Peculiarities of the translation of English film titles into the Ukrainian language

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Oles Honchar Dnipro national university

Department of English language for non-philological specialities

Peculiarities of the translation of English film titles into the Ukrainian language

Novikova O.V., PhD in Philol., Ass. Prof.

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to identify the features and strategies of translating the titles of English-language films. The article presents materials on the topic of research in the field of translation theory, the task of which is to establish the relationship between the title and the content, to determine the adequacy of the translation of film titles from English to Ukrainian.

Currently, the role of the film industry is gaining more and more importance in popular culture. Every year, hundreds of films are released worldwide, the task of which is to broadcast the unique point of view of the author, his personal position, express his own feelings about this or that social problem, appeal to the personal point of view and, undoubtedly, to choose certain benefits from the results of his work. Foreign films allow the audience to learn something new about the people and culture of the countries involved in the production of films. Since the film title plays a significant role in conveying and understanding the film, as well as explaining the information presented in it, this interaction with the viewer is possible if the title of the film is well worded, and therefore the translator should be as careful as possible when translating the film title. The title of a feature film performs both an informative and a marketing function: by the title, the viewer understands the content and essence of the film, and thanks to this, makes a decision about whether to watch it. Therefore, it is important to preserve the idea and functions of the original title during translation.

The most common translation strategy used when translating movie titles from English to Ukrainian is direct translation, and in most cases, direct translation provides the most adequate translation. When translating movie titles from English into Ukrainian, the difficulty is created by the mismatch of grammatical structures in the source language and the target language. For the translation of such grammatical structures, lexical-grammatical transformations are most often used. Another difficulty that arises during the translation of movie titles is the lack of equivalent vocabulary and realities. Full lexical-semantic replacement is most often used to translate names containing non-equivalent vocabulary and realia.

Key words: translation of the film title, translation method, title, language unit, transformation.

Анотація

Особливості перекладу англомовних назв фільмів українською мовою

Новікова О.В., к. філол. н., доцент кафедри англійської мови для нефілологічних спеціальностей, Дніпровський національний університет імені Олеся Гончара

The relevance of the problem

Currently, the film industry occupies one of the leading positions in mass culture of any country. Feature films are produced in order to entertain, educate and inspire the viewer. Foreign films give the audience an opportunity to learn something new about the people and culture of the countries involved in their production. Thus, the title of the movie not only plays an important role in conveying its meaning, but also describes the peculiarities of mindset of this or that nation.

The correct formulation of the film's title is one of the conditions for the viewer's understanding of the plot and the idea of the film picture. When translating the titles of films for intercultural and in general international broadcasting, the translator must be able to transform them in order to ensure that film is adequately understood by representatives of other linguistic cultures. Concerning this problem, translation of film titles is not only a great material for exploring types of equivalence, interference, linguistic errors, but also an interesting source for identifying and comparing translation trends from the point of translation strategy's view.

Film is considered to be an important art form, in which visual elements don't need any translation, giving the movie a universal power of communication. Any movie can become internationally attractive, especially with the help of dubbing or subtitling that translate the dialogues of all heroes of the film. But first of all exactly the title of a film must be catchy and undoubtedly must attract. That's why the translation of film's title mustn't give a place to its original.

The topic of this article is relevant and will never lose its relevance, as many films are released, dubbed and translated annually. So accordingly, the necessity of film titles translation only rises. People form and complement their impression of a particular country through what they have seen, and they do not always wonder whether what they've seen fully corresponds to reality or not. This research is very important for anyone who cares about the correctness of his or her own outlook towards foreign cinematography and adequacy of our domestic translation of such cinematography.

Analysis of last researches and publications. Translation is one of the most ancient professions in the world. There has always been an interest in translation activities, as it was a kind of necessity in order to interact with other people and cultures. This interest is considered as one of the valid points even today, when interlingual communication plays a huge role. To emphasize the importance of this process, it is worth referring to the statement of the famous German philologist, one of the founders of linguistics as a science, Wilhelm Humboldt. He stated that through the diversity of languages, the richness of the world and the diversity of what we learn in human being becomes wider for us. Translation activity and interlingual communication are two concepts that are interconnected with each other. Interlingual communication is called “adequate mutual understanding of two participants in a communicative act belonging to different national cultures” [2].

Translation is the result of translation activities. However, it is considered to separate the translation into two interrelated meanings. Where translation appears both as a process of the translator's work and as a result of his activities. The translation process itself is a complex activity that affects various aspects of linguistic and psychophysiological human activity.

The translation of the title of any film is tightly bound with the culture of country, which produced this film. According to the famous American linguist, Sapir, language does not exist outside of culture that is, outside the socially inherited set of practical skills and ideas that characterize our way of life [3].

The problem of the relationship between language and culture has traditionally been included in the interests of linguists. However, in recent decades the concept of “culture” has become more and more widely interpreted. Replacing the understanding of culture as a set of material and spiritual achievements of civilization came an expanded interpretation of the term, which includes all the peculiarities of historical, social and psychological phenomena characterizing exact ethnic group, its traditions, values, views, institutions, behavior, life, living conditions - in short, all sides of its being and consciousness.

The purpose of the research is to explore the basic strategies, methods and techniques for translating films titles and to identify the most important factors that cause the choice of a particular translation strategy.

Presentation of main material of the research

According to their iconic nature, film titles comprise a special category of proper names. The most important function of film titles is an informative function that includes an advertising function and the function of influence on a viewer. The film titles differ from each other and from other elements of language with their concise structure and they also show peculiarities that are considered to be common for independent units of language [5]. The stylistic function of the film titles is bound with its commercial side and the impact of marketing. Stylistically labeled film titles are those titles whose expressiveness is achieved through linguistic means of different levels.

The title of film performs some very important functions for film itself, which could not be realized in the absence of it. First of all, the title of film identifies the film. It means that without film title any conversation about the cinema would be impossible, the work of the entire film industry would be extremely difficult, since the designation of the film is necessary at all stages of film production - from the top line in the script to the title in the magazine or the Internet portal. Secondly, it is impossible to advertise and promote film without film title. Furthermore, titles help us understand the endless stream of reviews, trailers, articles, news concerning exact film. Moreover, titles help us structure information about cinematography and everything related to it. Thus, the title is a mean of directing the audience's perception of the film in one direction or another, or just in necessary direction.

The translation of the film is always accompanied by some difficulties not only linguistic but also technical, which affects the degree of equivalence and adequacy of the translation of the original, as well as its technical implementation on screen. The title of film gives the first information that the viewer receives about the tape. Already judging the title, the viewer decides to view or not to view the tape. A kind of intrigue, a semantic content, the mystery lies precisely in the title. Therefore, the translation of the film title is extremely important. Besides, it is one of the new problems that translator faces during the process of translation.

To achieve the desired success, the translator needs not only excellent command of foreign and native languages, but also extralinguistic knowledge. In addition, the translator should have good creative skills and intuition. It is the duty of each translator to pay attention to the smallest and invisible details, to be sensitive in the selection of information, to study a foreign culture, to fulfill the professional mission of the translator, to transfer not only the words and ideas of the text of translation, but also the color of cultural life people.

While doing so, the final variant of the translation must be perceived by the recipient of that culture. Thus, the translator must achieve the same impact on the recipient by the translated text that renders the original text [4]. Sometimes it happens when the film title seems to be translated correctly, and it is difficult to find more successful translation, but there is a feeling of discomfort as if something is “wrong”. This is the case when the mistake is in the absence of opportunity to keep the stylistic unity of the original title and its translated analogue. In other words, the style of the translated film title does not correspond to the style of the original title [2]. The peculiarities of language are of a great interest for different translation researches, directly or indirectly due to the culture of native speakers, their mindset. Similar features can be found at different levels of linguistic structure, in the rules of verbal communication, in the ways of describing reality etc.

Representatives of one culture are confronted with the characteristics of other cultures when interacting directly with the native speakers of those cultures within or outside the country, or while receiving relevant information, either verbally or in writing, from screen, newspaper pages, literary works and other sources. One source that has become widespread in the modern world is translation. Revealing the originality and diversity of cultural values, customs and traditions, translations contribute to understanding and mutual respect, enriches the culture of each nation, makes a great contribution to the development of its language, literature, science and technology.

Transformations that are pragmatically conditioned usually aim at achieving in the text of translation a communicative effect that will be equivalent to that which can be detected in the original text. As a result of these transformations, the pragmatic value of the initial unit is preserved, while the semantic and syntactic values can be completely or partially changed.

Undoubtedly, the translation of the title of the film is a complex and demanding process, where the translator acts as an intermediary between the text in the source language and the target language. In this regard, we can say that the translator must take into account the specifics of the receiving environment, mainly cultural aspects, as well as take into account the differences between the two languages, such as grammatical, lexical and stylistic differences.

To demonstrate the importance and basic function of a movie title, it is necessary to refer to the initial concept of a title. It is a known fact that each researcher interprets this or that concept from the point of view of his individual vision. adequacy translation of title english film ukrainian

Studying different classifications of transformations, one may observe that there are certain techniques, the most common ones being rearrangement, addition and omission which are employed in the process of translation.

The word order of an English sentence is fixed, the order of parts of the sentence is determined by the rules of syntax whereas in Ukrainian it is not so. Rearrangement is applicable, for instance, when there is a compound subject in the sentence.

English sentences are usually more compressed than Ukrainian ones. Thus they require fuller expression of thought. Many elements of the content staying unexpressed in the original must be expressed in the translation with the help of additional lexical units. Additional elements are especially urgent while translating attributive word groups: e.g. white schools - школи для білих, white jury - суд присяжних, що складається лише з білих.

The technique of omission is opposite to addition. The translator usually omits semantically redundant words, i.e., words expressing the meanings which can be easily understood from the context. The example of such redundancy is the usage of the so-called “pair synonyms” - words whose meanings are close. It is not characteristic of the Ukrainian language. Thus, in the process of translation one of the synonyms, as a rule, is omitted: just and equitable treatment - справедливе ставлення.

Despite numerous classifications based upon different criteria, the majority of linguists agree upon the division of translator's transformations into gramma tical, lexical and complex lexico-grammatical ones.

The grammatical structure of English differs from the one of Ukrainian. The Ukrainian and English languages have common grammatical features. It is explained by their belonging to the Indo-European family and is shown in possessing common grammatical meanings, categories and functions, for example: the category of number (for nouns), the category of the degree of comparison (for adjectives), the category of tense (for the verb). The word order in English is stable, fixed in comparison with relatively free one in Ukrainian. The Ukrainian language is synthetical. Either coincidences or non-coincidences in the grammatical categories of both languages cause grammatical transformations. The factors which influence the applicability of grammatical transformations are the following: syntactical function of clauses, lexical aggregate, sense structure, the context (environment) of the sentence, its expressive-stylistic function.

The specifics of the translation, which distinguishes it from all other types of linguistic mediation, is that it is intended for the full replacement of the original text and that the recipients of the translation consider this transformation to be completely identical to the original text. However, it is not difficult to make sure that the absolute identity of the translation of the original text is unreachable and that it does not at all impede the implementation of interlingual communication.

The translation of the title of any film is tightly bound with many factors. Among them are the culture of country, which produced the film, pragmatic influence on the film understanding and the quality of translation. The problem of the relationship between language and culture has traditionally been included in the interests of linguists. While the practice of translation is always a work of adaptation, the cultural factors are applied when it comes to translating of film titles from one foreign language into other.

From pragmatic point of view the title of a film is supposed to summarize and condense a two-hour movie. Particular attention should be paid to the pragmatic effect of the film's title, as the success and perception of the film depends on it. That's why the choice of translation strategy is often the subject of a long investigation. It is evident that lingua-cultural background plays an important role in the translation of film titles as it does the commercial component. A title has to attract the attention of the people if it wants to have a success in business.

Translation allows cross-cultural communication, but it should take the cultural elements, logic, mentality, lingua-cultural background and cognition of them into account. In order to overcome the translation problems a translator must use his/her full intellectual capacity, creativity, curiosity, intuition, resourcefulness, translation methods and strategies.

Translation is a kind of communication between two cultures and it should strive to transmit the cultural information and emotions carried by the original title but, at the same time, it should ensure that no misunderstanding or offense is carried over the target community. It is inevitable that the final product is, to a certain extent, conditioned by the target language cultural conventions and beliefs.

The first popular strategy, concerning translation of film titles, is a direct translation. As a rule, this strategy applies to film titles that usually don't have sociocultural components, which are difficult to translate. Direct translation is considered to be the most accurate and adequate, and is regularly used if the film title consists of its own name or includes it in its composition. Titles that consist of a simple phrase or a word with a direct or universal metaphorical meaning can also be translated literally.

The differences between the original and translated films relate to the morphological or syntactic features of the language systems, but there is no significant lexical, grammatical and semantic transformation in such translation. In some cases, the translated title of the film is more accurate than the original because of the grammatical capabilities of the language. This strategy also includes translation techniques such as transliteration and transcription that do not have inner form. In the process of selecting the titles of the films for study and analyzing them, this strategy was found to be the most popular translation strategy.

Moreover, the first strategy is based on the direct translation of the English-language film titles into the desired language. Basically, such a strategy suits the titles of films, where there are no cultural-specific components, exotisms and no conflict of form and content. There are quite a few examples of direct translation strategies. These are:

• “It” - “Воно”

• “The Dark Tower” - “Темна вежа”

• “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” - “Король Артур: Легенда меча”

• “Life ” - “Життя”

• “Seven Sisters” - “Сім сестер”

• “Annabelle: Creation” - “Анабель: Створення”

• “A Dangerous Man” - “Небезпечна людина”

• “Halloween II”- “Хелоуін 2”

• “The Graves” - “Могили”

• “Tooth Fairy” - “Зубна Фея”

Undoubtedly, such proper names carry a certain cultural component, but in translation it becomes irrelevant. For instance, translation of the following film titles:

• “Bronson” - “Бронсон”

• “Hannah Montana: The Movie” - “Хана Монтана: Кіно”

• “Jesse Stone: Thin Ice” - “Джесі Стоун: Тонкий лід”.

Direct translation is widely used in English film titles translation. It remains the content and form of the original as much as possible. It attempts to recreate the precise meaning of the original within the limits of the target language's grammatical structures and to be completely faithful to the intentions of the director. As for English film, direct translation is accessible, if target version corresponds to the original title, then the English film title could use literal translation. It is the most effective method of translation when the source language and target language overlap in function.

Despite the basic requirements facing the translator: preservation of semantic- structural equality and equal communicative-functional properties, there are quite a few cases of changing the names of films during translation. This translation strategy is one of the most popular and requires a lot of effort and creative ability of translators, together with knowledge of the cultural features of both countries.

Sometimes adapted names seem logical, as in the case of “The Bucket List”, which in Ukrainian rolled out with the title “Доки не склеїв ласти”. Another example of a successful adaptation is the Ukrainian title “Форсаж” to the movie “The Fast and Furious”. After reading this name, it becomes clear that the movies are about racing, speed and probably fast sports cars.

But, at the same time, there are many examples of not very successful adaptations. For example, a French movie called “Intouchables” (also in English) in our country was called “1 + 1”. The design of the original title was to portray the two main characters as inviolable, to some extent alienated. Philip, paralyzed by the rich, forgotten by friends alone. Dris is his dark-skinned helper, an immigrant, without much prospects and “supporters”. If the original name traces the storyline and drama, then the Ukrainian version causes associations with the Ukrainian TV channel of the same name.

Another problem in translation is an adaptation of the name of the movie “Blue Valentine”. This case can even be called comic, because in addition to the variant “Сумний Валентин”, in some sources you can find “Блакитний Валентин”. In fact, the film tells the romantic and sad story of the beginning and end of a couple's love, and the end of their married life falls just on Valentine's Day. When you hear Ukrainian names, you might think that this is a comedy.

A prime example of a successful replacement is a movie translation “Fist Fight” as “Махач вчителів”. The essence of the film can be understood from the title itself, because teachers are also people and they may have conflicts, which happened in one of the schools. The translator decided to translate the word “fight” as a “махач”, being characteristic of youth slang, and add the word “вчитель” to make the film more accurate. This method of translation was chosen to engage the youth in watching this comedy film, because suck kind of titles better reflects the essence of the film and focuses on comedy.

Sometimes translators try to convey the content of the movie title in order to prepare the viewer for perception. An example is the film-thriller “Unlocked”, which has been translated not literally but with a slightly broader explanation as “The Secret Agent”. The original translation emphasizes the genre of the film and attracts the attention of thrillers.

The translation of film names that contain proper name is often translated without transformation but with a help of transcription or transliteration. However, translation without transformation is not always universal. Sometimes translators have to resort to complete replacement. So “Ozzy” and films as “Richardthe Stark” were presented as “Велика втеча” and “Пташиний ульот” accordingly in the Ukrainian production. The translators have used a story adaptation that allows potential viewers to imagine the story of the movie and its characters. Transliteration of the name would complicate the perception of the whole film and would not indicate anything.

After the Oscar-winning tape “Silver Linings Playbook” - “Мій хлопець - псих” many people would have noticed that the unpretentious design gained popularity. Movies were also offered to viewers: “Мій хлопець - кілер” instead of literal translation “Містер Досконалість”, because English variant of this film is “Mr. Right”. Other common variants are the following: “Якщо твоя дівчина - зомбі” instead of “Життя після Бет”, which is a translation of English film “Life After Beth”.

This construction was also decided when translating this year's comedy “Colossal”, which was translated “Моя дівчина - монстр” (instead of “Величезний”). In our opinion, the translation is as successful as the title “Моя дівчина - монстр” is intriguing and hints at the film's genre and storyline.

But not always a complete replacement is a good translation of the original name. A very debatable case of using a substitute for translating an English movie title “How to be a single” - “В активному пошуку”, that hit the screens in 2016. A comedic melodrama about the stories of four women who chose to be single. In our opinion, the complete replacement of the name distorts the meaning of the plot, because the tape is not about active search, but about the art of “being alone”. So, the translators had to keep the film's key moment and translate it literally. Other examples representing logic development are:

• “About love” - “Коханий з майбутнього”;

• “Hangover” - “Похмілля у Вегасі”;

• “Identity thief” - “Піймай шахрайку, якщо зможеш”;

• “This is 40” - “Життя по-дорослому”;

• the film “The Other Guys” - “Копи на підхваті”, in which the original name can literally be translated as “Інші хлопці”.

• another film “Four Brothers” - “Кров за кров”: the action- packed “Four Brothers” - “Чотири брати” action movie tells the story of four brothers returning to their hometown for their mother's funeral;

• the film “Die Hard” - “Міцний горішок”. Yes, today, the “Міцний горішок” franchise is a true cult that is starting to get frustrated with every new piece. But at the time of the release of the tape in 1988, “Die Hard” could be translated as “Помри, борючись” or “Незламний”. At that time it would not play a special role;

• “The Guard” - “Ірландець”, because we understand that the plot of this black comedy takes place in Ireland, but the original name is “The Guard”, that is, the “Охорона”. Moreover, the film has two main characters and one of them is not Irish;

• “Inception” - “Початок”: the movie is really interesting and original, but we didn't understand what “Початок” means here. The original tape is called “Inception”, which can be translated as “Впровадження” or “Вкорінення”, that already makes sense.

For instance, the film title “War dogs” was translated into Ukrainian as “Хлопці зі стволами”. There is a term in American culture “war dog”, used to describe non-military personnel, namely, private arms dealers who make money on the periphery of war. A literal translation in this case would be impossible, first of all, because of the difference of national and cultural components. “Пси війни” would sound incomprehensible to the Ukrainian viewer and would create false associations. In this regard, the translator decided to resort to full replacement, adapting the title to the storyline, thus making the film more attractive to the potential viewer. So, in our opinion, translation is apt and appropriate. Sometimes a dramatic change in the name of a translation happens for commercial reasons, that is, for the success of the movie.

The famous film “Kung fu yoga” with Jackie Chan was translated as “Обладунки бога: у пошуках скарбів”. For commercial reasons, the distributors have abandoned the original name “Кунг фу йога” and decide d to speculate on a popular saga “Обладунки Бога”, which made Jackie Chan a world known celebrity and actor. There is nothing in common with the protagonist and the theme of the treasure, the new movie with a legendary trilogy, so some viewers were disappointed as they thought they were buying a ticket to the sequel to their favorite comedy fighter.

Conclusions and prospects of the research

Actually, there is a great amount of translation transformations and strategies to use while translating a particular part of the text or the whole text. If we speak about the translation of film titles, we should mention three main strategies, which are used for film titles translation.

These are literal or so-called direct translation, the title transformation and the logic development. These strategies are pointed out among other ways of translation, because only these three strategies can serve very important for cinematography field function - the commercial one. Direct or literal translation is considered to be the most accurate and adequate, and is regularly used if the film title consists of its own name or includes it in its composition. It is also used when there are unique names of characters in the source language, which shouldn't be changed or transformed in order to keep the originality and attract the audience with its novelty.

Another translation strategy that is called a title transformation. It is presented with some transformations in translation practice: addition, omission, transposition, extension of meaning etc.

Movie is a kind of culture, and it is an economic artwork, the commercial factors need to be considered in the translation of the titles. This requires the translator to grasp the features of the target language culture and aesthetic temperament and interest and to cause its psychological identity, inspire aesthetic pleasure and desire to watch. So, the translation of film names, naturally have a business color. With the great development of the movie field in recent years, the movie is not only merchandise, also owed to the culture communication. But in the meantime, the film is also a type of business product, and it isn't used for collection, it is used to show. The lack of audience of the film was a failure.

The main task of the film is to communicate with his potential consumer and to persuade them to consume. Of course, with what method is depending on the type of subject and the way used by translators. The purpose of film titles is to highlight the content of the film and the audience, to improve the box office. Obviously, in the translation of movie names, translators should base on the ultimate goal of film titles to select the appropriate translation methods.

References

1. Koptilov, V.V. (2003). Teoriia i praktyka perekladu [Theory and practice of translation]. Kyiv: Yunivers, 280 p. [in Ukrainian].

2. Korunets, I.V. (2003). Teoriia i praktyka perekladu (aspektnyi pereklad) [Theory and practice of translation (aspect translation)]. Vinnytsia: Nova Knyha, 448 p. [in Ukrainian].

3. Cherednychenko, O.I. (2007). Pro movu i pereklad [About language and translation]. Kyiv. Lybid, 248 p. [in Ukrainian].

4. Knysh, O.V. (1992). Linhvistychnyi analiz naimenuvan kinofilmiv: avtoref. dys. kand. filol. nauk. [Linguistic analysis of film names: synopsis of a thesis Ph.D. in philol. sciences]. Odessa, 17 p. [in Ukrainian].

5. Nord, C. (1995). Text-Functions in Translation: Titles and Headings as a Case in Point. Target, 7(2), pp. 261-284.

Література

1. Коптілов В.В. Теорія і практика перекладу. Київ: Юніверс, 2003. 280 с.

2. Корунець І.В. Теорія і практика перекладу (аспектний переклад). Вінниця: Нова Книга, 2003. 448 с.

3.Чередниченко О.І. Про мову і переклад. К. Либідь, 2007. 248 с.

4. Книш О.В. Лінгвістичний аналіз найменувань кінофільмів: автореф. дис. канд. філол. наук. Одесса, 1992. 17 с.

5. Nord C. Text-Functions in Translation: Titles and Headings as a Case in Point. Target, 1995. 7(2), pp. 261-284.

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