论文总字数：21296字

摘 要

电影，作为一种现代化的娱乐方式，在我们的日常生活中发挥着非常重要的作用。电影字幕翻译是电影本身成功与否的一个重要因素。配以字幕的电影不仅让观众能在短时间内获取大量的信息，而且能满足那些想要享受原声电影的观众的需求。功夫熊猫这部电影讲述了在中国文化背景下一只笨拙的熊猫立志成为武林高手的故事。其景观、布景、服装甚至是食物都充满了中国元素。这部电影没有成功的字幕翻译不可能如此受欢迎。韦努蒂提出的归化和异化理论对这类充满中国元素的影片的翻译非常具有指导意义。本文旨在从归化和异化的角度探讨美国动画电影《功夫熊猫》的字幕翻译以及这两种策略在字幕翻译中的应用。

关键词：归化；异化；电影；字幕翻译

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

2.1 The Definition of Domestication and Foreignization 2

2.2 Previous Studies on Film Subtitle Translation 2

3. Domestication and Foreignization in Film Kungfu Panda Subtitle Translation 3

3.1 The Features of Film Subtitle Translation 4

3.2 Analysis on the Strategy of Domestication and Foreignization in the Subtitle Translation of Film Kungfu Panda 5

4. Conclusion 9

Works Cited 10

1. Introduction

With the accelerated process of globalization, people’s living standards and the constant improvement of the aesthetic temperament and interest, English movies play an important role in our lives. Domestication and foreignization theory is systematically proposed by Lawrence Venuti, but the term of domestication and foreignization is directly originated from the German thinker Schleiermacher’s speech On the Different Methods of Translating, putting forward that foreignization is “an approach the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as possible, and moves the reader towards him, while domestication is one that the translator leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author towards him.” (Schleiermacher, 1992: 41) American translation theorist Nida once said, “translation is the communication between the two cultures. For truly successful translation, familiar with two cultures is even more important than the mastery of two languages.” (Nida, 1993: 110)

As language is the carrier of culture, translation is the bridge of intercultural communication. Without translation, communication and infiltration of different cultures between different countries and nationalities is impossible. In recent years, the domestic audience learn more about the western films, which is mainly resulted in the grand scenes of the film, high production quality of film and perfect performance of the actors, in successful translation of translators in the transmission of culture as well. This paper mainly discuss the translation of Kungfu Panda from the perspective of domestication and foreignization and to show how these two strategies work in the subtitle translation.

2. Literature Review

“Film has changed the way we see the world dramatically during the past years, and it is clearly a kind of sophisticated and possibly the most important art in modern society. Film translation has a rather complex history of theories and practices. It is born with the appearance of talkies, the sound film. Compared with other forms of translation, the history of this new type of translation is rather short, not to say systematic and theoretical study concerning it”(Shang Lijun,2008:18). It is really a pity that subtitle translation has been largely ignored by translation studies for a long time. However, it does not mean there were no this kind of research. During the twentieth century, new ways of communication, the subtitle translation, emerged. Until now, more and more scholars and theorists begin to focus their attentions and interests on it .

2.1 The Definition of Domestication and Foreignization

“Domestication refers to the target-culture-oriented translation in which unusual expressions to the target culture are exploited and turned into some familiar ones so as to make the translated text intelligible and easy for the target readers”(Cai Zhan,2013:6). Specifically, domestication translation principle is in the different levels of vocabulary, grammar, semantics, linguistics, not constrained by the form of the original, but only to preserve the original content with the closest and most natural equivalence in the translation of language to express the content, in order to be equivalent. “Foreignization is a source-culture-oriented translation which strives to preserve the foreign flavor as much as possible in order to transfer the source language and culture into the target one”(Cai Zhan, 2013:7). There exist two opposite viewpoints on the issue of how to deal with cultural differences in translation circles both at home and abroad, that is, foreignization and domestication. Domestication refer to a target-language-culture-oriented translation strategy while foreignization is just the other way round.

2.2 Previous Studies on Film Subtitle Translation

Domestication and foreignization as two translation strategies is put forward by Amenican translation theorist Venuti. According to the definition of Schuttleworth and Cowie in the preparation of Dictionary of Translation Studies, the former refers to the transparent and smooth style the translator adopts as far as possible to reduce the cultural barriers to the target language readers understanding the target language text. Foreignization refers to the retainment of the original foreign language features in translation. Although domestication and foreignization theory is put forward by Venuti, the terms is directly derived from the German linguist and translation theorist Schleiermacher read in 1813.

“Domestication has been one fundamental strategy in dealing with cultural factors in the process of translating, with its opposite as foreignization. According to Dictionary of Translation Studies published in England in 1997, “domesticating” and “foreignizing” directly originated from the German thinker Schleiermacher’s speech On the Different Methods of Translating” (Schleiermacher, 1992: 41).

In 1813, Schleiermacher proposed in his speech that “translators should try either to make the readers approach the author without interrupting him or to make the author approach the readers without interrupting them” (Schleiermacher, 1992: 42). On the base of his speech, Lawrence Venuti summarized the two strategies that is “foreignization” and “domestication” (Venuti, 1995: 20). The former refers to “deviating from the mainstreams of native values while keeping in the target language (TL) the exoticism of the source language (SL) and culture” (Venuti, 2001: 240). The latter refers to “making the translation conform to the mainstream of native values, domestic canons, publishing trends and political needs by adopting the means of assimilation” (Venuti, 2001: 240).

Lawrence Venuti, a famous American translator, he was the first person to introduced domestication and foreignization in his book The Translator"s Invisibility: A History of Translation. He said: “foreignization is an approach that the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as possible, and moves the reader towards him while domestication is one that the translator leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author towards him”(Venuti, 2004: 19-20).

3. Domestication and Foreignization in Film Kungfu Panda Subtitle Translation

Kungfu Panda is an America action comedy film with Chinese Kungfu as the theme. This story describes to the audience an image of lazy, irreverent slacker panda, named Po, who is crazily pursuing Kungfu. Unexpectedly chosen to fulfill an ancient prophecy, Po’s dream comes true after he enters into the Kungfu world and his idols, the legendary Furious Five -- Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey becomes his classmates -- the guru, Master Wugui becomes his Shifu. Without any warning, the vengeful and treacherous snow leopard Tai Lung is headed their way, and it is Po’s task to prevent everyone from the oncoming threat. Will his dreams of becoming a Kungfu master come true? By his hard practice, and po ultimately finds that his greatest weaknesses is just his greatest strengths. In this film of the story of a clumsy panda under Chinese background, there are so many Chinese elements such as the landscape, scenery, costumes and even the food. The film can not be popular without the successful subtitle translation. Under the guide of domestication and foreignization strategy, the subtitle translator of this film used proper translation skills to make the audience better understand this film.

3.1 The Features of Film Subtitle Translation

As a kind of art for common people, foreign language film let the audience not only feel familiar and cordial, but also enjoy the flavor of the source language and experience a different culture. Subtitle translation generally refers to the language translation, translating the source language into the target language on the bottom of the screen. Subtitle translation belongs to literary translation, but it has some significant characteristics which is difference from that of literary translation.

Subtitle translation mainly have the following characteristics:

3.1.1 Colloquialism and Popularity

Art comes from life. English films is not only the pursuit of art, but also the pursuit of the authenticity of life. The language dialogue in the film is mostly full of diverse spoken language of daily life, which is simple and easy to understand. Film subtitle translation should make people easy to understand, and be naturally catchy, clear and concise. Therefore, colloquialism and popularization has become a feature of the English film subtitle translation. Subtitle translator should pay more attention to the spoken language.

3.1.2 Transience

Subtitle refers to words and sentences appearing on the bottom of the screen, which can make the audience easily understand the meaning of dialogues in the film, and reduce the audience audio-visual error. It, on one hand, has the function of improving the expression and activating the video image, on the other hand, can help the audience to understand the content of movie more accurately. The subtitle is not like reading books which are convenient for readers to read any page. The subtitle flashes by and does not give the audience enough time to read. This characteristic of film itself determines the short-time existence of subtitle translation on the screen. Without explanation, subtitle requires concise translation to make audience understand maximized message in limited time.

3.1.3 Restriction of Time and Space

The subtitle flashes by on the screen, which are the implementation of specific information. Because of it’s transience, subtitle translation appearing below the movie screen or TV screen is also restricted by space. The film’s language is synchronous with the images, and the translator must ensure that the audience can get the clear information in the shortest time. Each line of the subtitle translation must stay on the screen to give the audience enough time to scan, and because the subtitle translation staying time is short, often only a few seconds, the subtitle content can not be too much to the audience’s acceptance. Subtitle translation is different from other translation because of its limited size of the screen and limited display time. The speaker"s meaning must be expressed clearly in the limited time, so the words in the subtitle translation can not be too many and take up too much space of the screen.

3.2 Analysis on the Strategy of Domestication and Foreignization in the Subtitle Translation of Film Kungfu Panda

3.2.1 The Application of Domestication and Foreignization in the Subtitle Translation

The film reflects the Chinese social and cultural life, so the dialogue often contains specific cultural information words with Chinese characteristics, namely the culture - loaded words. In translating these words, the translator will be faced with the difficulties of domesticating or foreignizing.

In this film, there are a lot of Chinese four character phrases, for example, “My fist hunger for justice”, “Inner peace”, “Tigress, double-jump strike” and “Would you guys spill the beans?”

In addition, extensive use of Chinese popular and spoken language, for example, “Got it, Stealth Mode”, “Whatever it is I will take them down, Cuz I am in the mood”, “Shoo on that”, “Now we are got the pleasantries out of the way” and “You are right, being right makes me right”.

Example 1. “ One meets its destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.”

“子欲避之，反促遇之。”

The sentence from the mouth of the Zen master WuGui. If translated into “半路上与命运撞了一下腰。”it is difficult to appreciate the profound philosophy. Losing some artistic conception, it is not a successful translation. The old saying “子欲避之，反促遇之。”better conveys the connotation, giving people endless aftertaste .

Example 2. “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).”

“昨日之日不可留，明日之日未可知，今日之日胜真金。好好把握现在吧！”

This is WuGui master’s another classic lines. The literal meaning of this sentence is “俗话说昨天是历史，明天是谜团，只有今天是上天赐的礼物。” Idiomatic Chinese likes to use four- character phrases, so if translated into“昨日之日不可留，明日之日未可知，今日之日胜真金。好好把握现在吧！”the sentence will have a different feeling, making the sentence very expressively.

Example 3. “there are no accidents.”

“从来没有什么意外”

In the film this sentence is translated into “从来没有什么意外。”which is faithful to the original and easy for Chinese audience to understand. If the sentence translated into“这不是误打误撞”it will cause ambiguity.

Example 4. “Enough talk~ let’s fight!”

“少废话，决斗吧！”

This sentence said by Panda Po in the face of the enemy is literally translated as “少废话，决斗吧。” Original sentence is concise and appropriate, expressing speaker’s outrage. The version“啰嗦什么，打吧！”seems a bit too monotonous.

In the above examples, domestication strategy was used in example 1 and 2 while foreignization strategy was applied in example 3 an 4. So in the process of translating, the principle to be obeyed is that if domesticating is possible, for the target audience’ acceptance the translator should use dometication strategy as far as possible, and if domestication strategy may cause the unfaithfulness to the source text, the translator should apply foreignization strategy.

3.2.2 Different Methods Used in Film Subtitle Translation

Under the guidance of two translation strategies of domestication and foreignization in the translation study, some translation methods, such as negative sentence into affirmative sentence, replacement, modification can be used.

3.2.2.1 Negative Sentence into Affirmative Sentence

Example 5. “ And believe me, citizens you have not seen anything yet.”

“相信我，居民们，你们将大开眼界。”

Source sentence is a negative sentence, but the Chinese translation is an affirmative sentence. By method of turn a negative sentence into affirmative sentence, the translator achieves the goal of domestication. If the sentence “citizens you have not seen anything yet” was translated into its negative meaning “你们将不会看见什么”, it will not be idiomatic Chinese expression.

3.2.2.2 Replacement

Example 6. “ You guys see that? It’s called being awesome!”

“你看到了吗？这就叫给力！”

“Awesome” which means “很棒” is a very popular vocabulary in American. The American audience can easliy grasp the meaning of this word in the film. If the word translated as “我很棒” it will not express the meaning of source language to the audience. Therefore, the translator uses the most popular vocabulary “给力”to replace “我很棒”to achieve the same effect on Chinese audiences as American.

3.2.2.3 Modification

Example 7. “Let’s finish this.”

“让我们收拾完这烂摊子吧。”

The literal meaning of this sentence is “让我们完成这个吧。”But the translator modified “让我们完成这个吧” into“收拾这烂摊子”which is a idiomatic oral expression for Chinese audiences to understand the content according to the context. It is clear that the application of foreignization strategy can be helpful for the audience to understand the intended meaning of the speech and promoting the spread of film itself.

3.2.2.4 Amplification and Omission

Example 8. “ Maybe it can, if you are willing to guide it, to nurture it, to believe in it.”

“But, how? How? I need your help, Master.”

“也许有办法，只要你愿意去引导他、好好栽培他、真心相信他。

“怎么做，怎么做，告诉我大仙。我需要你的帮助。”

In this example, domestication and foreignization are perfectly combined. The chinese keep the structue of the orignial sentence. But the meaning of some words, such as “nurture” and “believe”, are amplified. “好好栽培”和“真心相信”make the sentences more emphatic. The sentence reflect the scene of oogway’s entrusting when he is dying.

Example 9. “Your mind is like this water, my friend, when it is agitated, it becomes difficult to see, but if you allow it to settle, the answer becomes clear.”

“你的思绪就像这水面，一旦起了涟漪就很难看清看透，只要你平心静气一切就昭然若揭。”

In the process of translating this sentence, the translator rendered it literally with the metaphors remained. This kind of version not only cater to the audience’s aesthetics but also arouse their interests in watching this film. The translation of “the answer becomes clear” into “昭然若揭” is help the chinese audiences approach the film.

4. Conclusion

Film is not only a universal entertainment mode in modern times, but also an important vehicle for cultural communication. As a special translation mode, subtitles translation is playing a more and more important and indispensable role in the practice of translation . This thesis mainly discuss the translation of the film Kungfu Panda from the perspective of domestication and foreignization and show how these two strategies work in the subtitle translation. Through analyzing the two translation strategies of the film, we find that the two are not contradictory but complementary to each other in the translating process. Only by the perfect combination of the two strategies can renditions of high quality be produced.

Works Cited

[1] Lawrence Venuti. The translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London and NewYork: Routledge, 1994.

[2] Nida. Language Culture and Translating. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1993.

[3] Shuttleworth amp; Cowie. Dictionary of Translation Studies. St. Jerome Publishing, 1997.

[4] Schleiermacher, A. On the Different Methods of Translating. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1813.

[5] 陈穗姗. 谈电影《功夫熊猫》的美式幽默与字幕翻译. 时代文学：双月版，2009（07）：20-23.

[6] 蔡展. 影视字幕的文化翻译--以美国电视剧 《摩登家庭》为例（毕业论文）.福建师范大学，2013：6-7.

[7] 刚强，刘敬国. 《翻译通论》. 北京：外语教研与研究出版社，2011.

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