Abstract

 Movie is a prevalent modern commodity. With the development of our society and the cultural communication between western and eastern, more and more western big films have been swarming into China. Film title translation has become a hot issue in practice for China’s large-scale English film importation in recent years and the significance of film title. Film titles are often short with four or five words on the average, but film title translation is not an easy task. 

     This thesis tries to analyze the translation techniques of western film title translation from the perspective of faithfulness, expressiveness, closeness. It starts with the history of western film title translation; Then the translation principle “faithfulness, expressiveness, closeness”, put forth by Liu Zhongde, is analyzed; Next, it focuses on the functions of western film titles: Information function, cultural function, vocative function and aesthetic function; Later, it analyzes the current situation of western film titles translation; Finally, the paper tries to summarize the translation techniques commonly used in western film title translation: literal translation, liberal translation, and creative translation. 

Keywords: Film title translation; functions; techniques

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-１

2. Literature Review-１

2.1 The history of film title translation-２

2.2 The principle of faithfulness, expressiveness, closeness-３

3. Functions of Western Film titles-４

3.1 Informative function-４

3.2 Cultural function-５

3.3 Vocative function-５

3.4 Aesthetic function-６

4. Current Situation Of Western Film Title Translation-７

4.1 Confusion Caused By Region-７

4.2 Confusion Caused By Mass Media-８

4.3 Confusion Caused By Commercial Profits-９

5. Techniques of Western Film Title Translation-1０

5.1 Literal translation-1０

5.2 Liberal translation-1１

5.3 Creative Translation-1２

6. Conclusion-1２

Works Cited-1４