On the Film Title Translation from English into Chinese from the Cultural Differences Aspect

Essay by guohongli November 2008

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Contents…………………………………………………………………………………………2Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………3Chapter One Introduction……………………………………………………………………… 4Chapter Two Literature Review……………………………………………………………4-72.1 Sources of Film Titles……………………………………………………………………..52.2 The Characteristics of Film Titles………………………………………………………62.3 Specific roles of Film Titles……………………………………………………………….62.4 Review of Studies on the Chinese Translation of English Film Titles…………...7Chapter Three Cultural Differences in Film Titles……………………………………...7-93.1 Material Cultural Factors………………………………………………………………...73.2 Institutional Cultural Factors……………………………………………………………73.3 Psychological Cultural Factors………………………………………………...8-93.4 Miscellaneous Factors…………………………………………………………....9Chapter Four Methods of Film Title Translation…………………………………… ..9-124.1Free Translation………………………………………………………………..9-104.2 Literal Translation………………………………………………………………104.3 Transliteration………………………………………………………………………….10-114.4 Adaptation……………………………………………………………………11-12Chapter 5 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………12Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………..13AbastractThe film, a popular art with both artistic and commercial values, is one of the most influential mass media with large quantities of English film being introduced into China. The film title, as an important part of film, is of informative, expressive and vocative functions and its translation is a challenging job.

This paper studies the Chinese translation of English films on the cultural differences aspect. Language and culture are two inseparable twins. Language is a reflection of culture and also part of culture.

Culture regards language as one of its manifestation forms and exerts profound influence on language. To film titles, there is no exception. As part of language and the enlightening part of films that keeps up with times, film titles bear rich culture imprints. This paper analyses the cultural differences in the film titles and the common methods of English-Chinese translation.

Key words: film titles, cultural differences, English-Chinese translationOn the Film Title Translation from English into Chinese from the Cultural Differences AspectChapter 1 IntroductionFilm, 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. Film is more direct and sensitive than any other form 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...