Negativity in Filmonyms Translation: Interpretative Transformation or the Transformation of the Mind?

Abstract

Introduction. The paper considers the specifics of filmonyms’ translation in the modern film discourse. The purpose of this paper is the analysis of the translation strategy for filmonyms’ negativisation. Scientific novelty consists in a new, cognitive approach to the analysis of translation activities, carried out at the level of consciousness with the analysis of cognitive concepts behind the translated material. The object of this research is the variety of foreign film industry filmonyms, which had been translated with the introduction of the negative connotation. Actuality of work is determined by the demand for the efficient introduction of the foreign content in its harmonious balance with the home content in the situation of a fierce international competition.Methodology and sources. Cognitive-discursive approach to the film discourse is used in the paper, being carried out through synchronous comparison of home and foreign variants. The methodology of estimation objectification is applied for the demonstration of the degree of convenience and ease of the resulting translation in the receiving culture. The filmonyms’ translation analysis is based on the transcreational method of reconceptualization, accompanied by the domestication of filmonyms in the home culture. The source for the analysis is found in the tree-year collection of 400 non-equivalently translated filmonyms from the home periodical “Peterburgsky telezritel’ “ of 2017-2020.Results and discussion. The analysis of negatively coloured filmonyms in home film discourse was based on the cognitive-discursive method, demonstrating meaningful statements behind the source and the translated material. The analysis of the negativity in the filmonyms’ translation has demonstrated, that the best is modified as the worst, the degree of danger is magnified, and fair game is turned into an unfair one, while the examples of amelioration in translation are rare. This is explained by the tendency for the pejorative valuation and results in the general viewers’ distrust for the film industry. . The use of the cognitive-discursive methods allowed to define the degree of the evaluative variability of the filmonyms’ translation, as well as the trend for the pejorative evaluation, reflecting the cultural specifics of the receiving culture in its contrast with the positivity of the culture of the original filmonyms. As a result the conclusion was formed, declaring the formation of the interpretational dialect of the film industry, which is lowering the level of the consumer preferences, which consequently leads to the growth of isolation and to the syndrome of the “social exclusion“.