论文总字数：29608字

摘 要

全球化的发展也带动了文化市场的繁荣，人们在享受原声电影视听的同时也希望增进对异域文化的了解。字幕翻译便承担起这样的责任。准确的外文电影字幕翻译有利于两国之间的文化交流。因此，字幕译者应该理解外国文化，掌握一定的翻译技巧。此外，字幕翻译在其呈现方式上与其他媒介的翻译略有不同。字幕应该和音频视频相协调。尽管字幕的呈现方式信息量多而密集，但字幕译者应该确保字幕连贯顺畅。在翻译过程中，译者面临诸多问题，比如语言障碍，文化差异以及专业知识的缺乏。因此字幕翻译的策略显得尤为重要，比如归化翻译，异化翻译。归化翻译法旨在尽量减少译文中的异国情调，为目的语读者提供一种自然流畅的译文。而异化翻译法是故意使译文冲破目的语常规，保留原文中的异国情调。这些技巧是对字幕译者的一大考验。好的字幕翻译是影片成功的一部分。在翻译时，除了要仔细斟酌翻译技巧，还要结合人物的性格和语言特点，才能翻译出好的字幕，给影片增色，吸引观众。本文以美国电影《怦然心动》为例，通过具有典型文化特征的表达以及谚语习语，分析了字幕翻译的策略。为达到更好的翻译效果，字幕翻译策略可在理论上提供支持。

关键词：英文电影 字幕翻译 怦然心动 策略

Strategies for Subtitle Translation —A case study of Flipped

Chapter 1 Introduction

There are profuse kinds of subtitles such as cartoons, interviews, reports and movies etc.. Subtitle translation, therefore, is a demanding undertaking which calls for specialized translators with specific tactics. Translation aims to bring the purpose language audience and the original language audience the same communication effect. Translators, in terms of the features of subtitle translation, specific language context and the use of translation tactics, are confronted with many difficulties. Thus, more and more scholars set foot in studies on the accurate and precise translation. In this paper, a few strategies applied to English movie Flipped will be demonstrated.

1.1 Introduction of Flipped

Wendelin Van Draanen’s novel Flipped has been adopted by Rob Reiner for a romantic comedy of the identical name in 2010. This movie mainly talks about a girl named Juli Baker who has great admiration for a boy called Bryce Loski ever since he moved into the neighborhood in the second grade. Through grade schools and up into high school, Juli Baker pursues Bryce Loski who has bright and dazzling eyes. She follows him, smells him secretly and gives him eggs. It, however, is only her wishful thinking. Bryce Loski considers her solicitude as troubles. He has to avert Juli Baker because of his classmates’ jokes and scorn. Juli Baker is distinguished from others nevertheless. She sits in the sycamore tree, objecting the woodcutter to cut it; she raises chicken, giving her neighbors eggs and she clean her yard by herself. She gradually finds Bryce Loski not as outstanding as his appearance. Inspired by his grandfather, Bryce Loski recognizes Juli Baker’s estimable characters and unique charm. At the end, they grow together with a sycamore tree they plant, which extends their great relationships.

1.2 Introduction of English Subtitle Translation

People now have increasingly higher expectation on the quality of English movie subtitling translation, which contributes to the fast development of English movies translation. Thus, accurate and precise translation is of great significance.

A English movie is the manifestation of culture which people can feel through the dialogues, costumes and performances etc. Even today, in Flipped, we still talk about the American parents’ liberal attitudes towards their children’s affection for others, and the independence of American children is also talked-about.

English movies, in terms of the values it conveys and its popularity, should be given more consideration. The silent movie can be popular all over the world while the talkies are exclusive for the native speakers. No matter how perfect original English films have already been, they have to been translated before reaching the Chinese people.

1.3 Significance of the Study

Presently, cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries have become increasingly frequent. In China, however, subtitle translation is an almost untapped field. This thesis analyzes domestication and foreignization strategies in subtitle translation in terms of expressions with typical cultural features and idioms amp; proverbs, which contributes a lot to the development of movie industry and highlights the significance of subtitle translation.

Chapter 2 Literature Review

Movies have altered dramatically the way we communicate with the world during the past a few decades. As a result, subtitle translation has been playing a pivotal role in the process of cultural output. When it comes to the subtitle translation, one can never turn up their nose at the strategies applied. The thesis, Analysis on Subtitle Translation in Forrest Gump(2011) by Hou Shuang, has demonstrated various principles such as popularization, simplification etc., which make it possible for the audience to know about the movie. The author also sets forth how to deal with the difficulties that arise from cultural differences.

Discussions about subtitle translation strategies can also be found in the essay written by the Chinese scholar Song Zhiguang (2014). His paper, On the Translation Methods of the Subtitle in English Movies, integrates overall translation principles, which ranges from the essence of subtitle translation to features and techniques of subtitle translation.

These articles serve as enlightenments for following researchers and enable them to carry out their studies in a more systematic way. As time goes by, many scholars make further study on the analysis of subtitle translation. Some try to explore dubbing translation simultaneously, bridging the gap between subtitle translation and literary translation; some have been attempting to find a better way to introduce the beauty of target language and culture; others show their interest in the analysis of rhetoric used in subtitle translation. And also, some researchers and scholars analyze movie translation from much broader perspectives, such as pragmatics, heuristics etc..

In order to achieve better translation effects, the strategies like domestication and foreignization can never be ignored. Chen Tingyi and Zhou Min(2014) analyzed the English movie Ice Age from the perspective of domestication and foreignization. They throw light on how to make the target audiences arrive at the intended meaning of the original author without paying unnecessary efforts. Beside, Wei Yunhui(2012) also mentions those two strategies in his article and takes some examples to show how domestication and foreignization could be properly employed in movie subtitling, making full use of the advantages of each and combining them appropriately. They all consent that domestication

and foreignization were not opposed to each other, but complementing each other. Their researches make a great contribution to the development of subtitle translation.

Some brand new standpoints have been put forward in some articles on the subtitle translation of English movies. Lv Yuyong and Li Min(2013) hold that cyberwords are also supposed to be used in subtitle translation to serve the purpose of entertainment. Wu Wei(2013) and Zhao Ning(2005) propose some approaches for the translators about how to overcome the time restriction and space restriction which keep bothering the translators.

Speaking of strategies for subtitle translation, we have to take into consideration which kind of movie it is for more accurate translation. For example, Yang Wenting(2013) analyzes the English sitcoms The Big Bang Theory through some distinctive measures such as shift of perspective, language compacted, etc., which are on the basis of Eugen•Nida’s “Functional Equivalence” principle. Different types of movies provide us with different new methods to study translation, including adaptation theory and skopos theoy. Therefore, it is of great significance for us to bear in mind the type of movie we are translating.

The same English movie often has a few different translation versions because of the distinctive strategies and the translator’s preferences. We know that each version has its own merits and demerits. Zhang Anran(2015) makes a comparison between different subtitle translation versions of the English movie Flipped. The author believes that the translators do not have to cling to one strategy so that the translation could be accepted by people from all walks of life. And also, different versions are appreciated. Anran provides more possibilities for the subtitle translation.

In general, those studies involve many respects of the subtitle translation. Subtitle translation can be considered as the important way to introduce foreign culture. Chinese scholars concentrate on the principles and strategies for subtitle translation. They analyze the special characteristics of subtitle translation and pave the way for further studies. However, the research on English subtitle translation is still immature and the majority of researchers carry out studies only from their own experience. Obviously, there is still a long way to go to improve the subtitle translation.

Chapter 3 Subtitle Translation Characters and Difficulties

3.1 Character of Subtitle Translation

Subtitle serves to provide the information. There are some specific points concerning subtitle translation. In the first place, the language meaning that subtitle carries should coordinate closely with audio and visual information. Second, subtitle moves forward progressively, which means that the translators are supposed to ensure the progressive information goes coherently, so that the target audience can make least effort to attain the clearest meaning. Third, subtitle features the colloquial language and popularization, and also usually quotes proverb, saying, so that language contains the flavor of life. That is because art originates from life, and English movie not only pursue the reality, but also pursue the authenticity of art. Subtitle translation is supposed to be audience-friendly, naturally catchy, clear and concise. Therefore, colloquial and popular English translation has become a feature of subtitle translation in English movies.

3.2 Subtitle Translation Difficulties

Subtitle can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language, with or without added information to help viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing to follow the dialog, or people who cannot understand the spoken dialogue or who have accent recognition problems. However, in the past a few years, people’s taste for arts have democratically changed, especially their appreciation for movies. Subtitle translation is not as easy a process as it may seem at the start. Therefore, it is undeniable that subtitle translation still has some difficulties, which affects the quality of the movie.

3.2.1 Language barriers

In the first place, it can easily be seen that languages differ from one to another in terms of many ways. Language translation requires so much more than word-for-word regurgitation. For example, Chinese and English differ a lot in addressing one’s relatives. In other words, Chinese is more specific than English when one addresses his relatives, which may causes great difficulty for translators. As a result, texts need to be familiar to translators, because translation process is not only to translate the words, but also to find ones that is appropriate as well.

3.2.2 Cultural differences

The second problem is that translators have a hard time to convey the same meaning to the other languages because of the distinctions between cultures. Subtitle translation like translation of literature, poems and songs is impossible to express the same meanings in another language. For example, in China, people tend to use “fox” describe someone as being very cunning. In western, however, “sneak” usually represents the tricky person.

3.2.3 lack of professional knowledge

Third, lack of professional knowledge not only of translation but also of terminologies causes certain problems. Translators need an in-depth knowledge of two languages and translation skills to translate subtitle and to achieve faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance. For example, there are tons of technical words such as white dwarf, singularity and black hole in the English movie Lost In Space. Therefore, possessing professional knowledge is central to subtitle translators.

Chapter 4 Strategies Used in Flipped

4.1 Domestication and Foreignization

Domestication is a translation strategy used to narrow down the strangeness of the foreign text for target language readers. In subtitle translation, domestication helps to retain the understandability of source text for target audience. Translators are supposed to pick up proper words or phrases equivalent with source language in the target language. Moreover, the phrases and words chosen should be easily understood by the target audience.

Foreignization are also a translation strategy which is often used to maintain something of foreignness of the original text. It concentrates on the faithful manifestation of a foreign movie, giving priority to retain foreign cultural features of the original movie.

4.1.1 Expressions with typical cultural features

Typical cultural features of language are bound up with people’s daily life. In general, only the native speakers or someone who has a similar cultural background can understand or recognize these expressions. Domestication seems helpful here. With the increasingly frequent cultural exchange, however, lots of western cultures are accepted and recognized by Chinese people. Foreignization, therefore, is also supposed to be applied to subtitle translation of English movies. Let’s see some examples:

Domestication:

ST: It didn’t take long to realize this girl could not take a hint.

-It’s crowded in here with three people.

-I don’t mind

Of any kind.

TT: 很显然这女孩不够识趣。

-三个人在这儿有点挤。

-我不介意。

一点儿也不识趣。

In this conversation, Juli Baker wanted to help unload the van, but Bryce’s father refused in a nice way. Juli, however, did not perceive his refusal. Bryce used “could not take

a hint ”to describe Juli as an annoying girl. “不识趣” is used by Chinese to express that someone does not understand the situation he or she is in. The domestication translation can well convey the information. On the contrary, foreignization will break the fluency of this conversation.

ST: I’d learned to control myself. Then Sherry Stalls entered the picture. Sherry Stalls was nothing but a whiny, gossipy, backstabbing flirt. All hair and no substance.

TT: 我试着含蓄一点，但之后Sherry Stalls插了一脚，她是一个很烦，很八卦而且人尽可夫。头发长，见识短。

Juli thought that Bryce was too shy to be with her and she was trying to help him overcome shyness all the time. Bryce Loski, nevertheless, considered Juli’s efforts as something embarrassing and always tried to duck her. When Juli learned to control herself, Sherry Stalls entered the picture. According the foreignization, “enter the picture” should be translated to “进入画面”,which most Chinese people are very likely to feel confused about. As we all know, Sherry Stalls is someone who meddles in other’s affairs. As a counterpart of “enter the picture”, “插了一脚” is an expression with Chinese cultural feature. In this case, the domestication translation can not only make people clear about this point, but also ensure the target audience feel that Sherry Stalls is a nuisance in this monologue.

TS: -You know, I hate Curly Joe. I mean he shouldn’t even be a Stooge.

TT: - 你知道的，我讨厌 Curly Joe，他连臭皮匠都算不上。

In China, people use “臭皮匠” to describe a weak or unimportant person who is controlled by a powerful person. It is an euphemism that can reduce embarrassment and aggressiveness by avoiding using “窝囊废” directly. As far as the writer is concerned, however, both domestication and foreignization can be used here and achieve different wonderful translation effects.

TS: -Daddy, look. You can see everything. You can see the whole world from here.

–No view is worth my daughter’s safety.

TT: -爸爸，看，从这你可以看见一切，可以看见全世界。

-万里长城也不及我女儿的安全。

“万里长城” is is one of the seven wonders of the world. In China, we often use “ the great wall” to emphasize something or someone more significant. It is an exaggeration. According to foreignization, the translation of the sentence “no view is worth my daughter’s safety” should be “没有什么风景比我女儿的安全重要”. Although the audience can understand what Juli’s father is talking about, it is still difficult to perceive his anxiety and worries. In contrast to foreignization, domestication can well express the meaning and feeling of Juli’s father.

TS: Garrett’s expertise in roosters was the cornerstone of our plan to avoid contact with Juli Baker.

TT: Garrett 是公鸡专家，也是让我能避开Juli Baker 的灵魂人物。

In America, when something contributes a lot to something else, people tend to use the word “cornerstone” to describe that. “灵魂人物” is used by Chinese people to express the significance of a person. The domestication translation can well convey the meaning. On the contrary, if the word “cornerstone” had been translated into “基石”, Chinese audience would have been misled by this expression.

TS: -Matt and Mark are bringing over recording stuff and they’re gonna make a demo.

-Demo? Like they know how to make a demo.

请支付后下载全文，论文总字数：29608字