Application of the Functionalist Approach to the English Film Title Translation 英语专业毕业论文.docx

Abstract The film, a particular art with both artistic and commercial values, is one of the most influential mass media with large quantities of English films being introduced into China. The film title, as an important part of the film, is of referential, expressive and appellative functions and its translation is a challenging job. Although film translation has been developing quickly in the past two or three decades, film title translation is a far less explored field. Up till now, no systematic and feasible theory on English film title translation has been put forward. Actually, film title translation is very problematic in that it is in a state of disunity. From the aspects of the functions and skopos of film titles, the author makes an analysis of the translation of film titles. Skopos theory, a newly developed theory, is adopted as the theoretical background of this thesis and an audience-oriented film title translation approach is highly advocated. Functionalism sheds new lights on the translation field. It reflects a shift from traditional linguistic and formal translation theories to a more functionally and socio-culturally oriented concept of translation. As a kernel of functionalism, Skopos theory holds that translation is an intentional action, and the skopos is the prime principle to determine the overall translational action. According to Skopos theory, one of the most important factors determines the purpose of a translation is the target receivers with their culture-specific backgrounds, their expectations and communicative needs. Moreover, functionalism gives the translator much more freedom than ever. The translator is encouraged to make good use of the source information and enjoys the freedom of choosing what strategy to achieve the expected functions of the translation. In this paper, the author applies the functionalist approaches to explain the phenomena of film title translation. The paper makes an intensive and comprehensive study of the t