Analysis on the Translation of Lines in English Movies 英文电影的台词翻译.doc

analysis on the translation of lines in english moviesabstractthe film translation is blessed with the distinctive language characteristics and the special function of cross-cultural communication. thanks to such features, film translation has attracted increasing attention in the field of the translation. based on the above-mentioned features as well as the review of the national and international research fruits related to the translation of lines in english movies, this paper, with a lot of typical illustrations from the famous and popular english films, aims to discuss how to adhere to “faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance”, when translating the lines in movies. according to the discussion above, the paper points out that the principles, the skills and the uniqueness for the lines translation are mutually interacted, therefore, the translators are expected to pay much the same attention on all three aspects. the paper also emphasizes only through such combination of the relevant aspects of film translation can the target audience enjoy the original works, appreciate the foreign cultures and learn authentic english.also, the paper puts forth an opinion in brief, that is the three translation principles, among which the principle of expressiveness deserves top priority, can be just understood as the requirement of to be works-oriented, the audience-oriented as well as the art-oriented in film translation. accordingly, the requirement of the audience-oriented should be emphasized.key words: film translation (subtitling translation); language characteristics；cross-cultural communication; faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance.英文电影的台词翻译摘 要影视翻译具有鲜明的语言特点和独特的文化传递功效，日渐成为翻译大家族中重要的一员。在对国内外现有的电影台词研究现状进行总结后，本文从电影台词的五大语言特征和跨文化交际特点切入，通过选取大量的经典台词翻译实例初步探讨了台词翻译应遵循传统的“信, 达, 雅”翻译观。同时，论文着重阐述了影视台词翻译的语言特点，文化传递功效以及所提及的“信达雅”翻译原则，互相影响，互相联系，统为一体的理论观点，要求译者在进行台词翻译时，三个方面都应给予同等重视，并强调只有这样才能保证译语观众在欣赏国外影视作品时能够全方位地接触外国社会生活, 领略欧美风情, 学习原汁原味的英语。另外，论文也简略提出了“信达雅”翻译原则在翻译领域可理解为以原作为中心，以译语观众为中以及以艺术为中心的观点，并稍略指出在所提及三大翻译原则中应以“达”(通顺) 为主，即以译语观众为主的基本立场。关键词: 影视翻译(台词翻译) 语言特点 跨文化交际 信达雅iicontentsabstract.摘要.introduction.11.1research at home and abroad.11.2the golden opportunity of developing film translation.21.3academic background .21.4focus of this paper .3analysis on the translation principles. .42.1 implication of subtitling translation .42.2 how to adhere to the principles of “faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance” in translation.4uniqueness of film translation.7 3.1 language characteristics.73.1.1colloquialism.73.1.2 lip rounding .73.1.3 instantaneousness.83.1.4 popularity.93.1.5 harmony .93.2 cross-cultural communication .103.2.1 focus on the target culture.113.2.2 focus on the source culture.12 conclusion .15bibliography.16acknowledgements.18 introduction1.1 research at home and abroadtraditionally, as to the film translation, the relevant research, national or international, mainly falls into three categories. most scholars in this field prefer to focus on the language characteristics of lines, or the cross-cultural communication of lines, or the techniques of translating them in movies. for instance, in the article on the translation of film scripts and tv drama scripts from cultural translation perspective, the author insisted that: “target culture is the essential factor in translation.the translators should make positive use of their creativity in their attempt to achieve cultural function equivalence between target texts and source texts” (li, 2005:81). the article language characteristics for foreign motion picture translation and translation approaches concluded that being an important component in mass media, there are some peculiar approaches of language characteristics in foreign films and tv programs translation, such as semantic syncronization and discourse of utterance (zhao and huang, 2005:133-135). although little attention was paid to the translation principles, a couple of critics and analysts still do not give up this issue. a professor from shanghai international studies university made a discussion of the realization of faithfulness, expressiveness and gracefulness in the process of translating movie titles from chinese to english (ding, 2003: 26-30). many foreign scholars also contributed much to booming this area at present. for example, susan bassnett once in her book translation studies tackles the crucial problems of translation and offers a history of translation theory, and then explores specific problems between literary translation and film translation through a close, practical analysis and concludes with extensive suggestions for better translation (susan bassnett, 1991: 15-18).among the discussion, a majority of researchers happen to coincide in the terms of the theories of which they make positive use to support their stance. these theories include german functionalist translation theory, function equivalence theory, cultural translation philosophy, golden translation principles of “faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance” and translation norm theory and so on. moreover, the analysis from the scholars proves to cover a wide range of subjects, such as linguistics, sociology, masscommunication, cultural studies as well as relevant translation theories. however, as a newly-developed translation arena, little fruits have been achieved in the study of the practical integration of translation principles of “faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance” with translation of lines in english movies, though lots of outstanding researches cannot be ignored. so this paper focus on lines translation from english into chinese under the theme of how to adhere to “faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance” in the film translation. 1.2 the golden opportunity of developing the film translationsince the great success of the 29th olympic games held in beijing, as well as the outstanding performance of china during the current global financial crisis, the relations between our country and the rest of the world in the areas of politics, economy and culture have developed into a new, rapid and all-round stage, especially in the field of cultural exchanges. evidently, there are increasingly diverse ways and channels for different countries to communicate with each other, among which the translation of film scripts and tv drama scripts are most worth mentioning.1.3 academic background as a newly-developed but globally popularized cultural form, film and tv translation is playing a crucial role in the exchanges of various civilizations, especially since the reform and opening-up policy has been put into practice in our country. paralleled with the literal translation, film translation is one of the most vital members in the translation field (qian，2001:61). it goes without saying that there exists certain similarity between film translation and literal translation. however, the former is often considered as an integrated art, or a key component in mass media, combining the image with the acoustical effect at the same time. therefore, film and tv translation holds some special approaches of dealing with language characteristics in its translation, such as, the consideration of the response from the audience, the instantaneous integrity of sound and the like. undoubtedly, such widespread cultural form has provided a golden opportunity for the public to broaden their horizon and enrich the spiritual life. nevertheless, along with the rapid development of modern society, the individuals are more inclined to acquire the maximum information and up-to-the-minute program in the shortest time, which meanwhile results in the higher requirement in the respect of film translation. so the traditional dubbed film is faced with great challenges due to too long time in dubbing. also, nowadays the audience prefers more to enjoy the original film with subtitle than ever before. under such circumstances, the translation of lines in english movies is favored by a climbing number of the film-lovers, which calls for rising attention academically and commercially. the lines translation in foreign films is regarded as a branch of foreign motion picture and tv programs translation. as to some other titles involved in this area, including subtitling translation, scenario translation and so on, we can safely come to conclude that all refer to the same concept as the lines translation but only differ in the expression and emphases. as presented above, compared with the translation of literary works, the translation of film language has a couple of particularities, falling into two groups labeled as language characteristics and cross-cultural communication respectively. on the one hand, there exist a lot of features concerning language characteristics, among which the following ones come to front, such as colloquialism, lip rounding harmony, instantaneity, popularity and simplicity. on the other hand, the peculiarity of cross-cultural communication in film translation is often reflected on the principle that culture is the essential factor in translation, which in particularly makes itself stand out. according to cultural translation studies and function equivalence theory (susan bassnett & andre lefere, 1990: 2), successful translation should also be readers oriented, art oriented and original works oriented, and the receptivity from target readers should be emphasized. harmonious psychological reaction for target audience is always the ultimate criterion of films and tv translation. however, although the film translation is universally accepted as a cultural form that can be beneficial to the exchanges of diverse civilizations, few academic fruits come out. the reason for such phenomenon lies in the fact that the transmission of cultural values in screen translation has received very little attention and so remains one of the most pressing areas of research in translation studies. 1.4 focus of this paperas far as film translation is concerned, different countries may adopt a different tradition of translating films and subscribe to one of the two major modes: dubbing and subtitling, either form of audiovisual translation ultimately plays a unique role in developing both national identities and national stereotypes. this paper will focus on subtitling translation (translation of lines in english films) only, that is not to say the former one is less worthy of academic research. in contrast, analysis of dubbing translation plays a vital part on the academic circle, and it is only disregarded here for reasons of clarity and lucidity of argumentation. the first part of this paper begins with the background of film translation, including the academic context in the modern world, the status as well as the particularities of film translation and so on, next trying to account for them from the perspective of how to adhere to “faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance” in the translation with a lot of typical illustrations from the famous and popular foreign films. subsequently, an attempt is made to show the perspective of adopting these three widely-acknowledged principles in the film translation. the paper aims to demonstrate that if the principle of translation, “faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance”, can be best employed in harmony with the original text and the target culture in the area of film translation, we may see the academic and commercial power of film translation in a new height. analysis on the translation principles2.1 implication of subtitling translation before presenting how to adhere to “faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance” in the translation of the lines in films, a closer look at the accurate implication of movies lines as well as the above-mentioned principles is a must.the line, consisting of dialogues, monologues and off-screen voices, is a key factor in a film. it serves as a channel for the audience and actors to communicate, bridging the gap between the two. in simple terms, lines refer to the words the actors learn and say in a play. however, when translating the movie, the translators prefer to substitute the term of subtitling translation for lines translation, although it is true that there is certain difference in their exact signification, for the latter is often understood as follows: subtitling, supplying a process of translating the spoken source language dialogue into the target language in the form of synchronized captions, usually at the bottom of the screen, is the form that alters the source text to the least possible extent and enables the target audience to experience the foreign and be aware of its foreignness at all time (zhang，1992:11). though different from its counterpart -literal translation, the subtitling translation is no doubt a component of the translation field, and hence, such kind is supposed to accord with the general rules and methods adopted by the circle of translation. certainly, that is not to say we would ignore the differentia. on the contrary, the type of the movie, the response from the target audience as well as the acoustical effect and the like, signaling the subtitling translation, should be taken into serious consideration and translated through special methods. the principle of “faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance” in the translation, put forward by the famous ancient chinese mr.yanfu has been always thought highly among the scholars. accordingly, that also can be used to translate lines in foreign movies but may differ in the understanding and specific methods due to the particularities of film translation.2.2 how to adhere to the principles of “faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance” in translationfirstly, as to the respect of subtitling translation, the principle of faithfulness means the lines translation is requested to be loyal to the movie itself, rather than try to make translation correspond to every line in the screen to a 100 degree. or, in other words, faithfulness can be understood as movie-oriented in the film translation. moreover, taking into account of the commercial value as well as the aesthetic faculties, subtitling translation enjoys more freedom relative to the other types, so we may come across some sentences that appear to completely dissimilar with the actors words when watching a movie. yet, no matter what methods are employed, the translation must reflect the movies content, theme and style instead of making random choices. since the lines stand in the heart of a film, hence only when the translators get a clear picture of what the films want to convey to the audience can they make the translation of lines reach the standard of faithfulness. otherwise, the effect would turn in the opposite way.secondly, the principle of expressiveness here refers to the translation should favor the target audience, either the contents or the structure. in other words, expressiveness, which particularly attains much attention from mr.yanfu, equals to the demand of audience-oriented in the subtitling translation. as the audience is the most important factor to measure the quality of a translated foreign film, this principle should be given top priority. before that, it is surely a wise choice for us to get a clear picture of the lines in the movie. it goes without saying that lines function as a way of depicting the story, coloring the character and reflecting the inner mind of impersonators. the authentic manifestation of the social communication witnesses the artistic charm of the lines, which may penetrate into the audiences hearts. based on that, the lines translation should not only be flowing and transpicuous but deserves more concern over the response of target audience, such as whether the audience may misunderstand or feel confused. certainly, during such a persisting process towards the level of expressiveness, the biggest obstacle that faces the translator lies in how to deal with the expressive manner bearing with the obvious english cultural phenomenon. also here another factor not expected to neglect is the language characteristic of the film translation the lip rounding. it is vital to take this into consideration in order to realize the expressiveness, for different languages vary in the utterance of speech. the translation should accord with the speed, the length of the words from actors. perhaps such consideration just demonstrates the particularity of subtitling translation in terms of expressiveness. thirdly, the elegance in subtitling translation is considered as the attitude, craftsmanship and aesthetic faculties. we can label this rule as the translation must be art-oriented. specifically speaking, there is no need to insist on reaching the standard of perfect wording all the while, when translating the lines. the principle of elegance requires the subtitling translators to work in attitude of bettering, in pursuit of aesthetic value and in craftsmanship of artists, which should be realized on the condition that the translation accords with the s