The Application Of Skopostheorie To English Film Title Translation

Skopostheorie, put forward by Hans Vermeer, is the core of the functionalist translation theory. Compared with the previous translation theories, it has a series of breakthroughs. It does not focus on translation at the linguistic level only, but also emphasizes the roles of the translator and culture in translation."The end justifies the means"is its most distinctive feature, which allows much room for the translator in the use of a satisfactory method.Usually short as they are, film titles have a considerable influence on box-offices. However, film title translation does not arouse much attention in China. Among numerous translation theories, Skopostheorie is one appropriate for film title translation, because the translator, guided by the theory, can have enough room for creation. In fact, the translation of quite a lot of film titles, esp. the Chinese translation of English titles, does require that the translator should have some creativeness. Generally, the main purpose for a film title translator is to draw the audience into the cinema. This thesis mainly classifies film title translation into total and partial metaphrase and re-creation and tries to probe into different methods for different title types in terms of Skopostheorie as the guidance.The thesis first introduces some background information, the significance of the study, the organization of the thesis and the present situation on the topic. In Chapter Three, the thesis introduces the background, theoretical foundation and concept of Skopostheorie and analyzes the relationships between the three rules particularly. Understanding the relationships is significant in defining the Skopos of the target text (TT) to translate well. Chapters Four is an overview of English film titles. Chapter Five analyzes the Skopos of film title translation, i.e. emphasizing its imperative function for intratextual coherence and explains strategies for different titles. In Chapter Six, the thesis compares different translations of some English film titles in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and points out the good and random translations as well as mistranslations among them. Some inevitable linguistic and aesthetic loss in translation is illustrated. Chapter Seven selects some criticisms of the theory and discusses their relations with film title translation. It also adds loyalty, which we should consider first in translation, as an important complement to Skopostheorie.The conclusion is that Skopostheorie can play an effective role in guiding the translator in film title translation if he, restricted by loyalty, makes the Skopos of the TT clear despite its imperfections like other translation theories.