Cultural issues in translating movie title

 Group 13: Phan Thi Huong 	Van Thi Minh Huong 	Nguyen Thi Thanh Le 	Nguyen Thi Uyen Nhi OUTLINE I) Introduction 	1) Movie industry and the necessity of translating movie titles 	2) Movie title and its functions II. Characteristics of movie titles III. Principles of English movie title translation IV. Suggested translation strategies V. Conclusion VI. Reference I. INTRODUCTION 1) Movie industry and the necessity of translating movie titles a) Movie industry Is developing more than ever before with a series of new films released every year The number of viewers increased Many movie centers appeared b) Necessity of translating movie titles To make it approaches to majority of viewers Help viewers understand the content of movie To solve the barriers in culture when they were exported to other country. Avoid misunderstanding of audience from other cultures all over the world 2) Movie title and its functions: a) Movie title: Movie title is the first thing that the audience want to know about new movies. Movie title summarize the main plot of a film b) Function of movie titles Gives a means for guiding audience’s guess and understanding of the content in a direct or indirect way Provide viewers a certain notion of the film Play an integral part of the film Play a role as an attracter Play a remarkable role in movie’s promotion Takes the keys position on advertisement and posters Title is able to perform various function and covers many aspects of the movie II. CHARACTERISTICS OF MOVIE TITLES 1. Brief and concise Movie titles are often brief and concise. Many of them contain one to three words. The main component is nouns with different types (concrete noun, abstract noun, uncountable noun,…) Living in Fear (Sống trong sợ hãi) Prison Break (Vượt Ngục) The Social Network Mạng Xã Hội Love Story, Star Wars, Sin City, The Mummy, The Lion King, Mùa len trâu, Đất khổ, Người Hà Nội, ect. Just like heaven (Hồn yêu) English movie tittles are also in form of compound noun, abbreviation. For example: Batman, Goldfinger, The Godfather, Heartbreaker, JFK,etc. In form of a sentence, movie titles are also succinct and simple in structure. + Most of them are declarative sentences 	in both affirmative and negative forms. 	E.g: 	 I am Sam Life is beautiful Tomorrow never dies Bà nội không ăn pizza Nhà có nhiều cửa sổ In form of a sentence, movie titles are also succinct and simple in structure. + Most of them are declarative sentences in both affirmative and negative forms. + Some movie titles are imperative ones E.g: Kill Bill 	 Catch me if you can 2. Descriptive - Allusive Movie titles are divided into two categories: + Descriptive titles: capable to provide the audience with a general idea of a story. + Allusive titles: cannot tell the main plot of the movie, but it really relates to the story. Example Catch me if you can a run and chase of a young artist and a FBI agent  descriptive title. (Nếu giỏi hãy bắt tôi): Closer a story involves two couples  allusive title. (Xích lại gần nhau): More descriptive movie titles than allusive ones are found in English movie. On the contrary, Vietnamese movie titles are often allusive. 	E.g: Thung Lũng Hoang Vắng, Ngày Giỗ, Cánh đồng hoang, ect. Due to the linguistic and cultural differences, sometimes translators have to make a choice to translate the original regardless of its allusiveness or to create a new but descriptive one. Bao Giờ Cho Đến Tháng 10 – Journey from the Fall – The Love Doesn’t Come Back Vượt Sóng 3. Containing many proper names In Vietnamese movies, usually only famous people or well-known characters in novels adapted for the movie can have their names as movie titles. E.g: Nguyễn Ái Quốc ở Hồng Kông 	 Chị Dậu 	 Chị Tư Hậu,… English movies do not always follow this way. E.g: Mr & Mrs Smith	 Driving Miss Daisy 	Annie Hall	 Along Came Polly 	Bonnie And Clyde	 Finding Nemo 	Saving Private Ryan,….  These proper names are merely names of characters in the movie. English movie titles also have proper names of settings telling where the story occurs. E.g: Pearl Harbour, Titanic, Casablanca, Manhattan, Notting Hill, Sleepless in Seattle, Wimbledon…  Vietnamese titles share this feature as found in Hà Nội mùa chim làm tổ, Ngã ba Đồng Lộc, Giải phóng Sài Gòn,…. II. Principles of English movie title translation: 1. Faithfulness to the context: The first principle in title translation. The role of context in screen translation now seems crucial. - 	The title should be in either direct or indirect connection with the movie or it should suggest one of the followings: event, plot, actor/actress, theme, place… Example: “Red eye” A newly released thriller movie with stars Rachel Mac Adams ( a young hotel manager) and Cillian Murphy (an elegant terrorist) and they are on the same flight to Miami (1:00 to 4:00AM) “Mắt đỏ” 2. Consideration of movie genres: Comedy 	→humorous, funny, cute Romance →gentle and romantic. Horror 	→scary, threatening or haunting. Ex 1: “ Chicken-run” The name of an animated movie telling the humorous story of a band of chickens. They seek escape from their coop by learning how to fly before their owners make them all into chicken pot pies. “Phi đội gà bay” 3. Cultural awareness. Translation is acculturation and negotiation between two cultures and translation is now culturally oriented. Due to cultural differences between Vietnamese and English, English movie title bears extinctive features of its own and lack of cultural awareness and knowledge will lead to mistranslation. Ex 1: “ Amadeus” It is an incredible story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The title is a proper name If the translators knows that Amadeus is the mid-name of Mozart then he/she will change it into “Mozart” Ex 2: “Murder at 1600” 1600 is a part of the address of the White House (1600 Pennsylvannia Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20500). “Án mạng tại Nhà Trắng” Ex 3: “ American beauty” A type of rose bearing large long-stemmed purplish-red flowers (according to the American Heritage Dictionary Online) “Vẻ đẹp Mỹ” 4.	Combination of commercial and aesthetic effects: Translated titles should be the combination of commercial and aesthetic effects. Titles are in reference to the performance of commercial and advertising functions to call the attention of moviegoers and TV viewers for a large profit. Translators can’t go too far out of the original and the movie. They are expected to polish the title so that it can bring aesthetic feeling to people. In general, a well-translated title will be characterized by two vital ingredients of commercial and aesthetic effects. Examples: “Fever pitch” “Just married” 	 “Head over heels”  these titles show a quite perfect combination of commercial and aesthetic effect. - Cơn sốt tình yêu - Yêu là cưới - Bắt được tình yêu “love” can’t be found in the original ones and “yêu” “tình yêu” appear in translated ones. “love” is one of the “magic words” and the moviegoers will prefer to see “yêu là cưới” to “Mới cưới”. Employing the magic word is the art of commercial effect oriented-translation. IV. SUGGESTED TRANSLATION STRATEGIES 1. Keeping the original This way is employed when movie titles are proper nouns such as names of characters and places (settings), especially ones that are familiar to the majority requiring no further explanation. Example: Character names: 	-Tom and Jerry 	- Romeo and Juliet Setting names : 	 - Chicago 	 - Titanic 2. Literal translation Literal translation refers to the result of translating text from one language to another; translating each word independently. It is sometimes known as word-for-word translation One of the most common and simplest ways in title translation Example “Finding Nemo” → “Tìm kiếm Nemo” “Singing in the Rain” → “Hát trong mưa” “Sleeping with the Enemy” → “Ngủ với kẻ thù ” 3. Explication Explication means to add some more details to the title so that it is understandable and clear It is a translation technique of clarification, explanation or interpretation, under which additional details must be taken from the movie Example “Shrek” 	→ “Shrek – gã chằn tinh tốt bụng” “Sleeping Beauty” 	→“Nàng công chúa ngủ trong rừng” 4. Adaptation 	Adaptation is to change, to adjust or to modify some unique factors to the source-language (English) so that they are understandable to the readers of target language (Vietnamese) Example “Die hard” 	 → “Tử thủ” “The perfect storm” 	 →“Cơn bão kinh hoàng” 5. Providing a new title Translators are free to select a new title that fits the movie plot, which depends on their own style Translators are not bound by linguistic hindrances Translators’ creativeness and imagination can work the best Example “Kramer vs. Kramer” 	→“Gà trống nuôi con” “Must love dogs” 	→“Điều kiện cho một tình yêu” REFERENCES