Abstract and Key Words

Abstract: This thesis discusses problems in mistranslation of English film titles and analyzes the    reasons. In the introduction, the author introduces the brief history of film and the importance of film titles. In the second part, he points out significant problems in film title mistranslation. According to the author, three problems are worth attention: meaningless transliteration, failure to convey contextual meaning and loss of implication. In the third part, he tries to explain reasons for the above mentioned problems, and pays special attention to cultural differences and complex implication of films. Finally, he puts forward in order to improve the quality of film title translation, more qualified translators are needed.

Key words: English film title; mistranslation; transliteration; culture; implication

摘要：本文旨在研究英文片名中存在的问题，探讨其原因。在前言中，作者简要                 介绍了电影的历史以及电影片名的重要性；在第二部分，他指出了片名误译中的主要问题。根据作者观点，有三个问题值得重视：无意义音译、语境意义缺失、内涵缺失。在第三部分，作者解释了上述问题的主要原因：文化差异与电影内涵的复杂性。最后，作者提出要改善电影片名翻译质量，需要更多有良好资质的译者。

关键词：英文片名；误译；音译；文化；内涵

1. Introduction 
The year 1895 witnessed the first film in history in France. From then on the film industry has undergone dramatic development and films have become one of the influential mass media and a very important part of people's life. Films are not only a mode of entertainment, but also a vehicle for cultural communication. They can be regarded as an effective way of promoting mutual understanding between different countries. At the same time, film titles have always been put in an eye-catching place. With China’ import of more and more western films the translation of English film titles is becoming increasingly significant.
  A film title usually transmits particular implication to its spectators, which is an important part of the film. The implication will make the spectators think deeply about the film itself. For that reason，there will not be a perfect translation of the film title until the implication is conveyed exactly.
  The translation of film titles is not an easy job; rather, it’s a very complicate and difficult one. Many translators take equivalence as one of the important translation criteria, but that alone cannot solve tough problems in the translation of film titles. Scholars have paid a lot of attention to translation strategies and methods involved in such translation and but ignored classification of film title mistranslation. This thesis will mainly deal with mistranslation of English film titles.