Abstract: This paper aims to talk about translation of English film titles from the perspective of Skopostheorie and commercial effect. Skopostheorie is a kind of translation theory, put forward by a German scholar, Hans Vermeer. The focus of the theory is that translation strategies and methods are mainly decided by the skopos(purpose)of the translation. While English film title translation is not only transition of the language, but also a kind of commercial behavior, with the purpose of earning much commercial profit. From this perspective we can come to a conclusion that the skopos of English film title translation is the commercial effect. And in order to achieve this purpose, something must be done to attract the potential audience to see the film, which needs translators to conform to such three other translation principles as informative, cultural, and aesthetic principles other than the commercial principle, which should be the dominant in guiding the English film title translation. And this paper will also introduce four main translation methods: transliteration, literal translation, liberal translation, and creative translation.
Key words: film title translation; Skopostheorie; commercial effect; translation method
摘要:本文旨在从目的论与商业效应的角度去谈英文电影名的翻译。目的论是德国学者弗米尔提出的一种翻译理论，其核心概念是翻译过程中最主要的因素是整体翻译行为的目的，也就是翻译目的决定了翻译手段。而英文电影名的翻译，它既是一种语言的转换，更是一种商业性行为，以谋求市场效益和商业利润为目的。所以我们可以将电影名翻译的目的归结为商业效益。而为了实现商业效益这一目的，必须努力打动潜在的观众，促成其观赏行为，这就需要在翻译电影名的时候遵从信息原则，文化原则和审美原则。以商业原则为主，其他三个原则为辅去指导英文电影名的翻译。而具体的翻译手段或方法本文主要介绍了音译、直译、意译、增译和创译五种翻译方法。
关键词:电影名翻译；目的论；商业效应; 翻译方法
