On E-C Translation Of Film Title

With the success of China's Reform and Opening up Policy and the strengthened economic and cultural communication between China and English-speaking countries, recent years have seen a large flow of English films into Chinese film market. English films are being continuously translated to meet Chinese audience's growing needs, and English film titles, in particular, are being translated into varied versions in Chinese film market.Thanks to the flourishing title translation market, The study of English film title translation is now receiving comparatively more concerns, providing methods rendering English film titles into Chinese based on different translation theories. However, most of the former study is focused merely on English film title, with few in-depth comparisons or study on the differences between Chinese and English film title, which not only lost the opportunity to make the best use of China's own language advantage, but also set the English-Chinese film title translation on a passive position. Based on Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory and New Mark's Communicative Theory, the present author focuses mainly on the comparison between Chinese and English film title, particularly the linguistic and cultural differences which stand as the strongest obstacle in translation, and then provides ways to tackle these differences with the objective of taking the maximum advantage of Chinese language.The first part is the introductory information about the history and present situation of E-C film title translation, as well as purpose of the present study. Chapter One does a general survey on film titles, e.g. film genres, naming approaches and functions of film title, with a brief comparison between English and Chinese film title where necessary. Basing on Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory and New Mark's Communicative Theory, Chapter Two makes a comprehensive comparison between English and Chinese film title, particularly the linguistic and cultural differences and further illustrates the importance of taking advantage of Chinese language. Chapter Three provides the main translation methods applied in E-C film title translation, and then supplies methods to tackle these differences by making the best use of China's own language advantage. Unlike former studies, the present paper analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of different translation methods for tackling differences between Chinese and English film titles, and provides suggestions on the application of these approaches in different occasions. To achieve this goal, it points out the request for translators in future translation. In the last part, this paper reaffirms that effective E-C film title translation should be based on the in-depth understanding of their differences and appropriate application of different translation methods in different occasions. Finally, the author makes a brief suggestion on the tendency of E-C film title translation, with the purpose to serve as a topic for people's further study in the future.