The Principles Of Films Name Translation.doc

the principles of films name translation contentabstract 21. introduction 21.1 background of the research 21.2 the signification of the research32.1 information value principle42. 2 cultural value principle42.3 the aesthetic value principle52. 4 commercial value principle 73. the relation between the four principles.84. the changes in modern translation.94.1 the importance of the commercial value94.2 be creative 104.3 be more variable 105. introduce some other skills.115.1 adding and reducing.115.2 choosing a proper combination of the words116. conclusion.11references12abstract: the modern film production now become a huge industry for its big profit and wide audience. with the deep communication between the different cultural, film industry become a national focus. we can see all kinds of different films all around the world. as the fast development of the film industry, people require more and more professional translation to make them completely enjoy the whole content of the film. so film translation become so important that it form some principles and roles to follow. as we always do, we know a film firstly from its name. a good and proper name make us to bring out our interest to watch it, and also a confused name will puzzle us and affect its audience rating. films name translating work does not seem so easy to finish. you should think over a lot of factors and surroundings. even you can translate the whole content properly, but an improper name could destroy the first impression of the film, the worst result is that the audience don not want to care about what will going on in the story. this is what we always say that the importance of the first impression. if we take the whole translation as a huge programme, the name translation is the start and the key of the work. if you find a good key, or you create a successful name for your film, you will get the first entrance of the film market and set up a good impression for the audience. after all, the number of the films production is so huge nowadays, films are been creating everyday. the audience need more, the films must afford more. a slipshod translation could not stand too long in the film market. 1 introduction:1.1 the background of the researchas a kind of art for all ages, movie has a large number of audience and deep impact upon the society which the other arts are unable to compare with. whats more, movie title, headline of a movie, is a symbol and one part of packing. an excellent title could attract thousands of audience. wonderful movies achieve to appeal millions of people, not only because of the performers skillful acting and beautiful pictures but also the meaningful title.movie, one of the most important mass media, is an audio-visual art. it creates images, narrates stories, expresses feelings, states philosophy and attracts the audience by its sound, color and moving pictures. movie is more direct and sensitive than any other forms of art to keep pace with times. ever since the adoption of the policy of reform and opening up to the outside world at the end of the 1970s, cultural exchanges have become increasingly prevalent and the receptors of dubbed movies have greatly expanded. meanwhile, people begin to investigate the movies from various angles and comparison between movies of different countries also starts to prosper. however, being a special and significant part of movies, movie titles are far from being explored and there is a relative paucity of writings on movie title translation. 1.2 the signification of the research movie titles with film content, often convey information, establish the emotional tone, offer aesthetic pleasure, attract the audience and increase the box office. the title is humour and thought-provoking, because of its profound cultural connotation and vivid language, they are favoured by chinese fans and other english lovers. with the high requiring from the audience and the society, the translators could feel the pressure from the work. in fact, the translation work is not so easy as it likes. when you consider about all the aspects of the work., you will find it needs your abundant knowledge and experience. as the work become a subject, people find out there must be some roles to follow. in the translation of film titles across cultures and languages, the conversion process often reflected by four basal translation principles.2.1 information value principle this is the most basal principle of the work. any translating work should follow this role. no matter what change you will do for your income or interest, this role could not be given up or ignored. because the basic information could not be changed during the conversion. titles should be faithful and visible to deliver the content relevant information, to achieve the equivalence of the value between the titles and the content. the information include the story that happened in the film, the atmosphere made in the story and the mainline of the incident. we cant read out all the details of the movie only from its name, but the name must be compendious and representative. someone translated the film the sound of music to“仙乐飘飘何处闻”, this title was applicable to all kinds of musical. even worse, someone translated the true lies（大陆译为：真实的谎言）and anna karenina (大陆译为：安娜.卡列尼娜）to“魔鬼大帝” and “爱比恋更冷”, they are so far away from the content. these translation not only puzzle people, but also lead them to form a wrong psychological hope. now we can see so many films all named by “总动员”, such as超人总动员(the incredibles), 海底总动员(finding nemo), 玩具总动员(toy story), such name could only follow the fashion but not tell us what the content about. maybe they need a change.2. 2 cultural value principle translation is not only a simple process about language, but also a social phenomenon of the two cultures communication . during the translation, to embody cultural value and promote cultural communication and understanding is an important task of the translating work. however, because the differences of the social development history, geography, political values, customs and ethics. the embodying of the cultural value will be showed firstly on the fully understood and the exact delivery of the information and emotion, to avoid of the wrong translation. lets review a famous film seven (1995). this film tell us a philosophy crime story. a crazy man killed people according to the seven guilt of catholic, including gluttony, greed, sloth, lust, pride, envy and wrath. we can see the number seven everywhere in this film, the seven guilt, the seven rain day, the ending in the seventh day. . when the film came out, it was named 七宗罪, it just show the main storyline and the religion moral to the chinese people and made us to understood it easily. whats more, because of the difference of the language cultural. some similar words may tell different meaning. this could lead to a failing translation. such as first wives club, once was translated to 大老婆俱乐部, they did not know the meaning of first in english. first wife means the first wife you married on the first time, but not one of the important wives of yours. so the translating of 原配夫人俱乐部 or 结发夫人俱乐部 is more correct. one of the successful american film “the third man” once also be translated to 第三者, the worst result is that this uncomfortable name lead us to think it as a ethics film. the fact is that the third man means the witness of the accident. at the same time, due to the difference of the cultural identity, the association meaning of the words will change. such as the word dragon, it means 龙 in china which is a symbol of the god. but in western country, dragon always show cruel and devil. so it is easy to understand why we do not translate the american film dragon heart into 龙之心. it seems more exactly to name it 魔龙传奇. the idioms and allusions hiding in the translation is also an important matter for us. the film “one flew over the cuckoos nest” once was translated to “飞越杜鹃窝”，the fact is that “cuckoos nest” means mental hospital. this film tells a story about how a mental patient fight for the freedom and the truth. the wrong translation will be laughed at for their less of the knowledge. in the deliver of the cultural value, we should have the following consensus: first we should see the limit of the language itself. the foreign cultural is sure to force the local cultural to select , change and strengthen. such as the translation of “天伦乐”(“love with my father” ) and “洞房花烛夜”(“the wedding night”), they are obviously added by chinese cultural. on the other hand, we should know the cultural communication in the translation is a dynamic process. this means we should judge a translation by a historical eyes. or we can say translation is limited by space and time. however, from the historical perspective,there is no dout that the opening surroundings and the frequent communication will promote more successful translation.2. 3 the aesthetic value principle the translation of the title require getting rid of the shackle of the content, grasping the mind and the aesthetics in the content. rereate the works as a artist and try to find a new way to distribute them. use your own language and artistic form to convey the image, the emotion and the art in the content. so we can lead the nice feeling of the beauty to our audience. the first step to realize the aesthetic value is to deliberating the words. to select the exact words and create a atmosphere to lead the audience come into the story. such as the following examples, we can see the different result of different selecting: ex1: you cant take it with you【tra1】你无法带走；【tra2】浮生若梦ex2：a man from snowy river【tra1】来自雪河的人；【tra2】雪河男子汉ex3：ordinary people【tra1】普通人 ；【tra2】凡夫俗子 we can see translation 2 are more easily understood for us about the content of the film, at the same time ,they all fit our chinese custom. translation also needs the beauty of phonology. chinese use the different tone (high or low, long or short, fast or slow) to make the language more emotional and beautiful. we translate outland to “天外天”（抑扬、押韵），courage under fire to “生死豪情”（抑扬），singing in the rain to “雨中曲”. these name reads more fair-sounding. another step is to translate more simple and meaningful. translate a puzzlement of love to “情惑”，the strange tale to “奇谈”，intolerance to “党同伐异” are good examples. these long former names are all replaced by some simple chinese names without lossing any content. this is also a recreative work. and we can find a lot of names formed by four chinese words. such as “与狼共舞”（dance with the wolves)，“小鬼当家”（home alone），“阿甘正传”（forest gump）“偷天陷阱” (entrapment)，亡命天涯(the fugitive)，护花倾情(the bodyguard)， 翻译风波（the interpreter）. this is too comfortable for our chinese audience to remember them so deeply. rhetoric is also used in the translation of the name. such as metaphor, repeated, antonyms and so on. here are some good examples:gaslight is translated to “郎心如铁”. metaphora few good man is translated to “好人寥寥”. repeated true lies is translated to “真实的谎言. antonymsthe other good examples such as “大亨小传”(the great gatsby)，“旧宠新欢”(old wives for new)，“铁汉柔肠”(love me tenderly) are worth for us to learn.2. 4 commercial value principle filming is an art including cultural and commercial. besides now film become more important in our entertainment, the filming production also become a big industry. so it is necessary to consider the commercial factors in the translation. this require the worker grasp the features of the language and create a popular name, cause the identity of the audience and lead them to form the eager to see the film. canada writer michael ondaatje had a famous work the english patient. the story is about two lovers who lived under the surrounding of the wwii. the film based on this story also use the former name. but we could not translate it into 英国病人, because it means nothing to our chinese audience. 乱世情天 and 英伦情人 are both good translations for it to show the romantic theme to us. another form to show the commercial value is to emphasize a novel name, to create suspense and atmosphere. translating sister act to “修女也疯狂”，the net to “网络惊魂”, these make the audience have any questions in their mind and want to see how was going on. it happens one night was translated into “一夜风流”, the rock was translated into “勇闯夺命岛” or “石破天惊” or “绝地任务”, these create a nervous atmosphere with suspense. to achieve these aims, commercial value need lots of innovation, even you can change the name of the film. but do not change the content. during the working process, the translator always use adding, reducing, cutting, innovation and expanding in the words selecting. lets see the following ones: blood and sand to “碧血黄沙”，addingpiano to “钢琴别恋”，addingthe independence day to “独立日烽火”，addingthe three musketeers to “豪情三剑客”, addingshe is so lovely to “可人儿”，reducingin the heat of the night to “炎夜”, cutting sometimes the literal translation also embody the content adequately, call out the audiences happiness from the beauty of the content. sometimes some translation reads obscurity, the others are flavourless. so we need to get out from the form and the content of the former name, find another way based on the content, use a popular language form and embody them more lifelike. some chinese translators have many excellent works, they select proper words and make the content reappearance. like the film of mice and men, wrote by john steinbeck (1902-2002), describe the farmers oppose to the society. the translator did not use the literal translation, but named it 芸芸众生, lead the readers and the audience think about the pain we suffer from the world. this make the cultural value and the commercial value unite. moreover, volcano was translated to“地火危城”，ghost was translated to “人鬼情未了”，patch adams was translated to“妙手真情”；if looks could kill was translated to“后窗艳影”；shark tale was translated to “鲨鱼黑帮”, “ 黄飞鸿” was translated to “once upon a time in china”，“省港旗兵” was translated to long arm of the law，“纵横四海” was translated to once a thief . .they are all good examples.3. the relation between the four principles: the information value principle is changeless, its the basal principle of the translation work. we make changes for the other principles according to this one. movies may come from different countries and cultural, so we choose different words and forms to build up our language and make the name close to its content. movies name translating work is also a kind of translating work, what makes it different is the way how to recreate the content to the other people. maybe the audience are not so familiar with the surrounding and the major idea, they need a translator to lead them to come into the world in the film. the information value principle like a flag in the tour guides hand, the translator use the flag to make sure the way is right to the scenery. the words that come out from the guides mouth are just right to describe the objects which the audience could see. when the tourist come across an unknown chapter, the leaders should change the form of the chapter by another way, but do not try to touch the basic information. the cultural value, aesthetic value and commercial value principle serve to the audience. they are more likely to show the creative ability of the translators. these three principle are brought out just for the watchers, because they make the film more easily discernible and widely accepted. when we finish reverting the information of the content, we come to the second work, that is to use our abundant knowledge to follow the three principle. nowadays, the translating work become a complex work for the growth of the requirement from the people. they do not only want a visual film, but also a film which could tell them something about the world outside. so we put ourselves into the work of adding more cultural factors and make the translation more wonderful. then the audience would like to come into the cinema and pay the money for the show. the time when we realize the information value, cultural value and aesthetic value, the commercial value will come out automatically. 4.the changes in modern translation:4.1 the importance of the commercial value:when the films industry come out, it means movies begin to make huge money. let alone, a high box office is soon become the most important standard of the success. this require us that we could put more funny factors in the name of the movies. which words are more attractive and how to give it an unusual name to make it different form the others? this must rack our brains. the movies have their own watchers, some are fit for children while some are fit for the lovers. what name could make our audience cant wait to watch, and what name make our audience like to take out their money? we must be good at searching for the entrance to the heart of people. we also need to stand for the people and suppose that we are just standing besides the gate and want some suggests about choosing a movie to spend my weekend. which name could shine in the darkness and make me feel ever fresh. . this is just what the audience ex