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摘 要

电影作为一种重要的大众传播媒介，肩负着传递信息、传播文化的使命。随着影视事业的蓬勃发展，越来越多的国外影视节目被引进到中国，同时，也有许多优秀的本土影视作品走出国门。由于翻译在跨文化交际中担任着传递、交流信息文化的重要角色，字幕翻译实践也随着电影事业的起色蓬勃发展，国内外学者都十分重视电影字幕翻译的研究，致力于让本国观众享受到与外国观众相同的观影体验。

功能对等理论的中心是读者反应，它提倡通俗易懂，并提出读者的参与性是翻译的重要原则，与电影字幕翻译的目的相契合，因此本课题拟以《神奇动物在哪里2：格林德沃之罪》英文字幕的中文翻译为例，探讨功能对等理论视角下电影字幕翻译的技巧与策略。

通过本课题的研究，希望更多的译者和学者能够投入到对字幕翻译领域的研究，促进电影产业的蓬勃发展，使国家间的文化交流更加频繁。

关键词：功能对等；字幕翻译；《神奇动物在哪里》

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Research background 1

1.2 Research purpose and significance 2

1.3 Structure of the thesis 3

2. Literature Review 3

2.1 A brief introduction of Functional Equivalence Theory 3

2.2 Feasibility of Functional Equivalence Theory in subtitle translation 5

2.3 An overview on the study of subtitle translation 6

3. Detailed Study on the Subtitle Translation in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Crimes of Grindelwald 8

3.1 Lexical equivalence 9

3.2 Syntactic equivalence 12

3.3 Contextual equivalence 14

3.4 Stylistic equivalence 17

4. Conclusion 19

4.1 Summary of the analysis 19

4.2 Limitations of the study 20

Works Cited 21

1. Introduction

1.1 Research background

According to the Research Report on China"s Film Industry 2018 issued by Sutu Research Institute, imported films account for 45% of the top 20 films at the box office, with excellent overall performance and higher reputation than domestic films. In addition, imported films are mainly science fiction action types with 3D IMAX. (Sutu 1) By 2019, foreign films have entered the Chinese market for 25 years. Since 1994, the number of imported films has increased from 10 to 20 in 2001, and from 14 to 34 in 2012. The box office of movies overseas has increased by 351 times in China. (Tong 6) Hollywood movies have occupied half of the Chinese film market for quite a long time, and only in recent years, this situation has improved slightly. But it is undeniable that over the past 25 years, Hollywood movies have attracted many audiences with their excellent production and wonderful plots. With the rapid development of China"s economy and the improvement of Chinese people"s life, more and more Chinese people begin to seek rich and colorful recreational activities. The film industry is developing vigorously in this context. Today, young audiences see Hollywood movies as an integral part of their lives. As the 3D and IMAX technology develops, Hollywood movies have become more attractive to audiences. The momentum of Hollywood movies in China cannot be underestimated.

To sum up, Hollywood movies have made good progress in China, and one of the contributions must be attributed to subtitle translation. Only with the good translation can we truly realize the cross-cultural communication of film art and make Hollywood films have a good mass base. Poor subtitle translation will not only make viewers unable to understand the content of the film, but also affect the reputation of a film among the public, and then affect its box office, which is the last thing that film studios want to see. Therefore, translation researchers are supposed to attach more importance to subtitle translation in order to form a more standardized translation industry.

1.2 Research purpose and significance

Translation is a principle instrument of interchanges between different languages and cultures. As a cultural carrier, film also needs translation. With the continuous development of economic and cultural globalization, an increasing slew of imported films have packed into China. Subtitle translation plays an indispensable role in helping people to obtain useful messages and enjoy themselves. High-quality subtitle translation will let foreign films much more appealing to viewers. It will not only let the viewers enjoy better, but also contribute to the exchanges of all countries.

Although subtitle translation is still a comparatively contemporary category in the translation field, it has achieved remarkable results. Because of the particularity of its linguistic structure, theoretical researches have been carried out extensively and thoroughly in Europe. Translation guidelines and norms on methods, rules and quality controls have taken shape.

However, the importance attached to this special field in China is obviously not sufficient yet. A series of problems, such as the lagging of academic research and the uneven level of translators, have seriously affected the subtitle translation of Chinese films. Theoretically, the theory of regulating subtitle translation is far from being expected; practically, the calibre of subtitle translation requires enhancement. Subtitle translation is a determined performance, whose prime intention is to convey messages concerned to the viewers in a particular cultural background under the constraints of time and space, so as to enable them to better understand and appreciate the film works, as well as obtain the same experience as the native English audiences. According to Functional Equivalence Theory, Nida believes that the target language readers ought to obtain the similar feelings as the original text readers. Only when the translation meets this requirement can it be considered successful, which coincides with the purpose of subtitle translation. Throughout the study of translation, there have been many researches on subtitle translation and Functional Equivalence Theory, and it has been successfully applied to various kinds of translation practices, such as the translation of political documents and the translation of literary masterpieces. However, the analysis of subtitle translation in the light of Functional Equivalence Theory is still comparatively rare. Thus, the aim of this study is to explore the possibility and effectiveness of Functional Equivalence Theory in subtitle translation, and take the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them as an example to study the translation methods and strategies that can be used to achieve functional equivalence.

1.3 Structure of the thesis

There are four parts in this paper: the first part is an introduction, which mainly introduces the background of the thesis, including the aim and importance of the study, as well as the main organization of the thesis; the second part is the theoretical review. After introducing subtitle translation and its characteristics, it also reviews Nida"s Functional Equivalence Theory, and analyzes the feasibility of using this theory to study subtitle translation. Part three summarizes the several translation methods and strategies applied to accomplish functional equivalence from four aspects: lexcial, syntactic, contextual and stylistic, with the example of subtitle translation in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: the Crimes of Grindelwald. Part four is the conclusion part, which epitomizes the entire text and brings up the limitations of this paper.

2. Literature Review

2.1 A brief introduction of Functional Equivalence Theory

Nida"s Functional Equivalence Theory is based on the denial of the concept of equivalence translation and the revision of his previous theory of dynamic equivalence, and is the extension of dynamic equivalence, which is the core of Nida"s view of language translation.

In the early 1960s, Nida put forward the theory of “formal equivalence”, which requires that “the forms of source and target texts be as consistent as possible”. In 1964, Nida proposed dynamic equivalence theory in Toward A Science of Translating and compared it with formal equivalence theory. Nida holds that “due to regional and cultural differences, there are great differences in the form and content of different languages, so formal equivalence translation is rare, while dynamic equivalence is the pursuit of the closest natural translation.” (Nida 159) He therefore emphasized the concept of dynamic equivalence. However, the statement of “dynamic” is simply misinterpreted as something only influential. In order to eliminate the misunderstanding, Nida put forward the concept of functional equivalence in his book From One Language to Another Language in 1986 to replace dynamic equivalence. In a word, the essence of Nida’s functional equivalence theory is “the translation is natural, the content is lucid and expressive, and the reader’s responses are corresponding.” (Nida 27)

Nida put forward three basic requirements for translation: first, the translation should accurately convey the connotative information of the original text; second, the translation should be natural. The third is to make the target language readers and the source language readers get similar responses. In order to hit the mark, translators are supposed to take three elements into account: target language environment, source language environment and target language reader"s acceptance. Among them, the source language environment requires the translator"s exceptional consideration. Only in the explicit circumstances can the readers realize the connotative denotation of the contents. Only by fully grasping the context and connotation of the source language texts can the target language readers fully understand the meaning of the source language texts and obtain the same feelings as the source language readers. (Nida 27)

Due to the differences between cultures and language structures, it is impossible to obtain complete equivalence between the original text and the target text in a real sense. Therefore, functional equivalence theory is grouped into four levels of equivalence.

Firstly, lexical equivalence, which is the most elementary aspect of this theory. The meaning of words is reflected in their application in sentences. In the process of translation, sometimes the meanings of words in the source language cannot be found in the target language, or there are several similar meanings, which involves the choice of words.

Secondly, syntactic equivalence, which is much more complex than that of the lexical aspect because English and Chinese are two completely different languages. In Chinese, the key information of a sentence is usually located at the end of the sentence, while in English pivotal facts is often emphasized at the start of the sentence. English emphasizes syntactic structure while Chinese emphasizes syntactic features.

Thirdly, contextual equivalence. Text has informative function, expressive function and vocative function. In order to realize the corresponding text functions of different types of texts, corresponding translation strategies can be adopted, such as adding or deleting relevant background knowledge to achieve informative functions, so as to achieve text-level equivalence.

Fourthly, stylistic equivalence. Style can only be presented through readers’ experience, and the information they receive and the feelings they feel after reading vary from person to person. Therefore, translators often find it arduous to obtain equivalence at the stylistic level in translation. Thus, stylistic equivalence is the highest requirement of functional equivalence theory.

2.2 Feasibility of Functional Equivalence Theory in subtitle translation

There are three reasons why Functional Equivalence Theory can be exercised to the analysis of subtitle translation.

Firstly, both of them accentuate the response of target language audiences. Mr. Qian Shaochang once concluded that language in films and television programs has five characteristics, namely, listening, instantaneity, popularity, comprehensiveness and non-annotation. It is precisely these five characteristics of language in film and television programs that determine the special requirements for subtitle translation. (Qian 61) When watching a movie, the audience needs to pay attention to both the screen and the subtitles at the bottom of the screen at a certain speed. Therefore, subtitles need to help the audience understand the content of the film without affecting the audience"s viewing experience. In other words, the translated subtitles are responsible for truthfully conveying the content expressed by foreign movies; in addition, they also need to make the audience fully understand the foreign culture within a certain range and enable the audience to get the same viewing experience as the original audience. Nida"s Functional Equivalence Theory also highlights the reaction, influence and feeling of the target readers to the translated version are intrinsically in accordance with the reaction of the original readers to the source text, which is consistent with the desired effect of subtitle translation. Therefore, it is very appropriate to investigate the subtitle translation based on functional equivalence theory.

Secondly, subtitle translation is a purposeful activity, mainly focusing on content. Film is a dynamic artistic form with both pictures and sounds. In the sound of a film, the dialogue is one of the most important means to promote the development of story and reflect the personality of characters, in addition to background sounds and music. Subtitle translators need to translate many dialogues between roles in films. It can be said that the calibre of subtitle translation directly determines whether the viewers can completely comprehend the content of the film. However, as dialogues contain a large number of foreign elements which are unfamiliar to Chinese audiences, such as culture, daily life and idioms, it is almost impossible for subtitle translators to achieve complete form and content equivalence. Nida once put forward the idea that “content is the main factor while form is the secondary factor” (Nida amp; Waard 36). Therefore, from this point of view, Functional Equivalence Theory can steer the subtitle translation and can be used to analyze subtitle translation on the basis of this theory.

Thirdly, an important role of movies is to promote the culture of their own country to audiences from other cultures. Nida also believes that translation means interchanges of cultural information in the process of communication. From this point of view, Nida"s Functional Equivalence Theory is able to direct the subtitle translation to obtain the functional equivalence of exchanges between different cultures. In the process of subtitle translation, the style of film language should be as original as possible and the cultural connotation of the original language should be maintained to the greatest extent.

In short, Nida believes that the ultimate criteria for judging the quality of translation are mainly based on three aspects: first, to enable readers to correctly understand the original text; second, to make the translation easy to understand; and third, to attract readers through the appropriate form of the translation. (Nida 65) These three points are particularly important for subtitle translation. Therefore, it is felicitous to scrutinize the methods and skills of subtitle translation on the basis of Functional Equivalence Theory.

2.3 An overview on the study of subtitle translation

Subtitle translation can be grouped into two types: intralingual subtitling and interlingual subtitling. Intra-language subtitles are for the same language. For example, Chinese subtitles are found on the bottom of Chinese programs. In O’ Connell’s opinion, this may be to better serve the deaf and mute and people with various hearing impairments. (O’ Connell 174) The broadcasting sound of interlingual subtitles is the source language, while subtitles are the target language.

Subtitle translation involves the procedures of conversion from verbal language to written language, as well as from one language to another. In the process of translation, the translator usually deletes or modifies the parts that are not flowing smoothly of the original spoken language in accordance with the writing norms, and converts them into a smooth and easy-to-read form, in order to prevent the reading of subtitles from causing trouble to the audience. As the audience mainly looks at the picture and listens to the original sound, the subtitles should be as clear as possible, without imposing additional burden on the audience. According to Gottlieb, the ultimate goal of subtitle translation is to enable the audience to experience the same experience as those who understand a foreign language when they read subtitles. (Gottlieb 265)

Subtitle translation has the following characteristics:

Firstly, colloquial. The plot-based film and television works generally rely on the interaction between the roles to develop the plot, which is generally presented by dialogue. Since it is the dialogue, it is the daily spoken language that is easy to understand in life, that is, short, direct and vivid, and contains more informal and colloquial expressions.

Secondly, cultural. Nida indicated that culture also belongs to language. The definition of all content directly or indirectly manifests a comparable culture, and the interpretation of words can only be seen in the comparable culture. The translated film production itself belongs to the second creation of art, whose purpose is to introduce foreign culture to the target audience and promote the development of national culture.

Thirdly, serviceability. Subtitles do not exist independently. They must be combined with the pictures and sounds of movies and television works in order to be meaningful. If a paragraph of subtitles is extracted, its true meaning cannot be understood by looking at its content alone, and its ultimate purpose determines the serviceability of the subtitle.

Fourthly, limited by time and space. The aim of subtitle translation is to optimize the conveyance of semantic information, assist the viewers to overcome language barriers and comprehend the plot of the story. The biggest constraints facing subtitle translation are time and space, which do not give people enough time to read like books. Subtitles must be synchronized with dialogues, actions and pictures. With the switching of pictures, the number of rapidly replaced subtitles must meet the audiences’ reading needs. Usually, there are at most two lines of subtitles in a picture, and the figure for subtitles each cannot excel a certain number. Therefore, the translator must have a good grasp and understanding of the original dialogue, carefully consider the cognitive and cultural dissimilarities between languages, make a trade-off between the original text, translate the implied meaning which cannot be directly deduced into the explicit meaning, and make a delicate layout of the text so that the audience can enjoy the film better.

3. Detailed Study on the Subtitle Translation in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is a 2018 fantasy movies directed by David Yates and written by J. K. Rowling. A joint British and American production, it is the sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). It is the second installment in the Fantastic Beasts film series, and the tenth overall in the Wizarding World franchise, which began with the Harry Potter film series. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Johnny Depp and so on. The plot follows Newt Scamander and Albus Dumbledore as they attempt to take down the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, while facing new threats in a more divided wizarding world.

The film begins when the powerful dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is transferring to London to be tried for his crimes, but he escaped with the help of Abernathy. Three months later in London, Newt Scamander runs into Leta Lestrange, an old Hogwarts classmate now engaged to his Auror brother, Theseus. The Ministry of Magic asks Newt if he will work alongside Theseus to locate Credence Barebone in Paris, who may be Leta"s lost brother, Corvus Lestrange, the only person who can kill Hogwarts professor Albus Dumbledore. Newt declines, but later, Dumbledore persuades Newt to go. At the rally, Grindelwald preaches against laws forcing wizards to be hidden from muggles, and utilizes future images of World War II to call for worldwide wizard supremacy and domination. Grindelwald casts a circle of blue flame to divide followers from enemies. Credence and Queenie cross over to join him, while Leta sacrifices herself by attacking Grindelwald, allowing Newt, Tina, Jacob, Yusuf, Nagini, and Theseus to escape. As Grindelwald leaves, the remaining heroes unite alongside the immortal alchemist Nicolas Flamel to defeat Grindelwald’s blue flame. Newt now realizes he must join the fight.

At Hogwarts, Newt gives Dumbledore a vial stolen from Grindelwald. It contains the blood pact that Grindelwald and Dumbledore, once close friends, made with one another in their youth. Newt surmises that this has prevented Dumbledore and Grindelwald from duelling each other. Dumbledore confirms this, but believes it may be possible to destroy the pact. At his Nurmengard base in Austria, Grindelwald reveals Credence"s true identity as Aurelius Dumbledore, Albus’ long-lost brother and the only person powerful enough to defeat him.

3.1 Lexical equivalence

The complete equivalence of words can only be achieved among specialized and technical words. Vocabulary belongs to the lower linguistic level. Due to the cultural differences between China and the West, it is easy to cause the problem of mistranslation or loss of words’ meaning in the process of subtitle translation. In addition to the simple equivalence in meaning, lexical equivalence refers to finding words in the target language which is equivalent to the cultural connotations of the source language in the process of translation, so that the target audiences can have similar responses to the source language audiences. If translators only pursue the literal meaning of words, it will easily lead to mistranslation, which will affect the audiences’ understanding of the film.

Here are some examples in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them:

Example 1

Theseus is the Auror.

忒修斯是傲罗。

Auror is a group of highly trained elite who belongs to the Department of Magic Law Enforcement of the Ministry of Magic. They are trained to investigate crimes committed by black magic and arrest or detain dark wizards. Auror training is very difficult and intensive, so there are few qualified applicants. The word Auror derives from the name of Aurora, the goddess of dawn in Roman mythology. Dawn is opposite to Dark, and it implies that Auror specializes in arresting dark wizards. In the Chinese version, it is translated into “傲罗”. The translator uses transliteration to translate the word. In addition, according to the interpretation of Xinhua Dictionary, “傲” means “unyielding” and “arrogance”, which corresponds to Auror’s identity. Therefore, the translation of the word follows phonetic equivalence, and on the basis of phonetic equivalence, the audience can understand the identity of Auror according to the word “傲”.

Example 2

Theseus: You know, the time is coming when everyone"s, everyone"s gonna have to pick a side. Even you.

Newt: I don"t do sides.

忒修斯：你清楚，等到时候所有人，每个人都必须选一边，你也不例外。

纽特：我不做旁门左道的事。

The translation of the sentence “I don"t do sides” is controversial. The version of the released film is translated as “我不做旁门左道的事”, while the subtitle group translated it as “我不选”. The author of this paper prefers the translation of the former. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary, “side” means “边”, and then referring to “pick a side” above, the subtitle group translating it as “做选择” is reasonable. However, the interpretation of “side” in the dictionary also has the meaning of “旁边”, and “do sides” is easy to be associated with “做旁门左道的事” in Chinese, and “旁门左道” is a four-character phrase familiar to all Chinese people. There are two reasons why the former translation is thought to be more reasonable. Firstly, according to Newt’s understanding of “ends” and “means” in the preceding plot, he disagrees with the Ministry of Magic’s arrest of Credence. So obviously, when Theseus asked him to “pick a side”, he thought that choosing the side of the Ministry of Magic was equivalent to doing something heretical. Secondly, from the follow-up movie plot, Newt actually and factually “pick a side”, that is, Dumbledore’s side, so the translation here can achieve lexical equivalence.

Example 3

Grindelwald: When we"ve won, they"ll flee cities in the millions. They"ve had their time.

格林德沃：等我们赢了，上千万的人就会逃离城市，他们的好日子到头了。

Grindelwald believed that wizards were nobler than Muggles and that wizards should rule Muggles, while the authorities of the Ministry of Magic at that time required all wizards should not use magic in front of Muggles. Grindelwald was dissatisfied with such a policy so he summoned wizards willing to follow him to launch a war against the Ministry of Magic to expel and eliminate Muggles. As for the translation of “They"ve had their time”, the translator has made an analysis: the tense of this sentence is the past perfect tense which denotes the actions that have taken place or completed before a certain time or action in the past, so actually the implicit meaning of this sentence is “they have no time now”. To link what Grindelwald said in this sentence to this: after the victory of the war, they will expel Muggles from the city. Therefore “no time” is translated as “好日子到头了”, which can reflect the lexical meaning in the target language .

Example 4

Queenie: Well, you"ve been real kind, but my sister Tina"s probably worried sick about me, you know, banging on all the doors and things, so I think I"d better be going.

A: But you haven"t met your host.

Queenie: Oh, are you married?

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