文化對等在電影標題翻譯中的反映

Reflection of Equivalent Cultural Effect on the Film Title Translation Abstract

摘 要：電影是一門雅俗共賞的藝術。隨著中國和英語國家的文化交流越來越頻繁，英語電影涌入中國市場。顯然，電影標題是觀眾最先接觸到的部分。就其翻譯而言，應力求實現藝術的再創造以便觀眾理解原文化。因此，本文著力分析文化對等原則如何在電影標題的翻譯過程中得以體現。

關鍵詞：電影標題；電影標題翻譯；文化對等原則

[中圖分類號]：H059 [文獻標識碼]：A

[文章編號]：1002-2139(2012)-05-0132-01

Talking about equivalent cultural effect， the theory of Dynamic Equivalence should be presented first. This theory is put forward by Nida (Eugene A Nida， 1964:156-225)， which means the message has to be tailored to the receptor’s linguistic needs and cultural expectation and aims at complete naturalness of expression.

With regard to the film title translation， Dynamic Equivalence can be reflected in the following aspects: first of all， audiences are gods. As an art which is open to the public and exerts a strong influence on the public， the film title should be translated in a way that most familiar to and most accepted by the audiences. Secondly， it should play the advantage of the target language. Since there are some differences between Chinese and English languages and cultures， the word-by-word translation strategy would make the translated film title become tedious in the target language. In order to achieve the equivalence， the writer should re-create the title to translate it in a more close and natural way in order to achieve the equivalence. Finally， just as mentioned before， the basic function of a film title is to make the content of the film stands out and convey its main information and cultural connotation. Furthermore， the film title should also be served as functions of establishing the emotional tone of the film and providing the aesthetical pleasure in order to attract the audiences and increase the box offices. The above mentioned points show that when translating the foreign film titles， cultural equivalence is essential in order to enable the audiences of the target language have similar responses with the audiences of the source language.

At the same time， we should bear in mind that translation is not only the process of Interlingua transfer; it is also a social phenomenon of communication between two cultures. It is common to see that two words both in Chinese and English with the similar form can represent totally different content. For example， there is a foreign film called American Beauty， if the translator treat this title separately， he may misinterpret it into《美國麗人》. However， in English， American Beauty is the name of red roses which appeared in the film several times. Furthermore， some phrases and literary quotation contain abundant cultural information. Therefore， the translator cannot translate them literally.

Another example is the film title The Muse (《第六感女神》)， Given the fact that the word “muse” in this title can be referred to the goddesses from the Greek mythology， it is translated as女神; in addition， “muse” has the meaning of “meditation” or “deep thought”; thus， it is freely translated as第六感女神to convey this meaning. In this example， the translator combines both the cultural and literal meaning of the word to make the non-English audience clear about the title.

In conclusion， English film titles always contain rich western cultures. As Sun (Zhili Sun， 2003:48-51) mentioned that applying foreignization can reach the aim of understanding and acknowledging the foreign cultures， in some cases， it has to convey cultural meanings to the non-English audience when translating them. Only when translators are aware of the culture in the source language can the translated version reflect the equivalent cultural effect on the film title translation.

Reference:

[1]、Baker， Mona. 2000. In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. Pp 178-190.

[2]、Francisco Javier Diaz Perez. 2008. Wordplay in Film Titles—Translating English Puns into Spanish. Babel 54:1， 36-88.

[3]、Nida， Eugene A. 1964. Toward A Science of Translation: with special reference to principles involved in Bible translating."Leiden：E. J. Brill. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. Pp 156-225.

[4]、Peter Newmark. 1988. A text Book of Translation. New York， London， Sydney: Prentice-Hall International. Pp217.

[5]、Zhili Sun， 2003. Some More Words on the Strategy of Literature Chinese Translation 24:1， 48-51