DiscussionofTran_省略_fReceptionTheory_刘健.docx

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1、本栏目责任编辑 :梁书 69 ISSN 1009-5039 Overseas np/s/?圓 IB 圜圖 收稿日期 ： 2016-04-04 修回日期 ： 2 16 05 04 作者简介：刘健 （ 1988 )， 女，江苏南京人，助教，硕士研究生，主要研究方向为翻译与跨文化 zwwhCgo littp:/ Tel：+86-551-65690811 65690812 Discussion of Translation from English Film Titles into Chinese from the Perspective of Reception Theory LIUjian (J

2、iangsu Maritime Iristitutf, Nanjing 211KX), (hina) Abstract: Reception tlieoi a newly developed discipline, is an audience-oriented film title translation approach. According to Reception Aesthetics, the liistorical life of a literary work is untliiiikable without the active participation of the rea

3、ders. With tlie reception theory as tlie theoretical background, it will pilot the basic points of the translation of film titles, namely, informative value，cultoal value, aesthetic value, and conmiercial value, witli tlie five pra more, it also takes the factor of intercultural factors into conside

4、ration when discussing tliis topic. Key words: translation of English film titles; the functions of film titles; reception theorT； translation methods; intercultural studies 中图分类号 :H315.9 文献标识码 :A 文章编号： 1009-5039(2016)11-0169-041 Introduction As a popular entertainment form, films play a veiy import

5、ant role in our daily life. Meanwhile, films are also commercial products and as such the IJOX office can Ijy no means neglected. As the veiy first thing to attract the audience ? s attention, the title contributes significantly to a film ? s popularity. Accordingly, for a foreign film, the translat

6、ion of the title is of great importance. It is ex- pectecl to have not only infonnative and commercial values but also an aesthetic value, because it is also a translation of a short literaiy work or a social fonn of art. As the aesthetic sulDject, the audiences have their own tastes and criteria. W

7、hether a translated work can arouse the audience5 s empathy decides the extent of their reception and appreciation; thus the aesthetic element is indispensable in translation. Taking the audience or readers into account, re- ception theoiy should be applied to translation practice, and film title tr

8、anslation is no exception. This essay will discuss translation from English film titles into Chinese based on reception theoiy and then explore different translation methods and devices which are audience-oriented but without losing the aesthetic value. 2 Reception Theory and Its Value for Film Titl

9、e Translation 2.1 Reception theory To begin with, tlie relationship between work and its audience is examined by Jauss and he emphasized the importance of the target readers? active participation, without which the life of a literary work is not complete, and its aesthetic value cannot be fulfilled

10、to the full. As for this active participation, Gadamer stated that the constant fore-project and revision contribute to the audience? s understanding and reception. They can also impact the historical lifeof a literaiy work and the realization of its aesthetic value. As for this iore-project, which

11、can also be called the horizon of expectation, Gadamer put lonvard the fusion of present and historical horizons Hence the horizon of the present cannot be loraied without the past. There is no more an isolated horizon of the present than there are historical horizons， (273). Accordingly, there are

12、two fonns of reception, i.e. synchronic/liorizontal reception and dia- chronic/vertical reception. Synchronically, when reading a work, the readers would relate it to and compare it with the works they have already read. The in- teipretative reception of a same work is subjective and could be quite

13、different according to different readers. Diaehronically, when reading the same work, clue to historical and cultural factors, readers of different times could have different understandings and interpretations. Therefore, the aesthetic value of a literaiy work can be made evident due to the perepect

14、ive of the past, the standpoint of the present, and the veixlict of ages5 (Jauss, 30). Also, the historical life of a literaiy work can be completed when diachrony and synchrony intersect. 2.2 Application of reception theory in translation When it conies to translation, it is reasonable to say that

15、the great value of reception theoiy for translation is its shift to the receptors. Nicla pointed out the shift of translation focus that the older focus was the form of the message and translators was proud of reproducing stylistic specialties while the new focus has shifted to the response of the r

16、eceptor (kNew Concept， . 1). As for how to tackle with this shift Nida gave guidance in respect of language in a broad sense: %To communicate effectively one must respect the genius of each language. Rather than bemoan the lack of some feature in a language, one must respect the features of the rece

17、ptor lan- guage and exploit the potentialities of the language to the greatestOverseas English m + 英请 2016 年 6 月 no 本栏 R 责任编辑 :梁书 possible extent（ 4). To sum up, since reception theoiy provides us a new perspective of the relationship between literaiy works and readers (in the translation ol film ti

18、tles the literaiy works are the translated titles), when translating English film titles into Chinese, the translators are expected to take the potential audience into consideration, including their expectations, receptivit, as well as the characteristic of the target language. Besides these, before

19、 translatin ;, it is necessaiy for the translators to explore the special functions and general features of film titles. 2.3 The functions of film titles The translation of titles is a special work which is veiy different from translating other works, for example, it is veiy short and gives the tran

20、slators great flexibility to translate or even completely re-write the original titles into another language with limited words but adequate infonnation. The translated work should not only in- fonn the audience but also l)e appreciated. For this reason the sjx1- cific functions of film titles could

21、 not be ignored. Tlie first one is being inloiTnative. It is a basic requirement for translators to take the audience 8 understanding into account. Tlie second one is the expressive factor, because people must understand what is said. Fur- themiore, according to Nida, Language i_s not restricted to

22、mere informative and expressive functions; it must also be clearly impera- tive .， (The Nature， , 26). Lastly, the aesthetic function can not be ignored for the translation of a film title is also a short literaiy work or a special form of art- The first one concerns the audience s reception and und

23、erstanding while the last three ones are important elements concerning whether the receptors could appreciate the translation work. 3 Translation of English Film Titles And Case Studies 3.1 Common methods in English film translation To realize the informative, expressive, imperative and aesthetic fu

24、nctions of film titles, especially the last three ones, some rhetoric devices can IDC adopted in the naming of titles, e.g. simile, meta- phor, oxymoron, contrast, irony, repetition, alliteration, idioms and allusions, etc. These rhetoric devices also fonn the features of film titles. Cases in xint

25、are The Big Blue (metaphor). The Great Lie (irony). Sense and Sensibility (alliteration). Stilt of Earth (allusions), and so on. The translated Chinese examples are真实白勺谎目 (oxymoron) lies),乱点鸾鸯谱 (ail allusion which basically means “matching wrong couples，） 旧 宠 新 欢 (con- trast) Old Wives for New etc.

26、In smnmaiy, rhetoric devices are Irequeritly used in film titles due to their various functions. Wlien performing translation work, in order to make the titles not only informative but also expressive, imperative and have aesthetic value, the translators are expected to render the rhetoric devices n

27、ot in a mechanical way, but flexibly and projerly. Tlius the audience can accept the translated titles and at the same time appreciate them. Therefore, in the process of translation, translators should bear in mind the reception theoiy as well as the functions and features of film titles. 3.2 The hi

28、storical life of a translation work Take the title translation of the film L/on as an example. When it was to screen in the US, it was known as The Professional. Both English versions indicate the hero of this film: one is his name while the other reveals his identity. However, the popular Chinese v

29、ersions oi tlie title seem to be more interesting except ior an ordinary one named杀手里昂 blending the methods oi literal translation and transliteration. It just means the killer Leon， This version is acceptable, because it transfers the information contained in the original English one(s). But admitt

30、edly, it is not so expressive or imperative that it can hardly attract the audience? s attention. Another version is终极追杀令 “ which means the final circular order for the arrest of a crimirial. Certainly; this one is by far more eye-catchy than the lirst one. It has nothing to do with the original Eng

31、lish version(s) by adopting the adaptation method. It informs the audience of the stoiy and at the same time creates a nervous atmosphere by tellino; the audience that it would be an appealing action-adventure film. This can evoke expectations of the audience. However, this is not the most popular o

32、ne yet. With the passage of time, twenty three years to date, the survivecr translated Chinese version of Leon or The Projessionnl that is still applauded by the au- dience of the target language is这 1、杀手不太冷 .It is a successful translation firstly because it indicates not only the story of the film

33、which is about a killer, but also the characteristic of the hero. It means the killer is not that cold-blooded!， , which appeals to the audience at first sight, for in people5 s thinking, a killer is rather cold and apathy )3ut this one differentiates from others. It provokes feelings of contradicti

34、on and curiosity, thus attracting the au- (lience to it. Last but not least, using 不太冷 has become a xpular practice to invoke a contradictoiy effect. People use it in daily life frequently even have not watched the film. It is often used as the titles of articles, e.g. 这 1、冬天不太冷 （ which meaiis this

35、winter is not that cold- and the connotative meanings could IDC different and profound regarding the environmental problems of global warming or the love of society that wanns people living in X)verty etc.). That is to say, people still appreciate it and imitate it. As to the historical life of a li

36、teraiy work, Jauss argued that A literaiy event can continue to have an effect only if those who come after it still or once again respond to it if there are readers who again appropriate the past work or authors who want to imitate, outdo, or refute it. Ihe coherence of literature as an event is pr

37、imarily mediated in the horizon of expectations of the literaiy experience of contemporaiy and later Ieaders, ciitics, and authors? (22). Tlie success of this translation is attributed to its taking the fusion oi horizontal and vertical horizons and receptions of its audience into account. It is not

38、iceable that both of the translated versions, i.e.终极 追杀令 and这 1、杀手不太冷 ， adopt the adaptation method. This does not mean that only adaptation can make a film title sound attractive and be successlul. Other translation methods also leave us classic translated versions, for instance, 卡萨布兰卡 , which is d

39、irectly translated from Casablanca, a place in Morocco, by adopting the transliteration method. Although there is one ver- sion called： !匕与 N 谋 影 (which uses the adaptation method and re- veals that the stoiy takes place in North Africa and is about spies ). which is also famous and popular,卡萨布兰卡 te

40、nds to l)e preferable because it preserves the exotic flavor. Moreover, the Chinese pronunciation and characters of this title please the audience both in hearing and vision. It sounds and looks romantic, indicating this film may be a love story. I21 comparison with北非课影 X this transliterated version

41、 may better suit the genre ol the film. Another instance is阿甘正传 ， a famous film with great popularity whose original English name is Fniresf Gump. Its Chinese version uses the method of free translation, which conveys the meaning of the original one without being faithful to the form mechamcally.阿甘正

42、 传 means the biography of torrest Gump， carrying the main sto- ry ： the film. What is iriterestirig is that it translates the name For- rest into *阿甘 ，just trarisliterating the surname and adding the character 阿 in front of it. By dealing with the name in this way, the translator localized the name

43、in an informal form which is more familiar to the Chinese audience instead of translating it directly. k，M5， sounds like a nickname that can be used between friends, being smarter, cute, thus the distance between the audience and the film is shortened. Meanwhile, the translated name suits its comedy

44、 genre well. It is also said that this name is more familiar to the Chinese audience because of famous literaiy works and other popular film titles in China that used the same style of naming e.g. the classic literary work阿 Q JEf专， which was writ- ten b)d u Xmi and阿飞正传 ， a film directed by a famous

45、I-Iong Kong director Kamai Wong. So it is reasonable to say that when translating Fnrrest Gump, the translator took the audience s recep- tivity into account as well as historical and cultural elements. To- gether with这个 杀手不太冷 X the successful translated titles卡 萨布兰卡 and阿甘正传 confonn 2016 年 6 月 Overs

46、eas English 硌 外 英 请 责任编辑 :梁书 to what Jauss stated *The perspective of the aesthetics of reception mediates between passive reception and active understanding, experience formative of norms, and new production” （ 19)， i.e. 刁、太 7 令 has been a new popular expression: 艮萨布兰 艮 has become a byword for the

47、city that few people know its present name: I 呵甘正 f 专 experiences the for- mation of a naming style. All of them become classic paradigms. For only those that consider the historicity of literature in a threefold mamiei、 can survive to l)e classic, i.e. diachronically in the intenelatioiiships of th

48、e reception of literaiy works, synchron- ically in the frame of reference of literature of the same moment, as well as in the sequence of such frames, and finally in the relationship of the immanent literaiy development to the general process of history (Jauss, 32). Translators should endeavor to ac

49、hieve this goal. 3.3 The aesthetic value To do a letter translation job, translators should explore deeper to find methods to present the aesthetic value of film titles to appeal to the audience and make them become more interested in the film. However, the task is not an easy cme for kA translator must (le- velop sensitiveness to artistic beauty so that he can treat his aes- t