A Comparative Study of Film Title Translation in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and

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 天津大学/孔健梅

【Abstract】 Due to different social systems, economicdevelopment and cultural phenomenon in Chinese mainland,Hong Kong and Taiwan, one foreign film title may generateinto various translation texts. Therefore, “one country, threetranslation” phenomenon has come into being. This paper,combined with Spiritual Resemblance, attempts to analyze thisphenomenon so as to better promote the film title translation.

【Key words】 Spiritual Resemblance; Film Title Translation;One Country; Three-Translation Phenomenon

Introduction

As the idol of the Chinese translation industry, Fu Leithought translation can be described as drawing a traditionalChinese painting, the essence is Spiritual Resemblance, which hasthree levels of meaning:

1. Understand all details and spirit of the original text2. Translate words and meaning in the target text faithfullyand vividly

3. Reveal the original charm and aesthetics

However, because of historical, economic and other reasons,though Chinese is still many people’s first language in themainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, people’s habits of languageuse are not the same. Therefore, controversial phenomenon of filmtitle translation always exists.

Respective Features of Film Title translationChinese Mainland: Faithfulness and Rigor, Prefer to LiteralTranslation

Straight and expressive, the translation text in Chinese mainlandis full of literal translation: Pearl Harbor was translated into珍珠港Atonement into赎罪, but sometimes it lacks creative thoughts andideas. Moreover, the audience’s English level is relatively low,therefore, a too exaggerated title may dispel their desire of watching.

In the process of translation, the faith to the original text has alwaysbeen firstly taken into consideration in Chinese mainland. As aresult, the translation style is loyal and conservative, literal translationis the mainstream. By doing so, it avoids some over exaggeratedtranslation texts and keeps the exoticism of the foreign language,leaving the audience with many vivid translation masterpieces.

Hong Kong: Emphasis on Entertainment, Reflection of CantoneseThe entertainment industry is well-developed in Hong Kong,reflecting in film title translation is the full use of humorous andentertaining language. More attention is paid to meet the demandof the audience in order to maximize benefits. Higher frequencyof Cantonese is another obvious feature.

For instance, Pay It Forward was translated into拉阔爱的人, Snatch into边个够我姜, where“拉阔” is the transliterationof an English word “live” while“够姜” is Cantonese andoften can be seen in the criminal films, which means enterprisingand tough. Therefore, translators in Hong Kong focus more ontranslation attractiveness rather than translation form.

Taiwan: Elegance and Commercialization, Adequacy ofLocal Dialect

As a whole, film title translation in Taiwan is meaningfuland elegance. However, with the recent impact of commercialtide, Taiwanese translation has become increasingly shocking.

Words like“神鬼” or “疯狂” often appear. For example,The Shawshank Redemption was translated into刺激1995, onlyaimed to get on a “free ride” of the same series of the year’sblockbuster—The Sting.

Influenced by colonialism local Minnan dialect, Taiwanesetranslation is namely the mixture of multilingualism. For example:

Anger Management(我爱发脾四), Ted(熊麻吉). “发脾四” islocal Taiwanese while“麻吉” is an Japanese- influenced word.

Comparison of Different Film Title Translation Combinedwith Spiritual Resemblance

As to inside connotation and charm, Inception is an appropriateexample:盗梦空间was the mainland’s title, which completelyabandoned the literal meaning and conveyed the suspensephenomenon. The translation text潜行凶间 in Hong Kong hadnothing to do with connotative plots and themes, Taiwanesetranslation text全面启动 strived to be close to the word’s meaning,however, its quality was far inferior to the mainland’s text.

As time goes by, people’s aesthetic taste has changed alot. In this way, mainland translators could not inflexibly follow海底总动员 or超人总动员 to translate Ratatouille into美食总动员. According to the plot, Taiwanese translation text料理鼠王 highlighted the theme of food and kitchen, which was moreappropriate than the commercial text五星级大鼠 in Hong Kong.

Conclusion

Spiritual Resemblance has tremendous guiding significancefor the film title translation activity in Chinese mainland, HongKong and Taiwan. Each place has merits and demerits, therefore,full respect and understanding must be given to other translationtexts. The translation and film industry shall have a tolerableattitude, only in this way can the development of foreign filmtranslation towards a more rational direction.

References:

[1]Fu Lei,The Re-translation Program of Le Pere Goriot[M].1951.

[2]张彩虹.内地、 港台电影译名异同的背后[J].电影文学.

作者简介：孔健梅，女，天津大学翻译硕士在读。