英语电影片名的翻译-开题报告(十五)

    From the above one can see that the technique of adaptation works well in many cases in film title translation. With the dependence on the plot of the film, adaptation offers the translator great freedom and space to produce a completely new film title for entertaining the Chinese audience. However, it is a controversial issue. Some people are against this approach for it sometimes goes too far as a translation, and for sometimes it is spoiled by the so-called `creation', which spoils the artistic power of the film, trying to cater to the low taste of some people. This point has been made clear in 4.2.3 (the problem of vulgarization in film title translation). In this situation, it is really a violation against the art of film translation. Therefore, this thesis suggests that `adaptation' never means `random translation', and that such technique should not be overused for the pursuit of sensational effect and box-office hit.

4.4 Summary

From the previous analysis and examples, one may conclude that all the translation methods are indispensable and supplementary to each other. It seems unrealistic to advocate any of them as the universal method of the E-C film title translation because of their own limitations. Actually, for many versions, it is hard to tell exactly what specific method is employed. No single method can always solve all the problems in film title translation. For this reason, the translator should have a deep understanding of the essence of each method and make the best use of them in a flexible and appropriate way to meet the desired purpose. In addition, the translator should also have a comprehensive understanding of the whole film including plot, theme, and cultural background and so on to fully transfer the informative, aesthetic as well as commercial function of film titles. 

Chapter Five

Conclusion:

    Film is one of the most influential mass media products. The film title, as an important part of the film, not only attracts the eyeball, but also helps the film win an everlasting fame. Translating film titles is an interesting, meaningful as well as challenging activity. However, currently English film title translation is still a problematic issue and less explored subject. The present thesis, mainly from a functionalist perspective, explores English film title translation in China under the guidance of Skopos In the previous theory. chapters, the author has discussed in detail the Skopos theory and its application to EFTT. Based on the action theory and other functionalist theories, Skopos theory stands at a height that allows it to draw its attention from the restrained disputes involving "free" vs. "faithful" axis to a broader view of the whole process of

communication. It frees people from the traditional disputes on concepts by providing them a new way of thinking and sheds light on the translation field as to what aspects the translator should be concerned with in the process of translating. Through analyzing authentic examples, it turns out that the application of Skopos theory to film title translation is very enlightening in both practice and theoretical study.

    In the first place, Skopos theory points out that the prime principle determining the translation action is the Skopos印urpose) of the target text according to the needs

and expectations of the intended receiver. For this reason, making clear of the Skopos of EFTT is of vital importance in the translating process. For the Chinese audience, they go to the cinema mainly for entertainment. The ultimate purpose of film title translation is to win the hearts of the audience and be rewarded by the box-ofl'ice hit. Therefore, from the very beginning the translator should always bear this point in mind and try his best to achieve such purpose.

    Secondly, in the course of translation, Skopos theory regards the intended function of the target text as the prior criteria for judging whether the translation is successful or not. Translated f lm titles, as new film titles in the target language, should also possess the intend : d functions of the target text. After discussing the genre of film the author introduces the linguistic, aesthetic, cultural and commercial

features of English film titles. In light of functional theories, the author analyzes and summarizes the functions of English film titles: the informative function, aestheticfunction, and commercial (appellative) function. These three functions operate all together within a film title with an emphasis on one or two aspects of the three. They

are not separate but integrated as a whole to serve the Skopos of entertainment. Therefore, the present thesis holds that the translator should translate film titles under

the basic principle of fulfilling the specific functions of film titles. That is to say, when translating the translator should transfer both the information of the film and emotional tone of the film in concise and popular words in order to make the audience obtain the informative, emotional and aesthetic entertainment, thus becoming a box-office hit and achieving great commercial value.

    Thirdly, since greater importance should be attached to the target text and the intended readers,  consequently, the source text serves as only "an offer of information" from which the translator selects interesting and important information for the intended readers. In the case of English film title translation, apart from the English film title, the film itself is the source of information that the translator can use. Based on such sources of information, the Chinese versions may provide new offers of information in different translation strategies, namely, by preserving the total source text information, by selecting the partial source text information, by adding some information to the source text, or even by completely getting rid of the source text information.

Fourthly, according to Skopos theory, the status of the translator is elevated.  The translator plays the role of expert with responsibility greatly for the performance of the commissioned task and the final product of the process. He is not only responsible for transferring the linguistic codes through different cultures, but also allowed to decide which approach would work the best in translating a given text in a given situation, and thus is allowed more initiative than in previous translation studies. Facing the source film tifile and the plot as an offer of information, different translators can choose different translation techniques to gain the， informative, aesthetic as well as appellative functions. Then the author analyzes the translation techniques  commonly  employed  in  English  film  title  translation,  namely, transliteration, literal translation, liberal translation and adaptation. Since each method has its own advantages as well as limitations, this thesis holds that all these translation methods are indispensable and supplementary to each other and that no single method