Keywords: film title translation method, literal translation principle
I. Introduction
As an important carrier of spreading culture, movies are playing an increasingly important role in international communication. On the one hand, movies need to realize their commercial value, on the other hand, they need to bear the artistic characteristics of culture. Among many elements of a film, the title, as a high generalization of the film content, plays a role in concentrating the theme and making the finishing point, which is convenient for readers to understand the film and is the "trademark" of the film. A good film title should not only be loyal to the content of the film, but also focus on the audience's feelings and take care of the audience's acceptance, so as to impress the audience, stimulate their association and attract them to take a quick look.
Film titles have a special style, which is characterized by concise, vivid, beautiful and persuasive language. It needs to impress people and attract the audience in a short time. Therefore, translators need to consider many factors when translating film titles, so as to attract the audience to the maximum extent, leave an unforgettable impression on the audience and improve the popularity of the film.
Second, the principles of film title translation
Through the study of many Chinese and foreign films, it is not difficult to find that a good film title translation can not only attract the audience, but also bring far-reaching influence, which makes people memorable and produces the effect of "traveling around the beam for three days". So, how can we translate the movie titles vividly?
Bao Huinan proposed that the translation of film titles "should conform to the linguistic norms and be artistic, be faithful to the content of the original film and reflect the linguistic features of the original film titles, so as to realize artistic re-creation". Thus, the translation of movie titles should follow the following principles.
(A) the film title should be loyal to the content of the film
When the audience sees the film title, they will naturally associate it with the film content. In a sense, the film title can convey the content of the film. Therefore, being faithful to the film content is the most basic principle in film title translation. If the audience finds that the content is far from the title after watching the movie, they will feel cheated.
No matter what skills and methods are used in translation, the translation of movie titles should faithfully convey the relevant information of movie content so as to avoid confusion. For example, the American film "A Fly Over the Madhouse" actually refers to a mental hospital in this context, not the original intention-the madhouse, so when the film is translated into "Flying Over the Madhouse", the audience will feel at a loss; And "Flying over the Madhouse" can make people immediately grasp the theme of the film and have a desire to watch it. After watching the movie, the audience's understanding of the content of the film is basically the same as the title.
On the other hand, some films are excellent in themselves-the content and plot are attractive enough, but the titles translated into Chinese are quite different from the theme. For example, the Indian inspirational film "Three Idiots" was translated into "Three Idiots Bollywood". The title of the film is confusing, and the audience is likely to pass by the good film.
(B) a correct grasp of cultural information
A good film title can highlight the content of the film and attract the audience at the first time. Therefore, the translation of movie titles is not only a simple text correspondence, but a good translation of movie titles can often reflect certain cultural characteristics, cultural values and promote cultural exchanges.
The once-popular movie Waterloo Bridge did just that. The mutual promotion of Chinese and western cultures is vividly reflected in the title of this film. If it is only the correspondence of words, then the corresponding Chinese title should be Waterloo Bridge, but the final title of the film is Broken Bridge, which can be said to translate the essence of the film.
The word "Broken Blue Bridge" has a long history in China. This is a touching love story in ancient China-holding the tail column. This story comes from "Zhuangzi Stole Foot": "Wei Sheng, the female lives under the beam (bridge). If the woman doesn't come, the water won't go, and she will cling to the beam. " Translated into vernacular, an infatuated man named Wei Sheng and his beloved girl agreed to meet under the bridge, but his sweetheart didn't keep the appointment. Unfortunately, the water has risen. In order to keep his promise, the infatuated man insisted on not leaving, and finally drowned with the bridge column. It is said that their appointed place is called Blue Bridge. The beam and column in Weisheng's hand also became a symbol of his faithfulness. According to Xi An Zhou Zhi, this bridge is located on the Lan Yu River in Lantian County, Shaanxi Province, and is called "Blue Bridge". From then on, people call one of the men and women who love each other stand up, and the other is called "the blue bridge of broken souls".
Through the study of Chinese and western cultures, translating Waterloo Bridge into Broken Blue Bridge not only follows the principles of "vividness" and "elegance" in translation, but also enables the audience to quickly accept and identify with it. In the end, the film quickly became popular all over the country with the name of "Broken Soul Blue Bridge", which also made the allusions of "Blue Bridge" widely circulated and promoted the spread of Chinese and foreign cultures. Two love stories, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, are combined into one through the translation of a movie title, which embodies the artistic communication and cultural value.
(C) efforts to reflect the beauty of language
The beauty of words is intoxicating. Language has incredible power, especially those beautiful and charming words. From ancient times to the present, China people's love and admiration for poems and songs show us the power of language. For example, the description of the same thing, expressed in more artistic language, can be refreshing.
The Chinese translation of the movie Ghost is very simple, with only two words-ghost. From this word alone, we can know that this is a movie about "ghosts". In fact, this is not a thriller that exudes horror. After the beautification of the translator, the original plain two words became another name-"ghost". A few numbers present the title to the audience elegantly, and the romantic atmosphere comes to the audience, which closely fits the romantic characteristics of China people. Although there are ghosts in the title, it's really not scary, but it makes people want to watch it quickly.
China people's love for the beauty of language is also reflected in their enthusiasm for expressive, symmetrical, harmonious, catchy and symmetrical words. Many movie titles will also take this into account when translating. Four-character idioms are used many times in film title translation, which caters to the aesthetics of Chinese people. Taking the movie "Can't Take Away" as an example, the translator translated it into "Life is like a Dream" through artistic re-creation. Only four words convey the image and emotion of the original, and the transliteration is beautiful.
Thirdly, the methods of film title translation.
In order to translate movie titles vividly, we should not only follow the above three principles, but also take some practical and effective methods according to the actual situation.
literal translation
Literal translation is a widely used method in translation, that is, direct translation according to literal meaning. This method not only keeps the true communication of the original ideological content, but also keeps the correspondence between the translation and the original language form as much as possible. In the translation of film titles, such translated titles are directly translated according to the original film titles. If the original name has clearly expressed the essence and content of the film, the reprocessing will be eclipsed. Therefore, literal translation can convey the original name information to the maximum extent and tell the audience the theme of the film without misunderstanding. We can find many literally translated movie titles.