Abstract

Although the global movie industry is flourishing at present, Chinese movies have so far failed to gain great popularity like the cinema of Hollywood. Movie title translation is an important and creative work, especially during the development of the overseas movie market of Chinese movies. However, the current study of Chinese movie title translation is far less than enough compared to the study of English movie title translation. Since Chinese Martial Arts movies take a great proportion in the export of Chinese movies and have a fairly good reputation all over the world, it is reasonable to study Chinese movie title translation as a stepping stone. 

This thesis aims to analyze the title translation of Chinese Martial Arts movies based on the German Functionalism in expectation of finding a guiding theory for the Chinese movie title translation in general. 

The thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One is the introduction of research background and current situation of Chinese Martial Arts movies. Chapter Two introduces the current situation of film title translation in China and the theoretical framework of this thesis, including a brief overview of the German Functionalism and its basic principles and standard. In Chapter Three, I tried to analyze the Chinese Martial Arts Movie Title Translation based on the Functionalist Skopos Theory. The last chapter brings the whole thesis to a conclusion. 

Keywords: Functionalism; Chinese Martial Arts Movie Title Translation; Skopos Theory

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Research Background-1

1.2 Brief Introduction to Chinese Martial Arts Movies-2

2. Literature Review-3

2.1 Current Film Title Translation Research Situation in China-3

2.2 The Theoretical Bases-3

2.2.1 Brief Introduction of German Functionalism Theory-3

2.2.2 Basic Principles and standard of the Functionalism Theory-4

2.2.2.1 The Skopos Principle-4

2.2.2.2 The Coherence and Fidelity Principle-4

2.2.2.3 “Function plus loyalty” Principle-5

2.2.2.4 Adequacy being the standard of translation-5

3. Analysis of Chinese Martial Arts Movie Title Translation based on the Skopos Theory-6

3.1 The Skopos of Chinese Martial Arts Movie Title Translation-6

3.2 Analysis on Translation of Chinese Martial Arts Movie Titles according to naming approaches based on Functionalism-7

3.2.1 Analysis on Translation of Chinese Martial Arts Movie Titles named after the protagonist-7

3.2.2 Analysis on Translation of Chinese Martial Arts Movie Titles named after the identification of the protagonist-7

3.2.3 Analysis on Translation of Chinese Martial Arts Movie Titles named after a certain phrase-8

3.2.4 Analysis on Translation of Chinese Martial Arts Movie Titles named after a certain place where the story happens-8

3.2.5 Analysis on Translation of Chinese Martial Arts Movie Titles named after a certain subject-9

3.2.6 Analysis on Translation of Chinese Martial Arts Movie Titles named after a plot-10

3.3 Summary-10

4. Conclusion-12

References-13