摘要:In movie title translation, it is the most important for the translator to make the TT have the imperative function. To make the TT have the same informative function with the ST is less important. In practice, some English movie titles can be translated literally. However, most have some changes in their Chinese translations more or less.
. The added verb“勇闯”makes the plot clearer. The addition makes the informative and the imperative functions stronger. Certainly, the premise is that the complementary information does not make the TT verbose.
3. 3 By Means of Re-creation
Generally speaking, there are inevitable changes in movie title translation. Some changes are very great. The TT seems not to be a product of a translational action though the TT is closely relative to the theme of the movie. In fact, we here refer to re-creation as a means in movie title translation in order to emphasize its imperative function. We can rename them in different perspectives as long as the TTS represent the themes. Such TTS are based on the movie plot. In them, intratextual coherence is realized from the perspective of the plot, not the title. Movie title translation is somewhat more flexible than other types. Translators can just leave the title alone and focus on the plot to find an appropriate title with the stronger imperative function. That is one of the biggest peculiarities of movie title translation. We can, or have to, consider the plot here. Otherwise, a good translation cannot be achieved.
Usually, re-creation occurs in the following three cases.
Firstly, the literal translation of some titles makes the audience completely confused. They cannot understand the movie when they see the TT. For example, if The Others is translated into“其他的人”, this TT only makes us wonder what it really means.
Secondly, for other titles, literal translation makes sense, but it may be somewhat irrelevant to the theme of the movie. Little Children is translated into《身为人母》(As Parents), not“小孩子”, because the movie is in fact a story of two parents, who are no children. “小孩子”cannot convey this point. The ST might indicate that the adults in the movie are somewhat little children in some aspects though they are parents.
Thirdly, re-creation may bring a better and more eye-catching translation. For example, “永不妥协”is better than“艾琳·布劳克维奇”as the Chinese translations of Erin Brockovich. Similarly, “乱世佳人”is better than“随风而去” as the translations of Gone with the Wind.
3. 4 By Other Means
Apart from the above strategies, there are still some ready-made titles for reference. They provide shortcuts to movie title translation.
3. 4. 1 Book Titles
Some movie titles are just the correspondent book titles. If the Chinese edition of an English novel is published before the production of the movie, we can just use the book title as the movie title. Especially for some literature works, their Chinese translations usually do exist before Chinese audiences see the movies adapted from them. For example, Pride and Prejudice as a great novel was translated into《傲慢与偏见》before the movie took the ready-made translation as its Chinese title. In fact, the novel has been adapted into a movie for 6 times, all of which has the same title. Certainly, the movie title and the correspondent novel title can be different. For instance, in China, the book title of Gone with the Wind is《飘》while the movie title is《乱世佳人》. These two titles have different emphases and both are good translations.
3. 4. 2 Original Chinese Titles
Here, the original Chinese title refers to the title of the movie from which the English movie is adapted. For example, Oscar-winner The departed is based on the screenplay of a Hong Kong movie《无间道》. “The departed” in English is actually a
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