2。 Literature Review

2。1 Previous studies on the translation of the film titles 

Film has a long history, the first film was produced in 1895。 The film is a comprehensive art。 A good film can not only share and pass on the information but also express the feelings。 And, before watching a film, we need to know the title of the film。 So, the title seems like a key of a movie。 It needs to reflect the main idea of the movie。 The film appeared early, however, domestic scholars began to study the film title translation twenty years ago, even though they bring us a lot of useful methods and lay a good foundation for further research。   文献综述

In 1995, the first English film called The Fugitive was introduced to China。 Since then, more and more films were shown to the audience every year。 At the same time, there is a great deal of film title translations to be done。 Because the title is the key to the movie, the translators should work harder to translate the film titles。 In China, the translation of film titles began in the 20th century。 A lot of scholars thought that the film title translation should correspond to the original text。 In the book The methods and principles of film title translation (He 56-60)。 Professor He Ying presented that the form and the content of the translation should be the same to the original title so that the film title translation can exactly show the content of the film。 Studying The Translation Of The Film Titles From The Perspective Of Cultural Communication ( Li 109) is other concerning book written by professor Li Jiuhong。 Professor Li provided a lot of examples of film title translations and she thought that the translators should pay attention to the culture。 From Professor Li’s opinion, there are mainly two important things in film title translation。 Firstly, when translators translate a film title, they should consider the culture。 Secondly, the film title should be similar to the original one and should be very attractive so that the commercial value can be added。 According to professor He Ying and professor Lin Jiuhong, both of them hold the view that translators should pay more attention the the original title。 Apart from these two books, there are still a lot of books about the film title translation。 For example, Standard For The Translation Of Film Title In The Foreign Countries, (Li 148-149)。 A lot of scholars think the film title translation should be consistent to the source language, however, there are some scholars hold the different views。 Those scholar think that the film title translation should just for entertainment and achieve the commercial value。 “ The translation of the film title needs to be vivid and if necessary the original meaning can be neglected。” said by Professor Huang Zhan。 This kind of opinion is quite different from the opinion before。 A film may reflect the difference between home and abroad, so some scholars think that translators can translate the film title without the source language and the content of the film。 The film title translation should be flexible and can leave a deep impress on the audience。   

2。2 Previous studies on the culture difference

Culture is not just the historical background and cultural heritage of a country。 It also includes the view of life, the lifestyle and the way of thinking。 Different regions have different cultures。 The culture difference means the difference between people from different countries and different places。 And the difference can be caused by different cultures and living environment。