The fate of movie titles in translation

A comparative analysis of translation strategies in title translation

Author: Mia Vestergaard Andersen

Date of hand in: May 5 2010

Supervisor: Nick Wrigly

Number of characters: 53,659

ASB: BA English and German

The fate of movie titles in translation - A comparative analysis of translation strategies in title translation

Mia Vestergaard Andersen My exam no. 287746 BA project English S10

Table of contents

1. Introduction and problem statement p. 1

2. Theory and method p. 3

3. The purpose of movie titles p. 5

3.1 Function and effect p. 5

3.2 The movie genres and the expectations to a title of a certain genre p. 5

4. English as a global cinematic language p. 7

5. Translation strategies p. 9

5.1 The Three-method-model with macrostrategies by Cordero (1987) p. 9

5.2 Microstrategies by Schjoldager (2008) p. 10

5.3 Elaboration of the Three-method-model p. 11

6. Analysis of the source texts and target texts p.13

6.1 Frequently used translation strategies p. 13

6.1.2 Patterns in the genre of romance p. 13

6.1.3 Patterns in the genre of comedy p. 16

6.1.4 Patterns in the genre of children’s movies p. 20

7. The effect of the target texts p. 23

8. The prominent patterns of each movie genre p. 25

9. Conclusion p. 28

10. Abstract p. 30

11. List of references p. 32

12. Appendices p. 34

1. Introduction and problem statement

The title of a movie is an essential first impression determining whether or not the receiver

decides to view the movie. The goal of a title is to give an impression of the action of the movie

while attracting as many viewers as possible. Therefore, it is important that the translation of a

movie title, distributed in a foreign country, has the same effect as the original title and

corresponds with the action of the movie. This is not the case of every translation though, and this

causes misunderstandings in relation to the movie and its audience.

The inspiration to this thesis originates in movie titles that I have been startled with; In these cases

I did not think that the translation of the title corresponded with the effect or meaning of the

original title. By discussing title translations with my friends and people in discussion forums on

the internet, it became clear that some people are dissatisfied with the startling translations.

Some translations seem to be working while others do not, and I am going to endeavour to find

out why that is so.

Furthermore, since the titles that will be analysed, are movie titles from three different genres, I

am also going to look into possible translation patterns within the different genres, and find out

what the cause of the patterns is.

Thus this is going to be an empirical analysis of the different translation strategies used when

translating English movie titles into Danish. Furthermore, the aim of the thesis is to find out, why

the translator chose the translation strategies in question, and if the effects of the source texts are

maintained or lost in the translations. However, I cannot determine this by analysing the

translations, but only by giving my own opinion about the effect of the TTs in connection with the

expectations the target audience is assumed to have.

In continuation of this introduction, the questions I am going to answer are the following:

1 – What happens with the title of an English/American movie when distributed in Denmark?

2 –Are there any translation patterns within each of the different genres and if so, then why?

3 - Is the effect of the source text lost in the translation, in what cases and why?

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To be able to answer these questions I am going to study the chosen movie titles based on a

comparative analysis between source text and target text in relation to the theory of Anne

Cordero’s (1987) Three-method-model and theory on title translation by Christane Nord (1993).

I will use Anne Cordero’s model to simplify and explain the different ways in which a title can be

translated in general, and I will use theory of Anne Schjoldager to elaborate on Cordero’s Three-

method-model to explain translation strategies of the titles in greater detail.

Practical remarks

Throughout the thesis, I will refer to English as well as German sources. In relation to the German

sources I will use the German phrases if a proper translation in English is not applicable. By using

the phrases in the source language I avoid making my own translation, which enables me to focus

on the original meaning of the phrase. This is done to report the statements of the sources with

fidelity. The German phrases in question will be written in clams and followed by the source e.g.

(Akzeptabilität by Nord, 1993: 248).

Furthermore, examples of titles in relation to translation strategies will appear in my theory

section in chapter 5, but they are not considered to be a part of the study. The examples of titles

in the theory are only meant to exemplify the different translation processes concerned. My study

is based on the titles in appendix 1, which is the focus of my thesis.

Moreover, I will be using the abbreviations ST and TT which stands for source text and target text

respectively.

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2. Theory and method

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My intention with this project is to make a comparative analysis between the STs and the TTs to

study the translation strategies used in title translation. The source text data is 30 English movie

titles collected from the Internet Movie Database, imdb.com. For the study I have chosen titles

from three genres, romance, comedy, and children’s movies, to be able to investigate the

translator’s task when translating movie titles of certain movie genres. The information sources of

IMDB are on-screen-credits, interviews, press kits, official bios and autobiographies. Moreover,

70% of the database’s staff is dedicated to check and process the gathered information and its

liability. The database contains 2.3 millions of titles and names of the movie industry, which makes

it one of the largest movie databases on the internet. IMDB has a function that categorises movies

into different genres and with this function I searched for movies listed within the categories in

question. Within each genre I selected ten movie titles that represent the time frame of

distribution 1937-2008 evenly, so that I am able to see if there are changes in the translators’

translation strategies during this period of time.

The target text data is 30 Danish translated versions of the titles in question, collected from a

Danish online DVD database, dvdoo.dk. This Danish database is actually an online movie shop

gathering its information from movie companies and imdb.com, which is why the title information,

found on this site, is reliable. The shop has over 8.500 movies on disposal, with additional

information about the genres of the movies and their original titles.

The chosen movie titles have been distributed in a time period from 1937 to 2008 for the reason

that it would be interesting to see if there are differences between how older and newer movie

titles are translated. The STs and TTs are to be found in a table in the appendix 1.

To be able to make the comparison between the STs and TTs in the first place, I will need to define

the purpose and function of a movie title. In relation to the purpose of a movie title I will also

investigate the target audience’s expectations to a title, to study whether or not the titles in

question live up to these expectations. This is related to what an audience is expecting from a

certain movie genre, which is why a definition of the genres, I will work with, is needed. For the

study I have chosen three different genres to be able to investigate the task of the translator when

translating movie titles of certain movie genres.

The theoretical tool I aim to use in identifying and discussing the differences and similarities of the

STs and TTs, is Anne Cordero’s (1987) model dividing movie title translation in three different

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groups. The aim of this tool is to create an overview over the chosen macrostrategies of the title

translations, which enables me to see whether there are patterns in the translation strategies

within the genres. Furthermore, I will utilise Anne Schjoldager’s (2008) translation strategies by

applying them to the titles translated with Cordero’s translation method no. 3, enabling me to

define and study the used strategies in greater detail. In my analysis I aim to present and evaluate

the patterns that may appear and discuss the effect of the target texts. Finally, the analysis will also

present the reasons for the choice of translation strategies, concluding in an estimation of the

patterns, translation strategies, and the effect of the target texts in relation to the problem

statement in chapter 1.

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3. The purpose of movie titles

3.1 Function and effect

The placement of movie titles is privileged and prioritised as the title of a movie is the most visual

of a movie’s promotional features; it is displayed on posters, in announcements, and commercials

a long time before the movie runs in the cinema. To conclude on the above, the function of a film

title is to attract the audience intended for the movie (Cordero, 1987, in Kummer: 228). This

entails that a translated title is allowed to differ completely from the original title, as long as it

stays true to the plot and themes of the movie and meets the expectations of the recipient (Nord,

1991: 55), who, in this case, is the target audience.

The focus of a title is represented in a wide range of features such as descriptions of the

protagonist or references to the movie’s core situation. However, there are some titles that

deviate from these conventional title features e.g. by only referring to an unknown line of the

movie or to a person other than the protagonist of the story (Bordwell, 2008:1). In relation to the

translation of titles, such ‘creative’ titles are naturally accepted as purposeful titles, on the

condition that they live up to the expectations of the audience and stay loyal to the intensions of

the creator of the movie. In other words, the translator is expected to render the relevant features

of the source text faithfully (Loyalität by Nord, 1993:17), and create an effect equivalent to that of

the original title. The new title is also expected to be as functional for the target culture as the

source text is for the source culture (Funktionsgerechtigkeit by Nord, 1993:17).

3.2 The movie genres and the expectations to a title of a certain genre

The target audience’s expectations to a movie title are rooted in the genre of the movie. Due to

this, a definition of the three movie genres, studied in this thesis, will be given to estimate which

characteristics a title of a certain genre is expected to contain.

Romance: The genre of romance is very broad and cannot easily be defined, since almost every

movie contains some sort of love story or romantic undertone. But the genre of romance, I will be

working with, can be defined and referred to as the way a movie revolves around the concept of

love between two protagonists of the movie. The movies of this genre are chosen for the reason

that love and affection for another human being is the general theme of the story. The romantic 6

theme establishes some requirements for the title to enable it to appeal to its target audience,

who are mostly people wanting to be enchanted and swept away by a beautiful love story. The

age group of the target audience is roughly 18-50, since love is something a person of every age

can relate to. However, the majority of the target audience is expected to be women, as emotional

love stories are more appealing to them than to men, who find action and humour more alluring.

This is why a title in this genre should be able to enchant the audience and establish curiosity

towards the main characters of the movie. This is frequently done by creating a title the women

surely will be able to relate to e.g. the title Kate and Leopold. This creates the impression that this

is a story based on a relationship between the two people in question. The target audience would

want to know who these people are, and which obstacles they must go through to be together.

Comedy is a genre of movies that are created to amuse and elicit laughter from the audience

(Simpson, 1998). In this thesis, the genre of comedy represents light-hearted dramas with focus on

humour in form of sarcasm, representations of highly unlikely situations, and exaggeration of

characters and situations representing the common everyday life and its frustrations. The genre

deals with ordinary human failures, but usually has a happy ending for the protagonists of the

movies. Some of the chosen titles in comedy are based on romantic comedies (e.g. Knocked Up

and Juno) but I have chosen these movie titles because of the sense of humour in the story and

not because of the romantic undertone.

The comedies’ focus is on the humorous aspects of the story, and the main purpose of the comedy

genre is to entertain and amuse the audience while telling a humorous story (Simpson, 1998),

resulting in the other themes of the stories to only become secondary of importance. In relations

to this, it might be expected that the title of a comedy contains references to a humoristic

situation or person of the movie, since the humour reflected in the title is meant to be the feature

that attracts the audience the most.

Children’s movies: The genre of the children’s movies, studied in connection with this thesis, deals

with movies that are meant to appeal to children. The studied movie genre in this relation focuses

on classical children’s movies for kids in the age of 5-15. Some of them e.g. The Neverending Story

and Ice Age 2-The Meltdown are both regarded as family movies but appeal to children as well.

The movies for children are characterised by their happy endings, magical features, and the

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conventional representations of the good and the bad. The genre contains everything from

animation, cartoons and ordinary filmed children’s movies. The themes seem to be the same

regardless of how the movies are made and what effects they contain. The movies appealing to

children often focus on concepts as family, adventures, imaginary creatures, magic, friendship and

happy endings. All of these concepts might also be represented in the title to achieve an

enchanting and appealing effect for the children.

The following chapter will describe the developments in the use of English in Denmark,

considering the fact that English has become a global language.

4. English as a global cinematic language

Language and culture are phenomena that develop through time, and this is evident in the study

of movie titles, since these developments influence the translation of English movie titles. One of

these developments is the increasing use of the English language all over the globe (Mogensen,

1998:267). The globalisation and developments in technology have turned the English language

into a global language, with which everyone is encountered. According to Cordero (1987, in

Kummer: 229) this results in a dominant use of English in the cinematic language and creates a

tendency of retaining the English movie titles, when the movies are distributed in foreign

countries. Considering that the source material of Anne Cordero (in Kummer, 1987) is somewhat

obsolescent, one might expect the non-translated titles not only to be a tendency, but a whole

new translation strategy today in relation to titles in English. This means that the trend of not

translating English titles is not regarded as a new phenomenon anymore, because it is prevalent in

the study of movie title translation.

The incorporation of English terms in the Danish language is mainly rooted in the developments in

technology. Else Mogensen states: When a new terminology emerges and becomes entrenched

within a nation, a new terminology follows by necessity (in Gambier, 1998: 269). This quotation

supports the fact that the incorporation of English language in Denmark is formed as a result of

the need for new words, because of developments in technology. The new technology originates

from English-speaking areas, which is the reason why the English technical terms are incorporated

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in several other languages lacking adequate technical terminology. Furthermore, using English

expressions in the everyday language is being connected to the perception of what is smart,

glamorous and modern in Denmark (Mogensen in Gambier, 1998: 270). To elaborate on this,

English has become a necessity in relation to technological terms the last two decades, but also a

linguistic trend in connection with the common use of language.

English is expected to be known especially by the younger and the middle aged audience, since

these generations have been brought up with being taught English in school, watching English

movies, and listening to English music in their spare time etc. This causes several English movies,

intended to appeal to this audience, to be distributed more or less with a non-translated title.

Additionally, when speaking of the term non-translated titles (Cordero in Kummer, 1987: 229), it is

essential to keep in mind that a translation is still involved, despite the meaning of the phrase. To

elaborate on this, a title is surrounded by a specific semantic field and becomes isolated and as if

torn from its cultural moorings when it is transplanted into a foreign cultural setting (Cordero in

Kummer, 1987: 229). In other words, the translation still takes place, however, not in the physical

composition of words in another language, but in the head of the receiver, as he tries to connect

the title to his own cultural experiences and interpretation of the title.

The following chapter will elaborate on the theory of the translation strategies used in the study.

These theoretical strategies are formed by Anne Cordero and Anne Schjoldager, and will be used

to categorise and analyse the chosen titles that are the focus of this assignment.

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5. Translation strategies

5.1 The Three-method-model with macrostrategies by Cordero (1987)

According to Anne Cordero, title translation can be categorically divided into three translation

methods:

1. The title transfers untranslated

2. The title undergoes a one-to-one translation

3. The original title is adapted to the target culture by undergoing a metamorphosis1

Method no. 1 explains the way a title can be ‘translated’ unchanged into the target language e.g.

The Matrix (imdb.com) distributed in America = The Matrix (dvdoo.dk) distributed in Denmark.

This exemplifies the way the original title is directly transferred to the target language without

changes.

Method no. 2 involves a one-to-one translation, meaning that the original title undergoes a

transformation by being translated word for word. The problem of this procedure is to find

linguistic equivalents to the words and phrases of the original text. An example of the use of

method no. 2 is Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince (imdb.com) = Harry Potter og

Halvblodsprinsen (dvdoo.dk). In this case the focus is on translating the text word for word and on

keeping the same effect as the one of the original title.

Method no. 3 adapts the original title into its target culture, by undergoing several changes,

whether it is on word level, phrase level, sentence level, or on a level of meaning.

This model is based on an empirical study of a great amount of titles in English, French and

German revealing trends in the translation of movie titles (Cordero in Kummer, 1987: 227).

Cordero’s translation model is a simple way of determining how titles are translated and with

which strategies. However, to be able to work with the title translations in greater detail,

translation method no. 3 will be elaborated on in chapter 5.3, since there are several ways to

adapt a title to its target culture.

5.2 Microstrategies by Schjoldager (2008)

1Metamorphosis: When a phrase changes in form or structure10

The elaboration of Cordero’s method no. 3 (see chapter 5.3) is based on additional translation

strategies of Anne Schjoldager (2008) as she focuses more on the microstrategies2 of translation

compared to Cordero’s model focussing more on macrostrategies. Schjoldager’s microstrategies

deal with translation problems on a micro level concerning specific problems with words, phrases

and sentences. The translation strategies of Schjoldager are listed below and defined with her own

words (Schjoldager 2008:92):

Direct transfer: Transfers something unchanged

Calque: Transfers the structure or makes a very close translation

Direct translation: Translates in a word-for-word procedure

Oblique translation: Translates in a sense-for-sense procedure

Explicitation: Makes implicit information explicit

Paraphrase: Translates rather freely

Condensation: Translates in a shorter way, which may involve implicitation (making explicit

information implicit)

Adaption: Recreates the effect, entirely or partially

Addition: Adds a unit of meaning

Substitution: Changes the meaning

Deletion: Leaves out a unit of meaning

Permutation: Translates in a different place

In the following chapter Schjoldager’s microstrategies will be added to Cordero’s three method

model. The purpose of this is to maintain Cordero’s simple division of translation strategies, while

elaborating on the several ways in which a title can be adapted to its target culture with

Schjoldager’s additional microstrategies.

5.3 Elaboration of the Three-method-model

2 Microstrategies: translation strategies that deal with the translation in detail. Microstrategies are a subgroup to macrostrategies that deal with the overall translation method.

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A comparison between the strategies of the two theorists shows that Schjoldager deals with

translation strategies that are similar to Cordero’s method no. 1 and 2. However, Schjoldager’s

strategies are called something else; Method no. 1 is similar to Schjoldager’s direct transfer as the

text in question is transferred unchanged in both procedures.

Cordero’s method no. 2 is similar to Schjoldager’s direct translation as the text is translated with a

word-for-word procedure similar to method no. 2 involving a one-to-one procedure. In other

words, the translator translates one word at a time in both strategies, which means that they are

similar to each other.

The remaining translation strategies of Schjoldager are regarded as microstrategies of Cordero’s

translation method no. 3. A model of the joined translation strategies of both Cordero and

Schjoldager is shown below.

1. The title transfers untranslated (by Cordero)

= Direct transfer (by Schjoldager)

2. The title undergoes a one-to-one translation (by Cordero)

= Direct translation (by Schjoldager)

3. The original title is adapted to the target culture by undergoing a metamorphosis (by

Cordero)

= Oblique translation, Calque, Explicitation, Paraphrase, Condensation, Adaption,

Addition, Substitution, Deletion, Permutation (by Schjoldager)

The elaborated model will be used when analysing the titles translated with Cordero’s method no.

3, and when discussing them and the chosen strategies in greater detail. The titles translated with

method no. 3 will be linked with the microstrategies of Schjoldager to determine the choice of

strategy on a more detailed level. In addition, it is essential to mention that it is possible for the

translated titles to be linked with more than one of Schjoldager’s microstrategies. That is, a

translated title can be linked with for instance both explicitation and paraphrase, since it can be

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difficult for a translator to only stick to one translation strategy, when facing problems on the

micro level.

The analysis of the movie titles in appendix 1 is commenced in the next chapter. Firstly, the focus

is on the patterns of the translation methods within each movie genre, and secondly, the titles of

each genre will be gone through, and their connected translation strategies will be clarified.

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6. Analysis of the source texts and target texts

When reviewing the titles in the table in appendix 1 it is noticeable that the distribution year of

the movie titles are spread over a long period within each movie genre. That is each movie genre

contains 10 titles that are chosen because of the date of distribution between the 1930s and

2000s, since it is important that the study contains both new and old movie titles, to be able to

study the trends of movie title translation through time.

For starters, the table has been structured in the way that the original titles (STs) are placed

underneath each other in the first column to the left, with the year of distribution behind them.

The next column is the translations of the original titles, followed by a column that states the

genre of the movie belonging to the title. The last one of the four columns states which one of

Cordero’s translation methods is used for the translation. As a matter of form, it should be

mentioned that the original titles are collected from the Internet Movie Database, imdb.com,

whereas the translated titles are collected from a Danish internet movie database called dvdoo.dk.

6.1 Frequently used translation strategies

The aim of this thesis is to study how English movie titles are translated, and whether there are

patterns in the title translation strategies within the chosen movie genres. When stating the

translation strategies of Cordero with which the titles are translated, it becomes clear that the

chosen translation strategies form a certain tendency in each genre. The next chapter will

elaborate on the chosen translation strategies of the titles and state the patterns that seem to

appear in each genre.

6.1.2 Patterns in the genre of Romance

Looking at the first movie genre, romance, it is shown in the table of appendix 1 that the majority

of the titles, 6/10, are translated with method no. 1. These titles are Nights In Rodanthe, American

Beauty, The Notebook, Casablanca, Pretty Woman and P.S. I love You which are all kept in their

original form when distributed in Denmark. With the exception of one, all of these titles have been

distributed in the period of time, in which the target audience in Denmark was expected to know

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the English language on a moderate level, from 1990s-2000s that is. The exception is the title

Casablanca, which was distributed in 1942. Now, the reason for the title not to be changed, but

directly transferred, is presumably because the original title refers to a geographical place. It is

believed that a title can be left untranslated, when referring to cities, countries and other

geographical places that do not need to be integrated into the language of the target culture

(Cordero in Kummer, 1987:227), probably because the target audience is expected to be familiar

with the place. Another reason for the title to be directly transferred with method no. 1, even

though it is from 1942, is that the city is called the same both in English and in Danish. This means

that a translation is not actually needed in this case, since the word is the same in both languages.

The second most frequently used translation strategy in this genre is Cordero’s method no. 3,

adapting the title to the target culture. The titles translated with this method are The Mirror Has

Two Faces, The Graduate and The Way We Were. An explanation to the use of method no. 3 in the

case of The Graduate and The Way We Were is that the movie titles were distributed respectively

in 1967 and 1973, which means that the trend of using the original English titles in Denmark was

not as prevalent as it became in about 1990s (Mogensen, 1998: 267). And the reason why these

two titles were not translated with method no. 2 is probably because a translation of the titles

would not represent the plot and the themes of the movies accurately enough for the audience.

In the case of The Mirror Has Two Faces, it could be expected that the title would be distributed

untranslated, because the year of distribution is 1996 since the Danish people would know the

English language by then. But this seems to be ignored by the translator as he seems to focus on

the theme of love instead by replacing The Mirror with the word Kærligheden. According to

Schjoldager (2008: 106-7) this is called substitution, as the translation changes the meaning of a

unit in the original title. The translator seems to believe that a clarification of the theme ‘love’

would be a better target text appealing to a greater audience in Denmark than a direct transfer.

In addition, The Graduate is also completely changed in the translation because a direct transfer or

a direct translation, Studenten, would not clarify the theme enough to appeal to the target

audience. The new title Fagre voksne verden has gone through a procedure of adaption

(Schjoldager 2008: 104) in which the translator has been creative enough to support the original

title’s themes of becoming a graduate, growing up and becoming an adult, but while changing the

linguistic meaning of the original title. However, paraphrase is also a part of the procedure here, as

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the translation is rather freely executed considering the choice of words. The new title sticks to

the original theme, but sounds phonetically more appealing with the new composition of words

than a direct translation would have. The reason for this is the two syllables in each word, and the

alliteration with the letter v in the last two words. The translator creates an effect in the Danish

title that is similar to the effect of the original title.

The last title translated with method no. 3 is as previously mentioned The Way We Were. This title

has gone through the same procedure involving the translation strategies called adaption and

permutation (Schjoldager, 2008: 103-110). The procedure of adaption recreates the effect of a

source-text item (Schjoldager, 2008 : 103), which in this case is represented in the way the

translator focuses on the We in the original title, and in trying to maintain the theme of being a

couple, the translator translates The Way We Were into Vore bedste år. The new title still seems

to be looking back at something, which is similar to the original title referring back to the way

things were. Furthermore, permutation is involved as the translator includes a phonetic

alliteration in the new title with vore and år, as the sound of the first syllables’ vocals are similar to

each other. This is done to try to recreate the alliteration of the consonant w in the original title

The Way We Were. The result is a rendered effect of the English title established by a new title

nearly carrying the same contextual meaning of the source text, but with very different words.

The genre in question only contains 1/10 titles translated with the procedure of Cordero’s method

no. 2, one-to-one translation. The title Gone With The Wind was distributed in 1939, which is one

of the main reasons that the title was actually translated into Danish and not directly transferred.

The other reason is that the translator was actually able to find equivalents to the words of the

original title, making it possible to translate it with a one-to-one procedure, without changing the

meaning of the title. If this has not been the case, the title would probably have been translated

with method no. 3 instead. Furthermore, the new title actually sounds as good as the original one,

because of the alliterations created with the b in Borte and Blæsten. This has a great effect as it

sounds good in Danish.

In conclusion, the study of the genre, romance, shows that titles that are distributed these days

are often directly transferred, on the condition that they already refer to the themes of love and

romance. This is due to the fact that the target audience of these movies are expected to be

familiar with the English language.

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Furthermore, only three of the ten titles have been translated with method no. 3 and the reason

for this is also the time of distribution, with the exception of The Mirror Has Two Faces from 1996

that has been translated with method no. 3, because the original title did not reveal the theme

well enough for the target audience.

If the title is from before 1990s, translation method no. 1 will be excluded as a translation

possibility, because the target audience is not expected to know the English language sufficiently

by that time of distribution. Furthermore, if the words of an English title from this period of time

are able to be replaced with perfect equivalents in Danish, then the choice of strategy will be

method no. 2 instead of method no. 3, since this is an easy and faithful (Loyalität by Nord,

1993:17) solution.

The study of this movie genre clearly shows a pattern in the overall macrostrategies in relation to

which titles are translated respectively with method no. 1, 2 or 3. Nevertheless, the

microstrategies used in translation method no. 3 seems to be quite random and are simply chosen

in relation to a rendering of the items, effect and the meaning of the original title.

6.1.3 Patterns in the genre of comedy

When viewing the table of appendix 1, it is obvious that the patterns of the comedy genre are very

different from those of the romantic genre.

For starters, in comedy the majority of the titles are translated with method no. 3, even though

several of these titles have been distributed within the last two decades. This means that a direct

transfer in English has been avoided, even though the target audience is regarded as being familiar

with English. 6/10 titles in this genre have been adapted to the target culture by undergoing

several changes in composition and meaning.

The Cannonball Run from 1981 was translated into Ud at køre med de skøre. The translation

strategies used in this case are substitution, as the title contains items that are very different from

those of their source-text items (Schjoldager, 2008: 107) and permutation since the translator has

developed a phonetic alliteration by using the words køre and skøre in the translation. This

establishes an effect that is different from the one of the source text, as The Cannonball Run refers

to some kind of unknown race while the new title refers to a drive. However, even though the new

title refers to a drive, it lacks the reference to the main event of the movie: the race. Despite this,

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the translator creates a humoristic appealing effect with the alliteration resulting in a very catchy

title that is easy to remember and pronounce for the target audience.

In the case of The Odd Couple from 1968 a substitution is involved in the translation, as the title is

completely rewritten and substituted with words of different semantic meaning: Hvem støver af?.

The translation does not refer to an obvious or typical theme of the movie, but is simply

transformed into a question, that is meant to refer to a humorous situation of the movie.

However, the effect of this translation is not adequately achieved since the theme and the plot of

the movie are not revealed to the target audience.

The other four titles that are translated with method no. 3 are Miss Congeniality, Deuce Bigalow -

Male Gigolo, Groundhog Day, and Liar Liar. All of these movies are relatively new, for which

reason one might wonder why they have not just been directly transferred, since this is a

prevalent trend.

Miss Congeniality is adapted to the target culture because the translator wanted to make it clear

for the Danish audience that the main character is an FBI agent. This theory is supported by

Cordero (in Kummer, 1987), who states that a mystifying proper name has the tendencies not to

be transferred at all, but to be replaced by a new title which points to a particular attribute of the

main character (Cordero, 1987, in Kummer: 228). When this theory is applied to the title Miss

Congeniality it is clear that the translation refers to the attributes of the main character being an

agent working undercover as a beauty pageant contestant. The theme of the original title is

maintained with the word catwalk, which is why this translation is regarded as adaption

(Schjoldager, 2008: 103). In continuation of this, the title Liar Liar is also includes a mystified

proper name, which is why it is not directly transferred either. Instead, the title is replaced with

Fuld af løgn that both describes the theme of the movie and the protagonist’s characteristics.

Therefore, this is also regarded as adaption since the meaning and the effect of the source-text

item Liar is maintained.

Another title with a mystified proper name is Deuce Bigalow - Male Gigolo. As previously

mentioned, this title is not directly transferred either, but replaced with a new title, that is meant

to refer to the main character of the movie. However, the new title Er du til noget? does not refer

to any items of the original title, to the theme of the movie, or to attributes of the main character.

For this reason it can be discussed whether the effect and the humour of the original title is

18

maintained or lost in the translation.

The last title translated with method no. 3 is Groundhog Day from 1993. The reason why this title

has been translated with method no. 3 might be because the translator did not expect everyone in

the target audience to be familiar with the American phrase Groundhog Day. In popular culture

the phrase is connected to the phenomenon of experiencing something repeatedly over and over

until it can be transcended (Wikipedia, 2010). Since the phrase does not have an equivalent in

Danish this is an additional reason for the translator to avoid a one-to-one translation. This has

resulted in a translation procedure involving adapting the title in the target culture by using

adaption, as it focuses on the meaning of the original title, while trying to establish the same effect

but with different words.

A clear pattern in the table of the genre, comedy, shows that the second most frequently used

translation method is method no. 1. The titles translated with this method are American Pie,

Knocked Up and Juno. It is essential to note that the target audience of these movies a mostly

considered to be the younger audience in the age of 15-24 years (Faulkner, 2009: 1), because of

the themes relating to sex, adolescent humour, relationships and growing up to face adult

problems. This age group has been exposed to English while growing up, through TV, in school and

through the music they listen to. In continuation of this, the main reason for the movies to be

distributed in Denmark with an English title is the fact that the target audience is expected to be

very familiar with the language. However, they are other reasons to be using the direct transfer.

For instance, the title American Pie refers to the American phrase ‘as American as apple pie’. It

implies that something is as typically American as apple pie, which, by some, is regarded as

America’s national dish. For Americans, the apple pie is a dish that represents their culture just as

much as baseball (Popik, 2009: 1). In relation to this, according to Cordero (1987, in Kummer: 228)

a title that reflects something very American or English in relation to cultural understanding, has a

tendency to remain unchanged. This is connected to the demands that the translator remains

faithful to the title (Nord, 1993:17) and its cultural references, which is one of the reasons why the

title American Pie was directly transferred when distributed in Denmark.

With reference to popular English phrases, Knocked Up is a perfect example of titles that remain

untranslated because the phrase is prevalent among the young Danish people. The target

audience knows what the phrase means, thus a translation into Danish would be unnecessary.

19

Furthermore, it would be hard to find equivalent words in Danish that would have the same

phonetic effect and meaning as the original English phrase, which is why method no. 2 is excluded.

As previously mentioned, mystified proper names in titles have a tendency not to be directly

transferred (see the paragraph about Miss Congeniality on p. 16), but to be replaced with a new

title pointing to attributes of the movie’s main character (Cordero, 1987, in Kummer: 228).

However, considering the title Juno this was not the chosen procedure of translation as the

translator chose to transfer the title directly instead. According to Cordero titles of films by well-

known directors seem to be left more often in the original than those by lesser known directors

(1987, in Kummer: 229), and regarding the case in point, the director of Juno is actually the well-

known and reputable Jason Reitman, who has been nominated for 4 Oscars and has received

several other movie awards (IMDB 2, 2010: 1). Bearing Cordero’s statement in mind, the translator

must have chosen to leave the title unchanged because the movie is made by a noted director.

The only incidence of method no. 2 within this genre is I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry. This

title has been translated with a word-for-word (Schjoldager, 2008: 95) procedure, probably

because the title is known to have the exact equivalent both in linguistic and contextual meaning.

However, the title could be considered to be kept in its original form, since the target audience

would be instantly aware of the meaning the phrase, when reading it. The reason why the

translator chose to translate the title into the equivalent Danish phrase might be to be able to

transmit the sense of humour to an older audience who is not necessarily familiar with English.

In conclusion of the study of the movie genre, comedy, it is clear that the majority of the titles

within this genre are translated with method no. 3. The pattern shows that the reason for this is

that titles consisting of a mystified proper name, Deuce Bigalow - Male Gigolo, Miss Congeniality,

and Liar Liar, are mostly transformed into a title pointing to the attributes of the movie’s main

character by undergoing an adaption to the target culture. In addition, other titles categorised

with method no. 3 are translated with this procedure, mainly because it was important for the

translator to transmit the titles’ sense of humour to the target audience, or because the titles

were distributed for more than two decades ago, which is the case of The Odd Couple from 1968

and The Cannonball Run from 1981.

Furthermore, the genre contains three incidences of method no. 1, and the explanation to these

transfers is that they have been distributed within the period in which English is prevalent in the

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Danish language. However, a title that represents something utterly cultural in the minds of the

English or the Americans, e.g. American Pie, also has a tendency to be directly transferred to stay

faithful to the title’s cultural references.

Only one title, I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry, was translated with method no. 2, because a

perfect equivalent phrase in Danish were available (Direct translation by Schjoldager, 2008: 95),

and also because the translator wanted to reach out to a broader audience. Otherwise it could be

expected that the movie was directly transferred, because the phrase is as recognizable in English

as in Danish for the target audience.

6.1.4 Patterns in the genre of children’s movies

In the genre, children’s movies, the pattern shows that the majority of the titles have been

translated with method no. 2. The method in question refers to the direct translation also called

the one-to-one procedure (Cordero in Kummer, 1987: 228), in which the translator translates the

title word for word and uses what first comes into mind (Schjoldager, 2008 : 96). As the genre

implies, the target audience in this case are Danish children in the age of 7-11, which is why the

pattern almost omits the use of direct transfer. The pattern shows that 7/10 titles are translated

with method no. 2, 2/10 are translated with method no. 3, and only 1/10 is translated with

method no. 1. The reasons for choosing translation method no. 2 in the majority of the translation

procedures are mainly because equivalents of the titles’ units are available in Danish, but also

because the effect of the direct translation seems to be working in all of these cases. The Wizard

Of Oz, Beauty And the Beast, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, Finding Nemo, Babe - The Gallant

Pig, The Neverending Story, and The Sword In The Stone are the source texts of one-to-one

translation procedures that seem to be working in Danish, because of phonetically good

compositions and available similar expressions (Schjoldager 2008 : 90). Considering the pattern of

the genre, it is clear that one of the titles seems to be translated with a small addition included in

method no.2: Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs is translated into Snehvide og de syv små

Dværge. This title has gone through a change that falls outside the definition of method no. 2 and

therefore it could be considered as being partly translated with method no. 3. Snow White And

The Seven Dwarfs seems to be added an additional adjectival unit: små in the translation. This

21

means that addition, which is a part of translation method no. 3, can also be considered to be

influencing the translation. On the other hand, the addition is not an essential unit of meaning,

since it only describes the Dwarfs as little, and when speaking of Dwarfs, they are already thought

of as little people. This means that the word små is actually superfluous in the sense of meaning,

but phonetically it has the effect of establishing a rhythm in the Danish title, by creating

alliteration (Schjoldager, 2008: 109) of two words, with one syllable, beginning with s: syv små.

Thus, since the meaning and the composition of the title and its translation are so much alike, this

translation procedure is still mainly considered to be method no. 2.

Looking at the second most frequently used translation method in this genre, method no. 3, the

two titles The Iron Giant and Ice Age 2 – The Meltdown have been adapted to the target culture by

undergoing very different changes. The first mentioned title undergoes a transformation in which

a unit of meaning, not inferred from the source text, is included as an addition Schjoldager, 2008:

105). Furthermore, as previously mentioned a mystified proper name has the tendency to be

translated with method no. 3 and changed into a title pointing to attributes of the movie’s main

character (Cordero in Kummer, 1987: 228). This theory can also be applied to the translation

method of The Iron Giant, but the translator seems to attach importance to the theme of

friendship in the movie and emphasises this by adding Drengen og to the original title. This

addition (Schjoldager, 2008: 105) does not directly point to the attributes of the main character,

but emphasises the most important theme of the movie.

The other title Ice Age 2 – The Meltdown has been translated in a completely different way; the

effect of the source text has been recreated with the adaption procedure that is defined by

Schjoldager (2008: 103) as a strategy that focuses on one aspect of the source text while ignoring

others. The source text element in focus is The Meltdown, which has been translated into På Tynd

Is. This translation shows that the translator has considered the fact that the ice is getting thinner

to be a vital theme of the movie. Furthermore, the translation also indicates that the translator

has used an idiom; In Danish when someone is in some kind of trouble, it can be described with at

være på tynd is (being on thin ice), which is the reference the translator has used in the

translation. This means that the target text both has a literal meaning, in the way that the main

characters are literally on thin ice because of the meltdown, and a figurative meaning as the

wordplay describes the troubles the main characters are facing in the movie. As a result of all this,

22

the target text represents the effect of the source text and the themes of the movie at the same

time, while maintaining one part of the title and changing other parts. In some ways, the last part

of the translation can also be considered to be a substitution (Schjoldager, 2008: 106-107), since

the two units The Meltdown and På tynd is are so linguistically different.

Finally, the only title within the genre comedy translated with method no. 1 is Toy Story. The

reason that the translator chose to use the direct translation could simply be that he did not

expect the children to be specially appealed by the title, but by the trailers published in the TV.

The translation strategy has been chosen due to the fact that the target audience in this case,

might be considered to be parents, who could be interested in passing on the message to their

kids. Since parents are the ones taking their children to the movies, the translator chose to

transfer the title directly to reach an older audience. Whether the effect of the source text is lost

in the target text can be discussed, since the movie’s target audience is children, while the title’s

target audience are the parents. However, if the movie is expected to be watched by older

children, who are be able to understand the English target text, then the title would be more

appealing and thus functional.

In conclusion of this, it is demonstrated that children’s movies generally have a tendency to be

translated into the target language, simply because the target audience is children. The most used

method in these cases is method no. 2, mostly because the translator of the titles was able to find

linguistic equivalents that also work together phonetically and semantically in Danish. If

equivalents to the words of the English titles are not to be found, then translation method no. 3

will be utilised as a translation strategy. The different microstrategies within the use of method no.

3 are not showing any clear patterns, but are simply chosen in relation to the best way of creating

an effect, sound, and meaning similar to the one of the source text.

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7. The effect of the target texts

Taking the analysis into consideration, it is prominent that some target texts lack the effect of the

source text, and by discussing the translation strategies of these incidences, it will be possible to

determine why they are not successfully translated titles.

An example of a title of which the effect is questionable is Deuce Bigalow - Male Gigolo which was

translated into Er du til noget? The source text is a mystifying proper name, reasoning why it was

expected that the new title would be translated with method no. 3 into a title pointing to the

character’s attributes (Cordero, 1987, in Kummer: 228). The title is translated with method no. 3,

however, the target text does not point to any features or attributes of the movie’s main

character. Instead it was changed into a question that was meant to accentuate the movie’s sexual

and humorous theme, but it is primarily regarded as a misleading title, because the theme is not

clearly indicated. The target audience does not have a chance to know what kind of movie it is,

because of the misleading title, which means that the effect of the source text, in my opinion, is

completely lost. This is an example of what happens, when a title is not adapted correctly into its

target culture; the title becomes misinterpreted (Fehlinterpretation by Nord, 1993: 248). For a

target audience to accept a certain title, it has to contain elements of what is expected of it

(Akzeptabilität by Nord, 1993: 248). Therefore, a solution to the misleading title could be to use

the rhyme of the source text, Bigalow – Gigolo, in the target text, since the word gigolo means the

exact same thing in Danish. If for instance the target text was Deuce Bigalow - I lære som Gigolo,

then the title would point to attributes of the main character, while indicating the theme and the

sense of humour for the target audience. This title suggestion is the result of translation method

no. 3 with adaption (Schjoldager, 2008: 103) as a microstrategy, since aspects of the source text

are in focus, while other aspects are ignored and replaced with other words. Another solution is to

transfer the source text directly, since the target audience is expected to understand English by

the time of distribution, which is 1991.

In addition, the effect of the source text The Odd Couple is not achieved in the target text Hvem

støver af? either. The problem here is the same as the one of the previous case, namely that the

target text does not refer to the themes, the sense of humour or the main characters of the

movie. That is, the audience of the comedy genre cannot be appealed by the movie title if it does

24

not represent what the audience expects it to represent. In continuation of this, the translation of

the source text does not correspond with the function of a title (Nord, 1993: 9). A solution to this

problem is to utilize a different microstrategy than the chosen one. According to Schjoldager

(2008: 95-96) a direct translation is often used when linguistic equivalents to the wording of the

source text are available. In this case the equivalent wording would be det umage/underlige par.

However, Schjoldager also states that other translation strategies come in to use, when the

translator is dissatisfied with the result of a direct translation (Schjoldager, 2008: 96). This may be

the reason for the translator of The Odd Couple to have chosen method no. 3 as a macrostrategy,

since a direct translation does not have a phonetic rhythm or alliteration as the vocals o and ou

have in the source text; they sound alike in speech even though they are spelled differently. To be

able to achieve the same effect in the target text, the translator has to think creatively by using a

wording different from the one of the source text. The most important thing is that the translator

makes sure to create an effect similar to the effect of the source text, to be able to make a

translation that functions (Nord, 1991: 9-10) as a movie title.

Even though some translations seem to be lacking the exact effect and sense of the source text,

other title translations also achieve to be as effective or even more effective than the original title.

An example of an effective translation is Agent Catwalk translated with method no. 3 as a

macrostrategy and with adaption as a microstrategy (see chapter 6.1.3). Even though the wording

is completely changed, the target text contains elements that accentuate the humoristic theme

and the main character of the movie. In this case, the target text is considered to be slightly better

than the source text, because it functions so well in Danish. The target text could also be directly

transferred back to English as a proposition for a new title to the same movie, since Agent Catwalk

also works well in English.

Another example of an effective title translation is Ice Age 2 – På Tynd Is. This title successfully

describes two things going on in the movie; firstly that the ice is melting and getting thinner, and

secondly på tynd is is a fixed expression explaining that the main characters are facing some

troubles in the movie. In other words, the translation clearly indicates the plot of the movie, while

sounding phonetically good in Danish, because of the three one-syllable words. Furthermore, the

translator seems to be of the opinion that a direct translation would be lacking a purposeful effect,

25

since he chose to adapt the title into its target culture instead. Bearing the points above in mind,

the target text is regarded to be as effective, if not more effective, than the source text.

8. The prominent patterns of each movie genre

The study of macrostrategies used in the translations has shown that the titles of each genre have

essentially different translation tendencies. The genre romance mostly contains utilisation of

translation method no. 1, because the source texts already represent the themes and the plot of

the movie accurately enough to be kept in their original form. Furthermore, the use of direct

transfers is also due to the distribution year of the titles, since the majority of the directly

transferred titles are distributed in Denmark in a period, in which the target audience is familiar

with the source language. Whereas the romance genre contains most translations with direct

transfers, the table in appendix 1 indicates that the titles of the genre comedy are mostly

connected to translation method no. 3. This is due to the fact that we are dealing with source texts

containing mystifying proper names (Cordero, 1987, in Kummer: 228), or source texts that are old

and/or lack the ability to refer to the humorous aspects of the movie in a way that the target

audience can comprehend.

Finally, the translation strategies of the children’s movies’ titles indicate that the majority of these

titles are translated with method no. 2. The main reason for this is the fact that the target

audience are children, who need a translation to understand and to be appealed by the movie

titles. Furthermore, another reason is that the translator of the titles in question was able to find

linguistic equivalents in Danish, establishing the same meaning in the target language as in the

source language.

Now the question in relation to the translation strategies is; why they appear as a pattern that is

different from genre to genre? The answer is to be found in the focus of the titles in question and

therefore also in the target audience. The genre of the movie determines the target audience, and

the expectations of this audience have to be fulfilled for the title to be appealing to and accepted

by them (Funktionsgerechtigkeit and Akzeptabilität by Nord, 1993: 17, 248). For instance, the title

American Beauty works both for the English and the Danish audience, because it contains the

word beauty as a romantic reference. When the theme, as for instance love, is something that is

26

understood as the same in every culture, it is easier to relate to and therefore, the titles with this

unambiguous focus have a tendency to be directly transferred.

Contrary to the above, the sense of humour is not the same in every language and cultural aspect.

The sense of humour in one country is not necessarily the same in another country. In

continuation of this, the focus of the comedy genre is clearly the humoristic perspective of the

movies, which is mainly why the titles presenting any kind of humour, are translated with method

no. 3, in order to transmit the source text’s sense of humour to the specific target audience. This

also indicates that when speaking of movie genres, maintaining the focus of the genre seems to be

crucial to achieve to transmit the message of the source text to the target audience.

The patterns of the translations in children’s movies also support that the maintenance of the

genre’s focus is vital to the effect of the translation. As previously mentioned, this genre contains

most translation procedures of method no. 2, because it is possible to transmit the elements of

magic and fairytale to the children with a Danish equivalent wording.

Even though the target audience has a say in the choice of translation strategies, it is also

important to look into the focus of the source texts. For instance in the genre romance, the

majority of the source texts already refer to the themes of the genre, which is one of the reasons

why they are simply directly transferred. Furthermore, when referring to love and romance, the

translator seems to be of the opinion that the directly transferred English titles are easy to

understand for the target audience. However, this is not the case in the comedy genre, where the

patterns show a lot of translations executed with method no. 3, because many of the source texts

consist of references to a humorous aspect of the movie. This results in the procedure of method

no. 3 as the translator endeavours to pass on the source text’s humoristic focus to the target

audience in a way it can relate to.

Furthermore, the titles in the genre of children’s movies are mostly translated with method no. 1,

because the focus of the source text contains the conventional magical elements for this genre.

The wording of the original titles in this genre also seems to have perfect equivalents in Danish,

but whether this is a coincidence or a conventional feature is difficult to determine, as this is a

preliminary research with a limited scope of data.

27

In the light of the discussion in chapter 7 it is stated that some translations are lacking the effect

and function of the source text, primarily because the translator chose a wrong macro- and/or

microstrategy, or simply made a bad translation. However, there are incidences in this study, in

which the translator succeeded in transmitting both the effect and function of the original title, by

recreating the effect of the target text, or by creating a title that corresponds with the linguistic

and phonetic elements of the source text. Some translations work very well, while others do not.

Furthermore, the reason why there are different patterns in each genre is because of the focus of

the source text and of course because of the target audience. The focus of the target text has to

appeal to the target audience, and since each genre has a different target audience, the titles also

have different focuses. This focus, be it humour, romance or magical fairytales and cartoons, is

attempted to be transmitted to the audience by the translator with the specific translation

strategies. From this, it is concluded that a title is expected to be functionally accepted if it

contains linguistic elements and references corresponding with the focus of the genre.

To conclude on the findings of the patterns, it is important to state that this was a preliminary

research that probably will need even more titles to be able to designate whether these patterns

are universal for the majority of titles within the three movie genres.

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9. Conclusion

The aim of my thesis was to study how English movie titles are translated into Danish, and why the

translator chose the translation strategies in question. Furthermore, I was to study whether there

were translation patterns in the translation strategies of each movie genre, and if so, then I was to

investigate the reason for this.

To answer the questions of my problem statement I made an empirical analysis of the source texts

and target texts by applying theory of Cordero (1987) and Schjoldager (2008). By studying the

movie titles it became clear that there were patterns in the way the titles of each genre were

translated into Danish. The results of this study showed that the patterns of each genre were

caused by the specific thematic focus of every movie genre; Given that every genre had a specific

individual focus, each movie genre formed a translation pattern different from the one of the

others.

In relation to how the titles were translated, the analysis emphasised patterns showing that,

where the focus of the genre was romance, several titles were translated with method no. 1. This

was due to the fact that the source texts already contained elements corresponding with the

genre’s focus and that the target audience knew the English language. In addition, where humour

was the core focus, the majority of the titles were translated with method no. 3 in order to

transmit the titles’ sense of humour to the target audience as optimal as possible. Where the

focus was fairytale and magic, the majority of the titles were translated with method no. 2, since

the target audience was children, and because perfect equivalents with similar effects were

available in Danish. Even though this study clearly showed that the translator chose specific

macrostrategies to maintain the genre’s focus in the target text, the microstrategies turned out to

be quite randomly chosen in order to render the elements of the source texts in the best possible

way.

In conclusion, my thesis proves that the characteristics and the linguistic features of a movie title

are rooted in the genre of the movie. That is, the focus of the movie genre forms the translation

patterns. However, the target audience also has a say in the translation process, given that it is of

importance, what the target audience can comprehend and what it expects of a title.

Furthermore, due to the use of English as a global language, the Danish translators increasingly

seem to accept the use of movie titles in their original English form, especially when the titles refer

29

to the concept of romance, since this concept means the same in every cultural aspect.

During the discussion of my results I reached the conclusion that some translations are better than

their source texts, while other translations lack the effect and meaning of the original title. This

was either due to a wrong choice of translation strategy or due to the fact that the translator did

not keep the focus in mind while making the translation.

The result of my analysis is of importance because it shows a development in translation strategies

throughout a longer period, from which it is indicated that English movie titles distributed in

Denmark have become very common especially after the 1990s. It also shows that the choice of

translation strategies has a vital influence on the appealing effect of the target text.

To conclude on the findings of this thesis, it is essential to mention that this was a preliminary

research that would need to contain many more titles to be able to indicate whether these

translation patterns are universal for the majority of titles within the three studied movie genres.

30

10. Abstract

My thesis A comparative analysis of title translation strategies is an empirical study of the

translator’s chosen strategies in the task of translating English movie titles into Danish. The study

is based on a comparison between source texts and target texts in order to determine why the

translator chose to use the translation strategies in question.

The introduction to this thesis is presented in chapter one, in which the problem statement is

clarified with the questions meant to be answered throughout the thesis. The core of my thesis

revolves around what happens with English movie titles when distributed in Denmark, and the

translator’s reasons for making the choices of strategies. Furthermore, I focus on the patterns of

macrostrategies that can appear within each movie genre, and on explaining what causes these

possible patterns. Finally, I endeavour to evaluate whether the effect of the target texts are

corresponding to the one of the source texts and to explain the reasons for my answer.

The thesis is based on theory on translation strategies by Anne Schjoldager (2008) and Christiane

Nord (1991, 1993). Furthermore, the study is based on Anne Cordero’s (1987) theory on title

translation, which includes her Three-method-model that I have applied to the title translations in

order to study the translation strategy patterns of each movie genre. For theory on the integration

of English in the Danish language I refer to Else Mogensen (1998).

Before the analysis is carried out, I call attention to the need of a definition of each movie genre,

which enables me to work with the thematic focus of the titles. In continuation of this, a definition

of the effect and function of the title is also needed in order to study the demands and

expectations as to what a movie title conventionally should contain.

My analysis of the title translations (chapter 6) reveals that the chosen strategies of each genre

form a specific tendency; in the genre romance 6/10 titles are translated with method no. 1, in the

genre comedy 6/10 titles are translated with method no. 3 and in the genre children’s movies 7/10

titles are translated with method no. 2. By identifying the macro-and microstrategies of each title

translation I am able to work out the translator’s focus of the task and thus draw a conclusion as

to why patterns appear in each genre.

31

Throughout chapter 7 I discuss the effect of specific target texts to evaluate whether the translator

has achieved to recreate or even improve the effect of the source text. I also emphasise certain

examples, which I evaluate as poorly translated titles and give the reasons for my estimation.

Furthermore, in chapter 8 I discuss the reasons why patterns of macrostrategies appear in the

different chosen movie title genres.

Finally, I reach the conclusion (chapter 9) that the effect of the poorly translated titles is lost

because the translator chose the wrong translation strategy or simply made a bad choice of

wording in his translation. Considering the macrostrategy patterns of the movie genres it is proved

in the analysis that these patterns are formed by the specific focus of every genre; Where the

focus is love and romance several titles are translated with method no. 1, because the source texts

already contained elements corresponding with the focus, and because the target audience is

familiar with the English language. In addition, where humour is the core focus, the majority of the

titles are translated with method no. 3 to transmit the titles’ sense of humour to the target

audience in the best possible way. Where the focus is fairytale and magic, the majority of the titles

are translated with method no. 2 because the target audience is children, and because perfect

equivalents with similar effects are available in Danish.

The movie’s year of distribution also have a vital say in the choice of translation strategies. That is,

before 1990 English movie titles were mainly translated into Danish, to make sure the audience

was able to understand the plot and the themes of the movie. However, after 1990s English has

become a global language, and is more prevalent on the Danish cinematic scene, which is why

many English movie titles are kept in their original form if they already contain comprehendible

references to the themes of the movie on the condition that humour is not the core focus of the

titles. In conclusion of the above, my thesis proves that the chosen translation strategies are

formed by the movie genre’s thematic focus, which results in specific characteristics and linguistic

features of movie titles in every genre.

(number of characters: 3878)

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11. List of references

Books

Cordero, A., 1987. The strange fate of movie titles. In K. Kummer, ed. American Translators

Association Conference: Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the American Translators

Association: Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 8-11, 1987. Across the Language

Gap, 1987 Albuquerque, New Mexico, pp.227-234

Mogensen, E., 1998. New Terminology and the Translator. In Y. Gambier, ed. Translating for the

media: papers from the International Conference LANGUAGES & THE MEDIA, Berlin, November 22-

23, 1996. Turku: University of Turku pp. 267-272

Nord, C., 1991. Text analysis in translation: theory, methodology, and didactic application of a

model for translation-oriented text analysis. Amsterdam: Rodopi

Nord, C., 1993. Einführung in das funktionale Übersetzen. Am Beispiel von Titeln und Überschriften,

Tübingen : Francke Verlag

Schjoldager, Anne. 2008. Understanding Translation. Kbh. Academia

Internet sources

Bordwell, David. 2008. Title Wave. Available at: http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=2805

[Accessed 10 April, 2010]

Dvdoo. 2010. Available at: http://www.dvdoo.dk/ [Accessed 12 April 2010] Each Danish movie title

is found by typing in the title in the search box and pressing ‘enter’.

Faulkner, Sean. USF Community Counseling Centre. 2009. Adolescence and the Portrayal of Teens

in Film and Television. Available at: http://usftherapist.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/adolescence-

and-the-portrayal-of-teens-in-film-and-television/ [Accessed April 14 2010]

Internet movie database. 2010. Available at: http://www.imdb.com/ [Accessed 12 April 2010].

Each English movie title is found by typing in the title in the search box and pressing ‘enter’.

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Internet movie database. 2010. Jason Reitman. Available at

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0718646 [Accessed April 20 2010]

Popik, Barry. 2009. As American as apple pie. Available at:

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/as_american_as_apple_pie/

[Accessed April 14 2010]

Simpson, David L. The School for New Learning, DePaul University. 1998. Comedy and Tragedy.

Available at: http://condor.depaul.edu/~dsimpson/tlove/comic-tragic.html [Accessed 16 March 3

2010]

Wikipedia. 2010. Groundhog Day. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day

[Accessed 12 April, 2010]

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