1 English News Title and Its Translation
Outline
1. Introduction
2. Development of English News Title
2.1 History of English News Title
2.2 Functions of English News Title
2.2.1 Pointing Out the News Content
2.2.2 Producing Attractive Effects.
2.3 Differences between Chinese and English News Titles
2.3.1 Vocabulary Similarities and Differences
2.3.2 Tense Similarities and Differences
2.3.3 Rhetoric Similarities and Differences
2.3.4 Punctuation Mark Similarities and Differences
3. Translation of English News Titles
3.1 Literal Translation
3.2 Free Translation
3.3 Addition
3.4 Omission
3.5 Negation Translation
3.6 Alliteration
3.7 Making Use of the Advantage Chinese in Translation
4. Conclusion
2 English News Title and Its Translation
[Abstract] English news titles play a special role in news reporting. Thus we should place special
emphasis on the research of the characteristics and translation of English news titles. This thesis
focuses on the study of English news titles in terms of their grammatical features and its translation.
When it comes to translation, it tries to reproduce the functions of English news titles which requires
translators’ agility and ingenuity in applying semantic and rhetorical devices. With grammatical and
semantic exploration into the English news titles, such studies strive to benefit the readers in their
understanding of what the editor wants to convey.
[Key words] English news title; function; comparison; translations methods
英语新闻标题及其翻译
[摘要] 标题在新闻报道中具有独特的地位。因此在整个新闻英语翻译中标题翻译的作用不可忽视。本文拟从以下角度进行论证：英文报刊标题的文字简练醒目，无疑是来源于对英语语法得心应手的灵活运用。而要再现英文标题在原文中所起的浓缩主题、画龙点睛的作用，需要译者同样在用词和修辞等语法方面匠心独运。本文拟通过对英语新闻标题翻译原则和策略的探讨，以期能对新闻英语包括英语标题翻译找到一条具有特定翻译规则的途径作出有益的尝试。
[关键词] 英语新闻标题; 作用; 分类; 对比; 翻译方法
1 Introduction
What is the title? A title of a piece of news usually printed in large type and
devised to summarize, gives essential information, or interests readers in reading the
news content . Naturally readers buy newspapers in order to keep posted on daily
happenings. However, today’s English newspapers are getting fatter with a great 3 number of pages. Therefore, many readers have formed the habit of scanning titles,
which makes possible rapid news comprehension. Thus one of the most important
purposes of titles is to inform readers quickly, which means that a well-designed title
immediately tells them the gist of the accompanying story. Nothing is more important
than packaging the product. A piece of news and its titles resemble the product and the
packaging respectively. Only when the titles grasp the attention of the readers, the
whole page can obtain vitality. So we say a final requirement of titles is to stimulate the
reader’s artistic sense. Therefore, news people need to make sure that English title
forms are set to beautify the layout of the newspaper and thus to interest readers in the
stories.
2. Development of English News Title
2.1 History of English News Title
The history of English news title is long and it can be divided into three phases.
English news titles were originated in the Qing Dynasty. The characteristic of embryo is
long and complex. The second stage of news title begins with the characteristic of
diversity in the 19th century 70's. The third stage is from 20th century to nowadays and
has the feature of concise and simplicity. In a word, the translation of English news title
experienced the process from complexity to simplicity.
2.2 Functions of English News Title
The news title is the fundamental part of any piece of news. In a time when it’s
harder to get people’s attention, good writers always spend too much time and creative
energy working on their titles, because they know that the title is one of the most
important parts of their work. According to Bruce H. Westley, from the standpoint of
the reader, newspaper titles serve the following purposes:
2.2.1 Pointing Out the News Content
News titles summarize the news content, so the news content can be reflected by
the titles alone. By glancing over them, the readers will know what the story is about.
Readers can quickly locate the parts that interest him mostly by following the sequence
of the news points line by line. Titles rank the importance of stories by the size of the
print and placement on the page. And titles can convey the relative significance of the
news.
2.2.2 Producing Attractive Effects