Analysis On Chinese Translation Of English Movie Titles Based On The Non-linguistic Contextual Adaptation

With the development of cultural communication, more and more English movies are introduced to China and appear in the life of Chinese people. Movie title is the label of a movie. Although there are limited words in a movie title, the function of it is strong. A good movie title can impress audiences deeply and attract them to see this movie. Because of differences in language and culture, a good translated English movie title is essential for an English movie to attract Chinese audiences and it is also the key step for this English movie to be accepted and loved by Chinese audiences. The translated movie titles should realize different functions in information, culture, aesthetic, and commerce. Chinese translation of English movie titles is an important part of translation practice.Theory of adaptation was put forward by Verschueren. According to this theory, language use is a process of making linguistic choices. Because of variability, negotiability and adaptability of language, language users can make proper choices in language use. Theory of adaptation provides a new perspective for the study of translation. Contextual adaptation is an important part of the theory of adaptation, which means that in the use of language, making linguistic choices must adapt to context. Context is divided into communicative context and linguistic context. Communicative context can be seen as non-linguistic context including language users, physical world, social world, and psychological world. Chinese translation of English movie titles is an activity for certain communicative purpose and it is a process of making linguistic choices. Because of the characteristics and functions of movie titles, translation of movie titles is more influenced by non-linguistic contextual elements.This thesis analyzes Chinese translation of English movie titles based on non-linguistic contextual adaptation. In the thesis, there are many practical examples and data from questionnaire. Based on the affirmation and reinforcement of translation criteria and principles, starting with characteristics and functions of movie titles as well as the necessity of translating English movie titles, the thesis indicates several main non-linguistic contextual elements:psychology of Chinese audiences, culture, and the themes or content of movies, and carefully analyzes the adaptation to these elements so as to point out how to realize the adaptation effectively.