Abstract

Film title is the direct title of conveying the plot to arise audience’s interest. It is usually presented with brief phrases to express the profound connotation or to cast the development of the story, thus audience’s watching interest will be activated. As a result, film title translation is the key to delivering the plot and expressing appeals of the work. This paper lists considerable title translation examples, spreads out the factors influencing western film title translation, illuminates practical proposals in the translation process, and compares the three different versions of Chinese translation of film title ---- China’s mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Key words: film title, influencing factors, translation methods, three versions of Chinese translation

摘 要

电影片名是传达故事情节以及提升观众兴趣的直接标题，电影片名通常都是以简洁的短语来表达其影片深刻的内涵或者来投射故事的发展进行，从而激起人们的观看兴趣，因而电影片名的翻译是传递影片故事情节以及传达作品感召力的关键。本文将列举可观的片名翻译实例，罗列影响西方电影片名翻译的因素，阐释翻译过程中切实可行的方法，并对比电影片名汉译中主要的三个版本——大陆、香港、台湾版本。

关键词： 电影片名；影响因素；翻译方法；汉译三版本

1. Introduction
Film is an art. Different from other types of literature, it produces a certain effect through a variety of information transmission media on human’s senses. A film title is the direct symbol of conveying the plot to arise audience’s interest. It is often done with the name of heroes or heroines’ names, plot, places and the story clues. A film title is usually presented with brief phrases to express the profound connotations or to cast the development of the story, thus audience’s interest of watching will be activated. The film title with implied meaning and eternal aftertaste endows the film with more appeals. As a result, film title translation is the key to delivering the plot and expressing appeals of the work.