毕业论文(设计)关于奥斯卡最佳电影名的翻译

四川师范大学文理学院本科毕业论文 On the Translation of Oscar Best Films Titles关于奥斯卡最佳电影名的翻译 作 者： 蒋 华 院 系： 外国语学院 年 级： 2009 级 专业班级： 英语翻译一班 学 号： 200914025108 指导教师： 魏昕(硕士) 答辩日期： 2013年3月30日 摘要 随着我国电影事业的蓬勃发展，大量欧美电影作品不断的引进。在和西方电影界的交流学习中，语言成为了一大障碍，尤其在电影片名翻译上，出现了许多不尽人意的翻译现象，甚至错译与误译的现象。笔者注意到，由于种种原因，电影片名的翻译显得鱼龙混杂，不尽人意。作为影片不可或缺的一部分，电影片名有其独特的语言特色和民族文化内涵，是电影艺术性和票房商业性的集中体现。本文主要浅析最佳奥斯卡影片名的汉语翻译，从电影片名本身的特点，影响翻译名称的因素，翻译奥斯卡影片名的方法和原则等方面进行探讨和分析，试图为解决这个难题提供一个参考方案。关键词: 本身特点 影响因素 翻译方法 翻译原则Abstract With the vigorous development of the film industry, a large number of European and the United States films are continuously introduced to China. In western film communication study, language has become a big obstacle, especially in film title translation. There are many unsatisfactory translation phenomenon, even misreading and mistranslation phenomenon. The writer noticed that, due to various reasons, film title translation is a mix up of good and evil people. As an integral part of the film, the film title has its unique language features and national culture. It is also the concentrated reflection of artistic and commercial features. This paper mainly analyses the Oscar Best Films titles translation, from the features of the Oscar Best Films Titles, the influential factors, the translation methods and the principles of the translation of Oscar Best Films Titles ,to try to solve this difficult problem and provide a proper reference scheme.Key words: itself features influential factors translation methods translation principlesContentsAbstract ( in Chinese)Abstract ( in English)1. Introduction2. Features of Oscar Best Films Titles 2.1. Being Brief 2.2. Being Popular 2.3. Being Brilliant3. The Influential Factors 3.1. The Leading Characters 3.2. The plot 3.3. The Genre of the Movie or the TV Series 3.4. The Target Audience4. Methods of the Translation of Oscar Best Films Titles 4.1. Literal Translation 4.2. Free Translation 4.3. Transliteration5. The Principles of Translating the Titles 5.1. Equivalence 5.2. Attraction 5.3. Elegance6. ConclusionBibliographyIII1. Introduction The film, a particular art with both artistic and commercial values, is one of the most influential mass media with large quantities of European and American movies being introduced into Chinese market. It is a form of cultural exchange through visual language. Film title shows the important touch that brings the specific work of film art to life and leaves a first impression on the audience. To ensure full understanding of the target audience, the translation of film titles is a special part of film translation. Film title shows the important touch that brings the specific work of film art to life and leaves a first impression on the audience. Oscar Best Picture Winners can also be seen as a symbol of American cultures and are thus introduced into China as a medium of cultural exchange. This thesis attempts to present a tentative whole-scene of the translation of titles of Oscar Best Picture winners by analyzing the possibilities and limitations of film title translation, as well as the translation methods adopted, the underlying translation principles and the effects achieved. For the sake of convenience, the first film granted the Oscar Best Film in the year of 1929 will be referred to as Film 1, the second in the year of 1930 Film 2, and so the third. As an English major, the writers personal ability is limited, so the focus of this paper will be the rendering of the titles from English into Chinese. The text is composed of four parts, including the features, the influential factors, the methods and the principles of translation.2. Features of Oscar Best Films Titles In the rich and colorful entertainment industry, the film wants to attract customers away from TV, online games and other entertainment media and get into the cinema; the most important thing is the name of the film. Because, if the film is the comprehensive body between art and business value, then the title of the film is the expression of this comprehensive body. Throughout 84th Oscar Best Film Titles, which mainly have three characteristics: being brief, being popular and being brilliant. 2.1 Being Brief Because of the movie screen dimensional limitation, movie title are often highly mention refined. They will concentrate the movie content; which often use the concise language, and it generally consist of three English words. For example, Film 21 “Hamlet”, Film70 “Titanic”, Film84 “Artist”, Film45 “The Godfather”,Film33 “The The Apartment” Film 81 “Slumdog Millionaire”. Among the 84 departments of the award winning films, 67film titles for three or following English words composition, occupy 80%, among which mang only have one English word, and the longest movie titles only has 10 words, namely Film 76 ”The Lord of The Rings: the Return of the King”. 2.2. Being Popular The movie is a kind of mass media, which is entertainment and appreciation for ordinary people . The art is not for a few experts and scholars to do academic research. Thus, it should avoid difficulty words, uncommon words, professional strong terms, but use easy words for understanding. Otherwise it will not be popular and fast spread among the general public widely. It is the award winning film following the principle. For example, Film 1 ”Winds”, Film 3 “All Quiet on the Western Front”, Film 17 “Going My Way”, Film 12 “Gone With the Wind”, Film 18 “The Lost Weekend”, Film 72 “American Beauty”, Film 37 “My Fair Lady”, Film 77 “Million Dollar Baby”. 2.3.Being BrilliantThe film is a kind of business behavior, so it should pay attention to the business value, or it can not live and develop. To reach the business success, the title must have a great attraction to draw the attention of the audience so as that they have the desire to get into the cinema. That is to say, it is the brilliant-provoking which draws the audiences eye. Brilliance is the biggest characteristic of the film titles and is also a high magic weapon of the business. For example, Film 7 “It Happened One Night” 一夜风流，in which is what happened in the night mainly attract many audiences to get into the cinema. One more, Film 81 “Slumdog Millionaire” 贫民窟的百万富翁，in which slums is the poor mans residence. How can a man who lives in a slum be rich? Peoples curiosity is stimulated; so they want to get into the cinema to figure it out.3. The Influential Factors 3.1.The Original Title The original one is the first thing that we should consider about when we begin translating the title. This is the way to respect the originality of the article. The writers in his mother tongue has chosen the title for important reasons. So keeping the original flavor of the originated title is the first option that the translator should think about. The title may be a symbol of the movie; it may be a clue to lead the audience into the world of the movie. It is difficult to describe the translators role. It likes a messenger to deliver the message implied in the title of the movie. So we may just directly translate the title from English into Chinese when the original title is easy to be adapted into Chinese without causing any misunderstanding of the movie itself, or lessening the attractiveness to the potential audience.For example ,the successful Chinese titles which are translated directly from the original ones are , for example, as follows: Film 76 “The Lord of the Rings”指环王, Film 45 “The Godfather”教父, Film 66 “Schindlers List”辛德勒的名单, Film 64 “The Silence of the Lambs ”沉默的羔羊，Film 73 “Gladiator”角斗士.These original titles can be delivered into Chinese without any forms of changes.3.2. The Leading Characters Sometimes, the characters are in the center of the movie, because they dominate the development of the plot and their personal charms are too strong to be ignored. In these movies, there are usually some major movie stars whose appeals are the first concern of the producers. So while translating these titles, the translator should concern about presenting the film in the leading characters perspective.Take Film 55 “Gandhi” for example.This film records the India Mahatma Gandhis epic, legend and great life. So we translate the title as 甘地传. Sometimes to shift focus of the original title can be effective to stress on the character such as Film 62 “Driving Miss Daisy”为戴茜小姐开车. 3.3. The Genre of the Movie or the TV Series Based on different standards, the movie can be divided into different genres. According to setting, there are history, war, disaster, western, science-fiction, road, and adult , such as Film 1 “Wings”翼, which is a historic-war movie; according to mood, there are romance, comedy, drama, thriller and suspense, take Film 40 “In the Heat of the Night”炎热的夜晚for example, it is a suspense-thriller one, and Film 18 “The Lost Weekend”失去的周末 is a comedy; according to format, there are action, cartoon, musical, and documentary; according to the source of money, there are independent movies and factory movies, the former of which means less money but more freedom, the latter of which is a reverse; according to the viewers maturity, there are teenage films and grow-up films. 3.4. The Target Audience Like selling any other products, selling a movie also needs to have a clear target market to attract people to buy.The purpose of making a film is to attract the audience to watch it. Without audience, the films would never fulfill themselves as products. The target audience is of great importance to the films. So it is clear that the Chinese title should have the same function as the English one, which is to attract the audience into the cinema or sit before the TV set. Such as Film 33 “The Apartment”桃色公寓 which will certainly attract ladies who are emotional and really fans of romance. Film 44 “The French Connection” 法国贩毒网, which will certainly be the mens cup of tea who enjoy drama and crime. And Film 82 “The Hurt Locker”拆弹部队, Which will certainly attract the ones who like army stories. All these Chinese titles successfully inherit the English titles function and works well on the Chinese audience.4. Methods of the Translation of Oscar Best Films Titles On the 84 Oscar Best Films, we find that the Chinese title translation methods of three kinds: literal translation, free translation, transliteration.They are used in different film title translations. 4.1. Literal Translation It was always been controversial for the definition of the literal translation. It is the common belief that the form and content are consistent with the original is defined as literal translation. Literal translation is not word-to-word translation. Sometimes, translators should do some change in translation so that they can make the translation more acceptable. Literal translation is keep the basic form and content unchanged, it is a good choice to translate lively and closely. At the same time, the requirement of the language is easy to understand. Not all titles can translate literally. Some titles, if used literal translation would not be according with the culture of target language. Translators should have extensive knowledge, comprehend the original thoroughly. The emphasis of literal translation is “Like”, claiming that the original content of the original text to form expressed in the target language. Language is a social phenomenon, is the carries of culture and an important component part. There are many differences between Western and Chinese language and culture, but we still can find the great similarities. In the 84 best picture, there are 32 film title literal translation, accounted for 38%. In the actual film translation, some title sequence in both Chinese and English are equal to each other almost completely which can use completely one-to-one translation. For example, Film 84 “The Artist”, Film 45 “The Godfather”, Film 72 “American Beauty” and Film 77 “Million Dollar Baby”, respective for 艺术家 教父 美国丽人 百万宝贝. 4.2. Transliteration The so-called transliteration means directly translate into the target language and the same or similar words pronunciation language according to the source language”s pronunciation rules. This is the simplest and the most convenient translation method, and it is also one of the most commonly method. If the title for related peoples names, places are familiar to audience, or has the important historical significance, it should be transliteration. The advantage of transliteration is to keep the original title of rhythm, and be appeal to a wider audience with its strong characteristic of different region. Film 32 “Bin-Hur”, Film 36 “Tom Jones”, Film 55 “Gandhi”, Film 70 “Titanic”, which in turn for 宾虚汤姆琼斯甘地传泰坦尼克号. 4.3. Free Translation Free translation is a skill. It need not pay more attention to the form of the original and the details. But free translation should accord with target language culture and customs. Then target language readers can accept translation easily. It means being free from the word-to-word translation and adding the implying meanings from the films itself to the titles. In this way, the titles accomplish their missions without going away from the original titles. In other words, the ultimate goal of translating the titles is to reach the pragmatic equivalence by any means of translation skills. If free translation cannot make the Chinese titles satisfying, we will use adaptation that means being without the limits of the English titles. Free translation is unqualified, it also needs extensive knowledge and culture of both source language and target language. There are similar points between English and Chinese language, but also the differences between Chinese and western in social development, customs, aesthetic value, education background and ethics are so common that we cant direct translate in most situation. If we literally translate stubbornly, it may lose the essence of the original title or make the audience confused. For example, if Film 12 “Gone With the Wind” literally translated into the 随风逝去， it will have no lasting appeal, but also cant reflect the original colorful connotation. However, if we translated into the 乱世佳人，its a feeling of lasting appeal, and also reflect the warring era appropriately, and the hero fight with the fate helplessly. Film 69 “The English Patient”, which tells a moral boundary and an romantic beautiful love story that the actor and the actress go across during the Second World War. Some Chinese translators just literally translated it into 英国病人. While, the other translator translated into英伦情人， not only the poetic flavor is abundant, but the love theme is tightly touched. In addition, Film 48 “One Flew Over the Cuckoo” translated into飞越疯人院respectively.5. The Principles of Translating the Titles 5.1. Equivalence Equivalence is almost the basic rule in all fields of translations, including the translations of titles of films. It emphasizes on the equivalence of the function. We cannot demand that the equivalence of two phrases shorter than five words is as perfect as noun-to-noun or verb-to-verb, which is also very unrealistic. The total equivalence is suitable for a complete text, not for a short title even as short as one word. As long as the titles reaches the functional equivalence which means causing the audience to react in the same way to the film and giving them a desire for watching the film , then it is a success. Can you ask for more from a title? For example, Film 13 “Rebecca” as蝴蝶梦, Film 81 “Slumdog Millionaire” as贫民窟的百万富翁. 5.2. Attraction As I stressed in the previous paragraphs, the most distinctive feature of a title should be catching peoples attention and concluding the most important theme of the movie at the same time. Yet the titles need to be shining to trick the people into the cinema. It should deliver something important in the article, not an empty beautiful slogan on the poster without life or energy. In other words, the titles should keep balance and harmony between art and market, so do the films themselves. Whatsmore , the translated title has another requirement which is to fit in the Chinese culture. Not every Chinese are interested in the foreign films with an awkward Chinese title. Attraction is an essential feature of a good title such as Film 12 “Gone With the Wind”乱世佳人and Film14 “How Green Was My Valley”青山翠谷. 5.3. Elegance Some people doubt whether elegance is a necessary tribute in the translations of the titles. From my point of view, the titles are appearing in the public places and are similar to the book names, I think elegance is the essential part of a successful title. For examples, Film 67 “Forrest Gump” starring Tom Hanks has the Chinese title called 阿甘正传，which is equivalent ,attractive and elegant. 阿甘正传 reminds us of LuXuns satire and irony work 阿Q正传，which is known to every household in China. Both of them are the reflections of their societies in a humorous and bittersweet way. And the nickname Agan(阿甘) brings out some sort of intimacy between the character and the audience while echoing the English name. After the brief analysis, we are able to feel the translators ingenious choice based on his mastery of both languages and the film itself. According to this case, we can tell elegance really needs sophistication, knowledge and cultural background. When I say elegance, I refer to the responsibility of the translator to keep the purity of our mother language as well as to bring the new source of positive energy into Chinese, since we all are full aware of the fact that loan words have always been active factors in the development of Chinese. 6. Conclusion There is a great prosperity and popularity of American films during the past eight decades. Among which the Oscar Best Picture winners are, in a way, representative of American films in each period of times. This essay aims to provocative rather than prescriptive and by no means to set rigid and solid standards exclusive with film title translation. For example, the first part of the title of Film 76 “The Return of the King” is put into “魔戒”instead of “指环王”. Personally speaking, the former is preferred by this writer and thus the latter is classified as a title translation of minimum quality in this essay. Based on this essay, we may claim that the film title translation should be distinguished from other kinds of translation. This essay is written in the hope that it will be of a little help to improve the translation quality of the titles of films in quantity. The translator may enjoy more creative freedom on the one hand and be confronted with more challenging and demanding requirements on the other hand in the process of film title translation. I am looking forward to seeing the improvement of the titles translation while accelerating the introduction of foreign films.BibliographyIXen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_genre (Online sources)Peter Newmark, A Text of Translation, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press(Chapter in book)A(Online sources)(online sources)1