Abstract:An English song is an important way for the Chinese audience to understand and appreciate the western cultures. With an excellent Chinese title, the English song can be better understood by the Chinese audience and widely spread in China. Because of the difference of religions, habits and customs, the Chinese audience may have different aesthetic standard towards a translated title of a foreign song. It is not an easy job to translate the titles of English songs into Chinese conforming to the rules of grammar as well as the aesthetic habits of Chinese. In the current situation, most translators only focus on the lyrics translation. They do not consider the translation on the titles of the English songs as an individual part of the translation studies which makes the translation in this area standstill.
This dissertation sets the title translation as an individual part of translation and aims to get better known about the translation of titles of English songs by analyzing the existing problems and putting forward of some solutions. This study expounds the necessity and difficulties of the Chinese translation on the titles of English songs by analysing the existent problems in this area and principles of the unity, simplicity, musicality and artistry and commercialism that should be paid attention to, and put forward the methods in terms of the form, pronunciation and the meaning.
Key Words：titles of songs; English-Chinese translation; cultural difference; principle; method
摘要:英语歌曲是认识和了解西方文化的一个重要方式。一个朗朗上口的中文译名能让一首英文歌曲更好地为中国听众所接受，并提高其在中国地区的传唱度。因为宗教、习惯、及文化的差异，中国的听众对于西方传入的歌曲的名称会有着不同的审美标准。英汉两种语言的各有各自的特殊魅力，将具有西式美感的歌曲名称汉译成符合中国语言特性和美感的中文名称并非易事。而在现今的歌曲翻译领域中，大多将注意力集中在歌词的翻译中，没有将歌曲名称的翻译作为独立的研究对象,这让歌曲名称翻译一直停滞不前。
本文将歌曲名称的翻译作为翻译类别中独立的一门，从分析现在存有的问题以及提出翻译的策略来了解歌曲名称的翻译。本研究中探讨了英语歌曲名称翻译的必要性，分析了其中的汉译难点以及这个领域现在所存在的问题，并且提出在汉译时需要从“直观”、“简洁”、“音乐性”、“艺术性”和“商业性”的汉译原则上加以考虑，以及在“形、音、意”上所需注意的翻译策略。
关键词: 歌名；汉译；文化差异；原则；策略
