Public-oriented Translation Of Film Reviews

Translation study report is the result of an MTI candidate’s understanding oftranslation theories and techniques based on his/her translation practice. This report isbased on translations of English reviews of Chinese films. As an important publicmedia integrating audio-visual effects, the film plays an important intermediary role.Although it is in the world of professional translations, the film translation isdistinctly for the public. Therefore, it should be done with flexible choices oftranslation strategies. For example, sometimes translators should apply translationvariations instead of complete translation to enhance the readability of the text.Domestic film translators tend to focus on the translations of subtitles, scripts and filmtitles but often ignore the translations of film reviews. I selected Crouching TigerHidden Dragon (2000), Hero (2002), The Promise (2005) and The Flowers of War(2011)---four films which all aimed at the international market and translated a lotEnglish reviews of them, based on which I finished the translation study report whichcombines translation theories and case analysis.In this report, the translated source texts include American critics’ reviewsselected from American newspapers and magazines such as Cinema，Hollywood，NewYork Times and viewers’ reviews selected from IMDb which brings together reviewsfrom people in different countries. This report is divided into five parts. The first partbriefly sets forth the task and introduces the topic selection background andsignificance, the nature and characteristics of the task. The second part describes theprocess of completing the task including the preparation, the translation andproofreading. The third part is a review of the theories applied in the film reviewstranslation and mainly provides the information of K. Reiss’s translation theory andthe types of film reviews. The forth part analyzes the application of translation strategies and techniques with fourteen examples analysis from different perspectivessuch as title translation, long sentence translation and translation for the public. Thelast part summarizes my experience and lessons learned in the research.