淺談英文電影片名的翻譯 i. introduction?with the increase in cultural exchanges between china and the rest of the world, especially with the western countries, the movie has gradually stood out as an important media of communication in its own right.movie titles are always the first thing that the audience comes to know about new movies. thus a right choice of movie title translation is of great importance to the successful release of a movie. a properly-translated english movie title into the tl can fulfill the following functions：1. providing information about the story for the audience by summarizing the main plot, revealing the theme, or offering some clue.2. adding attraction to the movie and stimulating the audiences interest and desire for viewing.3. saving trouble for the cinema, the audience, film reviewers and other research workers in their publicity, choice of viewing, comments and studies.as a branch of non-literary translation, the translation of english movie titles, like many other forms of non-literary translation, has not yet received due attention despite their importance. peter newmark has called on the translators to bring their attention to?“two underplayed aspects of translation”, one of which is?“the approach to non-literary translation.” nida also called for more attention to exploring new fields in translation.this paper, based on an analysis of the present situation of english movie title translation and the characteristics of english movie titles, will introduce principles and techniques of english movie title translation.ii. present situation of english movie title translationdespite the importance of movie titles, translators have not paid enough attention to their translation. the present situation of english movie title translation allows of no optimism.a. only a few good renderingsthere have been very few good renderings since english movies first landed in china. whenever we refer to good renderings, it is always the few titles that jump into our mind immediately-waterloo bridge（魂斷藍橋）, the bathing beauty（出水芙蓉）, sound of music（音樂之聲）, legend of the fall（燃情歲月）, madison county bridge（廊橋遺夢）,a walk in the clouds(云中漫步)，etc.?among these renderings, many were translated decades ago, such as the first three. in recent years, there are relatively fewer good renderings while there are more crude ones misleading the public.b. mistranslationmistranslation of movie titles is mainly caused by the following factors1. lacking a comprehensive view of the story“a title is best left untranslated until the rest of the assignment is completed.”1 as for a movie title, it is best left untranslated until the translator watches the movie and fully understands the story. only with a comprehensive view of the story, can he make a right and the best choice among many possible renderingssample 1-1 the silence of the lambs（沉默的羔羊）anyone with a modest knowledge of english will translate it into“羔羊的沉默”rather than?“沉默的羔羊”.and the movie does tell something about the silence, not the lambs. but it is ironical that the?“wrong” version sounds more appealing than the?“right” one, and has enjoyed high popularity since its coming into being.sample 1-2 the cable guy（王牌特派員）on seeing this title, the audience may mistake it as an espionage film. it also has two other renderings“線鬼衰人”and“有線電視狂”, both of which may leave an impression of horror films. but actually it is a very touching story about seeking for friendship despite jim carreys exaggerated act in it. maybe another rendering, replacing the misleading“特派員”with“安裝員,-王牌安裝員”is better.sample 1-3 bad company（壞蛋公司）the translation sounds not bad, but it is completely irrelevant to the story. it is about a man who has to?“play” his twin brother, an agent having died in his unfinished mission. another rendering“最差搭檔”or“臨時特工”may be better for the story.2. misunderstanding of cultural informationculture is?“the way of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means of expression.”(newmark, 2001:94)2 there is usually cultural information in movie titles. if the translator is not aware of it or misunderstands it, he is likely to mistranslate the title.sample 1-4 american beauty（美國美人/美國麗人）the mainland and the hk versions both have made a mistake in taking the literal meaning of beauty. according to the american heritage dictionary?(william morris, 1980:42)3?“american beauty” is a type of rose bearing large, long-stemmed purplish-red flowers. and the rose is a profound image in the oscar winner of the best picture in 2001, so the taiwan version“美國心，玫瑰情”seems more to the point.sample 1-5 first wives club（大老婆俱樂部）“大老婆is not the chinese equivalent to?“first wife”; rather it may offer a wrong indication that there are“