not only transferring the informative value, but also reproducing the aesthetic and appellative value of the film. Since the film plot acts as an important information offer,

the translator must first understand. the content and the cinematic genres of .the original thoroughly, and then creatively reproduce it based on his comprehension.

    In translation practice, there are many successful creative Chinese versions of English films, in which the thematic meaning is deeply explored to achieve the informative function, the diction is carefully weighed to cater to the target audience's convention, and the aesthetic conception is vividly reproduced to arouse the audience's interest, achieving the appellative function. The old film Leon tells a story concerning an Italian killer called Leon and a 12-year-old girl Mathilda. Leon is truly' exceptional at his job, who does abide by the traditional honor code of "no women, no children". They become close friends by accident and depend on each other for‘ survival. In order to save the girl's life, in the end Leon sacrifices himself, leaving her a peaceful life for ever. Instead of accepting the information offered by the original film title, the Chinese version((这个杀手不太冷》regards the film itself as the information provider. First of all, the translation gives a clear and brief introduction to the main plot of the film.“杀手，，explains the identity of the main character in the film, and the audience may get a hint that this is a film concerning a special life story of a killer. Secondly, through the use of modifier“不太冷”，the Chinese version creates a kind of unconventional and romantic atmosphere, because in people's mind, the word killer usually relates to cruelty and cold-bloodedness. However, the killer molded in this film is quite different from those conventional ones. There is something pure and noble in the inner part of Leon's heart, which can be felt through the whole film. In short, the translation totally shakes off the yoke of traditional translation principles, providing the Chinese audience with both informative and emotional entertainment((料理鼠王》，the Chinese title for the latest cartoon film Ratatouille, is another case in point. Ratatouille tells a story about a rat named Remy, who constantly risks his life in an expensive French restaurant because of his love of good food as well as a desire to become a chef. The translation is apparently preferable than the slavishly translated version((蔬菜杂烩》，in which the comic atmosphere has been lost and the artistic appeal has been spoiled to a large extent. With the involvement of creative work, the translator offers the audience a version, which is widely divergent from the literal meaning of the original film title but fully conveys the thematic meaning of the film. Based on the content of the film, the word“料理，，，to some extent, indicates the subject of the film, which is concerned about food, the thread running through the whole film; in addition,“鼠王”helps the audience associate the translation with a cartoon film at the sight of the word. At last, the translation adopts a concise form of a four-character phrase, which caters to the Chinese audience's convention, giving them aesthetic enjoyment.

    There are many other examples of successful adaptation: Mission ossible《碟 中谍》，Sabrina《情归巴黎》，Airport《九霄惊魂》，The General 's Da妙ter《西 点揭秘》，Volcano《地火危城》and so on.