A Study Of Domestication And Foreignization In Film Title Translation From The Perspective Of Memetics

With the development of cultural communication and the prosperity of film industry both at home and abroad, an increasing number of scholars and researchers have been paying great attention to film title translation. Film titles carry a great weight in drawing the audiences’ attention, playing a decisive role in film promotion. Therefore, the quality of the translation version of a film title would be of the same significance. The ideal translation versions of film titles should be such ones which could not only keep their particularly exotic flavor but also meet the aesthetic demands and cultural needs of the target audiences.In this research, these translation versions of film titles are chosen as research objectives to be analyzed with memetics to work at explaining the application of foreignization and domestication in film title translation.Based on memetic theory, the present study is a qualitative research in which a relatively overall analysis on translation versions of both Chinese and English film titles is carried out. During the research, the specific effect of Memetics on domestication and foreignization in film title translation would be explored and the factors which influence the choice of domestication or foreignization would be presented from the perspective of memetics as well.It is found that memetics as a theory is forceful and convictive to analyze foreignization and domestication in film title translation. Translation could be essentially viewed as a cross-language and cross-culture communicative activity Given that meme is the very unit of replication and transmission of cultural information, the process of translating is that of meme spreading.In the process of translation, domestication and foreignization are frequently utilized to solve cultural clashes between source language and target language. If the translation versions of film titles are translated ingeniously or expressed through the existing memes in target language, they would be more likely to get themselves spread and become part of the target culture. Such translation versions, from the perspective of source meme, are the quintessence of domesticating translation. If the translation versions of film titles are translated by adopting foreignization strategy, they just like fresh flood pouring into the meme pool of target culture, which could accelerate the development of target memes.The present research, to a certain degree, demonstrate that memetics as a relatively new theory though could be applied in translation fields. The findings of this study would be of a certain significance in their translating practice for the translators. Moreover, as to English teachers and learners, this study would be also helpful if films are adopted as teaching materials.