Research on Translation of English Film Titles into Chinese From the Cultural Perspective

Limin HE, Chunming LI

Abstract


With the increasing development of globalization, films become a significant medium of cultural exchange among different countries. The film title, a key component of a film, plays an essential role in the propaganda of the film. Therefore, the translation of the film titles is critically important. This paper discusses the functions of film titles, analyzes the basic principles of English film title translation and cultural differences between China and western countries influencing the translation of English film titles, and then puts forward some translation strategies, including literal translation and transliteration, literal translation plus explanatory words and transliteration plus explanatory words, liberal translation, and creative translation, in the hope that these strategies to some extent can give some enlightenment to translators when English film titles are translated.


Keywords


English film titles; Translation; functions; Principles; Strategies; Cultural differences

Full Text:

PDF

References


Chen, D. A. (1998). Comparison and translation between English and Chinese. China Translation Corporation.

He, N. (1998). On translation of English film titles. Shanghai Journal of Translators for Science and Technology, 3, 37-38.

He, Y. (2001). Translation theories and methods of film titles. Foreign Language Education, 22(1), 56-60.

Long, Q. H. (2003). Appreciation of good translation of English film titles— Requirements for a film translator. Journal of Xi an International Studies University, 11(3), 22-24.

Lotman, Y. M., Uspensky, B. A., & Mihaychuk, G. (1978). On the semiotic mechanism of culture. New Literary History, 9(2), 211-232.

Nida, E. A. (1964). Toward a science of translating: With special reference to principles and procedures involved in Bible translating. E.J. Brill.

Nida, E. A., & Taber, C. R. (1969). The theory and practice of translation. E.J. Brill.

Si, X. Z., & Tian, G. S. (2015). Creative treason of Chinese translation of English film titles—Taking English films imported in 2004 as examples. Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies, (6), 46-49.

Waard, J. D., & Nida, E. A. (1986). From one language to another: Functional equivalence in Bible translating. Thomas Nelson.

Wu, M. (1995). On translation of English film titles. Chinese Translators Journal, (5), 57-58.

Wu, S. (2005). On domestication and foreignization of film title translation. Journal of Beijing International Studies University, (4), 56-60.

Zhang, P. J., Yu, Y. G., Li, Z. J., & Peng, M. Y. (1980). Course in English-Chinese translation. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

Zheng, Y. Q., & Wang, X. D. (2006). On translation principles of film title translation. Chinese Translators Journal, 27(2), 66-68.

Fu, Y. J. (2018, February 28). Top 100 Chinese films at the box office until 2018. Retrieved from https://web.phb123.com/yule/dianying/22316.html

List of Academy Award-winning films. ( 2020, February 18). Wikipedia. Retrieved April 18, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.iwiki.eu.org/wiki/List_of_Academy_Award-winning_films




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/12225

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2021 Limin He

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


Share us to:   


 

Online Submissionhttp://cscanada.org/index.php/sll/submission/wizard


Reminder

How to do online submission to another Journal?

If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author

Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.

2. Submission

Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.


We only use three mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; sll@cscanada.net; sll@cscanada.org

 Articles published in Studies in Literature and Language are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 STUDIES IN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE Editorial Office

Address: 1055 Rue Lucien-L'Allier, Unit #772, Montreal, QC H3G 3C4, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mailoffice@cscanada.net; office@cscanada.org; caooc@hotmail.com

Copyright © 2010 Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture