Study On English Film Title Translation From The Perspective Of Functional Translation Theory

As the most popular genre of art,films always serve as an important medium for communication among various cultures in today's society.At present,as regards film title translation and its related studies,the traditional equivalence of translation cannot unfetter film titles from the "equivalence",and they also cannot give a reason why some film titles were translated without complying with the standard of equivalence theories but became great success proved by the reality.This paper argues that translation methods must start from the goal of the original,fully understanding what the original film title is made for.Secondly,people must begin with the cultural background of the target language to find out an accurate carrier of target language with profound meanings.At last,people must properly respect the previous translation traditions of films with same genres and types,and look for the so-called best ways with accurate expression and implied meanings.For this purpose,this paper introduces the functional translation theory with Skopostheorie as its core.It smashes the shackles of the equivalence-based translation theory and proposes that translation behavior is a complex intercultural communication activity in a special environment for specific purposes.What's more,it emphasizes that translation strategies and methods must be determined by the intended purpose as well as function of the translated text.With the frame of functionalist theory of translation throughout this paper,the author analyzes its main theory features and applies its essence into the translation of English film titles.Moreover,in order to promote the development of today's English film title translation,the author endeavors to explore and summarize practical as well as effective translation strategies by the specific analysis of translation examples.At the same time,this paper also proves that the functionalist theory plays an important role in directing the practice of English film title translation.The core of this study includes two parts.One is to summarize the translated versions of English film titles as well as the development status of the functionalist theory at home and abroad,unscramble the basic components of the theory,analyze the extended connotation of "skopos" and "loyalty" with Skopostheorie and Nord's function plus loyalty theory as the main research method,and form the theoretical basis for the translation of English film titles.The other is to organize the Internet Movie Database(IMDB)from translation strategies for English film titles based on the Skopostheorie and the Nord's function plus loyalty theory,and draw the inspiration of the function translation theory to English film title translation.