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【Abstract】The film is a popular art of entertainment and adds fun to people’s lives. Films become a common way for people to have recreation and entertainment. In recent years， a large number of English films have come into Chinese market， which has been popular with the public. Meanwhile， the translation of English film titles has become an important step. A good film title can catch the attention of the whole audience and plays an important role in opening up the foreign markets. It has a significant impact on the creation of a new box office record at the same time. Good film titles translation can attract the audience’s interest better and also can make the film’s content better reflected.
【Key words】film title translation； translation strategies； translation theory
1. A Profile of English Film Title
The film title， like the title to a literary text， provides the most important information for the audience. Therefore， the translation of film titles has become an indispensable part of film translation. A good translation of a film title can catch the audience’s attention and excite their interest.
1.1 Genre of Film
In film theory， “genre” refers to the primary method of film categorization based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed. There are so many types of films as well as literary genres. Just like various literary genres， films usually fall into three different groups， namely documentary， science and educational film and feature film.
1.2 Definition of film titles
The title， according to The Complete Film Dictionary， means any words that appear on the screen not as part of the scene but as a means of conveying information to the audience. The film title is generally a summary of the content of the film or the embodiment of the idea of the whole film.
1.3 Sources of film titles
The film titles usually summarize the main idea of the films. If the translator wants to master the full meaning of the original title and translates the film titles correctly， he needs to find out the source of the film titles at first. That means he needs to know how a film is named.
1.3.1 Indication of the Subject
The subject here refers to the hero or the heroine of the film. More often than not， the screenwriters either adopt the names of the main characters as the film titles. Here are some examples of this type of source： Romeo and Juliet《羅密欧与茱丽叶》， Spiderman《蜘蛛侠》 1.3.2 The Indication of the Background
The background， which plays a very important role in developing the plot， conveying the theme and portraying the characters. It also serves as one of the chief sources for naming a film. This type of source provides the audience with some basic background information of the film. Following are some examples of this type of source： Philadelphia《费城故事》， The Longest Day《最长的一天》
1.3.3 The Indication of the Plot
It’s the most common type of film titles. The title always provides a summary of the movie plot， or the content of the film. Following is an examples of this type of source： Around the World in 80 days《環游世界80天》
1.3.4 The Indication of the Theme
Some of the film titles convey the themes of the films. Such titles are abstract， but contain much more symbolized meanings than the other types. There is no doubt that they are very lingering， profound and far-reaching in mood. Following are some examples of this type of source： Pride and Prejudice《傲慢与偏见》， Brave Heart《勇敢的心》
1.4 Features of English film titles
1.4.1 Reflection the western culture and the way of thinking
In western countries， because of its relatively short history and rarely forming an unified country， they have not formed the widely acceptable mainstream culture. So the culture and the way of thinking are relatively dispersed. Therefore， the Western way of thinking is largely focused on the rules and characteristics of some appearance， such as BATMAN，SPIDERMAN.
1.4.2 More randomicity
The second feature of English film titles is that the structure is more casual. English film titles can be a person’s name， a sentence and also can be a letter or a word such as X and Avatar.
1.5 Functions of Film Titles
Film titles are an important and inseparable part of films. A good film title will give the audience a good first impression. Film titles usually have four principal functions， namely， informative， expressive， aesthetic as well as vocative functions.
2. Methods of Film Title Translation
2.1 Literal Translation
Literal translation strives to reproduce both form and content of the original according to the respective characteristics of English and Chinese and retains as much as possible the figures of speech. Literal translation is possible in many cases， as long as there is a ready-made corresponding value in the target language which can be directly translated. It should be said that a lot of the translation of the film titles fits the requirement. Such as《星球大战》（Star Wars），《超人》（Superman），《罗马假日》（Roman Holiday）. 2.2 Liberal Translation
Liberal translation is used because of the language difference. When there are contradictions between the ideological contents and the expression of original translation， we can’t fully reproduce the style of surface forms in order to keep the original content. Chen Hongwei defined free translation of words： the translator in the limitations of social and cultural differences had to abandon the original literal meaning in order to make the content of the original text and the translated text and the main language functions similar. According to the contents of the film， the translator should grasp the meaning of the original and abandon the form of the original. The difference between free translation and literal translation is mainly reflected in the expression form. Here are some examples： French Kiss 《情定巴黎》， Music of the Heart 《弦動我心》，The Fugitive 《亡命天涯》.
2.3 Complementary Translation
On the basis of literal translation or liberal translation，the complementary translation adds the film titles and makes the content and form of the film titles fit the expectation of audience according to the content of the films. Such as Terminator 《魔鬼终结者》， The Piano 《钢琴课》， Sand and Blood《碧血黄沙》.
2.4 Foreignizing Translation
Application of foreignizing translation of film titles refers to the Chinese translation retaining the characteristics of language and culture in English. Strangeness and the sense of alienation can enhance the consciousness of cultural differences of the audience and make the audience feel the foreign flavor. Here are some examples： God Father《教父》，The Seven Year Itch《七年之痒》.
Conclusion： As a way to relax in our daily life， films become more and more important. This puts forward a responsibility to film titles translators to have different methods of translating the English film titles well and make translated titles catch more audience’s interests.
Based on some translation strategies as well as different translation examples， hopefully this paper can be of help to the improvement of quality and efficiency in the translating practice of English film titles.
References：
[1]陈宏薇.汉英翻译基础[M].上海外语教育出版社，1998.
[2]张朝丽，徐美恒.中外电影文化[M].天津大学出版社，2003.
【Key words】film title translation； translation strategies； translation theory
1. A Profile of English Film Title
The film title， like the title to a literary text， provides the most important information for the audience. Therefore， the translation of film titles has become an indispensable part of film translation. A good translation of a film title can catch the audience’s attention and excite their interest.
1.1 Genre of Film
In film theory， “genre” refers to the primary method of film categorization based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed. There are so many types of films as well as literary genres. Just like various literary genres， films usually fall into three different groups， namely documentary， science and educational film and feature film.
1.2 Definition of film titles
The title， according to The Complete Film Dictionary， means any words that appear on the screen not as part of the scene but as a means of conveying information to the audience. The film title is generally a summary of the content of the film or the embodiment of the idea of the whole film.
1.3 Sources of film titles
The film titles usually summarize the main idea of the films. If the translator wants to master the full meaning of the original title and translates the film titles correctly， he needs to find out the source of the film titles at first. That means he needs to know how a film is named.
1.3.1 Indication of the Subject
The subject here refers to the hero or the heroine of the film. More often than not， the screenwriters either adopt the names of the main characters as the film titles. Here are some examples of this type of source： Romeo and Juliet《羅密欧与茱丽叶》， Spiderman《蜘蛛侠》 1.3.2 The Indication of the Background
The background， which plays a very important role in developing the plot， conveying the theme and portraying the characters. It also serves as one of the chief sources for naming a film. This type of source provides the audience with some basic background information of the film. Following are some examples of this type of source： Philadelphia《费城故事》， The Longest Day《最长的一天》
1.3.3 The Indication of the Plot
It’s the most common type of film titles. The title always provides a summary of the movie plot， or the content of the film. Following is an examples of this type of source： Around the World in 80 days《環游世界80天》
1.3.4 The Indication of the Theme
Some of the film titles convey the themes of the films. Such titles are abstract， but contain much more symbolized meanings than the other types. There is no doubt that they are very lingering， profound and far-reaching in mood. Following are some examples of this type of source： Pride and Prejudice《傲慢与偏见》， Brave Heart《勇敢的心》
1.4 Features of English film titles
1.4.1 Reflection the western culture and the way of thinking
In western countries， because of its relatively short history and rarely forming an unified country， they have not formed the widely acceptable mainstream culture. So the culture and the way of thinking are relatively dispersed. Therefore， the Western way of thinking is largely focused on the rules and characteristics of some appearance， such as BATMAN，SPIDERMAN.
1.4.2 More randomicity
The second feature of English film titles is that the structure is more casual. English film titles can be a person’s name， a sentence and also can be a letter or a word such as X and Avatar.
1.5 Functions of Film Titles
Film titles are an important and inseparable part of films. A good film title will give the audience a good first impression. Film titles usually have four principal functions， namely， informative， expressive， aesthetic as well as vocative functions.
2. Methods of Film Title Translation
2.1 Literal Translation
Literal translation strives to reproduce both form and content of the original according to the respective characteristics of English and Chinese and retains as much as possible the figures of speech. Literal translation is possible in many cases， as long as there is a ready-made corresponding value in the target language which can be directly translated. It should be said that a lot of the translation of the film titles fits the requirement. Such as《星球大战》（Star Wars），《超人》（Superman），《罗马假日》（Roman Holiday）. 2.2 Liberal Translation
Liberal translation is used because of the language difference. When there are contradictions between the ideological contents and the expression of original translation， we can’t fully reproduce the style of surface forms in order to keep the original content. Chen Hongwei defined free translation of words： the translator in the limitations of social and cultural differences had to abandon the original literal meaning in order to make the content of the original text and the translated text and the main language functions similar. According to the contents of the film， the translator should grasp the meaning of the original and abandon the form of the original. The difference between free translation and literal translation is mainly reflected in the expression form. Here are some examples： French Kiss 《情定巴黎》， Music of the Heart 《弦動我心》，The Fugitive 《亡命天涯》.
2.3 Complementary Translation
On the basis of literal translation or liberal translation，the complementary translation adds the film titles and makes the content and form of the film titles fit the expectation of audience according to the content of the films. Such as Terminator 《魔鬼终结者》， The Piano 《钢琴课》， Sand and Blood《碧血黄沙》.
2.4 Foreignizing Translation
Application of foreignizing translation of film titles refers to the Chinese translation retaining the characteristics of language and culture in English. Strangeness and the sense of alienation can enhance the consciousness of cultural differences of the audience and make the audience feel the foreign flavor. Here are some examples： God Father《教父》，The Seven Year Itch《七年之痒》.
Conclusion： As a way to relax in our daily life， films become more and more important. This puts forward a responsibility to film titles translators to have different methods of translating the English film titles well and make translated titles catch more audience’s interests.
Based on some translation strategies as well as different translation examples， hopefully this paper can be of help to the improvement of quality and efficiency in the translating practice of English film titles.
References：
[1]陈宏薇.汉英翻译基础[M].上海外语教育出版社，1998.
[2]张朝丽，徐美恒.中外电影文化[M].天津大学出版社，2003.