摘 要

《我在故宫修文物》是一部优秀的三集文物修复类纪录片，同时拥有一部同名电影，讲述了青铜器、宫廷钟表、百宝镶嵌、织绣的修复以及书画的修复、临摹和摹印的故事。其同名电影经官方译制于2016年上映，并于2017获得第50届休斯敦国际电影节纪录片评委会特别雷米奖。

目前，纪录片的外译已经成为世界了解中国的窗口之一，是中国文化“走出去”，提升文化软实力的有效渠道。

本文以“目的论”为理论基础，对《我在故宫修文物》三集纪录片以及同名电影纪录片的中英文字幕进行研究，通过举例分析的手段探究文物修复分类纪录片中翻译技巧的使用情况。经过对比分析得到结论，增译法、减译法、正译反译法和释译法在中国纪录片英译中较为常用；另外音译加注法以及合译法也有使用。同时理解中外语言及文化差异并根据差异选取翻译技巧也有助于我们提升自己的文化认同以及加强文化融合。提升文化认同以及加强中英文化融合才能将中国的文化更好地推向世界。

关键词：目的论；中国纪录片；翻译技巧；《我在故宫修文物》

Abstract

Masters in the Forbidden City is an excellent three-episode documentary concerning with relic restoration. At the same time, it has a film of the same name, which tells about the restoration story about bronze, the palace clock, the treasure inlay, embroidery and painting and calligraphy. Its movie version was officially translated in 2016 and won the Documentary Jury special Remy Award of the 50th Houston International Film Festival in 2017.

At present, the translation of the documentary has become one of the world's channels to understand China. It is an effective channel for Chinese culture to “go globally” and enhance cultural soft power.

“Skopos theory” is the theoretical basis in this paper. And this paper takes Masters in the Forbidden City as an example. Through the example analysis to explore the use of translation techniques in the documentary of cultural relics restoration classification. Based on the Chinese and English subtitles of the three episodes’ documentary and the film of the same name, this paper analyzes the documentary subtitle translation techniques and the use of various translation techniques in subtitle translation and the effects. After analysis, it is concluded that the amplification, omission, affirmation and negation, and paraphrase are more commonly used in the translation of Chinese documentary; in addition, the annotated transliteration and combination are also used. Basing on the language and culture differences in China and foreign countries to select translation techniques will also help us improve our cultural identity and strengthen cultural integration. Enhancing cultural identity and the integration of Chinese and English can better promote Chinese culture to the whole world.

Key Words: Skopos Theory; Chinese Documentary; Translation Techniques; Masters in the Forbidden City

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Literature Review 3

2.1 The study of Skopos Theory 3

2.2 The Study of Subtitle Translation of Documentary Films 5

3 Application of Translation Techniques in Masters in the Forbidden City 7

3.1 Overview of translation techniques 7

3.2 Common translation techniques in Masters in the Forbidden City 8

3.2.1 Amplification 8

3.2.2 Paraphrase 8

3.2.3Omission 9

3.2.4 Affirmation and negation 10

3.3 Special translation techniques in Masters in the Forbidden City 11

3.3.1Annotated transliteration 11

3.3.2 Combination 12

4 Cultural diversity and transmission in Documentary Subtitle Translation 13

4.1 Language and cultural diversity between Chinese and English 13

4.1.1 Hypotaxis and parataxis 13

4.1.2 Subject-prominent and topic-prominent 13

4.2 Cultural transmission and significance in documentary subtitle translation 14

4.2.1 Culture identity 14

4.2.2 Cultural Integration 15

5 Conclusion 16

References 17

Acknowledgements 19

Study on the Translation Techniques of Chinese Documentary Films from the Perspective of Skopos Theory

- A Case Study of Masters in The Forbidden City

1 Introduction

In the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping proposed that “without a high degree of cultural self-confidence and cultural prosperity, there would be no great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”Since the reform and opening up, under the guidance of the “go globally” strategy and “introduction” strategy, a large number of audiovisual works have flooded into China through the endeavor work of subtitle translators, which has enabled Chinese people to experience the impact of culture and broaden our horizons.

In recent years, a series of Chinese Documentary Films are translated in foreign languages and spread in the world, such as The Drunken Beauty, the Beijing Opera, was performed in the United States and A Bite of China was popular in Southeast Asia, which has proved that the export of Chinese cultural products has become an inevitable requirement and external manifestation of enhancing the international influence of Chinese culture.

Masters in the Forbidden City is a three-episode documentary film about cultural relics produced by China Central Television, which was broadcasted on CCTV-9 in 2016. The first episode tells the story of the restoration of bronzes, palace clocks and ceramics; the second episode is the repair story of wood, lacquer, treasure inlays and weaving embroidery; the third episode is the restoration and facsimile of calligraphy and painting. There is also a film documentary of the same name which was released in China in 2016. In 2017, the movie of Masters in the Forbidden City won the Documentary Jury special Remy Award of the 50th Houston International Film Festival. The film version takes time as the main axis, and uses the new story line and the pictures that are not presented in the three-episodes to explain the daily work and life of the masters. The documentary film has been translated by subtitle translation group, and the movie has official translation. This paper will select representative examples of subtitle translation from both editions to analyze the applied translation techniques in C-E documentary films.

Skopos theory is a concept from the field of translation studies. It focuses on translation as an activity with an aim or purpose, and on the intended addressee or audience of the translation. It was established by the German linguists Katharina Reiß (1977), Hans Vermeer (1978), and Justa Holz Manttari (1984). Kristina Nord (1988) further developed the Skopos Theory.

This paper is divided into five chapters. Chapter three and four are the main component of the paper. Chapter three mainly talks about the translation techniques of Chinese culture proper none and cultural relic restoration jargon from the aspects of lexicon and syntax. In chapter four, the paper will discuss cultural transmissions through C-E translation. This paper is aiming at providing reference to the study of documentary subtitle translation in the future.

2 Literature Review

2.1 The study of Skopos Theory

In 1971, Katherine Reiss first proposed the problem of functional categories in her book Possibility and Limitation of Translation Criticism and constructed the prototype of functionalist translation theory. Her research in the 1970s was based on the concept of reciprocity, but she “considered the use of text rather than words and sentences as a level of communicative activity achievement and peer-to-peer realization.” (Reiss, 1989).

Reiss’ student Hans Vermeer is the core figure of the functionalist school, and he further developed the teacher’s theory. He believes that linguistics can't solve all the problems of translation. Translation behavior is as purposeful as any human behavior. Therefore, in his book Framework for a General Translation Theory Hans Vermeer （1978）proposed the core part of the functionalist school-Skopos, which regards the source text as the carrier of information; the translator flexibly selects the translation strategy and translation method according to the purpose of translation, so as to convert the source text into the translated text; the translated text should adapt to the local culture and maintain its own coherence. In addition, Hans Vermeer also proposed three principles that translators must follow: the Skopos rule, the Coherence rule, and the Fidelity rule. In further speaking, the Skopos rule is the core principle of translation behavior, that is to say, the purpose of translation is different, and the strategies and methods adopted in translation should be different; the Coherence rule means that the text of the target language must be readable, and the recipient of the target language can understand the information conveyed by the text of the target language, which means it conforms the intra-textual coherence rule; the Fidelity rule means that the target text is faithful to the original text, in other words, it conforms to the inter-textual coherence law.

Based on Hans Vermeer’s Skopos Theory, Justa Holz Manttari proposed the theory of Translation Action by means of communicative theory and behavioral theory. She distinguishes between “translation” and “translation action” and regards translation as “the purpose-driven human interaction” (Munday, 2010: 77) “Translation is not translation of words, sentences or texts, but guidance of cooperation, eliminator of cultural barriers and making function-oriented communication possible.” (Manttari, 1984: 7-8) This theory emphasizes the purpose of translation action in conveying information that transcends language and cultural barriers. Translation is just a text about cross-cultural conversion behavior, and translation is a concrete implementation of translation action.