Formation and translation of modern English-language movie names into Ukrainian

Abstract

The article is devoted to studying English movie name’s structure and translation methods into Ukrainian. Features and functions of movie names require a particular approach to translation in terms of equivalence, adequacy, adaptation, conciseness, and many other aspects. The first acquaintance of the viewer with the film begins with its title. The viewer gets an idea of the film, so the title depends on the further success of the film in the country of rental, audience sympathy and box office. While translating movie names into Ukrainian, it is essential to preserve their informative function to understand the movie’s title’s main idea. Difficulties in translating movie names are related to differences between languages, social consciousness, lexical compatibility, equivalence, language connection with thinking, society and culture, genre and stylistic features, and other sign systems. Informative function plays a vital role in the formation of movie names. In addition, the movie name should be concise but vivid, stand out among others to attract the viewer’s attention, thus affecting the importance and function of influence. The place and importance of movie names in linguistics and modern journalism and colloquial language were established using the method of linguistic analysis. Accordingly, a comparative analysis was used to identify common and different types of movie names. The method of contextual analysis was used to identify the hidden communicative intent contained in the movie names. In the research, the translation techniques used to translate movie names are considered: transliteration, transcription, tracing, descriptive translation, addition, omission, replacement. Strategies for translating movie names are considered: direct or literal translation, name transformation. It is proved that adherence to these strategies and translation techniques allows the translator to adequately interpret and convey the essence of movie names to the viewer. Even non-equivalent translation can also be adequate if the translator distinguishes the meaning inherent in the original title, refers to the plot of the film, considers the possibility of keeping stable phrases in the movie name, conveys the title so that it remains clear to the viewer.