论文总字数：36881字

摘 要

1. Introduction 1

2.Literature Review 2

2.1 Studies and Debates on Domestication and Foreignization 2

2.2 Studies and Debates on Film Subtitling 2

2.2.1 Studies on Subtitle Translation Abroad 2

2.2.2 Studies on Subtitle Translation in Home 4

2.3 Need for the Study 5

3. Case study of Kung Fu Panda 2 7

3.1 Introduction of Kung Fu Panda 2 7

3.2 The Features of Subtitle Translation in KungFu Panda 2 7

3.2.1 To Choose Foreignization over Domestication 8

3.2.2 Foreignization Applied in Some Cases 10

3.3 The Analysis of the two Translation Strategies from the Cultural Perspective 11

4. The Significance and Effect of Domestication and Foreignization on Film Subtitling 14

4.1 Domestication Highlights Chinese Style 14

4.2 Add the Sense of Humor to Domestication 14

4.3 Foreignization Enriches the Expressions of the Target Language 15

5. Conclusion 16

References 17

Acknowledgments

This work, as is true for all significant efforts of its kind, is a tutored achievement. In retrospect of the whole process of writing the graduation thesis, a large number of people have shown me their kindness and given me advice, to whom I can not help extending my heartfelt and sincere gratitude.

To begin with, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Ms. Zhang Wei, for her insights and suggestions, which have inspired me into completing this thesis. Thanks to her emphasis on creativity, inquiry and independence, I am now able to present my thesis in this complete version. The work would not have been possible without her valuable academic instructions, patient guidance, continuous encouragement and generous support. It has been a great privilege and joy to study under her guidance and supervision. Furthermore, it is my honor to benefit a lot from her personalities and diligence, which I will treasure in my whole life. And I am deeply convinced that the process of writing the thesis will become a first successful step on my long journey of academic pursuit in English.

In addition, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to my parents: nothing in the world means more to me than what they have done. I am also grateful to my best friends, who have been constantly concerned with the progress. It is their encouragement and understanding that give me spiritual strength and confidence to overcome all the difficulties arising in the paper and other aspects of my life.

Abstract

Nowadays, with the fast development of mass media and technology, particularly the popularity of the Internet among Chinese people, thousands of audio-visual products that are mainly produced in the United States have poured into China at an unprecedented rate and thus become an essential means for the Chinese audience to access exotic cultures. Therefore, the transmission of cultural information in subtitle translation is of great significance for foreign audio-visual materials to enter the local market in China.The studies on the subtitle translation from the cultural perspective are basically confined to the subtitles’ experiences.Based upon an analysis of research of subtitle translation in China, the author finds that academics who put emphasis on the cultural exchanges tend to choose foreignization as the main translation strategy in subtitles, while scholars who attach importance to audiences’ acceptability prefer domestication. According to the case study of Kung Fu Panda 2, the author analyzes separately the role of foreignization or domestication plays in subtitle translation. By analyzing the subtitle translation of Kung Fu Panda 2 and its success in transmitting Chinese cultures abroad and meeting the taste of the target audience, this thesis attempts to prove that a right cultural attitude is quite important and the right attitude will do a great benefit to the nourishment of the two cultures and the development of the whole human-beings. The cultural attitude of this movie by keeping the two together is Kung Fu Panda 2 reasonable and practical both in introducing the source cultural of the target one and in enriching the two. Through the above analysis, the paper comes to a conclusion that the theory of foreignization and domestication develops a theoretical framework for subtitles translation. It is helpful for us to understand the nature of subtitles translation, and sum up the relevant subtitling strategies.

Key Words: subtitle translation foreignization domestication

摘 要

当今时代，伴随着大众媒体和科技的快速发展，特别是因特网在中国群众间的普及，大量美国出品的影视作品以前所未有的速度进入中国，并从此成为中国观众们了解异域文化的一个重要途径。因此，字幕翻译中文化信息的传递对外国影视剧作品在中国的传播具有重要的意义。

从对国内字幕翻译情况的分析,本文发现：重视文化交流的学者倾向于选择异化作为主要的字幕翻译策略，而强调观众接受度的学者则倾向于选择归化。本文将以《功夫熊猫2》字幕翻译为个案以及它在中国的成功传播和符合目标观众的口味，根据对个案的研究，作者分别分析了异化和归化各自在字幕翻译中扮演的角色。因此看出一个正确的文化态度是非常重要的，一个正确的文化态度，将有利于两个文化的传播以及整个人类社会的发展。此部电影中的字幕翻译丰富了两个文化，通过本篇文章的分析，可以得出这样一个结论，归化和异化有利于我们对不同文化的理解，我们在翻译过程中，应该多利用翻译技巧，是两种文化都能得到良好的传播。作者还从文化交流的需要和观众对异域文化的期待这两方面，表明了字幕翻译对异化的诉求。

关键词：电影字幕翻译 异化 归化

1. Introduction

Since the films came into being , they have won the advantages over other media as the most important carrier of culture and played the leading role in the culture communication. With the rapid development of Chinese economy and the deepening of China's opening, China is communicating more with other countries , among which film exchanges account for a large proportion. As a special translation mode, subtitles translation is playing a more and more important and indispensable role in both the practice of translation and intercultural communication. But in China, since the current theories have scarcely been used in subtitles translation, the studies on subtitles translation for Chinese movies have relatively lagged behind other countries. Therefore, it is necessary for us to explore the profound significance of subtitles translation of Chinese films from a new perspective. Domestication and foreignization are two methods of dealing with cultural factors in translation. After a discussion of the theoretical knowledge of film subtitles, the paper traces the manner in which these two tactics are effectively employed. As a practical example supporting the thesis, the case of producing English subtitles for the Chinese movie , is included. By analyzing the subtitle translation of Kung Fu Panda 2 and its success in transmitting Chinese cultures abroad and meeting the taste of the target audience, this thesis attempts to prove that a right cultural attitude is quite important and the right attitude will do a great benefit to the nourishment of the two cultures and the development of the whole human-beings. The cultural attitude of this movie by keeping the two together is Kung Fu Panda 2 reasonable and practical both in introducing the source cultural of the target one and in enriching the two. Through the above analysis, the paper comes to a conclusion that the theory of foreignization and domestication develops a theoretical framework for subtitles translation. It is helpful for us to understand the nature of subtitles translation, and sum up the relevant subtitling strategies.

2.Literature Review

2.1 Studies and Debates on Domestication and Foreignization

In the west, the research on domestication and foreignization started long ago. It can be traced back to ancient Rome when Latin translators tried to remove cultural differences by replacing the culture-related images and allusions in Greek with their own ones, and made translation works appear as original ones. Since then, many scholars have done plenty of researches related to the two strategies. Friedrich Schleiermacher, Eugene Nida and Lawrence Venuti are typical representatives. Schleiermacher, a famous theologian and philosopher, first proposed the two notions as paraphrase and imitation which were the primary forms of domestication and foreignization. Nida holds domestication and foreignization can be understood as functional equivalence and formal correspondence respectively. He is in favor of domestication. As an outstanding translation theorist, Venuti put forward the two terms, domestication and foreignization, in The Translator Invisibility. He advocates foreignization at the very beginning. However, in recent years he changed his mind and thinks the two strategies are not opposed to each other.

The debate over domestication and foreignization in China can be traced back to Han Dynasty, when translators translated Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. In the 20th century, there was a debate over free translation and literal translation, which can be considered as domestication and foreignization at that time. Some scholars advocated free translation, such as Liang Shiqiu, Lin Yutang and Zhao Jingshen. Some people were in support of literal translation. Lu Xun was one of the representatives who advocated literal translation. He tried to absorb foreign elements in his translations to enrich the Chinese language.

2.2 Studies and Debates on Film Subtitling

2.2.1 Studies on Subtitle Translation Abroad

Scholars in the Europe are the earliest ones who start conducting subtitle translation theory studies. Benefited from close academic exchanges among different European countries, plus the scholarly importance attached to the subtitling, audio-visual translation and relevant researches make European scholars leading

figures in this realm.

In 1974, Cay Dollerup published an article—On Subtitles in Television Program's in Babel magazine. He separately discussed the subtitle translation for the first time, summarized some problems existed in subtitling, and pointed out the important value of subtitle translation in the sphere of foreign language teaching(Dollerup 1974)

In 1976, Istvan Fodor published his famous work—Film Dubbing: Phonetic, Semiotic, Esthetic and Psychological Aspects, which delved into the problems of film dubbing mainly from the acoustic perspective. According to Fodor, due to the particularity of each country’s language and culture, it is nearly impossible to achieve a perfect“synchronization” in every aspect when engaged in subtitle translation(Fodor 1976).

In 1982, Christopher Titford came up with a new concept—constrained translation in his article Subtitling: Constrained Translation. He thinks that as a medium, the limit of movie and television series itself is the major cause for subtitles to hit rocks in real practice(Titford 1982).

In 1991, Georg-Michael Luyken, along with other four professionals from different European countries, published the book Overcoming Language Barriers in Television:Dubbing and Subtitling for the European Audience. It analyzes large numbers of statics about the volume of translated products, labor costs and audience preferences in a more detailed way. In particular, he continues to study various translation modes that applied to the linguistic transfer of audio-visual products(Luyken 1991).

In 1992, Jan Ivarsson, a Swedish scholar, published the work Subtitling for the Media: A Handbook of an Art. The book presents the development history of subtitle translation, which is of high guiding significance to subtitling practice(Ivarsson 1992).

Among these well-known academics, the most representative ones are Yves Gambier and Henrik Gottlieb, two eminent translation theorists. A very distinguished expert in this field, Finnish translator Yves Gambier, is the author of many monographs, namely, Language Transfer and Audiovisual Communication: A Bibliography. He contributes a lot in settling the problems of translation pattern classification, translation strategy, translation audience,etc(Gambier 1997). Henrik Gottlieb, another professional who’s from Denmark, not only conducts a

comprehensive study on the subtitling, but puts forward some original views with regard to the application of subtitle translation in teaching domain(Gottliebamp;Gambier 2001).

2.2.2 Studies on Subtitle Translation in Home

Compared with the researches done from other countries, China made a late start in the area of movie and television series translation studies. However, as cultural exchanges become glowingly active, a long-term development has been made from scratch.

Qian Shaochang, the domestic scholar who points out in the early stage the importance of audio-visual translation practice and theory research. He makes great contributions to this field and translates numerous movies and TV series, for example, Growing Pains, Root, The Thorn Birds,etc. which equips him with rich experience. In 2000, he published a paper entitled Audiovisual Translation: an increasingly important area in the translation, in which he makes an appeal that audio-visual translation should be taken seriously in the realm of translation. In his paper, he stresses that nowadays, audiences of audio-visual products outnumber those of literary works, and audio-visual translation has more influence than that of literature translation. He also points out five major characteristics of language in audio-visual products—listening, comprehensiveness, instantaneity, popularity of subtitles and subtitles with no note(Qian Shaochang 2000), which has a strong applicablity and guidance for the British and American TV series.

Zhang Chunbai, in A Primary Study on Film and TV Translations, highlights the instantaneity and popularity of language in audio-visual products. Meanwhile, he, on the basis of summarizing the practical experience, sums up the difference between audio-visual translation and literature translation, as well as some approaches and techniques of movie and TV series translation(Zhang Chunbai 1998).

Li Yunxing makes a special effort to investigate subtitling from the discourse perspective. In 2001, in his paper Strategies for Translating Subtitles, he discusses the functions and features of subtitle translation based on his own experience, and states that the time-space of subtitles should be put a strain on, making it possible to provide the most effective information in the limited time-space(Li Yunxing 2001).

Since the 1990s, domestically renowned scholar Ma Zhengqi, has done a lot of

translation work about audio-visual products. In 1997, a paper On the Basic Principles of Audio-visual Translation is published. He mainly discusses some basic principles that audio-visual translations should adhere to. He points out that movie and TV series translation need to “make the disposition of the characters distinctive”, “try hard to achieve a genuine and real-touching art effect”, and “make great efforts to create artistic characters that suit both the refined and popular tastes”(Ma Zhengqi 1998). In 2005, his work An Introduction to Film and TV Translation comes out. This book focuses its attention on audio-visual translation, talking about the laws, principles and strategies that all applied in the film dubbing from various perspectives(Ma Zhengqi 2005).

2.3 Need for the Study

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.An English movie is the manifestation of culture which people can feel through the dialogues, costumes and performances etc. 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 talkers 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.

Movies play a significant role in exchanging cultures between China and other countries, while subtitle translation has some constrictions and difficulties because of its particularity.In this movie, the Chinese words translated from English subtitle translator are required to grasp the key elements and turn it out in a clear and simple way. Then the target audience can completely understand the movie. On the basis of American movie Kong Fu panda 2, this paper analyzes the domestication and foreignization applied in the movie Kong Fu panda 2 . It turned out that strategies are necessary when subtitle needs to be translated. Current studies involve many respects of the subtitle translation. However, this paper on English subtitle translation is still

immature and unbalanced. There is still a long way to go to improve the subtitle translation. Thus, more researches need to be conducted in the future.

3. Case study of Kung Fu Panda 2

3.1 Introduction of Kung Fu Panda 2

Kung Fu Panda 2 is a 3D American computer-animated comedy-drama martial arts film, directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, produced by DreamWorks Animation, and distributed by Paramount Pictures.  It is the sequel to the 2008 film Kung Fu Panda and the second installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. Audience can feel braveness, kindness and solidarity presented in these stories while enjoying movies. Since the films are quite successful and popular among Chinese, many people translated their subtitles. Different versions are available on the Internet. On the other hand, few people analyzed the subtitles of Kong Fu Panda2 from the perspective of domestication and foreignization. In view of the two factors mentioned above, the author takes the subtitles of Kong Fu Panda 2 as data for the present study.

3.2 The Features of Subtitle Translation in KungFu Panda 2

If you need an authentic version of translation, you can’t do the work verbatim. You have to stay away from obscurity and crudeness and try to keep the original flavor in the meantime. The target text has to be alike in spirit not in appearance without showing a trace of translating, so that something Chinese could be revealed. Under this literal environment that is in pursuit of western style, the translation of this film adheres to domestication as its main strategy, which meets the need of cultural background, as well as deepens the audience’s recognition of Chinese elements. When dealing with subtitle translations, Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio fully takes into account of national factors, presenting the words with rich Chinese characteristics on the screen. For example, network language, four-word structure, the introduction of KungFu names in martial arts novels,etc. are in full compliance with director’s good intentions to shoot an original Kung Fu Panda 2. In this way, things with Chinese flavors can be known all around the world. In view of this, when translating subtitles, subtitle translators will have the words with Chinese features appeared on the screen,

letting the audience fully read the witty and fun Chinese subtitles as they are enjoying the film. This is the main reason and background that subtitle translations of the film tend .

3.2.1 To Choose Foreignization over Domestication

To choose domestication as the main strategy,because the film tells a Chinese story, the translator can give domestication a full play , whether in the respect of language or culture, and use it as the main translation strategy, which match the style of the film and reflect translator’s delicate polish. Catching attention and conveying charms, domestication shows the expressiveness of Chinese. This is reflected in the following aspect.

There are many Chinese four-word phases and they have appropriate and local translation.For example: My fist hunger for justice.(我的拳头正等着伸张正义呢。）So hardcore ,you don’t feel anything .(那么铁石心肠，就什么都感觉不到了。) freaking in (不知所谓) inner peace（心如止水）Tigress ,double -jump strike (虎妞，过来双管齐下)give me a shot (助我一把)would you guys spill the beans ?(你们能不能有话直说？)

Besides, there are many Chinese buzzwords and colloquial words.For example : got it, stealth mode (明白，潜行模式) dumb hell crow , year of peacock (靠！孔雀年) whatever it is I will take them down . Cuz I’m in the mood (不管什么我都会把他们干掉，因为我很有状态) Hey, okay.Enough of the poking around (不要毛手毛脚) And wipe those stupid grins off your faces .(不要像傻逼一样在笑) shoo on that ,Toby (太菜了，黑白怪)He was waiting on me -awesome （他在招呼着我呢---太棒了）No snack stop this time (这可不是过家家) snack stop which meant restaurant at first now means playing a game .Now we’ve got the pleasantries out of the way .You are right ,being right makes me right (你说得对，但我也对，因为对所以对) this is translated by imitating the lyrics , which is very expressive.

Translation of kungfu names and words concerning kungfu novels can be seen. For example:Eight--point acupuncture cuffs(八针连环锁) Feet of fury (旋风

腿)Sparrow kick (麻雀回旋踢) All of this reflects the code of the brotherhood.The film also includes translation of Chinese food. For example:bean buns was translated into 豆沙包which are very wonderful . No wonders that Bao can eat more than 40 bean buns because of its good taste.

Another examples: “There is a saying，yesterday is history tomorrow is a mystery，but today is a gift，that is why it s called the present． ( the gift) ”

This is another classic lines of master Oogway in Kung Fu Panda2. Rhyming and puns are used in the original sentence. If the simple literal translation is adopted, it can be translated into such a sentence. “俗语说昨天是历史，明天是谜团，只有今天是天赐的礼物”translating in such ways seems to deprive the beauty of the sentence. Thus people may get bored. However , if it is translated by domestication, it can be translated into the following sentence.“昨日之日不可留，明日之日未可知，今日之日胜现金。好好把握现在吧! ”What great differences in those sentences!

And Yesterday is history，tomorrow is a mystery，but today is a gift．That is why it is called the“present”．Chinese mainland translates it into the following sentence: “ 昨日已逝，明日未知，而今日为金 ” while the version in Taiwan is quite different. That is, “ 昨日种种昨日死，未来之事不可期，把握现在莫等待 ” The translation of Chinese mainland shows the same features between oral and original lines. It makes a free translation of the pun. And the subtitles make full use of the features of written language. It is comprehensible to understand the homophonic puns between “金”and “今”. While the version of Taiwan can’t show the homophonic. The subject of Taiwan is also reflected in the source of translators. For example, due to local styles, some translators who come from Taiwan and Hong kong tend to make some changes according to the characters, the connotation and contents of the movies. And the translation of Taiwan is more flexible than that of Chinese mainland. Take snow leopard for an example. Tai Lung translates it into residual leopard. In addition, the translation of Taiwan prefers to adopting folk adage, idioms, popular languages as well as the features of martial arts.

3.2.2 Foreignization Applied in Some Cases

This paper analyzes the application of domestication and foreignization strategy in subtitle translation of Kung Fu panda 2 in terms of expressions with typical cultural features . Expressions with typical cultural features derive from people’s daily life. Generally speaking, they can only be recognized or understood by a particular group of people with similar cultural background or in a particular region. Since it is difficult for target audience to understand these expressions, it seems that domestication is a better choice here. However, with the development of worldwide cultural communication, more and more foreign cultures are being learned and recognized by Chinese people. Therefore, in some cases, foreignization can be employed in the translation of expressions with typical cultural features.Of course, as for the infectious image description or rhetorical means in the original version, the translator adopts foreignization and transplants to the target language, which can add charms to the translation and bring new way of expression for Chinese.

Foreignization is reflected in American humor, rhetoric metaphor and image description. Let’s see some examples:

When describing the image of Po, the translator adopts literal translation. “Big and fury, soft and squashy.” （又大又勇，又软又茸）“Kind of plushy and cuddly. ”（毛长长的很可爱）“My fist in your plush cuddly super soft face.”（我那打在你毛茸茸脸的拳头）

Although literal translation is not expressive, it is a popular and typical means nowadays. The translation in the newspapers like The Times and The Guardian is mainly literal adopting European languages. In the subtitles of some movies, we can also see that. For example: “I mean how kung-fu stop something that stop kung-fu.” （我是说，功夫如何能终结一个把功夫终结的东西。） “When I’m stopping you from telling me something unstoppable.”（当我在阻止你跟我说有些东西是不可阻止的时候。）“You’re protecting Gongmen city, by not protecting Gongmen city?”（你们以“不保护宫门城”的方式来保护宫门城？）

The translation of slang: “That was pretty hardcore.” The slang “hardcore”

appears many times, it has double means in the movie. First, as an adjective, it is equal to the word “awesome”. Second, if we say that someone is very “hardcore”, that is to say he is very serious, persistent and dauntless who never give up easily. For example, Po always says that Tigress is “hardcore”.

The literal translation of metaphor rhetoric--for example:“Nerves of steel, souls of Platinum. Like you.”（刚一般的神经，铁一般的意志。就像你一样。）“You stay in your prison of fear!With bars made of hopelessness.”（你就留在你恐惧之牢里吧！被绝望制成的高墙所囚禁。）“like a big old fluffy cloud!”（像一团又大又软的云就想来击败我们？）

3.3 The Analysis of the two Translation Strategies from the Cultural Perspective

The author analyzes the subtitles of Kung Fu panda 2, namely expressions with typical cultural features of the original author. Such as a raccoon master's opening remarks: Let the tournament begin． Citizens of Valley of Peace，it’s my great honor to present to you.This is a typical host chattering article, after greeting the present audience, introducing all distinguished guests in polite formula. Then what are the factors associated with cultural context should be focused on in Chinese translation?

This is a piece of translation: now the tournament will begin! Dear folks in valley of peace, today, the old fellow like me have a great honor to introduce to all of you......

This passage is not long, but considering the function of foreignization in cultural expression, during translation, first of all, the translator used three expressions according with Chinese culture like “比武大会、父老乡亲们、老夫”, these expressions are commonly used in ancient China.

Secondly, the "Tournament" can not only refers to the modern championships, it can also refers to the a tournament in which Medieval Knight contest between courage and skill, which is very similar with the contest in Chinese Xia culture, so it is appropriate to be translated into “比武大会”. "Citizens" translated into “居民”or “公民” do not conform to the idiomatic expressions in China, and the "parents and relatives" has narrowed the distance from the Chinese audience. In translating "my

great honor", using “我很荣幸” will be filled with strong modern sense, "今日，老夫有幸" brings the audience to ancient china.

Therefore, considering from the perspective of cultural factors, the translation of these sentences is also very successful. Foreignization is conducive to cultural communication, especially in modern society where international culture is so active, it is more necessary.For example, in the film Kung Fu Panda 2, the English translation of some vocabularies with Chinese cultural characteristics is such an example. The adoption of domestication can help western countries understand the rich traditional culture of China and help western people understand Chinese culture. At the same time, it can also help people understand the Western cultural traditions and customs, and enrich Chinese vocabularies and functions of expression, and help enhance the comprehension with each other.

For example, in the movie Kung Fu Panda2, there have also been some translations accepted by the western public this year. Kung Fu is KouFu, not Shadow Boxing, tofu is tufou, 麻将 is Majiang, and so on. English translation of these words uses domestication instead of assimilation. After the film was showed, it had achieved great success in America, on the day of screening, its box office was in the top, which seems that these vocabularies was accepted by the public.

请支付后下载全文，论文总字数：36881字