Difficulties in Translating Movie Titles
MINISTRY
OF EDUCATION AND YOUTH OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
MOLDOVA STATE UNIVERSITY
FACULTY
OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES
DEPARTMENT
OF TRANSLATION, INTERPRETATION
AND
APPLIED LINGUISTICS
COURSE
PAPER
DIFFICULTIES
IN TRANSLATING
MOVIE
TITLES
SUBMITTED BY: Flentea Ecaterina
GROUP:
2611
RESEARCH
ADVISER: MA in American Studies,
University
Lecturer,
Timofti
Ecaterina
Chisinau
2007
Table of contents:
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………..3
Chapter One: Translation
as the Possibility of Understanding the Art of Film Titles
1.1.
The Power of Film Translation…………………………………………………………………6
1.2.
Types and History of Film Translation………………………………………………………...7
1.3.
The Invention of Film Titles……………………………………………………………………8
1.4.
The Art of Film Tiles……………………………………………………………………………9
1.5.
Brief Historical View of the Titles of Cultural
Products……………………………………10 1.5.1. The Three Models of Mass Communication……………………………………………..11
1.5.2. The Film Title and the System of Paratext……………………………………………….12
1.5.3. The Titles of Audiovisual Fiction and the Flow Model…………………………………..12
1.6. The
Three Models of Mass Communication…………………………………………………13
1.7. Film Tiles’ Translation………………………………………………………………………...14
1.7.1. Types of Film Titles’ Translation ………………………………………………………...15
Chapter
Two: Difficulties in Translating Film Titles from English into Russian
2.1. Difficulties in Translating
Comedy Movie Titles…………………………………………….17
2.2. Difficulties
in Translating Horror Movie Titles……………………………………………...20
2.3. Difficulties
in Translating Action Movie Titles………………………………………………22
2.4. Difficulties
in Translating Melodramatic Movie Titles……………………………………...24
2.5. Difficulties
in Translating Adventure and Historical Movie Titles…………………………27
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………..30
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………...32
Introduction
Nowadays
there is a great number of foreign films that is imported in our country. As
their original titles are mostly written in English, they have to be translated.
A film title plays a great role in understanding the film in general and the
information contained in it. Consequently, a translator must be very attentive
while translating the movie title to make it as sonorous as the original one.
It is very interesting to perform this kind of translation, and we decided to
choose this subject for our course paper. We made an investigation in it and we
tried to discover some difficulties in translating the film titles.
Actuality of investigation
In our time film
is a very important art form. It reflects our life, culture, world and our
vision of world. Films entertain, educate, enlighten and inspire audience. The
foreign films give to the target audience the possibility to know something new
about the people and culture of that country, which produced these films. With
regard to the fact that the main function of film titles is to say something
general about the whole movie, the film titles are also very important. If the
picture is imported, its title should be translated to make it more
understandable for the target audience. Here the difficulties may appear. Our
investigation analyzes these difficulties of translation movie titles.
Aims and Objectives of the
Research
There
are many books about the films and their making, but there are few sources
about the film titles, especially about their translation. So, we tried to make
our research on the subject of movie titles translation. The aims of our investigation
were: to analyze the functions, history and types of film titles translation;
to find the most interesting examples of foreign movie titles; to give all their
possible translations; to compare these translations with the official one; and
to define all the difficulties that may appear during this translation.
Methodological Background of
Scientific Investigation
In order to present the
course paper in a logical way, we used several research methods:
- Bibliographical
method – that helped to work with a great variety of sources
and select the necessary one.
- Historical
method – that was used when making a survey of the historical events
that were introduced in the Chapter One.
- Comparative
method – that helped us to compare original film title, its
possible translations and the official Russian translation.
Scientific Novelty
The first
movie was created in 20th century; consequently the art of cinema is
rather a new one. Because of this there are no many books about it, especially
those, where it is written about the film titles. The subject of movie titles
translation isn’t studied at that level, as it should be studied. That’s why it
was new and very interesting for us to study and analyze this kind of
translation, because it plays a very important role in perception of foreign
film titles by Russian audience. Having consulted the Internet forums, we found
out that the movie titles translation is the subject of wide discussions
between people. They consider that in our time there are many mistakes and lacks
of coincidence in the translations of foreign movie titles. That’s why it was
very exciting and interesting for us to analyze this concrete branch of
translation. The scientific novelty of our course paper consists in the fact
that, having analyzed some examples of movie titles we found what difficulties
may appear while translating them.
Sources
In our
course paper we have consulted many sources: books, reports and Internet-sites.
The most important source, used in Chapter One was the report of Milevici I. G.
about the translation of film titles. In Chapter Two the Lingvo10 Dictionary
was a very important source, because with its
help we made the detailed analysis of all 19 examples of movie titles
translation. Also, helpful was the Internet source- the site www.worlddvd.ru/filmrussianalfavit,
because it gave us the most expanded list of the original
titles of foreign films. Despite the fact that these three sources assisted us
the most in our research, other books and sites were also interesting to
consult.
Volume and Structure
The course
paper consists of 30 pages and, in two chapters covers the analysis of the
famous film titles in order to find what difficulties may appear when
translating them. Chapter One, named “Translation as the Possibility of
Understanding the Art of Film Titles”, is dedicated to the theory: the main
definitions, types and methods of movie titles translation. It includes seven
subchapters:
1. The Power of
Film Translation
2. Types and
History of Film Translation
3. The Invention
of Film Titles
4. The Art of
Film Titles
5. Brief
Historical View of the Titles of Cultural Products
6. The Three
Models of Mass Communication
7. Film Titles’
Translation
Chapter Two,
named “Difficulties in Translating Film Titles from English into Russian”, consists
of our practical work, i.e. the detailed analysis of 19 examples of foreign
film titles and their translation, according to the film genres. This chapter
includes five subchapters:
1. Difficulties
in Translating Comedy Movie Titles
2. Difficulties
in Translating Horror Movie Titles
3. Difficulties
in Translating Action Movie Titles
4. Difficulties
in Translating Melodramatic Movie Titles
5. Difficulties
in Translating Adventure and Historical Movie Titles
Having examined
19 examples of foreign movie titles in these two chapters, we discovered all
the problems, which may appear during their translation.
Chapter I: Translation as the
Possibility of Understanding the Art of Film Titles
1.1.
The Power of Film Translation
Film
is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as
the field in general. The origin of the name comes from the fact that
photographic film (also called film stock) has historically been the primary
medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Films are produced by
recording actual people and objects with cameras, or by creating them using
animation techniques and/ or special effects. They comprise a series of
individual frames, but when these images are shown rapidly in succession, the
illusion of motion is given to the viewer. Film is considered by many to be an
important art form; films entertain, educate, enlighten and inspire audience.
The visual elements of cinema need no translation, giving the motion picture a
universal power of communication. Any film can become a worldwide attraction,
especially with the addition of dubbing or subtitles that translate the
dialogue. Films are also artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect
those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Films can be of different genres. In
film theory, genre refers to the primary method of film categorization. A genre
generally refers to films that share similarities in the narrative elements
from which they are constructed. For example, the most widespread film genres
are: comedy- intended to provoke laughter; horror- intended to provoke fear in
audience; action- generally involves a moral interplay between “good” and “bad”
played out through violence or physical force; melodramatic- mainly focuses on
character development; adventure- involving danger, risk, and/ or chance, often
with a high degree of fantasy and historical- taking place in the past. [12:739]
Translation is an activity comprising the
interpretation of the meaning of a text in one language- the source text- and
the production, in another language, of a new, equivalent text- the target
text, or translation. The goal of translation is generally to establish a
relation of equivalence between the source and target texts (that is to say, to
ensure that both texts communicate the same message), while taking into account
a number of constraints. These constraints include context, the rules of
grammar of languages, their writing conventions, their idioms, and the like. [12:739]
1.2.
Types and History of Film Translation
There
are two major types of film translation: dubbing and subtitling. Each of them
interferes with the original text to a different extent. On the one hand,
dubbing is known to be the method that modifies the source text to a large
extent and thus makes it familiar to the target audience through domestication.
It is the method in which “the foreign dialogue is adjusted to the mouth and movements
of the actor in the film” and its aim is seen as making the audience feel as if
they were listening to actors actually speaking the target language. On the
other hand, subtitling, i.e. supplying a translation of the spoken source
language dialogue into the target language in the form of synchronized
captions, usually at the bottom of the screen, is the form that alters the
source text to the least possible extent and enables the target audience to
experience the foreign and be aware of its “foreignness” at all times. [3:611]
It
is known from the films translation history that in the times of silent movies,
translation was relatively easy to conduct: the so-called intertitles
interrupted the course of a film every couple of minutes, so the target
language titles could easily be translated and inserted in place of the
original ones. The problem arose with the appearance of “talkies” in the late
1920s.At first, American film companies tried to solve it by producing the same
film (using the same set and scenario, but different directors and actors) in
various language versions. However, this soon turned out to be unprofitable, as
the films produced were of poor artistic quality and they did not win the
public. The studios that had been built in France for this purpose began to
produce dubbed versions of films instead. The new invention “enabled Hollywood to avoid any interruption in its dominance of the international film market”.
Talkies guaranteed that the audience was very much aware of the source culture
and its nature, and thus they helped cement Hollywood’s leading position. [4:99]
The
introduction of talkies exerted a far-reaching influence on both larger and
smaller countries. As film production costs rose, it became increasingly
difficult for smaller countries to export their productions and- limited by
their small domestic markets- their home production decreased, which led to a
rise in film imports. As for larger European countries, they “were better
equipped to continue producing their own films, but were also faced with
powerful American competition”. This situation, i.e. the wide gap between
larger and smaller countries, was to be reflected later in the choice of the
film translation mode: larger countries tended to dub imported foreign
productions, while smaller ones settled on subtitling. From the early 1930s
until 1950s American film companies reigned over the entire movie industry as
they monopolized the recording equipment. During World War II the American film
industry flourished, and as a result, in the period following the war “European
countries were easily flooded with new films as well as with the 2500
backlogged American movies produced during the war”. [4:99]
It
took some time for European economies to recover, and in the 1950s larger
states, such as France, Italy, Germany and Spain, introduced protective
measures aimed at lessening the influence of American films in their
territories. For instance, import quotas were imposed in order to protect
domestic production, and special taxes were levied on imported films in some countries
(France, Italy) which required that “profits by American companies had to be
reinvested locally”. At the same time, domestic production in France, Italy, Germany and Spain was supported by the government through various subsidies and
loans. By that time it was clear that film had become an extremely influential
and profitable medium and everyone wanted to get the largest possible slice of
the “film cake”. The smaller European countries were producing fewer than
larger countries, and importing a host of both American and European films. As
for the larger countries, protective policies introduced by their governments
resulted in an increase in domestic film production and a decrease in foreign
(mainly American) films importation. These policies also generally improved the
domestic/imported films ratio in larger countries. [4:99]
1.3.
The Invention of Film Titles
The
title is an identifying name given to a book, play, film, musical composition,
or other work. It comes from Old English “titul”-
superscription, and from Old French “title”- title;
both from Latin “titulus”.[12:739] Films were short at the beginning of the
cinematographic epoch, just a few minutes in length. They were not always narrative
but sometimes only descriptions of every day life, scenes of reality. The fact
that most films before 1900 were not narratives, had a great importance for the
titles: they looked like picture captions, or like newspaper headlines, and not
like the titles of novels or theater. But the many items did not leave any
space for abstracts. Like the small news in newspapers they didn’t need a lead.
Almost all the titles were like picture captions or headlines. Some ten years
later, films became longer. What happened was that we got a paratext that was
designed totally according to the newspapers’ system of headlines that is the film
titles and leads that is the abstract of the films. [6:49]
At
the beginning of the century, the paratextual entrance to the film still
adhered more to the information model and the titles still looked like
headlines. What was equally important, the film makers made efforts to produce
documentaries and the like as reconstructions of reality and not fiction. There
was a hesitation in the beginning of the century: should film tell real life
stories and thus have titles that designate them as a metonymy of reality, or
should film be purely narrative, fictional and metaphorical and thus get titles
like novels? In the first case, film would be a kind of visual reportage very
much like newspaper reportage and with titles appropriate to this use of film.
But when the Pathe brothers established the first cinema for news film in 1908,
they made the first step toward distinguishing what should be the mainstream
(fiction) from the informational film. And thus film got into the editorial
model and the titles were free to take any shape, they only had to be clear and
easy to retain- which did not exclude enigmas or puns. Film titles had to establish
identity, to be a factor in the film distribution. There were no more abstracts
and the like. These paratexts were taken over by the press; film was no longer
related to a written program functioning as paratext. This distribution of work
between film and press has persisted. [1:38]
1.4.
The Art of Film Titles
There
are some statements about the film titles, their making and their translation. The
famous translator William McKay once said: “Translator should be able to write;
he should be an original writer, because sometimes it isn’t possible simply to
copy the target title- it gives only a prompting of how it should be
translated, but the translator, in his turn, reveals the thought and the idea
with the help of the language of translation.” Saul Bass, a graphic artist in
the film industry said: “Making a title is like making a poster – you’re
condensing the event into this one concept, this one metaphor…a back-story that
needs to be told or a character that needs to be introduced”. Also Saul Bass
said: “My initial thoughts about what a title can do was to set mood and the
prime underlying core of the film’s story, to express the story in some
metaphorical way. I saw the title as a way of conditioning the audience, so
that when the film actually began, viewers would already have an emotional
resonance with it”. The titles are often more innovative than
the film itself and can be dramatically and emotionally satisfying. In the
words of Martin Scorsese, “titles have the unique function of setting the tone,
providing the mood and foreshadowing the action”. [2:11]
1.5.
Brief Historical View of the Titles of Cultural Products
Most
of the texts (epic texts) from the Middle Age had simply the names of the main
character as their title, or they had an indication of genre plus the name of
the main character: “Erec et Enide”, “Le Roman de Tristan”. There were other
possibilities as well: the title can refer to the content: ”Gesta Danorum”. In
some cases, we have double titles as by “Chrestien de Troie”: name plus
specification “Lancelot ou le chevalier a la Charette”. In cases when we don’t know who was the author or if there were one or more
authors of the same text, we also don’t know whether the title was made by the author
or if it was invented later as a simple device of identification of the text,
the identification being a necessity if the text was to have a “social life”. When
the printing press began to print medieval texts, it took over the titles not
only as means of identification but now also as a device for sale. [7:154]
The
turning of the century (1500) saw the beginning of a totally new genre, the
ancestor of all modern mass communication, the leaflet/ flyveblade either as
religious propaganda or simple entertainment (stories about crimes, about
natural phenomena or catastrophes, about monsters) - the stuff we get today in
the tabloid press, in B-films and low-status entertainment fiction on TV. The
leaflets had a huge paratexts: a long title with indication of genre to
identify themselves and an even longer abstract to sell them. This is a system
rather close to the modern headline and lead system. And it is linked with a
new production technology and a new system of distribution: to be sold, the
leaflets had to identify themselves and give the customer an idea of their
contents. When the periodical newspaper took over, the paratext changed. The
newspaper’s name became the important thing, and in the beginning there was
very little use of headlines to distinguish the different items within the
paper. As for books, they seem to have taken over rather simple titles and have
had somewhat restricted use of abstracts. But books have very often used the
medieval system of proper name/ noun plus salient feature of the story
(abstract, evaluation or the like). [5:56]
But
as soon we leave fiction and turn to “factual” books, the titles get longer. By
the end of the 19th century, the newspapers had finally found a form
that persists to this day: the system of columns and headlines covering more
than one column, the total spatial organization of news instead of the former
temporal organization. The new spatial organization made the use of headlines
and leads a must. The earliest credit sequences were for silent films. They
were presented on title cards- cards containing printed material that were
photographed and later incorporated into the movie. These cards also included
the dialogue and set the time, place and action for the scenes. As cinema
evolved, so did the titles. After the implementation of sound, titles began to
function as a transition: taking on the responsibility of displaying the
movie’s title, the name of the director and establishing the hierarchy of
actors. In the 1950s, titles began to move beyond pragmatic communication and evolved
into complete narratives- establishing the mood and visual character of the
film. [11:117]
1.5.1.
The Three Models of Mass Communication
But film titles have changed over the years mainly due to the way films or
order audiovisual products have been integrated into three different models of
cultural production and distribution:
-the
editorial model: the production is distributed as isolated items: the case
of books and other texts, of records/CD’s and of film tickets that are sold as
isolated items. These products have, compared to the products of the following
models, a rather high longevity. It is a model that encourages the emergence of
the stars, yesterday the classical Hollywood stars, today the rock stars.
-the model
of written information: this model implies a regular and periodical
distribution. The products are normally made up of bunches of texts, i.e.
newspapers or magazines. Each sale makes obsolete the products of yesterday
(newspapers) or last week (magazines).
-the flow
model: (mostly radio and television) is characterized by the necessary
continuation of the programs, and it is a combination or interference of the
cultural field and the informational field. As for the model of written
information, it is one in which the products become obsolete when they have
been shown on the screen (or listened to on the radio). [5:94]
For each
model, there is a specific economic and distribution organization. In many
cases, however, it is useful for the owners/managers to play simultaneously on
two models at the same time: the use of serial publications of novels, the use
of film on television or even the different ways of pay-TV that turns TV into
the editorial model. The flow model is the younger model going back to about
1920, whereas the two others go back to the first half of 17th
century where they slowly emerged from an unstructured market where books,
pamphlets, leaflets, songs were sold the same way (colportage). Each system got
fixed distribution forms at least in the second half of the 17th
century, and already in the beginning of the 19th century we get
mixed forms: the use of periodical novels, and from 1836 the use of the
feuilleton novel in newspapers. Each of the two systems or models has over
these centuries built up its own and specific use of paratexts. The last
newcomer is the use of headlines and leads in newspapers just before 1900. [5:94]
When film definitely had become a medium in
1895, there were thus two models to follow, either the editorial model (film is
like a novel or short story) or the information model (film is like a news
item). Today there is no hesitation: a film is a unit like a book, we all know
that. And therefore a film title looks like the title of a novel, we all know
that too. We know that many films are based on novels and may have the same
title. But in 1895, things were different and no one could know how film would
be distributed, what it would be like and what kinds of paratext would
accompany the film. [5:94]
1.5.2.
The Film Title and the System of Paratext
A film title is a paratext. By “paratext” we understand one or more small
texts “besides” the text. According to Fradsen a paratext is the title, notes,
dedications, attributions, abstracts, leads and headlines. Now the paratexts in
films are rather specific because text, that is the film, and paratext use
different media. If we consider trailers, title sequences, announcement and
abstracts on TV as paratexts, then we have also visual paratexts. In the
cinematographic distribution system the paratext is reduced to the simplest
possible expression whereas in television distribution, the visual and the
linguistic paratexts have seen their importance grow in recent years due to the
rising competition among an increasing number of television channels. Fradsen
refers to “this particular, but increasing part of texts in the modern
information of society”. [8:53]
According
to Genette, who is only concerned with the reader of literature, the reader has
to get through the paratext in order to enter the text “proper”. From a
theoretical or systematic point of view he is right in doing this- and his
point of view fits in with the strategy of producers/distributors who try to
get viewers/readers to enter their texts. But in actual fact, the television
viewer is often little concerned by the paratext. She/he is zapping and thus
avoiding the proper use of the paratexts. Solutions to this problem have been,
on the one hand, to make television consist of self-containing segments in
order to make the zapping easier and on the other hand, to increase the number
of paratexts on the screen in order to capture those viewers who are not
zappers. Here we should distinguish between paratext “outside” the text, such
as announcements and recapitulations (after the text), and trailers, etc.
“inside” the text in the beginning. The ways in which paratext and text are
related in television depend on genres (types of fiction, types of news or of
documentaries, types of entertainment) and types of channel: generalist or
thematic, public broadcast or commercial. [9:86]
1.5.3.
The Titles of Audiovisual Fiction and the Flow Model
The
film is no longer the mainstream fictional entertainment product. This role has
been taken over by the production of television fiction. Serials, series and
isolated products fill up the television programs and several systems of titles
are coexisting in the flow. The cinema films keep, of course, their original
titles when shown on television. Often, serial have only a name and then a
number and even if each episode has a name, this name is rather unimportant;
you don’t sell the series or the serial in isolated episodes. The serials are
sold and seen because of the main character who gives its name to the entire
set of episodes. Others seem to prefer totally impersonal titles (like many
American series and serials) or they find a title that characterizes the main
protagonist. Only in recent years does this seem to have come to an end with
them. As a matter of fact, what we see now is a very poor way of titling: an
identification noun and number, a system that has been taken over from the flow
of talk shows, entertainment programs, etc. the flow model implies that once a
text has been shown, it is “dead”. So why bother with a title? Television
fiction is in between the two models; it has taken over the flow logic, but at
the same time, it has taken over the more lasting life of the products within
the editorial model. Of course, these programs have a paratext helping us to
get through: announcements on channel, television programs in newspapers, and
not to forget the lead in each program: the anchor and his/her helpers
explaining what we are going to see. Only the isolated text, that is the film,
still has a title of a certain importance. The rest is silence. [5:56]
1.6.
The Functions of Film Titles
Then,
what are the functions of the titles? The prime function is to identify the
film. Without this initial identification we would not be able to talk about
the film, sales promotion would be impossible, and researches could not analyze
the film. The title makes the unit. If the text has come to us without a title
we must give it a title in order to talk about it. In a computer, the file must
have a title, but even before the file gets its title it is called “untitled 1”. Given this obvious function of the title we can indicate other functions:
-The title is
a sign to guide us through the television flow or the film pages of newspapers/magazines.
-The title is
a means for guiding our reception and our interpretation of a text, either by
stressing a specific point of view or by giving us a resume/abstract of the
film.
-Given the
various roles the title may fulfill, the main function of the film title might
seem to be the film’s promotion, in which case the title should be easy to
remember because it astonishes/provokes, etc at first.
-Given the
fact that the text in a film is audiovisual and that the paratext or the title
is textual, one might expect that film titles were different from titles of
novels, short stories, dramas, etc. but as far as it can be seen, there is very
little original in film titles. The combination of two media/communications channels
in one global text (film plus its paratext) does not seem to have or to have
had any importance. Most film titles would work as titles of novels and vice
versa. [8:54]
Nor
does it seem that the distinction between the heteroreferential and the
homoreferential aspects of the paratext change when we leave newspaper
paratexts to have a look at film paratext. Fradsen distinguishes between
“transmitter 1, enunciator 1” (for the proper text) and “transmitter 2,
enunciator 2” (for the paratext). This distinction works perfectly when applied
to newspaper headlines. It seems to work too within the title system of novels,
as well as within the film title system. The only thing that should distinguish
film titles from other titles is the total impossibility of anaphoric relations
between the film text and the title. The title is too far removed from the
film. [8:54]
1.7.
Film Titles’ Translation
Let
us appeal to one of the most applied translation aspects- translation of film
titles. This aspect of translation is interesting in many points: the modern
audience is given a great number of translated artifacts in the various
translation forms (the simultaneous translation, the subtitles, double
subtitles). The quantity of translating material affects its quality: the
foreign films translations are the examples of the different kind’s mistakes, inaccuracies,
interference. The film title in the publicist discourse functions as the
identification of the actor or the film director, what is realized in
corresponding communicative pass. Such identification is often concerned with
the character’s visualization and the appearance of the actor-performer. The
most successful this step is in the case when there is a great need to
identificate the foreign player, which is not very famous. The inexactitudes in
the film titles translations may cause the communicative failure, because many
difficulties often appear when identificating one or another film. The observations
show that the titles of foreign feature (as well as the animation and the
documentary) films in the modern publicist editions mostly appear in the
bilingual variant. [12:1].
E.g. “The
Hunted”- “Преследуемый”
“The Matrix
Reloaded”-“Матрица: Перезагрузка”
E.g. phonetic variants:
“Ali McBill”-“Али Макбилл”;
“Элли Макбил”
The most
numerous type is lexico-synonymical variants:
E.g. “Pirates of
the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”-“Пираты Карибского моря: Проклятие черной жемчужины”; “Карибские Пираты: Проклятие черной жемчужины”; “Пираты Карибов: Проклятие черной жемчужины”
“The
Lord of Rings: Two Towers”- “Властелин Колец:
Две Твердыни”; “Властелин Колец: Две Башни”; “Властелин Колец: Две Крепости”.
Thus the translations of film titles represent the vast material for the
analysis of the types of equivalence, interference, speech mistakes. The titles
modified and transformed during the translation and the motivated steps aside
from the title in the source language represent an interest also in the aspect
of identification and comparison of translation tendencies. The comparative
analysis shows that during the translation of movie titles the adaptations of
different kinds may be observed.
E.g. “Shallow Hal”- “Поверхностный
Хэл”; “Любовь Зла”; “Тяжело Влюблен”
“Orange
Country”- “Оранжевое Графство”; “Апельсиновая Страна”; “Страна
Дураков”. [12:1].
1.7.1.
Types of Film Titles’ Translation
In
general, there are the following types of film titles translation:
Euphemism
translation we know as the typical translation of the past. Some examples
became classical: “Some like it hot” in the Russian distribution is known as “В джазе только девушки”.
However, in the modern titles we can also meet both euphemism titles and
deeuphemism translations. For example, these opposite functions are implemented
by the transliteration and transcription:
“Meet
the Fockers”- “Знакомство с Фокерами”; “ Знакомство с Факерами
”.
Genre
translation can be considered one of the most expanded types of adaptation,
during which in the translation of film title the language units are equipped.
They correlate the translated title with the concrete genre. The detective
title “City by the Sea” has been transformed in Russian translation in “Последнее Дело Ля-Марки”, but the
horror film title “She Creature” in the Russian translation corresponds to the
“terrible” genre: “Ужас из Бездны”. [12;2]
Semantic
translation is the adaptation which with the help of changing or adding the
lexical elements and introducing the key-words of film expands the semantic
field of the genre film. For example, the drama title “Out of the cold” in the
Russian distribution is far from the original title: “Танцуй со мной!”
This variant of the title greatly over commutated the plot accents: the film
main character was the American dancer of step who has spent 20 years in Russia. The comedy about the younger son of evil “Little Nicky” is translated with the
adding of lexical element- “Ники, Дьявол-младший”. The comedy with the title where only the main
character’s surname is reflected- “Bowfinger” is translated in Russian as “Клевый Парень” or “Безумный Боуфингер”,
thus, this kind of translation will not allow to identificate this film as, for
example, a detective or biographical drama.
[12;2]
The
translations of the screen versions’ titles represent a specific analysis’
object; because in this case we should trace the adequacy of some titles (the
source- original title- translated title and transformations, which appear as
the result of one or another translation). The type of translation adaptation- the
return to the first primary source- is generally used in the case when the
screen version title doesn’t correspond to the title of writing, which was the
source of the plot. For example, “Sleep Hallow”- in the Russian translation is
“Сонная Лощина”
(but the subtitles propose another variant, which is closer to the literal
source- “Легенда о Всаднике без Головы”). Thus the
analysis of film titles, translated into Russian, has shown a quite
many-colored picture. The foreign film titles translated in Russian language
have different variants (in Russian editions, in central and regional press).
Moreover, the analysis showed that the translations of the titles often follow
the fixed adaptation strategies. [12;2]
Chapter II: Difficulties in Translating Film Titles from
English into Russian
The
art of translation is a very difficult art; it shows us that one and the same
original text may have a lot of translations. The difficulty for us is to use
the one of them, which would suit the situation best of all. The same
difficulty appears when we deal with movie titles, sometimes the original title
is absolutely different from the translation we are given. The explanation may
be very simple; the Russian translation may be better understood by
Russian-speaking community, than the original variant of the title. The work of
finding a better and a more suitable translation is very difficult but at the
same time very interesting. So, let us enter the world of translating the movie
titles.
2.1. Difficulties in
Translating Comedy Movie Titles
A
comedy film is a film laced with humor or that may seek to provoke laughter
from the audience. Along with drama, horror and science fiction, comedy is one
of the largest genres of the medium. There are different types of comedies. For
example, a comedy of
manners satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class,
often represented by stock characters. The plot of the comedy is often
concerned with an illicit love affair or some other scandal, but is generally
less important than its witty dialogue. In a fish-out-of-water comedy film the main
character finds himself in an alien environment and this drives most of the
humor in the film. A parody or spoof film is a comedy that satirizes other film
genres or classic films. Such films employ sarcasm, stereotyping, mockery of
scenes from other films, and the obviousness of meaning in a character's actions.
The anarchic comedy film uses nonsensical,
stream-of-consciousness humor which often lampoons some form of authority.
Films of this nature stem from a theatrical history of anarchic comedy on the
stage. The romantic comedy sub-genre typically involves
the development of a relationship between a man and a woman. The stereotyped plot
line follows the "boy-gets-girl", "boy-loses-girl",
"boy-gets-girl-back-again" sequence. [12:538]
To begin
with, let us analyze the following comedy movie title:
1) The original
title is: “Some Like it Hot”.
If to take Lingvo10
dictionary, it will give us the following translations:
-Some: кое-кто, какой-нибудь, какой-то, некоторые, некие, несколько,
немногие
-Like: любить, нравиться, хотеть, предпочитать, желать
-It: он, она, оно, это, этого, этому, этим, (об) этом
-Hot: горячий; жаркий; разогретый; накаленный, острый,
пикантный, пряный, возбужденный, разгоряченный, раздраженный, сильный, резкий, опасный,
рискованный
If to unite them
the following variants can be:
1.“Кое-кто
любит это горячим”; 2.“Некоторые хотят это накаленным”; 3.“Несколько предпочитают
это острым”; 4.“Немногим нравится это разгоряченным”; 5.“Некие желают это
жарким”
Sometimes one
and the same title may have several accepted versions, but anyway, only one
will be official. So this title has the following accepted versions:
6.“Некоторые
любят погорячее”; 7.“Некоторым нравится погорячее”; 8.“Кое-кто любит
погорячее”; 9.“Некоторые любят пожарче”
But the official
Russian translation is: “В джазе только девушки”. [17:22]
So, including the official Russian version, we
have 10 translation variants of this title. The difficulty with this movie
title is that it was absolutely changed, that sometimes may happen. It was
adapted to the audience of the former USSR and changed by the censors, because
its original title sounded very frivolous in that time. The type of film titles
translation, used in this case is called euphemism translation. But nowadays on
the West this variant is considered more felicitous than the original one.
2) The next
original comedy movie title is: “Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events”.
The Lingvo10 dictionary
gives us the following translations of the words:
-Series: ряд, последовательность, серия, полоса, цикл,
сериал
-Unfortunate: неудачливый, несчастливый, неудачный, плачевный, прискорбный, печальный,
заслуживающий сожаления
-Event(s): событие, происшествие, случай, ход дел, ход
событий, исход, результат
If to unite them,
we get some possible versions of this title:
1.“Лемони Сникет: ряд неудач”; 2.“Лемони Сникет: череда неприятностей”; 3.“Лемони Сникет: серия несчастных случаев”; 4.“Лемони Сникет: полоса неудачных происшествий”
But the official
Russian translation is only one: “Лемони Сникет: 33 несчастья” [24:57]
The difficulty of this film title translation is that we had to choose
between 5 synonymic versions. We had to find the most convenient translation,
which at the same time would be close to Russian audience. So, we chose the
translation “33 несчастья”, because there is such a
phraseological unit in Russian language, which has the general meaning of all
others translations of this title.
3) Another title of the comedy
movie is: “John Tucker Must Die”
The Lingvo10 dictionary gives us several translations of these words:
-Must: должен, обязан, необходимо
-Die: умереть, скончаться, исчезать, быть забытым
The name of the main character we
have translated by means of transliteration, but the whole title has several
possible translations:
1.“Умри, Джон Такер!”;
2.“Джон Такер должен умереть”; 3.“Убить
Джона Такера”; 4.“Необходимо, чтобы Джон Такер скончался ”; 5.“Джон
Такер обязан исчезнуть”; 6.“Джон Такер
должен быть забытым”
The official
Russian translation is: “Сдохни, Джон Такер!” [24:86]
In general, we have 7 versions of this movie title translation. The type
of film titles translation used in this case is the deeuphemism translation.
The official Russian version is more emotionally colored and is colloquial,
when the original title is neutral. This way of translating the film title was
used to make it closer and more understandable to the film potential audience-
the young people, the most part of which speaks in colloquial language.
4) The next
comedy movie title is: “I Spy”
The Lingvo10
dictionary gives the following translations of the words:
-I: я
-Spy: (n) шпион, тайный агент, следопыт,
шпионаж, тайное наблюдение, шпионская программа, (v) заниматься
шпионажем, шпионить, следить, подглядывать, подсматривать, совать нос в чужие
дела
If to unite
these translations we get the 12 translation variants of this film title:
1.“Я
- шпион”; 2.“Я - следопыт”; 3.“Я - тайный агент”; 4.“Я - шпионаж”; 5.“Я – тайное наблюдение”; 6.“Я – шпионская программа”;
7.“Я занимаюсь шпионажем”; 8.“Я шпионю”; 9.“Я слежу”; 10.“Я подглядываю”; 11.“Я
подсматриваю”; 12.“Я сую нос в чужие дела”.
The 13th
translation version of this movie title is the official Russian version: “Обмануть всех”. [24:64]
It was completely changed, and has a far connection with the meaning of
the original film title, but it corresponds to the genre of comedies. The type
of movie titles translation used in this case is called genre translation,
because the original version has the aim that people, by this title, could
identify this film as a comedy, but not mix it with the detective story or
action movie.
2.2.
Difficulties in Translating Horror Movie Titles
Films
from the horror genre are designed to elicit fright, fear, terror,
disgust
or horror from viewers. In horror film plots, evil forces, events, or
characters, sometimes of supernatural origin, intrude into the everyday world. Horror
film characters include vampires, zombies, monsters, serial killers, and a range of other fear-inspiring
characters. Early horror films often drew inspiration from characters and
stories from classic literature, such as Dracula,
Frankenstein,
The Mummy,
The Wolf Man,
The Phantom of the Opera and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Horror films have
been criticized for their graphic violence and dismissed by film critics as low
budget B-movies
and exploitation films. Nonetheless, some major
studios and respected directors have made forays into the genre, and
more recent generations of critics have analyzed horror films. Some horror
films draw on other genres, such as science fiction, fantasy,
black comedy,
and thrillers. [12:243]
1) The first
horror movie title is: “Dracula's Curse”
If to take
Lingvo10 dictionary, it will give us the following translations of these words:
-Dracula: Граф
Дракула
-Curse: проклятие, месть, бранное
слово, брань, ругательство, беда, напасть, бедствие, великая мука, мучение,
отлучение от церкви
With the
official Russian version of this movie title, we have 12 variants of it
translation:
1.“Проклятие Графа Дракулы”;
2.“Месть Графа Дракулы”; 3.“Бранное слово Графа Дракулы”; 4.“Брань Графа Дракулы”; 5.“Ругательство Графа Дракулы”; 6.“Беда Графа Дракулы”; 7.“Напасть Графа Дракулы ”; 8.“Бедствие Графа Дракулы”; 9.“Великая мука Графа Дракулы”; 10.“Мучение Графа Дракулы”; 11.“Отлучение от
церкви Графа Дракулы”
The official
Russian translation is: “Возвращение Дракулы” [37:12]
The first difficulty of this film title translation is that we had to
choose the correct variant between many synonymic translations. But the second
difficulty is that only after watching this horror movie, we understand that
the only one version can be accepted, and it isn’t the official one, but it is “Проклятие Графа Дракулы”, which corresponds to the film’s
plot.
2) The next
title of the horror movie is: “Road to Perdition”
The Lingvo10
dictionary gives us the following translations:
-Road: дорога, путь, шоссе, улица, мостовая, проезжая часть улицы
-To: к, для, у, в, о, на
-Perdition: гибель, погибель, вечные муки, проклятье, ад, смерть
If to unite
these translations, we get the following Russian versions of this film title:
1.“Путь к смерти”; 2.“Улица в ад”; 3.“Дорога к вечным мукам”; 4.“Шоссе в
ад”; 5.“Мостовая вечных мук”; 6.“Проклятая проезжая часть
улицы ”; 7.“Дорога на погибель”; 8.”Путь к гибели”
Generally, we
have 9 possible translations of this horror movie title, excluding the official
one, which is: “Проклятый путь” [37:75]
The difficulty of this movie title translation is that we had to choose
the most convenient Russian version between 10 synonymic variants. Though the
official translation of the film title is only one, the others may exist too.
3) The next
horror movie title is: “Nightmare Boulevard”
If to take
Lingvo10 dictionary, it will give us the following translations:
- Nightmare: кошмар, страшный сон, ужас, ведьма, которая душит спящих
- Boulevard: бульвар,
проспект, авеню
So, as a result
of their combination, we get several translation variants of this title:
1. “Бульвар страшных снов”; 2.“Проспект
кошмаров”; 3.“Бульвар ужасов”; 4.“Авеню
ведьм, которые душат спящих”; 5.“Проспект
страшных снов”; 6.“ Бульвар кошмаров”
The all 6 versions are synonymic, and it is difficult to find between
them the most suitable translation.
The official
Russian translation of this horror movie title is: “Бульвар смерти” [24:9]
The type of film title translation, used in this case is the genre one,
because the title was adapted to the “terrible” genre of the film by the
Russian word “смерть”, which doesn’t exist in the
translation variants of the word “nightmare”, but creates a more sinister and weird
mood of the potential audience, than the other existing variants.
4) The next
horror movie title is: “City of Ghosts”.
The Lingvo10
dictionary gives the following translations of the words:
-City: город, большой город
-Ghost(s): привидение, призрак, дух, душа, тень
If to unite them
we get 5 Russian versions of this film title:
1. “Город привидений”; 2.“Большой город духов”; 3.“Город
теней”; 4.“ Большой город душ”; 5. “Город призраков”
The official one
is: “Город призраков”
[37:29]
These 5 Russian translations of this horror movie title are all
synonymic, because they all have similar meaning and each of them may be the
official translation. The difficulty is to find between them the most suitable
version.
2.3.
Difficulties in Translating Action Movie Titles
Action films, or movies, are a film genre, where action
sequences, such as fighting,
stunts,
car chases
or explosions, take precedence over elements like characterisation or complex
plotting. The action typically involves individual efforts on the part of the hero, as contrasted with
most war films.
The genre is closely linked with the thriller
and adventure film
genres. The phenomenal success of the James Bond
series in the 1960s and 1970s, helped to popularise the concept of the action
film in recent years. Action films tend to be expensive requiring big budget special effects
and stunt work.
Action films have mainly become a mostly-American genre, although there have
been a significant number of action films from Hong Kong
which are primarily modern variations of the martial arts
film. Because of these roots, Hong Kong action films typically
center on acrobatics by the protagonist while American action films typically
feature big explosions
and modern technology. [12:88]
1) The first
action movie title is: “Usual Suspects”.
The Lingvo10
dictionary gives us the following translations of the words:
-Usual: обыкновенный, обычный, привыкший, приученный, знакомый, привычный,
традиционный, очередной, стандартный
-Suspect(s): подозреваемый, подозрительный человек,
сомнительное лицо
In general, we
get versions of Russian translation:
1. “Обычные подозреваемые”; 2.“Обыкновенные подозрительные люди”; 3.“Привыкшие
сомнительные лица”; 4.“Стандартные подозреваемые”; 5. “Приученные подозрительные
люди”; 6. “Знакомые подозреваемые”; 7. “Привычные сомнительные лица”; 8. “Очередные
подозрительные люди”; 9. “Традиционные сомнительные лица”
The official
Russian version of this film title is: “Подозрительные лица” [37:89]
2) The second
action movie title is: “The fast and the furious”.
If to take the
Lingvo10 dictionary, it will give us the following translations of the words:
-Fast: крепкий, твердый, стойкий, быстрый, скорый, фривольный,
легкомысленный, несерьезный
-And: и, а, но
-Furious: взбешенный, неистовый, яростный, безумный
If to unite them
we will get the following Russian versions of this title:
1. “Быстрые и яростные”; 2.“Крепкие и безумные”; 3.“Твердые и взбешенные”;
4.“Быстрые и неистовые”; 5.“Стойкие и яростные”; 6.“Скорые и безумные”; 7.“Фривольные,
но неистовые”; 8.“Легкомысленные, но безумные” 9.“Несерьезные, но взбешенные”
We have 9
possible variants of translation this movie title.
The official
Russian translation is: “Форсаж” [37:117]
The difficulty of translation this film title is that it was absolutely
changed and hasn’t any relation with the original one. This type of translating
the movie titles is called semantic translation, because the Russian variant
was created according to the film’s plot, where a group of young people is fond
of cars, high speed and races. The Russian word “Форсаж”
is closely related to these concepts- that’s why it was chosen as the official
version; though the literal translation “Быстрые и яростные”
is convenient too.
3) The next
action movie title is: “Die Hard”.
The Lingvo10
dictionary gives us the following translations of the words:
-Die: умереть, скончаться, исчезать, быть забытым, испаряться,
погибнуть
-Hard: (adv) тяжело, жестко,
строго, сурово, безжалостно, жестоко, настойчиво, упорно, неистово, яростно
If to unite them
we will get the following Russian versions of this title:
1.“Умри тяжело”; 2.“Исчезни жестко”; 3.“Испарись сурово”; 4.“ Исчезни безжалостно”;
5.“Умри строго”; 6.“Погибни жестоко”; 7.“Скончайся”;
8.“ Исчезни настойчиво”; 9.“Погибни упорно”; 10.“ Умри неистово”
If we consider the words “Die Hard” as a set-expression, which was
widespread during the war and meant a person who fought to the bitter end and
stood up to the enemy till the death, we get some more Russian variants of this
title:
11.“Сопротивляйся
до конца”; 12.“Человек, стоящий насмерть”; 13.“Сопротивляйся до последнего”
Generally, we
have found 13 translation variants of this action movie title.
The official
Russian version is: “Крепкий орешек”. [24:44]
The difficulty
of translation this film title is that we had to find either literal
translation of it, or the resembling set-expression in Russian language, which
would mean the similar thing as the English “Die Hard”. The official Russian
translation “Крепкий орешек”
partly corresponds to the original title, so it can be considered the most
convenient.
4) The next action movie title is: “Lord
of War”
The Lingvo10
dictionary gives us the following translations of the words:
-Lord: господин, владыка, повелитель, властитель, владелец, собственник,
лорд, пэр, аристократ, король
-War: война, борьба, сражение, битва, драка
So we get the
following translations of this film title:
1.“Король войны”; 2.“Господин сражений”;
3.“Владыка битв”; 4.“Повелитель войны”;
5.“Владелец драк”; 6.“Собственник борьбы”; 7.“Властитель сражений”; 8.“Лорд битв”; 9.“Пэр драк”; 10.“Военный аристократ”
Generally we
have found 10 possible translations of this action movie title.
The official
Russian version is: “Оружейный барон” [37:65]
The difficulty of translating this film title is that official variant
was changed according to the movie’s plot, where the main character occupied
with selling the weapon, i.e. in the official Russian variant the semantic
adaptation was used. We can also say that the genre type of translation the
film titles was used in this case, because if we take some of the possible
variants as the official translations, like: “Повелитель войны” or “Властитель сражений”, they would seem the titles of
historical movies and not of the action. That’s why the version “Оружейный барон” is more convenient in this case.
2.4.
Difficulties in Translating Melodramatic Movie Titles
Since the dawn of tragedy, in which there was often an element of
otherworldly force (god, gods, or fate) melodrama became the main type of film,
together with comedy. In fact, arguably, all films can be either melodramas or
comedies. There are several types of melodramas: patriarchal melodrama- a
melodrama in which issues of man (male) are discussed, often his relationship
with his children, his attempts to make a career, etc. Matriarchal melodrama
usually discusses relationship between mother and her daughter. Social
melodrama attempts to focus on social issues, social injustice. [12:375]
1) The first
melodramatic movie title is: “American Beauty”
If to take the
Lingvo10 dictionary, it will give us the following translations of the words:
-American: (adj) американский, (n) американец,
американка
-Beauty: красота, красавица, прелесть, красотка
If to unite
these translations we get several possible Russian variants of this film title:
1.“Американская
красавица”; 2.“Американская красотка”;
3.“Американская красота”; 4.“Американские прелести”; 5.“Красавица
американка”; 6.“Прелестный американец”
The official
Russian version is: “Красота по-американски” [24:34]
So we have 7 versions of translation this movie title, including the
official one. We consider that the variant “Американская красавица” is the most convenient, because
is the translation of name of the rose sort, the image of which in full is used
in this film. Of course that the movie isn’t about a rose, but about a
beautiful girl, who comes in the dreams of the main character. But in both
cases this translation is more suitable than the official one.
2) The second
melodramatic movie title is: “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”
The Lingvo10
dictionary gives us the following translations of the words:
-Eternal: вечный, непреходящий, вечно существующий, бесконечный, вековечный,
бессмертный, неизменный, непреложный, не допускающий перемен
-Sunshine: солнечный свет, веселье, радость, счастье, сияние
-Spotless: без единого пятнышка, чистый, безупречный, безукоризненный,
незапятнанный
-Mind: разум, умственные способности, ум, память, воспоминание, мышление,
умственная деятельность, мнение, взгляд, желание, душа
If
to unite them we will get the following Russian versions of this title:
1.“Вечное счастье чистого разума”; 2.“Вечный свет непорочных мыслей”; 3.“Вечное сияние безупречного ума”; 4.“Непреходящее счастье безупречной души”; 5.“Вечно существующая радость безукоризненных желаний”;
6.“Бесконечный свет незапятнанной души”; 7.“Вековечное веселье безупречной памяти”; 8.“Бессмертное сияние чистых взглядов”; 9.“Неизменное счастье безупречных умственных
способностей”; 10.“Непреложный свет
безукоризненного ума”; 11.“Не
допускающее перемен счастье незапятнанных взглядов”; 12.“Вечно существующий свет ума без единого пятнышка”; 13.“Бессмертное сияние чистых воспоминаний”; 14.“Вечная радость безукоризненного мнения”; 15.“Бесконечный свет безупречной умственной деятельности”
The official Russian
translation is: “Вечное сияние страсти”[24:29]
We have 15 possible variants of translation of this movie title. They all
are synonymic and have the similar meaning, but the official one is more
suitable, because it corresponds to a greater extent to a melodramatic genre. In
the title’s official translation the word “страсть” is
introduced, which transmits the feelings of passion and love, usually related
to the melodramatic genre. This translation is considered one of the most
successful in the Russian distribution.
3) The next
melodramatic movie title is: “The Cutting Edge: Going for the Gold”
The Lingvo10
dictionary gives us the following translations of the words:
-Cutting: заостренный, остроконечный, колющий, режущий, пронизывающий,
леденящий, колкий, резкий
-Edge: кромка, край, грань, граница, лезвие, острие, заточенность
-Going: отправление, отход, отъезд, ходьба, движение к цели
-Gold: золото
If we unite them all we get the
following versions of this movie title:
1.“Заостренный
край: путь к золоту”; 2.“Лезвие: погоня за золотом”; 3.“Остроконечная грань: борьба
за золото”; 4.“Колющее лезвие: идем на золото”; 5.“Режущая кромка: отправление за золотом”; 6.“Пронизывающая заточенность лезвия: ходьба за золотом”; 7.“Леденящее острие: отъезд за золотом”; 8.“Колкое лезвие: движение к золоту”; 9.“Резкая граница: идем на золото”; 10.“Остроконечное лезвие: отход за золотом”
Generally we have 10 possible
variants of translation this movie title.
The official one
is: “Золотой лед”
[37:48]
The difficulty of translating this film title is that all the variants are
very long and do not sound well as movie titles. The official Russian version
was shortened, but didn’t change its meaning. The type of film titles
translation used in this case is semantic translation, because the movie tells
about two figure skaters who wanted to win the gold in the Olympic Games. So,
after watching this film we understand that the official version is more
convenient in this case.
4) The last
melodramatic movie title is: “You’ll Get Over It”
The Lingvo10
dictionary gives us the following translation of the following words:
-You: вы, вами, вас, вам, ты, тебя, тобой, тебе
-Get
over: перейти, перелезть, переправиться, оправиться, преодолеть,
покончить, разделаться с чем-л., привыкнуть к чему-л., свыкнуться с мыслью о
чем-л., пережить что-л.
-It: этого, этому, это, этим, (об) этом
Generally we have
11 possible translations of this film title:
1.“Ты
это переживешь”; 2.“Ты пройдешь через это”; 3.“Ты преодолеешь это”; 4.“Ты привыкнешь”;
5.“Ты справишься с этим”; 6.“Ты свыкнешься с этой мыслью”; 7.“Ты перелезешь
через это”; 8.“Ты переправишься через это”; 9.“Ты оправишься от этого”; 10.“Ты
покончишь с этим”; 11.“Ты разделаешься с этим”
But the official
Russian translation is only one: “Просто парень” [37:72]
This film title, as the previous one, was also translated by semantic adaptation.
Only after watching this film and having a clear idea of its plot we may say what
variant is more suitable- one of the possible translations or the official one.
Here appears the difficulty. The film is about a boy who realizes that he is a
homosexual and how he is admitted by the cruel society. But the boy overcomes
all the hardships, in spite of everything. Consequently, from the one hand,
some of the possible translations are convenient, for example: “Ты это переживешь”
or “Ты справишься с этим”.
But for the other hand, finally this boy proves to everybody that he is the
simple boy like all others, despite that he is a gay; that is the official
Russian version “Просто парень” is also suitable.
The adventure film is a film genre
which has been a popular one in the history of cinema. Although the
genre is not clearly defined, adventure films are usually set in the past or
sometimes in a fantasy world, and often involve swordfighting
or swashbuckling.
Unlike the modern action film, which often takes place in a city, with the hero
battling drug cartels or terrorists, there is an element of romanticism
attached to the adventure genre. Popular subjects have included: Robin Hood,
Zorro,
pirates
or the novels of Alexandre Dumas. The genre probably reached
the peak of its popularity in Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. The historical movie is a film genre
in which stories are based upon historical events and famous persons. Some
historical films attempt to accurately portray a historical event or biography,
to the degree that the available historical research will allow. Other
historical movies are fictionalized tales that are based on an actual person
and their deeds. [12:215]
1) The first
adventure movie title is: “Lost”
The Lingvo10
dictionary translates this word in this way:
-Lost: разрушенный, сломанный, обессиленный, погибшим, потерянный,
несохраненный, растраченный впустую, напрасный, потерпевший крушение, неудачу,
бесплодный, забытый, неизвестный, развращенный, утративший стыд, пропавший
So the possible
translations of this film title are:
1.“Потерпевшие крушение”; 2.“Пропавшие”; 3.“Потерянные”; 4.“Забытые”; 5.“Затерянные”;
6.“Неизвестные”;
7.“Развращенные”; 8.“Напрасные”; 9.“Несохраненные”; 10.“Бесплодные”; 11.“Потерпевшие
неудачу”; 12.“Утратившие стыд”; 13.“Растраченные впустую”; 14.“Обессиленные”;
15.“Сломанные”; 16.“Разрушенные”; 17.“Погибшие”
Generally we
have 17 Russian variants of this movie title.
But the official
Russian translation is: “Остаться в живых” [24:61]
The difficulty in translating this film title consists in its history.
The idea of this film was taken from the famous American reality-show, where
simple town-dwellers lived in the uninhabited island. This show, which was
called “Последний герой”,
was shown on the Russian television not long before this film. Just by analogy
with the show “Последний герой”, in Russia the famous film was called “Остаться в живых”,
by the heading of the principal musical theme of the reality-show. In spite of
this, some of the possible translations can exist too, for example: “Потерпевшие крушение”,
“Пропавшие” or “Потерянные”, because
of the one difference between the reality-show and the film: in the show people
voluntarily went to the island, whereas in the film they got there and became
lost after the airplane crash.
2) The second
adventure movie title is: “Into the blue”
The Lingvo10
dictionary gives us the following translation of the following words:
-Into: в, во, на, до
-Blue: синий цвет, небо, море, океан, черника, синяя краска, синяя одежда
If to unite them
we get the following versions of this movie title:
1.“В
синий цвет”; 2.“В небо”; 3.“В море”; 4.“В океан”; 5.“В чернику”; 6.“В синюю
краску”; 7.“В синюю одежду”
Generally we
have 7 variants of this movie title.
The official
Russian translation is: “Добро пожаловать в рай” [37:27]
The
difficulty of translation this movie title is that the possible translations
are not quite convenient. First of all, from the film’s plot we found out that the
main characters were fond of diving, that is they submerged into the ocean
(which is the synonym of the “blue”). That’s why the 4th variant “В океан” can be
suitable, if it would be modified a little bit in “Погружение в океан”.
But the main difficulty appears when comparing the possible translations with
the official one - “Добро пожаловать в рай”. This variant was accepted as an
official because of the semantic adaptation. The film tells us that the main
characters found a sunken treasure in the ocean and began a really heavenly
life. That’s why and this variant is convenient.
3) The last is
the title of the historical movie: “Kingdom of Heaven”
The Lingvo10
dictionary gives us the following translation of the following words:
-Kingdom: королевство, империя, царство, государство, мир, графство
-Heaven: небеса, небо, рай, блаженство
So we get the
following translations of this film title:
1.“Блаженное королевство”; 2.“Небесное
государство”; 3.“Райская империя”; 4.“ Блаженное графство”;
5.“Небесное королевство”; 6.“Небесная
империя” 7.“Райское царство”; 8.“Мир неба”
As a result we
have 8 possible translations of this film title.
The official
Russian version is: “Царство небесное” [24:122]
The difficulty of translation this movie title is that it was created by
the Russian set-expression “Царство небесное”, which is used, as a rule, in cases when smb speaks
about the departed person and wants him to be in the paradise. This meaning of
the title is not quite convenient in this case, because the original title
doesn’t have this sense. After the watching this historical film we understand
that the action takes place in Jerusalem, which was considered by his
inhabitants the “Kingdom of Heaven”. That’s why all the possible variants
of translation are rather convenient, that the official one.
Conclusion
It is undoubtful that the
film title should be connected in some way to the film itself. In ideal case
the title determines the movie’s principal subject, which becomes a reference
point of everything that happens on the screen. Especially looks strange that
title, which cannot be deciphered, even having watched the film till the end.
In such cases, the spectator has the feeling of bewilderment after the
watching: “May be I’ve lost something, if I don’t understand the film title?”. The
situation may be intensified, if the title is translated from another language.
Here the difficulties appear. Therefore the translator, while translating the
film title must be very careful and attentive. He/she must know all the techniques
of this kind of translation and must use all his/her imagination to transmit
the meaning of film title, as close to the original, as possible.
We found this
kind of translation very interesting and tried to make an investigation in our
course paper on the subject of what difficulties is the translator confronted
with during the movie titles translation. Generally, it was really interesting
to make such a research work, because we have found out many new things about
this kind of translation. In Chapter One we introduced some theory about this
subject. We gave the main definitions of translation, film and film title; we
presented the functions of movie titles and gave some interesting facts from
the history of movies and their titles. Then, we presented the brief
description of the theory of translation the film titles and its principal
methods. At the end of this chapter we have defined several types of movie
titles translation by which we translated in Chapter Two the 19 examples:
- Euphemism
translation
- Genre
translation
- Semantic
translation
- Return to the
firstprimary source
However the
theoretical part of the work wasn’t so interesting as the practical one. In any
case, with the help of theory about the types of translation the foreign movie
titles in Chapter Two we made a detailed analysis of 19 examples. We selected
from a variety of titles the most interesting ones and performed an
investigation basing on them. It was curious to find out that the titles of
famous films may be the examples of translator’s mistakes or, to the contrary, may
be the real works of translator’s art. We have presented some possible variants
of all 19 movie titles and compared them with their originals. So, we made a
conclusion that these possible versions differ from the originals semantically,
syntactically or stylistically. But despite this they all can exist and even
sometimes one of them is more suitable than the official Russian translation,
established by the distribution. In the end, we made some conclusions about
the difficulties we were confronted with during our work. So, we have revealed
several difficulties of movie titles translation:
- The difficulty
to choose the convenient translation between many synonymic variants
- The difficulty
when the Russian variant is absolutely changed to make it closer to the
target audience
- The difficulty
when the Russian translation is adapted to the audience by the help of
Russian language set-expressions, which are more understandable by these
people
- The difficulty
when the official translation isn’t so much suitable as one of the
possible translation variants
- The difficulty
when the official Russian translation differs in style in language from
the original one
- The difficulty
when the film title translation doesn’t coincide with the genre of the
original film title, and it must be adapted to this particular genre by
some modifications
Consequently,
by our research we achieved our goal to discover the difficulties in
translation film titles from English into Russian. Now, already knowing these
difficulties, we may produce a qualitative translation of foreign film titles.
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