On the Translation of Oscar Best Films’ Titles 关于奥斯卡最佳影片奖片名的翻译.doc

On the Translation of Oscar Best Films’ Titles 关于奥斯卡最佳影片奖片名的翻译 【Abstract】Foreign films, which embody various kinds of foreign cultural elements, make possible cultural exchange via the visual language. Film title invariably brings out the theme of the film and usually conjures up a specific image pertaining to the film and leaves a first impression on the audience. This thesis attempts to present a tentative panorama of the translation of titles of Oscar Best Picture winners by analyzing the possibilities and limitations of film title translation, as well as the translation methods adopted, such as semantic translation communicative translation and transliteration, the underlying translation principles and the effects achieved. The translation of titles of Oscar Best Picture winners, which is most typical of title translation of English films, may be supposed to shed a flood of light on the issue of film title translation. However, this thesis aims to be provocative rather than prescriptive and by no means to set rigid and solid standards exclusive with film title translation. Hence, film title translation is observed and examined from such perspectives as translation adequacy, intertextual translation and translator’s visibility. It is claimed that, from some perspective, film title translation quality may be in direct and perfect proportion to the visibility of the translator. 【Key Words】Film Titles; Translation Adequacy; Intertextual Translation; Translation Quality; Translator’s Visibility??? I. Introduction Foreign films are, in a way, a form of cultural exchange via the visual language. However, the film dialogues in the source language seem to cause an insurmountable hindrance to the target audience’s understanding of the film. This makes either dubbing or subtitling necessary to ensure full understanding on the part of the target audience. However, the translation of film titles is a peculiar part of film translation. Film title shows the important touch