交际翻译理论视角下的电影片名翻译(2)
1.2 Organization of the Thesis
There are five chapters in this paper. The first chapter introduces the significance and organization of the thesis. The second chapter is the literature review, including the previous studies of film translation both on abroad and in China. The third chapter is the theoretical framework which includes communicative translation theory, text-categories and language functions. Based on the communicative translation theory, the fourth chapter analyzes the text-categories, language functions and stylistic features of film titles and then applies the communicative translation theory to the translation of both English and Chinese film titles by the case analysis. The chapter five summarizes the intended effect of translated film titles. This thesis concentrates on the following questions: 1) What is the text-categories and language functions of the film title? 2) How does the communicative translation theory be used in the translation of film titles? 3) What factors should be noted during the translation of film titles?
2 Literature Review
2.1 Studies on Film Translation Abroad
According to Gonzalez (2014), the burgeoning cinematography, acting as a revolutionary form of representational technology in the late nineteenth century, ended the printing press’s monopoly on the mass production and consumption of culture since the Middle Ages. As film industry blossomed out into a international business, terms such as “film and TV translation” and “media translation” were created to label a new specific translation field. The translation of film titles, one of the most important branches of audiovisual translation, is no doubt an indispensable process for films to hit the overseas market. Under the trend of globalization, the importance of audiovisual translation has drawn more and more attention of researchers and scholars all over the world.
In Europe, the study of audiovisual translation has experienced a period from “Film and TV Translation” to “Screen Translation” (also known as ST) and “Audio Visual Translation” (also known as AVT). The study of film and TV translation was the research emphasis in the early days and it involves the translation of film titles, subtitling, dubbing, etc. For the past few years, the study of ST and AVT is becoming the main research point because of its wide coverage and comprehensive characteristics. As for AVT, it involves all the translation forms or the transfer of the multiple-symbol which is used to support the media production or post production. Besides it also includes some newly-developing research which is related to media (Du, Li, Chen, 2013). The multiple research angles and flexible research methods give rise to the prosperity of European audiovisual translation. Apart from that, the commercialized mode of the audiovisual translation research also does a lot to the boom of the film market.
2.2 Studies on Film Translation in China
In China, the object of the film translation study is relatively focused on the translation of dubbing and subtitling (Du, Li, Chen, 2013). Since the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy, tons of foreign films have been released in Mainland China. Among these introduced films, English ones are becoming superior in numbers due to the rapid development of major English countries. Then the foundation of CFGC (China Film Group Corporation) in 1999 has given birth to loads of films and promoted the introduction of foreign films and the audiovisual translation in China. These introduced films usually have several Chinese film titles. Apart from the released title (Mainland Chinese version) by the CFGC which is usually known as the official version, there are also Taiwan version and Hong Kong version. Feng (1997) points out that the translation process should follow the rules: faith coherence and elegance, similarity in form and similarity in spirit, and sublimed adaptation which are put forward by Yan Fu, Fu Lei, Qian Zhongshu respectively. Then Zheng and Wang (2006: 66-68) stretch the theoretical framework by taking into consideration that film titles bear the advertising function. They think the translation of film titles should have its specific translation principle- information transmission principle, aesthetic principle and cultural reconstruction principle. Apart from the regional differences, the structure of Chinese and that of English are also different and can make it difficult for translators to transfer the meaning of the original text. The aesthetic structure of Chinese Script involves both the visual beauty and acoustic beauty which are formed because of the aesthetic use of Chinese Script (Liu, Zhang, 2011). Some Chinese films take the aesthetic use of Chinese Script into consideration and make their titles very neat and catchy for Chinese audience.