Why do film titles usually adopt transliteration?

No matter what kind of headlines, they need to be precise and concise, even English news headlines. For news, headlines are often representative, and the content of articles is often reflected by headlines. A concise title can attract people's attention at the first time. After knowing the title, people will probably understand the main content of the news, which can also effectively improve the speed of news browsing. Compared with the general style, English titles have many characteristics, and there are also many problems to be paid attention to in editing and translation, especially in the translation stage. Only by choosing appropriate methods to complete translation according to the characteristics of English titles can readers understand the original meaning of English titles. Therefore, it is necessary to study the characteristics of English news headlines and do a good job in translation.

Keywords: English news headline translation

Classification number of China Library: H3 15.9 Document ID: A document number:1672-1578 (2016) 02-0031-02.

1 Introduction

In modern society, the contact between countries is more and more frequent, and the application of language is indispensable in communication. In this case, English has become a global communication tool and the second language that China people mainly learn. In order to learn English well, English teachers provide students with a variety of learning methods, and reading English news is one of them. Reading English news can not only make students' thoughts keep up with fashion, but also reduce the bondage of campus English to students and broaden their horizons. News headlines are often extracted from news content and have strong generality, so are English news headlines.

2 Main features of English news headlines

2. 1 Lexical Features of English News Headlines

2. 1. 1 words are short and vivid.

News headlines often play an important role in attracting people's attention in news reports. News headlines are excerpts from news reports, which are general. Before reading news content, people always start with news headlines, which can not only arouse readers' interest in reading, but also understand the main news reports. Especially newspapers and magazines, the news content should be highly summarized and the capital investment should be reduced. Therefore, how to reflect the highlights of news headlines and optimize news content in a limited space has become the most important issue for modern English news writers. Usually, the author will adopt the following methods in title editing: First, stick to short and vivid words. In order to express all the news contents in a limited space, it is necessary to simplify the news headlines. When editing news headlines, the staff will choose nouns, phrases, etc. as the title content. In order to reduce the layout, the staff will not add function words, verbs, etc. At the same time, nouns occupy an absolute position in many English news headlines. Nouns in news headlines need to play a variety of roles, usually in the form of verbs and adjectives. It is precisely because the nouns used have more functions that we should fully understand the true meaning of titles in translation. Second, the news headlines are vivid. For news content, the most important thing is the title. The more vivid the title, the more it can attract readers' attention and stimulate readers' interest in reading. Therefore, when editing the headlines, the staff will apply new words to them, which will make the headlines more in line with readers' interests and enhance the attention of the news.

2. 1.2 is grammatical.

By studying English news headlines, we can know that their grammar is different from conventional grammar, which often brings people a sense of nonstandard, which is the most important feature of news headline grammar. At the same time, when using voice, active voice is often more than passive voice. The reason for this arrangement is to strengthen readers' trust in news content. In addition, when editing English titles, articles such as "the" will be omitted. Through research, it is found that "the" hardly appears in English titles; Only a few articles such as "An" are kept.

2. The phrase1.3 is widely used.

Through research, it is found that some small words and phrases are often used in English news headlines, and people will call them news words. For news words that are mainly small words and clauses, they should be both general and vivid. In English news headlines, small words are used relatively frequently, such as "ban", which is mainly used to replace "taboo". These small words are used in news headlines to help readers acquire new knowledge, such as move, which is generally used instead of plan.

2. 1.4 Pay attention to the application of rhetorical devices

In order to make headlines more attractive, rhetorical devices are used when editing news headlines. For example, in the title "Thank God for Brussels", metonymy is used. The original meaning of this sentence is to express "the EU is saved". However, as Brussels is the headquarters of the European Union, Brussels is used instead of the European Union. This arrangement is to make readers interested in the news content and leave a deep impression in their minds. Similarly, the famous American "Time" magazine also appeared such a title. For example, the title "as popular as Asian flu" is translated as "Wall Street is infected with Asian flu". Through such a title, readers can also understand that the impact of the Wall Street stock market crash on the whole world is as serious as when the financial crisis broke out in Asia, which shows how serious the impact of a small Wall Street is. We use this humorous way to tell people about the impact of the American financial crisis.

2.2 Syntactic features of English news headlines

2.2. 1 Application of the present tense

For English, there are present tense, past tense and future tense, but in English news headlines, the present tense is the main tense, which mainly makes the news real-time, makes readers feel that it was reported at the first time when the news happened, and creates an immersive feeling for readers. For example, the report on the train collision titled "Two People Died in Train Collision" used the present tense to enhance the timeliness and freshness of information.

2.2.2 Application of ellipsis and simple sentences

Adding news columns to newspapers and periodicals is limited in space, so news styles are required to show high expansibility and rigor in grammar, and then concentrate information in space. At present, in English news headlines, it is common practice to apply appositive words and participle phrases to sentences and expand simple sentences appropriately. Sometimes parenthesis is used to replace clauses and optimize sentence structure.

2.3 Language style

English title editing is often influenced by language style. News publications belong to the most important mass media and have a wide audience, so the use of headline language should conform to readers' reading habits. Secondly, because western publishing houses pay more attention to interesting reading, it is required to pay attention to the integration of interest when editing book titles. At the same time, concise language should be used when editing the title to save space. Only by combining popularity, interest and conciseness can we truly reflect the characteristics of English news headlines.

3 translation methods of English news headlines 3. 1 literal translation and free translation

The so-called literal translation method is to directly translate the contents of English news headlines, and the meaning of the original text can be fully displayed after literal translation. For example, if the title "China's exports to the United States have doubled" is directly translated, it means "China's exports to the United States have doubled", which can basically fully express the original meaning and make the translation more original. Free translation mainly focuses on rhetorical devices in English news headlines, such as metonymy and metaphor. If rhetorical devices are found in the translation of English news headlines, free translation should be applied to make the headlines accurately summarize the news content, fully express the author's feelings, and make the content of the article consistent with Chinese expression. For example, the English title "Some Kids Are orchids" is literally translated as "Some children are orchids", but this title will make readers unknown so, so the translator will translate it into "Reflection on a bloody case", which reflects the main content of the article. Personification rhetoric is sometimes used in English news headlines, so personification words are needed in translation. For example, in Courage without Gender, its original meaning is "Courage without gender", but it is best translated into "Courage without gender" in actual translation. This kind of translation can not only express the true meaning of English, but also integrate the characteristics of China into it, thus fully demonstrating the characteristics of the two languages.

3.2 transliteration

For transliteration, English film titles are translated into Chinese according to the pronunciation of English words, which is very similar to the transliteration of foreign words. For example, the English abbreviation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and many staff members will use "Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries" instead when translating. This is transliteration. Similarly, the word "Dink", which has been popular in previous years, also belongs to transliteration. Transliteration is often used in translation, which can not only narrow the translation space, but also broaden readers' horizons. Many foreign products used in people's daily life are also the result of transliteration, such as McDonald's, Sprite and Sony's products. IELTS and TOEFL in the study abroad exam also belong to the category of transliteration. It can be seen that transliteration is also a common translation method in modern English translation.

In the application of transliteration, we should follow the principles of unified norms, conventions and natural selection. Among them, the principle of unified norms refers to translation in accordance with national regulations. For example, when translating names, we should pay attention to unity and reduce confusion. "Prince William" should be translated into Prince William, so that readers can know who this person refers to. If Prince William is translated into Prince William, readers will not be sure whether it refers to the British Crown Prince. Similarly, under the influence of convention, it is necessary to know the names of specific historical figures in the translation stage. For example, if the name "Sun Yat-sen" is found in the translation, the translator will be at a loss if he doesn't know that it is a transliteration of Sun Yat-sen in Cantonese. Therefore, he should pay more attention to understanding history and mastering transliteration skills in translation. At the same time, we should also attach importance to natural selection, which also paves the way for good translation. For example, transliteration, Mr. Lin Yutang once translated the word "humor" into humor, which has spread to this day, showing the far-reaching influence of transliteration.

3.3 Add comments during literal translation

Abbreviations are often used in English titles to reduce the title space, but they are still used when translated into Chinese. If readers don't understand abbreviations, it will increase the reading difficulty. Therefore, it is necessary to add notes to literal translation to help readers understand and express the true meaning of the original text. For example, for WTO and UFO, if some readers don't know what they mean, they should take notes on literal translation. Sometimes in English title editing, some people's occupations or titles will be abbreviated, which also requires translators to add notes when translating, such as PM for prime minister and CEO for executive director, which need to be marked. In addition, adding annotations to literal translation can also fully show the meaning of the original text in translation. For example, when translating the sentence "Take pagan symbols and the eagle as Jupiter", you should add notes. The original meaning of this sentence is "the symbol of pagan-referring to Jupiter with eagle", but many people don't know who Jupiter is. When adding notes, it should be stated that "Jupiter is the ruler of God in Roman mythology, just like the Jade Emperor in ancient China mythology", so that readers can know the true meaning of the author's expression without losing its original flavor and being easy to understand.

3.4 Indirect translation

Indirect translation usually occurs when literal translation cannot correctly express the background and feelings of the original news. At the same time, it is found that the translated text does not conform to the thinking habits of China people, and it is difficult to meet the needs of reading. To do this, indirect translation is needed. Under the influence of this translation method, readers can understand the author's true meaning and gain emotional experience. In addition, in indirect translation, we should also pay attention to the special meanings of special words in news. For example, in English news, "dove" should be translated into "dove" instead of "dove", and the word "egg" should not be translated into "Grenade". These words have special meanings in news, which will lead to jokes if they are not recognized in translation. In translation, we should also pay attention to the news significance of some new words. Even if some words have similar meanings in translation, they will have different meanings in different positions. For example, "Shuo" can be found in actual translation and sometimes stands for "recognition".

(Acknowledge) has the same meaning, but it often has the same meaning as "ask". Therefore, we should pay attention to the true meaning of these special words in different contexts.