A Study of Thai Translation Name Patterns of Chinese Horror Films Titles from 1980 to 2013

Abstract

The motivation for this article will be a study of Chinese horror film titles in the Thai translation version from 1980-2013. The comparison and analysis study method were used by the researchers to research 63 Chinese horror film titles. The researcher adheres the Chinese original title to a Thai translation version as a priority and the English title as supporting evidence.

According to the study's findings, 9 of 63 Chinese horror films (14.28% of the total) had Thai titles that selected some Chinese keywords to translate into the Thai title and combined them with a newly created Thai word from 1980 to 2013. Another 3 of 63 (4.76% of the total) lack original Chinese keywords, but the translator translates the name from the English translation and combines it with a new Thai word. However, the majority of Thai translations of Chinese horror films, 51 of 63 (equal to 80.95%), create a new Thai title that includes no original meaning of the Chinese or English words. The incoherent nature of the long sequence of a Chinese horror film in the Thai-name version is the interesting point in the Thai translation of the film’s name. For example, "Happy Ghost" is a long series of films, each with a different Thai translation film title that is incoherent. Many films have no connection to one another, but the Thai film's naming makes it appear as if they are all part of the same film sequence. The Thai name usually has "Ghost bite" or "Bite", and the estimated 18 movies account for 28.57% of the total. There are also a number of Chinese horror films that feature "Po-ye" or "Po-ye-po-lo-ye".

This could conclude that the movie’s title translation would use a Target Language – TL emphasis to make the local audience clearly understand the movie's meaning. As a result, local translators usually come up with a new name, choose a trendy word during the translation process, or choose a word that reminds them of a previously popular horror film for marketing purposes. Thus, this could be consistent with Translatorisches Handeln theory and Skopostheorie, Nord, C. (1989)