The Functionalist Skopos Theory and Movie Title Translation
Sun Jindan
Acknowledgements
I am greatly indebted to quite a number of people for their help and support
which have made this thesis possible.
First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Tan Weiguo, my
supervisor, for his constant encouragement and fruitful help offered to me during my
thesis writing. It is he who guided me into the research field of translation and it is
also he who has inspired in me a particular interest in the Functionalist Skopos
Theory. Over the past few months I had several discussions with him, from which I
have benefited a great deal. Also, he read the drafts of my thesis carefully and
patiently and provided me with invaluable suggestions in order to make this thesis
standard and valuable. Of course, the views expounded in this thesis are not
necessarily based on his ideas; if there are errors, misrepresentations and infelicities,
I only have myself to blame.
Next, I would also like to extend my heart-felt thanks to all the professors in
Foreign Languages College of Shanghai Normal University who provided me with
instructive lectures during my postgraduate studies. Their beneficial lectures have
greatly contributed to my ideas and stimulated my academic inspiration.
My special thanks go to our librarian Lu Yaqin, who was always ready to help
me when I needed references from the college library, as well as to my fellow
classmates who were always obliging to me in the process of writing this thesis.
Besides, I am very grateful to my friends and former classmates in Shanghai
Jiaotong University and Northeast Normal University who encouraged me and
helped me get access to many of the valuable references.
Finally, I’d like to thank my family members, who have remained to me a
constant source of encouragement and support whenever I feel troubled or frustrated.
I want to let them know that I love them, forever.
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The Functionalist Skopos Theory and Movie Title Translation
Sun Jindan
Abstract
Movie translation has been flourishing in China since the implementation of her
reform and opening up policy. Well translated movie titles tend to attract audiences
in one culture to appreciate movies produced in another culture. Undoubtedly, movie
title translation, which contributes to cultural exchanges, counts or matters a great
deal. Therefore, it is necessary and worthwhile to make a study of this topic.
First, the thesis presents Skopos Theory and elaborates on its major points. Next,
it discusses movies and movie titles with emphasis on a comparison of movie titles
in English with those in Chinese from both linguistic and cultural perspectives. Then,
the thesis illustrates application of Skopos Theory to movie title translation,
emphasizing the translator’s subjectivity and focusing upon apt use of the two
translation strategies, domestication and foreignization. The thesis argues that the
primary strategy should be domestication since the main purpose of movie title
translation is to render translated movie titles appealing to target audiences. However,
the complementary strategy of foreignization cannot be overlooked, for it does play a
crucial role in promoting cultural exchanges between nations. Finally, a detailed
study of four cases shows that only those translated movie titles which not only meet
the linguistic and aesthetic preference of the target audience but also conform to the
target culture are likely to remain lively and magnetic as time passes by.
The author maintains that as far as movie title translation is concerned, Skopos
Theory is superior to traditional translation theories, owing to its capability of
providing reasonable explanations for excellently translated film titles which were
obviously not handled in accordance with the traditional translation theories.
This thesis is intended mainly to prove that the Functionalist Skopos Theory is
perfectly applicable to movie title translation and to show that this theory is of
constructive significance for translation of movie titles and for criticism of translated
movie titles.
Key words: movie title translation, Skopos Theory, application, domestication,
foreignization
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The Functionalist Skopos Theory and Movie Title Translation
摘
Sun Jindan
要
自从改革开放以来，我国的电影翻译蓬勃发展，欣欣向荣。翻译得精彩的
电影片名往往能吸引观众观赏进口的国外影片。毋庸质疑，电影片名翻译有助
于文化交流，是个十分重要的论题。因此，作者认为对电影片名的翻译作一番
研究很有必要，非常值得。
首先，文章提出目的论，并阐述该理论的几个关乎全文的重要观点。 接着，
文章介绍电影及电影片名的基本知识，主要从语言及文化角度比较中英电影片
名的异同。文章继而论证目的论在电影片名翻译中的应用，强调译者的主体性，
着重探讨如何合理地使用两种主要的翻译策略——归化和异化，得出的结论是
电影片名翻译应以归化为主，异化为辅。因为电影片名翻译的首要目的是让翻
译的电影片名在译语文化中吸引尽可能多的观众，但是异化策略也不能被忽略，
因为它确实对不同民族间的文化交流起着重要作用。最后，文章详细分析数个
实例，旨在证明：只有既符合译语观众语言习惯与审美倾向，又符合译语文化
的电影译名才有可能随着岁月的流逝永远保持活力与吸引力。
作者认为，就电影片名翻译而言，目的论优于其它传统翻译理论，因为该
理论能够为一些显然未按照传统翻译理论译出的优秀电影译名提供合理解释。
文章主要旨在论证，功能目的论完全适应于电影片名翻译，在中国译界引
入此理论对于电影片名的翻译和电影译名评论具有建设性的意义。
关键词：电影片名翻译；目的论；应用；归化；异化
III
The Functionalist Skopos Theory and Movie Title Translation
Sun Jindan
Contents
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ I
Abstract ...................................................................................................... II
摘
要 ....................................................................................................... III
Chapter 1 Introduction.............................................................................1
1.1
Brief review of relevant researches .............................................................. 1
1. 1. 1 Brief review of some researches on Skopos Theory ............................. 1
1. 1. 2 Brief review of some researches on movie title translation .................. 2
1.2 The reasons for selection of the research ..................................................... 3
1.3 The main ideas and arrangement of the thesis ............................................. 4
Chapter 2 Functionalist Skopos Theory .................................................6
2.1The history of Functionalist Skopos Theory ...................................................... 6
2.2 Guiding principles of Skopos Theory ............................................................... 7
2.2.1 The Skopos rule ...................................................................................... 8
2.2.2 The Coherence rule ................................................................................. 8
2.2.3 The Fidelity rule ...................................................................................... 9
2.2.4. The Loyalty principle ........................................................................... 10
2.3 “Adequacy” as the standard of translation ...................................................... 11
2.4 Translating being an intercultural action......................................................... 12
Chapter 3: Genres of movies and functions of movie titles ................14
3.1 Genres of movies ............................................................................................ 14
3.1.1 Action and adventure movies ................................................................ 14
3.1.2 Science fiction and fantasy movies ....................................................... 15
3.1.3 Horror and thriller movies .................................................................... 15
3.1.4 Animations ............................................................................................ 16
3.1.5 Comedies............................................................................................... 16
3.1.6 Musicals ................................................................................................ 16
3.1.7 Sports movies ........................................................................................ 16
3.1.8 War movies............................................................................................ 17
3.1.9 Romance movies ................................................................................... 17
3.1.10 Documentaries .................................................................................... 17
3.2 Functions of movie titles ................................................................................. 17
3.2.1 Informative function ............................................................................. 18
3.2.2 Aesthetic Function ................................................................................ 19
3.2.3 Vocative function .................................................................................. 19
3.3 The naming approaches of English and Chinese movie titles ........................ 20
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The Functionalist Skopos Theory and Movie Title Translation
Sun Jindan
Chapter 4 A contrastive study of English and Chinese movie titles...22
4.1 Linguistic differences between English and Chinese movie titles .................. 22
4.2 Cultural differences between English and Chinese movie titles ..................... 24
4.2.1 Individualism versus collectivism......................................................... 24
4.2.2 Different aesthetic preferences.............................................................. 26
Chapter 5: Major strategies for movie title translation ......................29
5.1 The skopos of movie title translation .............................................................. 29
5.2 Strategies for movie title translation ............................................................... 30
5.2.1 Domestication and foreignization ......................................................... 30
5.2.2 Domestication in movie title translation ............................................... 32
5.2.3 Foreignization in movie title translation ............................................... 36
5.2.4 Struggle between domestication and foreignization ............................. 37
Chapter 6 Analysis of some translated movie titles .............................40
6.1 Case 1 -- The Departed ................................................................................... 41
6.2 Case 2 -- The Last King of Scotland ............................................................... 42
6.3 Case 3 -- Marie Antoinette .............................................................................. 43
6.4 Case 4 -- Babel ................................................................................................ 44
6.5 Summary ......................................................................................................... 45
Chapter 7 Conclusion .............................................................................47
7.1 Summary of the thesis ..................................................................................... 47
7.2 Limitation of the thesis and suggestion for future study................................. 48
Bibliography ...............................................................................................49
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The Functionalist Skopos Theory and Movie Title Translation
Sun Jindan
Chapter 1 Introduction
This chapter first reviews relevant studies available to the author before it
briefly states the reasons for selecting this research and points out the main ideas and
arrangement of the thesis.
1.1 Brief review of relevant researches
Skopos Theory and the translation of movie titles have become hot topics. This section first
presents a brief review of researches on Skopos Theory, then it briefly surveys researches on the
translation of movie titles.
1. 1. 1 Brief review of some researches on Skopos Theory
According to Mark Shuttleworth & Moira Cowie (2004:156), Skopos Theory is an
approach to translation proposed by Reiss & Vermeer in the late 1970s and early
1980s. This theory belongs to German Functionalism. It treats translation as a
purposeful activity and stresses the interactive, pragmatic aspect of translation,
arguing that the shape of the target language text (TLT) should above all be
determined by the function or ‘skopos’ to be fulfilled by TLT.
Skopos Theory emphasizes the translator’s subjectivity. The translator is
entitled to redefine the status of the source language text (SLT). He no longer regards
SLT as an authoritative text. He merely considers it to be a supplier of information,
which must be analyzed and processed according to his particular purpose. He is
entitled to achieve the intended purpose of his concrete translation activity by
choosing the most appropriate translation strategy (Nord, 1991).
The functionalist approach to translation emerged in the 1970s in Germany and
was introduced into China in the 1990s by Zhang Nanfeng (张南峰) (1995) and
Chen Xiaowei （陈小慰）(1995). However, it was not until the beginning of the 21st
century when two books entitled Translation as a Purposeful Activity: Functional
Approaches (Nord, 2001) and Translation Criticism: The Potentials & Limitations
(Reiss, 2004) were respectively published in China that Skopos Theory started to be
widely spread and accepted in the Chinese academic circle. Although it has been
criticized and challenged by some scholars for its incompatibility with the traditional
translation theories in China, yet it has been attracting more and more attention from
some Chinese scholars in recent years. A number of papers have been published
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The Functionalist Skopos Theory and Movie Title Translation
Sun Jindan
concerning Skopos Theory and its application to translation practice. Some papers
(He Ning, 1998; He Ying, 2001; Mao Fasheng, 2002; Li Qun, 2002; etc) discuss the
translation of movie titles and subtitles, others (Zhang Jinghua, 2003; Zheng Qiufang,
2003; Guo Jie, 2006; etc) explore the translation of advertisements, including that of
brand names, and still others (Dai Rong, 2004; Fan Ye, 2005; etc) probe into the
translation of business documents. Such practical texts as advertising texts and
business texts can be well translated according to Skopos Theory. The language used
in them is quite different from that in literary texts and it is usually known as
instrumental language characterized by its obvious skopos to be fulfilled.
1. 1. 2 Brief review of some researches on movie title translation
The translation of a movie title is a purposeful activity and its primary purpose
is to attract as many people as possible to see the movie. Nevertheless, unlike
commercial advertisements, a movie title is not only a commercial product, but also
an artistic one. A good movie title should be both informative and appealing. Movie
title translation has been gaining more and more attention during the past three
decades. And it is quite true that the traditional translation theories can not provide a
reasonable explanation for some excellent film titles that were not translated
according to the conventional “equivalence” standard. The introduction of Skopos
Theory makes it possible for translators to offset the deficiencies of the traditional
translation theories in the field of movie title translation.
Some Chinese scholars have written papers on movie title translation. The four
representatives, whose papers are most frequently cited in the study of movie title
translation, are He Ning（何宁）(1998), He Ying（贺莺）(2001), Li Qun（李群）
(2002), and Mao Fasheng（毛发生）(2002). He (1998) makes a systematic study of
the various factors translators should take into account, such as the original title, the
content of the movie, the acceptability of the audience in the target culture and
cultural differences. He (2001) explores the functions of movie titles and suggests
that the translated movie title should be functionally equivalent to the original title.
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The Functionalist Skopos Theory and Movie Title Translation
Sun Jindan
Her view has been considered to be a breakthrough in movie title translation study,
because she introduces the concept of Functional Equivalence into this field and
asserts that translators are no longer confined to the traditional Formal Equivalence
theory. According to He (1998; 2001), the translation needs to be source-text
oriented and therefore the original title should be given priority to in the translation
activity. Li (2002) takes a great step forward and introduces Functionalism into the
field of movie title translation. In his paper, the author proves the futility of
traditional equivalence theory in explaining some excellently translated titles and
proposes that the focus should fall on the taste of target language audiences for the
primary skopos of movie title translation is to make the movie title appealing to
target audiences. Therefore, the priority of movie title translation needs to be shifted
to the target text and target culture. Mao (2002) presents a detailed analysis of the
distinctive features of translated movie titles in Mainland China, Hong Kong and
Taiwan respectively and stresses that Skopos Theory should be effectively promoted
to prevent the audience from getting confused when they are confronted with several
translated versions of one single movie title.
1.1 The reasons for selection of the research
I find it necessary to conduct this research for the following reasons:
First of all, I am very interested in the topic. The subject matter of rewarding
movies and their translated versions, especially the subject of movie titles and their
translation, have attracted my attention and appealed to me for a long time.
Secondly, it is worthwhile to study movies and movie titles as well as their
translations. As we all know, movies, which make up one of the most influential
mass media, are an audio-visual art form. A movie creates images, narrates stories,
expresses feelings, states philosophical ideas and attracts audiences by its sound,
color and moving pictures. Movies, which are more direct and sensitive than any
other form of art, usually present issues of great importance or those of common
concern. They represent social life from different perspectives and always arouse
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Sun Jindan
people’s innermost feelings. Movie appreciation is not only a form of entertainment,
but also an effective means to promote cultural exchanges and facilitate mutual
understanding between people from different cultures. When a movie is introduced
into another culture, its translated title often plays a decisive role in promotion,
because most audiences usually get the very first impression of the movie simply by
a glimpse of the translated title.
Thirdly, through a preliminary study, I tend to believe that Skopos Theory,
which is an effective translation theory, is particularly applicable to movie title
translation. However, I am not quite sure about it, for I have not made a thorough
study of it. Therefore, I feel that it is quite necessary for me to make a research on
the theory and on its applicability to movie title translation so as to confirm my
initial belief.
Fourthly, as far as I know, although a number of papers have been published
about Skopos Theory and the translation of movie titles, yet there are almost no
detailed or comprehensive studies. As it is far from being exhausted, I think that it is
worthwhile to further investigate the topic in a detailed manner.
Fifthly, by making a research into the topic, I will benefit a great deal from my
own efforts. My research is most likely to contribute to my future study and work.
Moreover, I believe that my research findings will further promote the transmission,
influence, and application of Skopos Theory in China, and that my research efforts
will contribute to the prosperity of translation practice, and especially to the success
of movie title translation.
For the above-mentioned reasons, I have decided to conduct a systematic study
of Skopos Theory, of the theory’s application to movie title translation, of general
knowledge about movies and their titles, and of the major strategies for the
translation of movie titles.
1.2 The main ideas and arrangement of the thesis
This thesis introduces the Functionalist Skopos Theory and discusses its
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The Functionalist Skopos Theory and Movie Title Translation
Sun Jindan
application to movie title translation. Under the framework of this theory, the author
illustrates how to translate movie titles by using many examples.
The thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter I serves as the introduction in
which the author briefly reviews the relevant researches concerning Skopos Theory
and movie title translation and presents the main ideas and arrangement of this thesis.
Chapter II introduces Skopos Theory and justifies its superiority to traditional
translation theories in terms of movie title translation. Chapter III provides essential
knowledge of movies and movie titles, such as movie genres, functions of movie
titles, and the naming approaches of English and Chinese movies. Chapter IV
focuses on a comparison of movie titles in English with those in Chinese from the
angles of culture and linguistics. Chapter V, as the core part of the thesis, deals with
application of Skopos Theory to the translation of movie titles, focusing on its major
translation strategies. In Chapter VI, the author further proves the application of
Skopos Theory to translation practice through several case studies. The last chapter,
which is the concluding part, briefly summarizes the main ideas of the whole thesis
and puts forward several questions which are worth being further studied.
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Sun Jindan
Chapter 2 Functionalist Skopos Theory
This chapter introduces the Functionalist Skopos Theory, including its
development and its theoretical framework.
2.1The history of Functionalist Skopos Theory
Skopos Theory, originally written as Skopostheorie in German, is a major
translation approach of German Functionalist School. “Skopos” means “purpose” or
“goal” in Greek. This approach was proposed in the late 1970s and early 1980s by
Reiss and Vermeer. In 1971, Katharina Reiss published a book entitled Possibilities
and Limitations in Translation Criticism (translated into English from German), in
which she for the first time touched upon the idea of Functionalist theory. Through
practice she came to realize that the source-text-oriented and equivalence-based
theories which she had previously emphasized were not applicable to some
communicative situations at all and it even seemed undesirable to realize
equivalence in those situations. There must be a specific “translation brief”1 to guide
each translation activity. Sometimes, the TLT may differ in function from the SLT
due to some particular needs. In this case, Reiss (1971) holds that the translator
should give priority to the functional perspectives of the TLT rather than the
equivalence-based theories.
Afterwards, Hans Vermeer, a student of Reiss, broke away from the
equivalence-based theories and set up the theoretical framework for “Functional
School”: Skopos Theory. Vermeer published A Framework for a General Theory of
Translation in 1978, which is originally in German and later reprinted in English in
1983, to give an overall introduction to this theory. In this work, Vermeer defines
“human action as intentional, purposeful behavior that takes place in a given
This term was coined by Janet Fraser to correspond to the German term used by Reiss. “The ideal translation
brief provides explicit or implicit information about the intended target-text function(s), the target-text
addressee(s), the medium over which it will be transmitted, the prospective place and time and, if necessary,
motive of production or reception of the text” (Nord, 1991: 137).
1
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Sun Jindan
situation”. In the framework of Vermeer’s theory, every translation is directed at an
intended audience, since to translate means “to produce a text in a target setting for a
target purpose and target addressees in target circumstances (Vermeer, 1987: 29)”.
The prime rule translators are supposed to follow is the skopos rule and skopos here
mainly refers to the communicative purpose of the TLT.
Based on Vermeer’s theory, Justa Holz Manttari and Christiane Nord further
improved it. “Manttari’s theory is based on the principles of action theory and is
designed to cover all forms of intercultural transfer (Nord, 1991: 12-13)”. Manttari
places special emphasis on the action aspect of the translation process, analyzing the
roles of the participants (initiator, translator, user and message receiver) and the
situational conditions (time, place and medium) in which their activities take place
(Nord, 1991: 13). Skopos Theory views translation as a complex activity intended to
realize a specific purpose. The weakness of Skopos Theory at this stage is that it
lacks a moral principle to guide the translation activity. In order to make up for this
weakness, Christiane Nord, a German professor in translation, added the loyalty
principle to perfect this theory. Up till this stage, there are altogether four guiding
principles for translation activities in Functionalist Skopos Theory, namely, the
skopos rule, the fidelity rule, the coherence rule, and the loyalty principle.
2.2 Guiding principles of Skopos Theory
Among the four guiding principles of Skopos Theory, the skopos rule should be
attached much importance to and regarded as the top-ranking rule for any translation.
Meanwhile, the translator should also take into account the cultural situation in
which the TLT is embedded and the relationship between SLT and TLT. Therefore,
another two subordinate rules, namely, coherence rule (intra-textual coherence) and
fidelity rule (intertextual coherence), are worth being elaborated on as well. Besides,
the loyalty principle put forward by Christiane Nord is also indispensable and can be
regarded as a complement to the three rules raised by Vermeer.
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2.2.1 The Skopos rule
The prime principle in Functionalist Skopos Theory is the “skopos rule”.
According to Nord (2001: 27-28), there are three possible kinds of purposes in the
field of translation: (1) the translator’s general purpose in the translation process
(perhaps to earn a living); (2) the communicative purpose aimed at by the target text
in the target situation (perhaps to instruct the reader); (3) the purpose aimed at by a
particular translation strategy or procedure (for example, to translate literally in order
to show the structural particularities of the source language).
However, the term skopos here usually refers to the purpose of the target text
(Nord, 2001: 28). The translator should adopt the most appropriate translation
strategy to achieve the purpose for which the target text is intended, no matter
whether it is considered to be the normally adopted strategy in the particular
translation context. The skopos rule is summed up by Vermeer as “the end justifies
the means”. He explains the skopos rule in the following way:
Each text is produced for a given purpose and should serve this purpose. The
skopos rule thus reads as follows: translate / interpret / speak / write in a way that
enables your text/translation to function in the situation in which it is used and with
the people who want to use it and precisely in the way they want it to function.
(Nord, 2001: 29)
This rule is intended to solve dilemmas concerned with “free versus faithful
translation, dynamic versus formal equivalence, good interpreters versus slavish
translators and so on” (Nord, 2001: 29). Skopos can be interpreted as a touchstone
for a translation: whether a translation is appropriate is determined by how well it
has served the purpose it is intended to achieve.
2.2.2 The Coherence rule
The skopos rule attaches great importance to the target text. Furthermore, the
target text is situated in a specific cultural context. The source-text producer and the
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Sun Jindan
target-text receivers belong to two different cultures and language communities and
the translator is supposed to know about the differences of the two cultures and
bridge them.
Another important rule of Skopos Theory is the coherence rule, which means
that “a translation should be acceptable in a sense that it is coherent with the
receivers’ situation” (by Vermeer, cit. in Nord, 2001: 32). The translation task,
therefore, is to produce a target text meaningful to the target-text receivers, given
their assumed needs, expectations, background knowledge and situational
circumstances. The coherence rule, or intratextual coherence, stipulates that the
target text should be readable and comprehensible to its receivers, and conform to
their communicative situations.
2.2.3 The Fidelity rule
Vermeer says that any text is just “an offer of information” (cit. in Nord 2001:
31). Therefore, translation is undoubtedly an offer of information based on the
information stated or implied in the source text and it must have a close relationship
with the source text. This relationship is called “intertextual coherence” or “fidelity”
by Vermeer. The third rule of Skopos Theory is called the fidelity rule. It concerns
intertextual coherence between the translation and the source text.
The three basic rules of Skopos Theory are designed to manipulate the whole
translation process. However, they are not of equal importance concerning their
manipulating power. “Intertextual coherence is considered subordinate to intratextual
coherence and both are subordinate to the Skopos rule. If the Skopos requires a
change of function, the standard will no longer be intertextual coherence with the
source text but adequacy or appropriateness with regard to Skopos Theory. And if
the Skopos demands intratextual incoherence, the standard of intratextual coherence
is no longer valid” (Nord, 2001: 32-33).
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Sun Jindan
2.2.4. The Loyalty principle
Loyalty is a term put forward by Nord (1991a) to describe the attitude which
should ideally characterize the translator’s relationship to the source-text author and
sender, and the target text reader. Nord describes loyalty as “a moral principle
indispensable in the relationship between human beings, who are partners in a
communication process” (1991a: 29). “Loyalty commits the translator bilaterally to
the source and the target sides. It must not be mixed up with fidelity or faithfulness,
concepts that usually refer to a relationship between the source and target texts.
Loyalty is an interpersonal category referring to a social relationship between
people” (Nord, 2001: 125). This concept is quite necessary since “in normal
intercultural communication, neither the initiator nor the recipient of the translated
text is able to check on whether or not the target text really conforms to their
expectations” (1991b: 94).
According to the above three rules suggested by Vermeer, when the skopos
requires that the target text be somewhat different from the source text, the translator
may deviate from the source text without any constraints. The loyalty principle is
absolutely a necessity to avoid such a radical translational action. Nord improves
Skopos Theory by putting forward the principle of “functionalism plus loyalty”.
Functionalism holds that the target text functions as the target-text receivers expect
in their cultural context, which is the same as that in Vermeer’s ideas. “Loyalty”
indicates that the translator needs to balance his or her loyalty to the target-text
receivers and the initiator with his or her loyalty to the source-text author and
coordinate the impacts of both source culture and target culture on translation. “If
there is a conflict between the interests of the three partners of the translator, it is the
translator who has to mediate and, where necessary, seek the understanding of all
sides” (Nord, 2001: 128). The target text is influenced by the target culture and at the
same time it modifies the culture to some extent.
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Sun Jindan
2.3 “Adequacy” as the standard of translation
“Adequacy” is the translation standard in Functionalist Skopos theory. “Within
the framework of Skopos Theory, “adequacy” refers to the qualities of a target text
with regard to the translation brief: “the translation should be adequate to the
requirements of the brief” (Nord, 2001: 35). “Adequacy” was originally a term used
by some commentators on translation to discuss the nature of the relationship
between the source text and the target text. Nevertheless, there has been a little
argument over the application of this term. The argument mainly focuses on the
relationship between adequacy and equivalence.
The term “equivalence” was introduced into translation studies in 1960s by
Catford. He defines translation as “the replacement of textual material in one
language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)” (Catford,
1965: 20). His view of equivalence was criticized by many scholars since “it reduces
the translation process to a mere linguistic exercise, ignoring cultural, textual and
other situational factors” (Shuttleworth & Cowie, 2004: 50). Later, this perception
resulted in the subdivision of the notion of equivalence in a variety of ways, in which
the most noted was formulated by Eugene A. Nida (1964). He divided this term into
“Formal Equivalence” and “Functional Equivalence”. The former standard
emphasizes the “mechanic reproduction” of the original text in the target language,
while the latter one, often described in some books as “Dynamic Equivalence”,
refers to the quality of “transporting” the message in the source text into the target
text which may give its receivers essentially the same “response” as that of the
source text receivers.
The concept of Functional Equivalence has gained greater popularity since it
was put forward by Nida and it is also adopted in Skopos Theory. Nevertheless,
Reiss and Vermeer decided to use another word, “adequacy”, due to their slight
differences. An adequate translation is a creation of the source text in a target
language, and the translator is entitled to make necessary changes according to the
specific translation brief.
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2.4 Translating being an intercultural action
“Translating means comparing cultures” (Nord, 2001: 34). Culture involves
almost everything in the world, whether material or spiritual. “Everything we
observe as being different from our own culture is, for us, specific to the other
culture” (ibid). Every action takes place in the context of a specific culture. Since
everybody lives in a society, culture is succinctly defined as “the totality of beliefs
and practices of a society” (Nida, 2001: 78). Translation is not done in vacuum but
also conducted under cultural contexts.
In Skopos Theory, cultural considerations are highly valued and attached great
importance to. Every target text must be meaningful and acceptable to target readers
living in the target culture. Since the late 1970s, the incompetence of linguistic
theories has been widely recognized in the translation circle. Apart from being a
linguistic undertaking, translation is also a kind of cultural behavior. Translation has
taken its “cultural turn” since then, and it is regarded as a breakthrough of Skopos
Theory to lead this trend in translation studies. The term “cultural turn” was
officially taken in the 1990s by Susan Bassnett and Andre Lefevere (2002: xi), who
made it widely accepted, but it was first used by Mary Snell-Hornby, who, in the
anthology Translation, History and Culture (1987), termed the move from
translation as text to translation as culture and politics “the culture turn”. Susan
Bassnett and Andre Lefevere then adopted this term.
We were trying to argue that the study of the practice of translation
had moved on from its formalist phase and was beginning to consider
broader issues of context, history, and convention.…The object of study
has been redefined; what is studied is the text embedded in its network of
both source and target cultural signs and in this way Translation Studies
has been able both to utilize the linguistic approach and to move out
beyond it. (Bassnett & Lefevere, 2002: 123)
Translation is an intercultural communication. It is the translators' responsibility
to transmit cultures between different countries and in this way to help promote the
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cultural exchange between nations. Therefore, in the process of communication
translators are required to have the cultural awareness to know the otherness of the
target culture. Only when translators bear cultural differences in mind, can they
create a target text appropriate to its cultural context. The source text producer and
the target text receiver belong to different cultures and it is the translator’s
responsibility to bridge the cultural gap for them. The translator may utilize various
translation strategies to ensure that the target text is adequately comprehended by its
receivers so as to fulfill the purpose of the translation activity. Released from his/ her
commitment to reproduce the source text, the translator is a text producer who
creates a new text on the basis of the source text. The translation strategy is
determined primarily by the purpose of a translation activity. According to Vermeer,
the functional approach requires the translators to produce a new text that satisfies
the cultural expectations of the target receivers for texts with the intended skopos
(1998: 41-45).
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Chapter 3: Genres of movies and functions of movie titles
This chapter is devoted to a discussion of some essential knowledge of movies
and movie titles. The genres of movies and functions of movie titles are investigated
at the beginning of this chapter to facilitate the subsequent discussion in this thesis.
3.1 Genres of movies
Although movies are viewed as a type of literature, they have their own unique
stylistic features. Like other literary works, movies can be categorized into a great
many genres, such as action and adventure, animation, comedy, documentary, horror
and thriller, musicals, sports, romance, war, westerns, science fiction and fantasy,
etc.1 In the following part, genres which are relatively more difficult to understand
are investigated at length.
3.1.1 Action and adventure movies
The genre of action and adventure films may be considered to be the easiest of
all genres to explain. But the reality is that unlike the genre of westerns, which are
always connected with cowboys, deserts, horses and shooting, the genre of action
and adventure films covers so broad a category that its definition becomes a term of
almost no use at all. All films have action in them and every film is technically an
action film. Nevertheless, there are two essential things in any action and adventure
film that characterizes the genre: violence and death. Furthermore, there is nearly
always an unconquerable spirit. Except for the settings and the language, the action
and adventure film changed little along with the rapid development of movie
producing industry. Examples are 《赌神》(translated into God of Gambler's Return
and produced in Hong Kong)，Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), and Master and
Commander (2004).
1
This categorization is available online at http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Movies_and_Film/Titles/.
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3.1.2 Science fiction and fantasy movies
The science fiction movies are motion pictures presenting an idea or a novel
technology that is not yet in existence or scientifically impossible forever. Movies of
this genre usually deal with space travel or the arrival of alien or extinct species on
earth, for example, E.T. (1982), Star Wars (1977) and Jurassic Park (1993). Fantasy
movies often have an element of magic, myth, wonder, escapism, and the
extraordinary. They may appeal to both children and adults, depending upon the
particular film. In fantasy films, the hero often undergoes some kind of mystical
experience, and must ask for aid from powerful, superhuman forces on the outside,
for example, The Witches (1990) and King Kong (2006). Due to the same
imaginative nature of both science fiction and fantasy movies, they are usually
overlapping, and the distinction between the two is often neglected. Titles of science
fiction and fantasy movies are supposed to disclose the mysterious nature of the
movie and induce the potential audiences to experience the movie in a cinema.
3.1.3 Horror and thriller movies
In horror movies, the director is more concerned with the creation of the
horrible atmosphere. Horror films are movies produced to frighten the audiences, to
stimulate their dread and alarm, and to provoke their innermost hidden fears, often
with a terrifying and shocking outcome. Audiences are captivated by the bizarre plot
and entertained at the same time. Titles of horror movies mainly highlight the
soul-stirring atmosphere, for example, The Phantom of the Opera (2004) and 《怪
物》 (translated into Monster and produced in Hong Kong).
Another closely-related genre is the thriller film genre. “A genuine thriller is a
film that restlessly pursues a single-minded goal - to provide thrills and keep the
audience cliff-hanging at the ‘edge of their seats’ as the plot builds towards a
climax.” 1 For example, the movie Rebecca (1940) belongs to this category.
1
This definition is online available at http://www.filmsite.org/thrillerfilms.html.
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However, “thriller” and “horror” are mostly overlapping and probably in most
situations people don’t bother to distinguish the two.
3.1.4 Animations
Animations are movies in which individual drawings, paintings, or illustrations
are photographed frame by frame. Animations, usually viewed as “children's
entertainment”, are often directed at children, but mostly appealing to people of all
ages. In recent years, a great many animations have emerged one after another, such
as Shrek (2001)，Finding Nemo (2003)，and Chickens Run (2000), etc.
3.1.5 Comedies
Comedies are designed to elicit laughter from audiences, since it humorously
exaggerates the situation, the language, the action, and even characters. They usually
have a happy ending as well as a profound social significance, although sometimes
the humor is serious or even pessimistic. Movies like The Mask (1994) and Mrs.
Doubtfire (1993) belong to this category.
3.1.6 Musicals
Musicals are combinations of music, dancing, and songs. Musicals highlight
various musical artists or dancing stars, with lyrics that support the story. This genre
has been considered the most escapist of all major film genres. A typical musical
familiar to the Chinese audience is The Lion King (1994) produced by Broadway.
3.1.7 Sports movies
Sports movies are those that have a sports setting (football or baseball stadium,
arena, or the Olympics, etc.), competitive event, and athlete (boxer, racer, surfer, etc.)
that are central and predominant in the story. The Best Picture of the 77th Oscar
Academy Awards, Million Dollar Baby (2004) is a typical sports movie with its two
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major characters being a boxer and her trainer.
3.1.8 War movies
War movies emerged after the outbreak of World War I. Themes explored in
war movies include combat, survivor, the inhumanity of battle, and the effects of war
on society. Casablanca (1942) and Schindler's List (1993) are movies of this genre.
3.1.9 Romance movies
Romance movies make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus.
They serve as great escapes and fantasies for viewers, especially if the two people
finally overcome their difficulties, declare their love, and experience life “happily
ever after” - implied by a reunion and final kiss. Lots of romantic movies have been
produced worldwide, like Shakespeare in Love (1998), and As Good As It Gets
(1997).
3.1.10 Documentaries
A documentary is not usually presented for its entertainment value alone. It is
supported by facts, and, as a rule, has a purpose or a theme, as well as a statement to
make. Generally, documentaries take a journalistic approach to the material
presented. 《颍州的孩子》and An Inconvenient Truth are two documentaries that
have won the 79th Oscar Academy Awards this year???.
It is very difficult to specify all the movie genres here due to limit of space.
Movie genres may play a very important role in promotion since audiences are very
likely to make the watching decision based on it.
3.2 Functions of movie titles
The reasons why a title is created for a newly released movie is that it
succinctly summarizes what is being told in the movie, leads audiences to the theme
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of the movie and stimulates the audiences’ imagination. The major functions of
movie titles can be categorized as follows: (1) informative function, (2) aesthetic
function, (3) vocative function.
A title can be regarded as the name card of a movie. In a modern world,
numerous movies are being released each year, so how to attract the audience at the
first sight is of great significance to movie producers. In any poster for movie
promotions, the title is absolutely put at the most obvious place to arouse the interest
of any prospective audience. An excellent movie title is supposed to have all the
three functions stated above.
3.2.1 Informative function
The informative function of a movie title is to inform the potential audience of
some relevant information about the movie. The information may tell us whom the
movie is concerned with, where is the story taking place or the incident presented by
the director.
With the help of movie titles, audiences are usually able to learn about the genre
or the style of a movie and then decide whether or not to buy the tickets. For
example, The Killing Field (1984) is a war movie, telling a story of two New York
Times journalists covering the tragedies and madness of the civil war in Cambodia.
Even without knowing about the plot of this movie, one can judge from its title that
it belongs to war or horror movie. 《开国大典》, a Chinese movie, tells mainly about
how Chinese people went through all the unbelievable hardships and finally
celebrated the foundation of a new China. Everybody, through this movie title, is
able to make a conclusion that this is a movie about a major historical event.
In many cases, the audience will gain immediate information the minute they
see the movie titles, for instance, Titanic (1997) and Pearl Harbor (2001). Titanic is
the name for a so-called unsinkable ship which encountered the devastating
catastrophe on its maiden voyage. Pearl Harbor is the place which was attacked by
the Japanese air force during World War II and after this attack, the American
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government decided to officially participate in the war. Consequently, when
audiences see titles like these they are quite sure that Titanic relates a story about
what happened in the disaster and Pearl Harbor is probably about the attack and
people involved in the historical incident.
3.2.2 Aesthetic Function
Movie titles can also perform the aesthetic function to let audiences gain
aesthetic enjoyment through delicate language which may involve vivid images,
musical words or various rhetorical devices. On seeing movie titles of this kind,
audiences are inspired by their artistic appeal to experience the movies in person. A
Walk in the Cloud (1995) is a movie about two young people falling in love in a
beautiful grape vineyard metaphorically called “cloud”. I believe that anyone who
comes across this title will be captivated by the romantic atmosphere presented by it
and some of them may take immediate action to see it.
3.2.3 Vocative function
A movie title can inform the audience of the relevant information about the
movie, and it can create an imaginary atmosphere for the audience and entertain
them aesthetically. However, its vocative function is more important. That is to call
upon the audience to see the film. According to Newmark, “the core of the vocative
function of language is the readership, the addressee”(Newmark, 2001: 41). When
the definition is applied to movie titles, the addresses here refer to audiences. The
vocative function of movie titles is to draw the attention of audiences, make them
psychologically interested and then have the tickets sold.
All the other three functions serve the purpose of “calling upon the audience to
see the film”. A film is both a commercial product and a piece of art. Commercially
and artistically, it needs the audience’s appreciation. A commodity without any
consumers and a piece of art without any appreciator are just flesh without soul. This
nature determines that both the translation act and the translated film title are aimed
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to “call upon” (Newmark, 2001:41) the target audiences to appreciate the film
produced in a foreign culture. Both informative and aesthetic functions serve the
vocative function, since the prime and ultimate aim of movie production is to win
the hearts of audiences and be financially rewarded. Few titles are purely informative,
aesthetic or vocative. The three major functions are often integrated, with emphasis
on one of them.
3.3 The naming approaches of English and Chinese movie titles
A good movie may influence people for decades by its touching plot, pleasant
music as well as its great social significance. In our world, cross-cultural exchanges
have been attached great importance to and become an irreversible cultural trend.
Being part of the Chinese culture, Chinese movies are gaining increasing popularity
worldwide. Meanwhile, appreciating English movies has been an indispensable part
of our leisure life in China. An outstanding movie title enables people to take a
positive attitude towards the movie at the very first sight and makes it more
competitive in the movie market. In order to attract a wider overseas audience, the
translated movie titles should not only be creative but also conform to the cultural
context in the target market. Therefore, we need to get acquainted with the naming
approaches of both English and Chinese movie titles, which can be analyzed from
the following angles.
First, some movies use the main character’s name as the title. A large number of
movies fall into this category but their specific approaches may vary: Some use the
name of the main character directly, such as 《任长霞》and Forrest Gump(1994);
some names are used together with the specific title for the main character; some
may use some modifiers to present the most obvious characteristic of the main
character, such as 《小兵张嘎》and Citizen Kane (1941).
Second, the name of the most important image in the movie can be chosen as
the movie title. Those objects are playing an important role in the movie, for
example, Schindler’s List (1993). This is a true story of Oscar Schindler, a German
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businessman who owns a factory. After witnessing the horrifying visions of the
Holocaust and the toll it takes on the Jewish people, he eventually creates a list of
over 1100 Jews whom he saves from death. Sometimes the title might be the
symbolic image in the movie, for example, The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and The
Smile of Mona Lisa (2003).
Third, a movie may pick the name of the place or the particular time in which
the story takes place. These titles provide some background information for the
movie since the name of the place or the time of the story is usually associated with
the distinctive culture it is set in. Casablanca(1942), The Legend of 1900 (1998) and
《芙蓉镇》are movies of this kind.
Fourth, the major incidence or the profound theme of a movie is often used as
its title, too. These titles sum up the major incidence and enable audiences to get a
general understanding of the whole movie. 《秋菊打官司》is a famous Chinese
movie telling a story happening in a remote village in China where the heroine
named “秋菊” struggles to gain justice for her injured husband. Saving Private Ryan
(1998) is about a special mission of saving an American soldier in World War II after
his three brothers were all killed in the war. Besides, Brave Heart (1995) and A
Beautiful Mind (2001) are definitely titles manifesting their corresponding themes.
In addition, lots of movie titles may employ some idioms and rhetorical devices
to show their implication or vividness. According to Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English, an idiom refers to “a group of words with a meaning of its
own that is different from the meanings of each separate word put together”. For
example, Hobson’s Choice (1985) is named after an English idiom which means “a
choice of taking what is available or nothing at all (没有选择或商量的余地)”,
therefore, the title here does not simply imply a choice taken by the hero named
Hobson but his sorry plight that he has to follow the only one choice available.
Rhetorical devices, such as metaphors, personification, onomatopoeia, repetition,
contrast, oxymoron, irony, exaggerations and alliteration, are frequently used in
movie titles. For instance, the movie title 《似水柔情》 compares the human
tenderness to the slowly flowing water; Beauty and Beast (1991) and Sense and
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Sensibility (1995) are excellent examples of using alliteration. Rachel, Rachel (1968)
is formed by the adoption of repetition, Tender Mercies (1983) and Crying Game
(1993) by personification, True Lies (1994) by oxymoron.
As a matter of fact, a large number of naming approaches are being employed
in movie titles and it is definitely impossible to elaborate on all of them. In this
thesis, only the most popular approaches have been discussed, and it is necessary for
us to take a close eye on this issue and try to sum up more rules to facilitate our
future studies.
Chapter 4
A contrastive study of English
and Chinese movie titles
This chapter is mainly concerned with a detailed comparison of English and
Chinese movie titles. The aim of conducting such a study is to find out their
similarities and differences in both linguistic and cultural aspects, for the translation
of movie titles must be based on a clear understanding of them.
4.1 Linguistic differences between English
and Chinese movie titles????
Researches on Contrastive Linguistics show that nouns are playing a dominant
role in English. The priority given to nouns makes it possible to simplify the way of
speaking. Among the 69 movies which have won the Oscar Academic Award of Best
Picture between 1928 and 2007, 59 of them use a noun phrase as their title, 4 use a
prepositional phrase, such as Out of Africa (1985), 3 use a complete sentence, for
instance, It Happened one night (1934) and Who Is Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966),
3 use a participle phrase, for example, Driving Miss Daisy (1989), 2 use an adjective
phrase, like All Quiet on the Western Front(1930). The domination of nouns also
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gives rise to the appearance of a great many movie titles using characters’ names,
such as Jane Eyre (1996), Sabrina (1995) and Mulan (1998).
Nevertheless, nouns in Chinese are not as active as they are in English, and
Chinese people also have a preference for verbs and verb phrases. The movie title
using verb phrases is usually more likely to impress audiences by its vividness and
dynamics, such as, 《十面埋伏》，
《踏上生路》and《过年》. The proportion of verb
phrases used in Chinese movie titles is relatively high compared to that in English.
Conciseness is greatly emphasized in English movie titles. Very few English
movies adopt titles of more than three words. Of the 79 movies on the list of Oscar’s
Best Picture Awards from 1928 to 2007, 22 movies adopt a single word as their titles,
15 movies adopt two-word titles and 22 movies adopt three-word titles. Therefore,
movie titles of no more than three words account for approximately three quarters of
the total.
Elegance is attached more importance to in Chinese movie titles. Chinese
people are accustomed to expressing ideas through four-character idioms since
four-character titles are more elegant according to their aesthetic preference and
easier to be memorized by them. Chinese four-character titles are characterized by
their economy in wording and expressiveness in meaning. Lots of Chinese movie
titles are using four-character phrases, like《天下无贼》，
《卧虎藏龙》and《倩女幽
魂》, etc.
Besides, Chinese movie titles are inclined to use poetic language to make them
sound more graceful, while English movies are more likely to select a single noun or
a noun phrase as the title and the selection may appears to be very random. In
addition to four-character phrases, the traditional Chinese poetic structure, with five
or seven characters in a line (五言诗或七言诗), is also common in movie titles. The
adoption of poetic language in movie titles helps them achieve both beauty in form
and musical effect in sound, for instance, 《八千里路云和月》，
《一江春水向东流》
and 《暗恋桃花源》. Therefore, those Chinese movies titles are more eye-catching
and pleasant to ears when it is released in the competitive market.
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4.2 Cultural differences in English and Chinese movie titles
Language is part of culture, so cultural discrepancies are always reflected in
linguistic differences. Each element of language, for instance, phonetics, vocabulary
and grammar, has been influenced or even produced by cultural development. “It is
primarily the differences in mental culture between Chinese and English speaking
people that lead to the differences between the Chinese and English
languages.”(Chen Hongwei 1999) The cultural differences revealed by movie titles
are quite obvious, and in the following part a comparison is made between English
and Chinese mental cultures from the perspective of movie titles.
4.2.1 Individualism versus collectivism
In Chinese thought patterns, objects are studied from an overall point of view
due to the influences of traditional Chinese philosophy of Man’s Unity with Heaven.
Therefore, collectivism is favored by Chinese people. According to Geert Hofstede1,
an influential Dutch expert on the interactions between national cultures and
organizational cultures, China is a nation of a high level of collectivism. China is a
large agricultural country with a limited degree of modernization. In most of the
areas, plantation depends on community cooperation. This reinforces the sense of
collectivism and minimizes the importance of individualism. Furthermore, China
had been a hierarchical society for several millenniums. Though the situation has
changed greatly since the implementation of the reform and opening up policy, the
influences of collectivism and hierarchy are still quite obvious. For example, it
seems very natural to add a title to a person’s name when we address him or her so
as to show our respect. And it is really hard to imagine that the name of a “nobody”
can be used as the title of a movie. Therefore, a Chinese movie which adopts a
person’s name as its title is probably concerned with a national hero, such as 《张思
德》and《任长霞》, or a well-known or influential “somebody”, like《赵一曼》，
《周
1
His ideas are available online at http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_china.shtml.
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恩来》and 《彭德怀》.
In a society favoring collectivism, “it is the belief that the group is an entity
itself, more important than the sum of the individuals and the individuals become
secondary to the collective” (Jeff Landauer & Joseph Rowlands) 1. This thought
pattern is reflected in Chinese movie titles: Chinese people are more accustomed to
those titles with a more general meaning, which helps them to get the gist of the
whole movie, such as《福星闯江湖》and《智取威虎山》.
Nevertheless, people in the West worship individuality, believing that while
man lives in nature, he is independent of nature and must struggle with nature to
meet his needs. The divergence between these two thought patterns also gives rise to
the differences between English and Chinese movie titles.
Western societies, especially the United States, have a long history of valuing
individuality. The following passage can be considered the most powerful evidence.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments
are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the
Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying
its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them
shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." -- Jefferson et al, cited
from The Declaration of Independence2
Individualism as a value is deep-rooted in western societies, which holds that “a
human being should think and judge independently, respecting nothing more than the
sovereignty of his or her mind” (Nathaniel Branden)3. Individualism is excellently
illustrated in English movies with individuals being put at the most conspicuous
position. The name of an individual is always emphasized as the most prominent
characteristic of a person, however insignificant he is. If a person is struggling for a
1
2
3
Their view is available online at http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Evil_Collectivism.html.
The entire text of it is available online at http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm.
His idea is available online at http://www.fff.org/freedom/1194e.asp.
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better life and eager to change his destiny, his name can definitely be adopted as the
title of a movie, even though this person is merely involved in a seemingly
insignificant business. Erin Brockovich (2000) was nominated for Oscar Academic
Award for Best Film in 2001. It tells a story about an unemployed single mother who
becomes a legal assistant and almost single-handedly brings down a California
Power Company accused of polluting a city's water supply. This movie is adapted
from a true story in America. Though Erin is an ordinary single mother, she achieves
something extraordinary in her career and brings benefits to people living in a small
town. She is regarded as an example for ordinary Americans, and certainly her name
can be employed as the movie title according to the unique thought pattern in
America. Were it a Chinese movie, the name would probably be changed to a general
one to inform the audience of the plot.
4.2.2 Different aesthetic preferences
Everyone pursues beauty. However, people in different cultures have different
perceptions about what is beautiful. Chinese movie titles are apt to use poetic and
symbolic language. Poetic language can create beauty in sound with the unique
structural and vocal features and may create all sorts of artistic enjoyments for
readers to get involved in. Many Chinese movies are remembered by audiences
together with their poetic titles, like《像雨像雾又像风》，《一江春水向东流》and
《似水流年》.
Chinese characters are derived from picture writings. Because of
this, the Chinese people normally associate beauty with images rather than the logic
of language. The Chinese language is characterized by its ample symbolic
connotations of images. In ancient China, people formed the habit of being cautious
about their words, which was attributed to the feudal oppression for thousands of
yeas and very often they used the symbolic meanings of vivid images to implicitly
express their feelings, for example, “蛀虫” (an insect that eats books, clothes or
wood) probably refers to a corrupted official who lives a luxury life but does nothing
beneficial for ordinary people.《乌鸦和麻雀》tells a story in around 1949, when
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China won its independence, about how a group of oppressed residents struggle
against the illegal occupant of their house. Here, “麻雀” (sparrow) is a symbol of
these cowardly citizens, while “乌鸦” (crow) represents the mighty occupant of the
house.
Some Chinese movie titles are influenced by the particular Chinese aesthetic
preference that beauty can be achieved through the steady rhythms of parallel
construction. This is partially due to the traditional Yin and Yang culture which
emphasizes a beauty of symmetry. Antithesis, a figure of speech in both English and
Chinese, is more widely used in Chinese movie titles. It emphasizes a contrast or
symmetry by presenting contradictory or similar ideas by using two or more words
or sentences in sharp juxtaposition. Movie titles like《南征北战》，
《卧虎藏龙》 and
《背靠背，脸对脸》are excellent examples of this kind.
English movie titles tend to use more concise language. Most English movie
titles consist of no more than 3 words. Western people believe that being concise and
direct is the best way of conveying meanings and therefore it is no wonder that a
large proportion of English movies merely adopt the hero or heroine’s name as titles.
English is an intonation language, and it achieves its musical effect by the
intonation and the position of stress. Alliteration and rhyme are often employed in
English to achieve beauty in sound. Movie titles Picture Perfect (1997), Rock and
Rule (1983), and City under Siege (1989) are representatives of this kind.
Chinese movie titles tend to use color words more often than their western
counterparts. 《红玫瑰与白玫瑰》, 《黑骏马》, 《红河谷》, 《黄沙
青草
红
太阳》and《深蓝浅蓝》 are movie titles with color words. There is a sharp contrast
of color preference between the English and Chinese language. In Chinese the color
white was originally associated with mourning and it was merely used in funerals.
However, in western cultures white is the symbol of purity and the color for wedding
ceremonies. Even though nowadays people in China begin to accept white wedding
dress which symbolize purity due to cultural exchanges, they are still in the habit of
decorating the ceremony with red. Red in China stands for happiness and fortune,
but the symbolic meaning of red in the west is just opposite, violence and caution.
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Besides, there is a striking difference between the cultural connotations of the color
blue in Chinese and western cultures. Take the movie The Boy in Blue (1986) for
example. In English, “blue” indicates that a person is in low spirits, or bad mood, so
here the movie actually tells about a story about a boy who is in a bad mood, while
in Chinese, “blue” might sometimes be associated with elegance and mystery, like
the movie 《蓝烟火》.
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Chapter 5: Application of Skopos Theory to
movie title translation
A movie title plays a crucial role in the promotion of a newly released movie.
The activity of introducing a movie from abroad is associated with two major
purposes. First, the movie producer intends to obtain more financial profits in an
overseas market; second, cultural exchanges are unconsciously achieved in the
process of movie appreciation. Movie titles, the most vital component in the process
of promotion, are worth being perfectly translated. The translation of movie titles is
undoubtedly unique, since this activity is not only purposeful but also closely related
to culture. Skopos Theory, perfectly applicable to movie title translation, provides a
reasonable theoretical framework for it helps make the translated version easily
accepted by the target audiences. In this chapter, the first part is devoted to a
profound discussion of the skopos of movie title translation and the second part is
mainly concerned with the strategies to be taken in the course of translating movie
titles.
5.1 The skopos of movie title translation
The translation of a film title is a process of creative efforts with a clear skopos,
that is, to attract the intended audience in the target culture to watch the movie. The
skopos is the key to the whole process of translation and usually refers to the
purpose of the target text. Knowing what the film is translated for guides the
translator to adopt appropriate strategies and make due adjustment in order to fulfill
the skopos. This is also the essence of Skopos theory, namely, “the end justifies the
means” (Nord, 2001: 29).
It is certain that a film is both a commercial product and a piece of art. On the
one hand, a successful movie should be the one that draws a great number of
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audiences to the cinema; on the other hand, a film, as a significant art form, has
harmoniously integrated cultural influences and commercialization. Therefore, in the
process of translating film titles, emphasis should be placed on both the informative,
cultural and aesthetic values and their box-office appeal, that is to say, the ultimate
goal of film title is to win the hearts of the audience and be rewarded by financial
profits.
In Skopos Theory, the translator takes the responsibility to make sure that the
target audience understand the translated movie title and get interested in the movie
instantly. Therefore, when a faithful reproduction of the style of the original movie
title is insufficient to satisfy the taste of the potential audience, translators have to
modify, or even sacrifice some of the original functions of the source text, recreating
the movie title to make it appealing to the target receivers. This behavior is
supported by Nord, “On the one hand, a translation is a text which is intended to
function for the target receivers and, as such, may be intended for any
communication function. On the other, a translation is a kind of target-culture
representation or substitute for a source-culture text. As such, it may carry out quite
different functions with regard to the source” (Nord, 2001: 46).
5.2 Strategies for movie title translation
Movie title translation is guided by Skopos Theory. Therefore, the translation
process is target audiences oriented and meanwhile has to be reckoned with in the
cultural context. Lots of strategies might be adopted in movie title translation but
domestication and foreignization, a pair of strategies characterized by their distinct
cultural considerations, are most frequently used under Skopos Theory framework.
5.2.1 Domestication and foreignization
Domestication and foreignization are the two strategies which take the cultural,
linguistic and aesthetical components into account in the process of producing the
target texts (Sun Zhili, 2003: 33). Venuti mentioned in The Translator's Invisibility
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(1996) that these two terms could be traced back to a lecture given by the German
theologian and philosopher Friederich Schleiermacher, who in 1813 gave a lecture
entitled On the Different Methods of Translating, in which he stated “in my opinion,
there are only two (methods). Either the translator leaves the writer alone as much as
possible and move the reader towards the writer, or he leaves the reader alone as
much as possible and moves the writer toward the reader”. According to Rainer
Schulte and John Bigueret (1992: 42), domestication refers to the translation method
that is target-language and target-culture oriented. In a translated text where this
strategy is involved, expressions unique to the source language and culture are
modified so as to make the translated version comprehensible to target receivers.
Foreignization refers to translation that is source-language and source-culture
oriented. In a translated text which involves this strategy, the original flavor is
preserved as much as possible so as to keep the strangeness and foreignness of the
source text. With the foreignization of language and culture being kept in words
translated in this way, the target language will benefit from the newness of the words
or phrases and customs of the source text.
According to Skopos Theory, domestication is absolutely more favorable than
foreignization in movie title translation practice, since it requires the translator to be
target-text and target-culture oriented. The target receivers are more accustomed to a
movie title which sounds acceptable to them, for it is based on their cultural
expectations, aesthetic values and linguistic preferences. Nevertheless, the global
world is witnessing widespread cultural exchanges and people are no longer
complete strangers in a foreign culture. Foreignization can be used in some cases
when the cultural or linguistic elements in a foreign culture are being gradually
accepted by the target receivers. In this situation, the adoption of the foreignization
strategy is also welcomed by target receivers in order to enrich their language and
cultural experiences. Therefore, in movie title translation, the primary strategy is
domestication with foreignization being the complement.
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5.2.2 Domestication in movie title translation
In cross-cultural communication, on account of linguistic and cultural
differences, there must be discrepancies between an original movie title and its
translated version, since the distinct cultural backgrounds are bound to give rise to
transformation or even loss of part of the original meaning. “The translated text
should be an independent, parallel work of art or a kind of metamorphosis of the
original, able to live on in another culture” (Nord, 2001: 89). The translated title may
deviate from the original to some extent if it perfectly realizes its skopos in the target
culture. The priority of movie title translation should be given to the cultural
elements involved since linguistic equivalence is far from enough to help translators
produce a satisfactory version.
Language used in movie titles is quite instrumental, and while translating
instrumental language, translators are entitled to have a certain degree of freedom to
utilize “adaptive procedures and even substitutions, paraphrases, omissions,
expansions, indeed any change that adds to the comprehensibility and acceptability
of the target text” (Nord, 2001: 120). In the process of translating movie titles, the
“otherness” specific to the source culture might be hard to be accepted by the target
receivers for the time being, and then the strategy of domestication should be
adopted. In the following part, the author is going to summarize the four occasions
where the domestication strategy is more desirable.
First, as the source culture and target culture may have completely different
aesthetic preferences and linguistic traditions, the translator is required to bridge the
differences to facilitate the communication by adopting the domestication strategy.
In Chapter 2, we have reached such a conclusion that Chinese people are
linguistically in the habit of using four-character phrases and the poetic style with
five or seven characters in a single line. Therefore, when English movie titles are
translated into the Chinese culture, translators have to take this factor into
consideration. This can be illustrated by plenty of examples, such as, Shakespeare in
Love (1998) 《莎翁情史》, Speed (1994) 《生死时速》, Eraser (1996)《蒸发密
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令》, Enemy at the Gate (2001)《兵临城下》, Being there (1979)《身临其境》, Always
(1989)《天长地久》, As Good As It Gets (1997) 《尽善尽美》, A Walk in the Clouds
(1995) 《云中漫步》，Cast Away (2000) 《荒岛余生》, Blade (1998) 《刀锋战士》,
Catch Me If You Can (2002) 《猫鼠游戏》, Scent of a Woman (1992)《闻香识女人》,
Ghost (1990)《人鬼情未了》，Mary Poppins (1964)《欢乐满人间》, Reds (1981)
《烽火赤焰万里情》and MASH (1970)《风流医生俏护士》, etc.
Let’s take the movie Ghost as an example. Characters “人” and “鬼” present a
sharp contrast for Chinese audiences, revealing that one of the couple is already dead.
Besides, the three poetic words “情未了” help create a sorrowful atmosphere that the
couple are affectionately missing each other. As a result, the translated movie title
was instantly accepted by Chinese audiences and helped this movie turn out to be a
sensation in 1990. If the title had been literally translated into 《鬼》, probably the
majority of the audience would not have bought
tickets to watch it in the theater
and might have associated the title with a horrible movie, for “鬼” means “devil” in
Chinese. However, in the movie “Ghost” actually refers to an honest young man
murdered by his closest friend. At the end of the movie, the ghost fulfills his wish
and goes to the heaven. Here, the translator uses the strategy of domestication to
make the translated title accord with the aesthetic taste of Chinese audiences.
Second, each culture is characterized by its unique fairy tales, legends and
historical anecdotes. At the beginning stage of cultural exchanges, people’s
knowledge of foreign cultures is comparatively limited, and, therefore, translators
need to resort to the domestication strategy to help people understand those
culturally specific stories. For instance, when the Chinese movie 《梁山伯与祝英
台》was first introduced to some foreign guests in a Chinese theater, the translator
found it extremely difficult to come up with an appropriate English title since
foreigners know nothing about the legend even though it is a very well-known love
story in China. The purpose of introducing this movie to foreigners is to let them get
acquainted with Chinese folk culture but the intended cultural exchange cannot be
realized unless foreigners are attracted by the film title and take interest in watching
it. Later, Premier Zhou Enlai, who companied those foreign guests, put forward a
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Sun Jindan
suggestion that it could be translated as Chinese Romeo and Juliet, which was
understood by the foreign guests instantly. Here, the translated title helps those
foreigners overcome the cultural barrier and successfully fulfills the intended
purpose of cultural exchange.
Another typical example is the movie The Wizard of Oz (1939). The movie was
adapted from a children's book written in 1900 by L. Frank Baum. It is one of the
best-known stories in American popular culture and has become America’s greatest
and best-loved homegrown fairytale. When this movie was first introduced into
China, most Chinese audiences didn’t have any slightest idea about the story told in
this fairytale. If literally translated, probably nobody would like to watch this movie
in the cinema, since “wizard” is always depicted as a gruesome figure in the Chinese
culture. However, the intelligent translator avoided using any title associated with
something disagreeable and he/she created a very poetic translation 《绿野仙综》and
it was instantly accepted by the Chinese audience and the movie has been popular
with the Chinese people of all ages ever since.
Third, English movies are often named after names of people or places, but
Chinese movie titles usually summarize the plot or utilize abstract words. As a result,
the translator has to make great adjustments while dealing with movies titles of this
category. For example, Forrest Gump (1994) is named after the hero of this movie.
The story follows the life of low I.Q. Forrest Gump and his meeting with the love of
his life Jenny. The film chronicles his accidental experiences with some of the most
important people and events in America from the late 1950s through the 1970s
including a meeting with Elvis Presley, JFK, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon,
fighting in Vietnam, etc. “Forrest Gump” is translated into《阿甘正传》in Chinese,
which not only generalizes the story but also sounds quite natural in Chinese culture,
since in the context of Chinese culture, people tend to call a biographical story “正
传”，and call a person by combining “阿” and his or her given name to show
intimacy. “阿甘” is a typical name and always associated with a down-to-earth
person. This title is actually adapted from《阿 Q 正传》, written by the renowned
Chinese writer Lu Xun, and people take interest in this movie since the translated
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title sounds familiar to Chinese audience. Another typical example is the movie Erin
Brockovich (2000), which adopts an ordinary single mother’s name as its title. when
it was introduced into the Chinese market, the translator ignored the original title and
came up with an abstract phrase 《永不妥协》(never give up)as the translated title to
indicate the theme of the movie. People are attracted to watch this movie mostly
because of the positive nature of its title and thus the movie has been well known
since then.
Waterloo Bridge (1940) is a romantic tragedy that happened during the two
world wars and the bridge is merely a place where the lovers met each other and the
heroin eventually committed suicide. If the title is literally translated into 《滑铁卢
桥》，Chinese audience may misunderstand the movie as a historical one concerning
Napoleon since this great emperor was defeated in waterloo. However, this movie
has nothing to do with this historical figure. Translated as 《魂断蓝桥》，this movie
was immediately accepted and loved by the Chinese audience. The title is an
excellent summary of the whole movie, with “魂” and “断” indicating the tragic
ending and “蓝桥”, a legendary place when couples meet and part in China,
revealing the romantic atmosphere of the movie. Moreover, four-letter title is favored
by Chinese audience and conforms to their aesthetic preference. Another typical
example is The Bridges of the Madison County (1995) 《廊桥遗梦》. The original
title is meaningless to people in Chinese culture, and people may associate it with a
documentary concerning certain bridges. The translation is excellently done since it
summarizes the plot and present the tragic atmosphere created in the movie to the
audience.
Forth, Chinese audiences are more willing to accept a movie title which enables
them to make a right judgment about the genre of the movie at the first sight of it,
while English audiences rarely show a preference for movie titles which reveal their
genres. Consequently, the translator has to take the difference into account to
produce more acceptable translations in both cultures. For instance, Home Alone
(1990)is a well-known comic movie in China and the translated title 《小鬼当家》
contributes a lot to its popularity among the Chinese audience. On the contrary,
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another translation 《独自在家》 was gradually fading from people’s memory, since
it indicates nothing about the comic genre of the movie and therefore failed to attract
the interest of the audience. Twins (1988),
Sister Act (1992) and Bean (1997) are
also popular comic movies and their success in China have to be attributed to their
translated titles to some extent, namely, 《龙兄鼠弟》，
《修女也疯狂》 and《酣豆
先生》. A large number of English movies titles are translated in a way that their
genres are clearly presented by the translated ones by the adoption of domestication
strategy. For example, catastrophic movies A Night to Remember (1958) and Alive
(1993)are respectively translated into 《冰海沉船》and《劫后余生》; the romantic
movie You’ve Got Mail (1998) translated to 《 电 子 情 书 》； the thriller The
Professional (1994) translated to 《这个杀手不太冷》； the fantasy movie The
Tracker (2002) translated to 《闪客帝国》；and the horror movie The 6th Sense (1999)
translated to 《阴阳眼》 or《灵异第六感》.
5.2.3 Foreignization in Movie Title Translation
Translation is the communication between different languages and cultures and
acts as the primary means of introducing foreign cultures. While translating a movie
title rich in cultural components, the translator might use the foreignization strategy
to promote cultural exchanges and enrich the target culture. Movie titles in this
group are characterized by their exotic flavor, like 《罗密欧和朱丽叶》，
《泰坦尼克
号》 and Hidden Dragon and Crouching Tiger.
Languages and cultures are open and pervasive and they need to be constantly
utilized and upgraded to keep its dynamics and value. The foreignization strategy
used in movie title translation helps the translated movie titles present their unique
exotic atmosphere to the audience and probably a translated movie title would
penetrate into the target culture along with the spread of the movie. Those movie
titles might sound obscure and hard to be understood at the beginning, however, with
time going on, they just melt into the target culture and become an inseparable part
of it. The Seven Year Itch (1955) is an American movie telling a story about a book
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publisher who has been married for seven years fantasizes about a young model
while his wife and son are on vacation. In the end, this husband gives up his
imagination and made up his mind to join his family on a seaside resort. This movie
was literally translated into 《七年之痒》in Chinese and “七年之痒” , a totally
foreign term, has since then been
gradually accepted by Chinese audiences and has
been widely spread in China after this movie was introduced. It is now a well-known
notion in China which refers to a marital “disease” that strikes many couples who are
unable to reconcile real-life marriage with the romanticized images depicted in
popular culture after some seven or so years in marriage. The marital state of being
fed up with each other is always metaphorically called the “bottleneck” of a marriage.
If no effective measure is taken to tackle the “bottleneck” of the seven year itch, the
marriage ends then. Later, the semantic meaning of this term has been expanded and
used in many cases to indicate that a partnership might turn out to be a mess and out
of control after several years. For example, a book entitled 《七年之痒成难关―职
业 顾 问 帮 你 挠 》 (Seven Year Itch being a Career Crisis-Advice Given by
Professional Consultants) was once a best-seller in Chinese book market. Obviously,
the foreignization strategy does help upgrade and enrich the target language.
5.2.4 Struggle between domestication and foreignization
The struggle between domestication and foreignization is based on the
acceptability of the audience. Currently, it is much easier for audiences to accept
foreign cultures due to more frequent cultural exchanges. Previously, people tended
to approach foreign cultures based on the linguistic and cultural traditions of their
native language but now they are calmly analyzing foreign cultures to broaden their
horizons. For example, the American movie Casablanca (1942)was originally
translated into 《北非谍影》, which is a typical example of employing the translation
strategy of domestication, since it generalizes the plot and accords with Chinese
aesthetic preference. But later, another translation 《卡萨布兰卡》was more widely
accepted. The primary reason for its prevalence is undoubtedly the wide spread of its
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theme song Casablanca. People get familiar with the pronunciation of this word by
being frequently exposed to the music. Here, the cultural exchange in music helps
audiences enhance their ability of accepting foreign languages and cultures.
Therefore, the primary purpose of attracting the audience to see the film is also
fulfilled.
The Chinese movie 《卧虎藏龙》was literally translated into Hidden Dragon
and Crouching Tiger. The translator does know that dragon refers to “a mythical
monster like a giant reptile. In European tradition the dragon is typically
fire-breathing and tends to symbolize chaos or evil” (Pearsall, 2003: 558), while in
Chinese culture dragon represents the supreme power and energy. The word “龙”
(dragon) is so pervasive in Chinese that it is necessary to let foreigners get familiar
with such a unique cultural image. In order to achieve such a skopos, the translator
boldly adopted “dragon” and the translation was accepted by westerners and
meanwhile the unique cultural connotation of the word “dragon” is also perceived by
the western audience after they watch this movie. Here, the cultural exchange turns
out to be a success and indeed a growing number of movie titles are literally
translated for the sake of introducing foreign culture and promoting cultural
exchanges.
Though more attempts are made to adopt foreignization in movie title
translation, the cultural influences are deep-rooted and people always favor their
own cultural traditions. The primary strategy should still be domestication since
profitability is the major skopos in movie producing industry. When the movie The
Cold Mountain (2003) was introduced into China, it was translated into 《冷山》by
adopting the foreignization strategy. However, it didn’t gain the due attention among
Chinese audiences as expected. The movie tells a story happening during the waning
days of American Civil War, in which a wounded soldier embarks on a perilous
journey back home to Cold Mountain to reunite with his lover. The Cold Mountain,
the setting of this movie, is an unfamiliar name of place to most Chinese audiences.
Though the translated title is definitely loyal to the original title, it is somewhat
misleading and audiences are very likely to associate it with a mountainous
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catastrophe or something like that. The Chinese scholars, Zheng Yuqi & Wang
Xiaodong (2006) suggest that the version 《乱世晴天》initiated by a Hong Kong
translator should be more widely accepted, since it excellently summarized the plot,
presenting both the war setting and the romantic genre of the movie to its potential
audiences.
Anyhow, it is necessary to strike a reasonable balance between domestication
and foreignization. If domestication is overused, the linguistic and cultural
uniqueness of the source text is inevitably lost and cultural exchange is negatively
affected. If foreignization is being put too much emphasis on, the target audience
might find it hard to understand the translated version and therefore the box office is
“frustrated”. The primary purpose of introducing a foreign movie is to attract
audiences and a successful translation should perfectly fulfill this purpose. However,
the translation activity is greatly restricted by one of the guiding principles in Skopos
Theory, the Loyalty Principle, which demands that the translated version should not
deviate too much from the source text, that is, the translated title should be closely
related to the story or the theme in the movie.
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Chapter 6 Analysis of some translated movie titles
In this chapter, an analysis will be conducted about movies on the list of the 79th
Annual Oscar Academy Awards. All the winning movies adopt nouns or noun
phrases as their titles and the majority of them have been literally translated into
Chinese, for instance, Letters from Iwo Jima translated into 《硫磺岛来信》and
Happy Feet translated into 《欢乐的大脚》. Our focus in this chapter will fall on the
four out of 14 English movies, namely, The Departed, The Last King of Scotland,
Marie Antoinette and Babel. All of them have more than one translations when they
were first introduced into Chinese market, but with time going on, one version is
gaining the overwhelming popularity and they are respectively translated into 《无间
道风云》,《末代独裁》 ,《绝代艳后》and 《通天塔》.
The 79th Annual Oscar Academy Awards
DIRECTING
The Departed
BEST PICTURE
The Departed
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Last King of Scotland
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
The Queen
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Little Miss Sunshine
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Dreamgirls
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Little Miss Sunshine
FILM EDITING
The Departed
Music (SCORE)
Babel
Music (SONG)
An Inconvenient Truth
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Das Leben der Anderen (Germany)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
An Inconvenient Truth
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT 《颍州的孩子》 (Chinese)
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VISUAL EFFECTS
Pirates of the Caribbean Ⅱ
ART DIRECTION
Pan’s Labyrinth
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Pan's Labyrinth
COSTUME DESIGN
Marie Antoinette
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Departed
ANIMATED FEATURE
Happy Feet
MAKEUP
Pan's Labyrinth
SHORT FILM(ANIMATED)
The Danish Poetet (Germany)
SHORT FILM(LIVE ACTION)
West Bank Story
SOUND EDITING
Letters From Iwo Jima
SOUND MIXING
Dreamgirls
6.1 Case 1 -- The Departed
The Departed revolves around a rivalry between the Massachusetts State Police
and an Irish-American gang. A gangster named Colin is chosen to infiltrate the state
police while a young police officer called William is chosen to infiltrate the gang.
When both sides realize they're being watched by the enemy, both Colin and William
are in danger of being caught and exposed to the enemy and each must race to
uncover the identity of the other man in time to save himself.
This movie is adapted from a Hong Kong produced movie《无间道》(translated
into Infernal Affairs in English). Infernal Affairs trilogy has been a well-known
movie series in China since it was first released in 2002. “无间” is actually derived
from the Buddhism term Avicinar Aka, indicating the worst of the hells. The two
heroes are mentally tortured by their double identities and always in the extreme fear
of being uncovered. Their lives are nightmares and they both seem to be living in a
desperately horrible hell.
When the adapted movie The Departed is introduced into the Chinese market,
everybody is associating it with the Hong Kong movie series Infernal Affairs trilogy.
Translators are no exceptions, coming up with two Chinese versions for the title,
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namely, 《无间道风云》 and 《无间行者》. The principal skopos of introducing this
movie into the Chinese market is to obtain financial profits by attracting as many
audiences as possible. Both of the translated titles are instantly accepted by the
Chinese audience, since on the one hand they are able to understand this title at the
first sight based on their previous experience of watching Infernal Affairs《无间道》,
and on the other hand audiences are curious about the relationship between the two
movies, and probably eager to watch it in the cinema.
The title The Departed is translated into Chinese by adopting the strategy of
domestication. The target culture and target audiences are attached more importance
to in the translation process. However, one of the versions,《无间道风云》, is gaining
more popularity over time while the other 《无间行者》 is gradually losing it appeal.
“风云” refers to “the stormy or unstable situation” in Chinese and is a heated phrase
used in titles for movies or TV series, like 《笑看风云》,《天桥风云》 and《酒店
风云》. “行者” refers to “passerby” in classical Chinese and is rarely used in modern
Chinese. Therefore, the former one《无间道风云》is relatively more comprehensible
to the Chinese audiences.
6.2 Case 2 -- The Last King of Scotland
The movie The Last King of Scotland presents the world of Uganda under the
dictatorship of Idi Amin in 1970s. Because the dictator was once a soldier fighting
for Scotland, he preferred to call himself “the Last King of Scotland”. Some
translators literally turned the title into 《苏格兰最后的国王》in Chinese. However,
this translated version was not appealing to the Chinese audience at all. According to
the aesthetic preference of Chinese people, this version is much too direct and
inappropriate for a movie title. Compared to 《苏格兰最后的国王》, another version
《末代独裁》is an instant success and helps a lot in its promotion in China.
In Chapter 2, we make it clear that the Chinese people have a profound
preference for four-character phrases which are deep in meaning, concise and
symmetry in structure and powerful in feeling and emotion expression. People hold
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that the proper use of four-character phrases helps them produce a more concise and
vivid translation. Besides, the structure of four-character phrases usually forms the
symmetry of syllables, which is viewed by the Chinese people as a superior writing
facility. In 《末代独裁》, “代”(dai) and “裁”(cai) are rhymed, therefore, this
translation reaches a symmetry of rhythm in pronunciation.
In addition, the Chinese audience are quite familiar with the two words “末代”
in this translation, which indicates the last reign of a dynasty. Chinese movies
concerning the last emperor, last queen and last concubine of the emperor of Qing
Dynasty also adopt titles containing “末代”, namely, 《末代皇帝》, 《末代皇后》
and 《末代皇妃》. Of the three, 《末代皇帝》(The Last Emperor) was once a
sensation in global movie industry, winning 9 Oscar Academy Awards in 1988. As a
result, 《末代独裁》is accepted by the Chinese audience with ease, for the translated
title is familiar to the Chinese audience and caters to their taste.
6.3 Case 3 -- Marie Antoinette
The biographic movie Marie Antoinette tells the story of the most
misunderstood and abused woman in history, from her birth in Imperial Austria to
her later life in France. The film focuses on Marie Antoinette, as she matures from a
teenage bride to a young woman and eventual queen of France.
This movie utilizes the name of its leading character as the title, Marie
Antoinette. She is a well-known historical figure in Europe. English movies have the
long tradition of adopting the leading character’s name as its title, no matter whether
he is a “somebody” or “nobody”. Therefore, it is no wonder that this movie is simply
entitled “Marie Antoinette”. When this movie was introduced into the Chinese
market, there exited two versions of the title, namely, 《绝代艳后》 and《玛丽-安
托瓦内特》. In Chapter 2, we arrives at a conclusion that some Chinese movie titles
tend to adopt titles which generalize the plot due to the unique Chinese thought
pattern influenced by collectivism. The title《绝代艳后》enables the audience to get
a general clue of what the movie is mainly concerned with, which the title 《玛丽43
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Sun Jindan
安托瓦内特》 is somewhat meaningless to them. Therefore, the former translation is
more acceptable to the Chinese audience.
On seeing the title of 《绝代艳后》, some audiences may think of another movie
entitled Cleopatra (translated into 《埃及艳后》 in Chinese). They do have
something in common, that both titles are named after the leading character, and that
both their Chinese translations adopt “艳后” to indicate the leading character’s high
social status and unequaled beauty. Cleopatra has been a widespread movie in China
since its release and the similarity between the two movies did play a positive role in
the promotion of Marie Antoinette in China. Besides, the words “绝代” are quite
common in Chinese movie titles, equivalent to “unprecedented” in English, for
instance, 《绝代双骄》and 《风华绝代》. Consequently, the translated title has been
attractive enough to the Chinese audience and also helps a lot in promotion.
6.4 Case 4 -- Babel
The movie title “Babel” is deriving from the biblical story of Babel in the 11th
chapter of Genesis, which illustrates, among other things, the terrible consequences
of unchecked ambition. As a punishment for the attempt of the human race to build a
tower that would reach the heavens, their language was diversified by the God and
they were thus scattered over the face of the earth in a state of confusion — divided,
dislocated and unable to communicate.
The movie tells four distinct stories, and travels from the barren mountains of
Morocco, where the dominant sound is the howling wind, to Japan’s capital, Tokyo,
where the natural world has been almost entirely replaced by a technological
environment, to the anxious border between the United States and Mexico. Each
place has its own aural and visual characteristics. The languages used by the
astonishingly diverse cast include Spanish, Berber, Japanese, sign language and
English. The misunderstandings multiply accordingly, as they are unable to
communicate in a common language.
The movie title is translated into 《火线交错》in Taiwan, 《通天塔》in the
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Sun Jindan
mainland and 《巴别塔》in Hong Kong. The Taiwan translation is conducted by
adopting the strategy of domestication. The four-character title《火线交错》presents
startling tension between the various characters involved. The other two versions,
《通天塔》 and 《巴别塔》, were translated by adopting the foreignization strategy.
Due to the frequent exchanges between the western and Chinese cultures, the
Chinese audiences are already quite familiar with the biblical story mentioned above.
In most literary works, Babel is translated into “通天塔”, since “通天” means “to
reach the heaven”, which is in line with the original story, while “巴别” in “巴别塔”
is a total transliteration, without any specific semantic meaning. Therefore, 《通天
塔》is absolutely superior to 《巴别塔》. From the translation 《火线交错》, the
Chinese audience merely get a perception of tensions of the complicated situation in
this movie, while from the translation of 《通天塔》, the audience may get to know
the theme of this movie, that is, people are estranged from each other due to lack of
mutual understanding.
According to Skopos Theory, the primary skopos of introducing overseas
movies is to attract the attention of prospective audiences, and I think both 《火线交
错》and 《通天塔》may serve this skopos equally well. Translation is also an
intercultural action, which has been specified in chapter 3 and the secondary skopos
of movie importation is to promote cultural exchanges between nations. The term
“通天塔” has existed in the Chinese language for a long time since the Bible was
first translated into Chinese, but it is not an active vocabulary yet, needing to be
further spread among Chinese speakers. Therefore, the translation 《通天塔》is more
desirable here for the purpose of enriching the Chinese language.
6.5 Summary
The above four cases are typical examples of E-C movie title translation. The
primary skopos of translation movie titles is to attract potential foreign audiences,
and therefore to be financially rewarded. The secondary skopos is to promote
cultural exchanges, and thus enrich the target language and culture. All the four
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Sun Jindan
examples specified here have more than one translation when it was released at the
Chinese market, but as time goes on, one version is gaining more popularity. It is
very obvious that the winning titles not only meet the unique taste of Chinese
audiences but also conform to the Chinese cultural context.
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Sun Jindan
Chapter 7 Conclusion
7.1 Summary of the thesis
In this thesis, the author elaborates on the Functionalist Skopos Theory that
emerged in the 1970s in Germany. In Skopos Theory, the translation is a purposeful
action guided by four principles, namely, the Skopos rule, the Coherence rule, the
Fidelity rule plus the Loyalty principle. Most important of all, the translation is an
intercultural action and it must be conducted in cultural contexts. Unlike traditional
translation theories, Skopos Theory doesn’t give priority to the coherence between
the source and target texts; instead, the intertextual coherence is subordinate to
intratextual coherence and both are subject to the Skopos rule. Translators have the
freedom to choose the most appropriate translation strategy to fulfill the intended
purposes of the target text, but they are not totally free. They are restricted by the
Loyalty principle. The criterion of translation in this theory is adequacy rather than
the traditional equivalence in form.
This theory proves to be perfectly applicable to the translation of movie titles,
since the movie title translation is both purposeful and intercultural. The primary
purpose of movie title translation is to attract the prospective audiences and the
secondary purpose is to promote cultural exchanges. In order to make the translated
title appealing to the audience in the target culture, translators need to have a
thorough understanding of both the similarities and differences between English and
Chinese movie titles. A comparison between the two has been conducted from both
linguistic and cultural perspectives in Chapter 4 to facilitate the subsequent
discussion in Chapter 5 & 6, which is concerned with the application of Skopos
Theory to the movie title translation. In Chapter 5, the author focuses on how to
adopt the two translation strategies, domestication and foreignization, in movie title
translation and comes to the conclusion that domestication should be the leading
strategy in movie title translation since profitability is the major skopos in movie
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Sun Jindan
producing industry. It is also pointed out in this chapter that the complementary
foreignization strategy should not be totally neglected since it does play a crucial
role in promoting cultural exchanges between nations. The case studies in Chapter 6
are conducted to explain why one of the several versions of the same title turns out
to be more widely accepted than the others. The principal reason is that the most
popular translated title not only meets the linguistic and aesthetic preference of the
target audience but also conforms to the target culture. Besides, its translator has
excellently balanced his or her loyalty to the target audience and the initiator with his
or her loyalty to the original title producer and well coordinates the impacts of both
source culture and target culture on translation.
7.2 Limitation of the thesis and suggestion for future study
Though a theoretical framework has been suggested for the movie title
translation, this study is limited in terms of research depth and width. As far as data
analysis process is concerned, the author mainly employs the analysis method and
may have more or less imposed her personal judgments on the effectiveness of
certain translated titles. There is no doubt that readers may have different evaluations
of some of them. Due to limited time and energy, the author was unable to conduct a
survey on the effectiveness of the versions discussed in the thesis.
As has been stated in the first chapter that there is a numeral imbalance between
English and Chinese movies and the focus of this thesis is mainly on E-C translation.
However, with the development of China’s movie industry, a growing number of
Chinese movies are exported overseas and it is quite necessary to conduct a systemic
study of the English translations of Chinese movie titles.
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