2。2 Reflection of Functional Equivalence in Film
As mentioned in above paragraphs, functional equivalence includes four parts: lexical, sentence, passage and style。
Lexical equivalence is like literal translation。 During the period of translating an English film title, it is easy to translate the words and then the whole phrase。 Lexical equivalence is one of the most commonly used methods translating English film titles into Chinese。 Using lexical equivalence is to produce the form and content of the original titles in terms of the respective characteristics of English and Chinese。 For example, Million Dollar Baby《百万美元宝贝》，Mystic River《神秘河》，A Beautiful Mind《美丽心灵》and Horry Potter《哈利波特》。 In addition, the disadvantages and advantages can also be found in this translation method。
In the process of English film title translation, lexical equivalence has the merits of maintaining the form and information of the original film titles。 It helps keep the original structure and the exotic flavor。 Therefore, this method is very simple and convenient in actual English film title translation。 However, the differences between Chinese and English lead to problems like ambiguity in meaning, incompatibility between the form of the translated and original content and involvement of cultural elements, all of which are unacceptable to Chinese。 On the other hand, the translated film title may not consistent with the content of the film, for example Yours, Mine, and Ours。 If the film was translated it into 《你的，我的，我们的》by using lexical equivalence, Chinese audience cannot feel anything but feel confused by the three words and their innate linguistic habit would drive them to wonder what the film title is about。 Thus this film title does not convey its essence to the audience。论文网
For the sentence equivalence, an obvious problem is about singular and plural forms in the process of English-to-Chinese translation。 But for English film title, there isn’t a long sentence since film title is always concise。 And the passage equivalence has nothing to do with the film titles translation。
For the style equivalence, it is necessary to have a fluent and good command of English and Chinese。 Only in this way can the style of the original film titles be precisely reproduced in English film title translation。 Besides, different language styles have different cultures。 So translators should take a full consideration of cultural differences。 Otherwise, targeted language will not express the soul and significance of source language。 For instance, Ten Commandments《十诫》，The Seven Heaven《七重天》, Friday the 13th find chapter《十三不祥日》and Friday the 13th part III《大凶日》。
2。3 Cultural Equivalence
As we all know, translation is not only a process of language conversion, but also a process of cultural exchange, thereby the realization of cultural value in film title translation is also an important aspect。 Culture copes with the way people live and films are the reflection and sublimation of people’s lives。 While cultural equivalence means conveying a certain culture, social context and cultural phenomenon to the audience。
Nida pided culture into five categories: ecologic culture, language culture, religious culture, material culture and social culture (Newmark 95)。 Hence, cultural equivalence should embody these aspects in English film title translation。
2。4 An Example of Cultural Equivalence in Film
A good example is the film Cleopatra, which is about Cleoptra, the last Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt who consummated a liaison with Gaius Julius Caesar so as to solidify her grip on the throne and aligned with Mark Antony after Caesar’s assassination。 During her reign, people saw the prosperity and flourish of the ancient Egypt。 It is believed that Cleopatra was the reincarnation and embodiment of the goddess of wisdom。 For westerners, she is a cultural image who stands for beauty, courage, sagacity and legend。 And philosopher Blaise Pascal contends that Cleopatra’s beautiful profile changed world history: “Cleopatra’s nose, had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed。” 英语电影片名汉译中的文化对等(3):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_96088.html