Discussion On English Film Title Translation Guided By Skopos Theory

With the development of Chinese film market, an increasing number of foreign films are releasing in our mainland and as a result, each week there is going to be an American film showing in every cinema of China. A good translation of a film title would do better not only in presenting information and beauty, but also in arousing people’s interests in the film. Hence the film title translation is of great importance, which urges us to construct a set of comprehensive theory system in film title translation, so as to enhance the film culture communication between China and the western countries.Based on Hans Vermeer’skopos theory and adopted documentary collection and summary of experience as its research methods, this thesis aims to study features of the film title translation and find out proper tactics accordingly. According to the research, unlike traditional translation practices, the translation of film title emphasizes more on its commercial profits. Therefore, the traditional equivalence theory can’t play a good role in it any more. Vermeer’s skopos theory stresses more on the purpose of translation. Under such theory, translation is a goal-directed practice based on original text, and follows a series of principles, of which the purpose of translation is taken into first consideration. This thesis, making a study of different film title translation, is to test the advantages of skopos theory in guiding film title translation; provide a reference for the following theory research, and enhance the development of China’s film title translation.