Jet Li’s Fearless – 李连杰的“霍元甲”

I am a fan of Jet Li. I got hold of a DVD titled “Fearless” with Jet Li appearing on the cover by chance. You guessed right. No matter what, I was going to watch it.
I turned on the DVD player and found out its Chinese title – “霍元甲”.
Since I am a translator by profession, I am curious of how the translation was done for this film.
Its Chinese title – ‘霍元甲’ was translated into ‘Fearless’. When translating a film title, it is often a dilemma for the translator. If it is translated faithfully into “Huo Yuanjia”, I believe that not many English speaking audiences would respond well to it. After all, the producer needs to sell as many copies as possible and since it is an action movie, ‘Fearless’ seems a suitable choice. Other than ‘Fearless’, I think there are many other choices such as ‘Hero’（unfortunately it is already taken by another film）, ‘One vs. Four’, ‘Shanghai 1910’ or even ‘Fighter’. The boss can make the decision.
Let’s move on.
Then there was a short background description. Let’s have a look at how it was translated. And I, based on the principle of ‘faithfulness, accuracy and elegance’, translated my version. I also take into consideration the pragmatic issues film subtitles may face, such as brevity and clarity.

Original Text；
晚清王朝，中华大地在列强的霸占下，四分五裂。因无力抵抗，国民饱受欺凌，更被贬为“东亚病夫”。当时，几乎没有人能对这耻辱作出反抗。
Translation：
The late Qing Dynasty: Foreign powers dominated China’s key cities and mocked the once great nation by declaring it the “Weak Man of the East”.
CJ’s version:
In the early 1900’s, China was dominated by foreign powers. Chinese people were labeled as the ‘Weak Man of the East’. At that time, no one dared to stand up against this humiliation.
为了进一步摧毁中华民族的自尊心，上海外国商会策划了一场四国高手向中国人挑战的擂台比武。
In Shanghai, the Foreign Chamber of Commerce created a contest that pitted their four greatest fighters against the best China had to offer. Their goal was to spectacularly humiliate the Chinese.
To further destroy Chinese national esteem, Shanghai Foreign Chamber of Commerce set up a contest, challenging the Chinese to fight against four skilled foreign fighters.
这时，一个中国人挺身迎战。
One man rose to the challenge. His fate inspired a nation for decades to come.
At this critical moment, one man rose to the challenge.
他，就是霍元甲。
His name was Huo Yuanjia.
He was Huo Yuanjia.

It is not my intention to criticize the original translator. He or She has done a fine job. I don’t see my version is any better. All I want to say is that translation can have great flexibility as long as the meaning is expressed. The reader’s enjoyment is the purpose of translation.

我是李连杰粉丝一名。偶然间发现一张影碟，不知道中文影片名，但有李连杰的大头像在上面，英文写着“Fearless”（无惧）。不管怎样，是李连杰的就一定看。
开机后，才发现原来影片是“霍元甲”。
三句话不离本行，搞翻译嘛，就想要知道这电影是怎么译的。
中文片名叫“霍元甲”，而英文片名则译为“Fearless无惧”。的确，在翻译电影名称时，翻译有时会感到头疼。如果直译，英文观众恐怕没几个会看这电影了。说到底，拷贝卖得越多，制片人就越高兴。再加上，这是一部功夫片，译成“Fearless”也算合适。除了这个译法外，我认为还可以译成“Hero英雄”（可惜，已经有另外一部电影用了这个名字）、“One vs. Four以一敌四”、“Shanghai1910上海1910”或是“Fighter高手”。老板说了算吧。
咱再说下边儿的。
接着就有一小段历史背景介绍。看看原来的电影是怎么译的。然后我再按照“信、达、雅”原则，自己也翻译一个版本。当然，电影字幕的翻译须简洁、清楚。我也会考虑这两点。
请看：
Original Text；
晚清王朝，中华大地在列强的霸占下，四分五裂。因无力抵抗，国民饱受欺凌，更被贬为“东亚病夫”。当时，几乎没有人能对这耻辱作出反抗。
Translation：
The late Qing Dynasty: Foreign powers dominated China’s key cities and mocked the once great nation by declaring it the “Weak Man of the East”.
CJ’s version:
In the early 1900’s, China was dominated by foreign powers. Chinese people were labeled as the ‘Weak Man of the East’. At that time, no one dared to stand up against this humiliation.
为了进一步摧毁中华民族的自尊心，上海外国商会策划了一场四国高手向中国人挑战的擂台比武。
In Shanghai, the Foreign Chamber of Commerce created a contest that pitted their four greatest fighters against the best China had to offer. Their goal was to spectacularly humiliate the Chinese.
To further destroy Chinese national esteem, Shanghai Foreign Chamber of Commerce set up a contest, challenging the Chinese to fight against four skilled foreign fighters.
这时，一个中国人挺身迎战。
One man rose to the challenge. His fate inspired a nation for decades to come.
At this critical moment, one man rose to the challenge.
他，就是霍元甲。
His name was Huo Yuanjia.
He was Huo Yuanjia.

在此我要郑重说明。我不是想要批评原译者。原来的翻译也不错。我也没认为我的翻译更好。我只是想说明翻译可以非常灵活，只要意思表达一致就可以了。翻译的目的在于愉悦读者。