目的论视角下的电影字幕翻译—以《功夫熊猫》为例

论文总字数：31886字

摘 要

随着全球文化的融合与电影业的迅速发展，大批的英文电影涌入中国市场。中国观众从中感受到了大量的外国文化和异域风情。在传递不同国家的文化信息方面,字幕翻译发挥着重要的作用。

上世纪70年代，弗米尔和其他学者提出了翻译目的论。目的论认为，电影字幕翻译是一种有目的的行为。字幕翻译的目的是在时间和空间的限制下，以最有效的方式向观众传递相关信息，帮助他们理解电影内容。本文介绍了目的论的有关理论并具体阐释了其内容，然后从目的论的基本原则—目的原则，连贯原则，忠实原则和文化专属性原则出发，把目的论运用到字幕翻译中，对《功夫熊猫》的电影字幕翻译做了一个详细的分析。

关键词：电影字幕翻译；目的论；基本原则；《功夫熊猫》

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

2.1 Previous Study on Film Subtitle Translation 1

2.2 Introduction to Film Subtitle Translation 3

3. Theoretical Framework 4

3.1 An Overview of Skopostheorie 5

3.2 Four Rules of Skopostheorie 5

4. An Analysis of Subtitle Translation of Kungfu Panda 7

4.1 A Brief Introduction to Kungfu Panda 7

4.2 The Application of Skopos Rule 8

4.3 The Application of Coherence Rule 9

4.4 The Application of Fidelity Rule 11

4.5 The Application of Cultural-specificity 12

5. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 15

1. Introduction

Accompanying with the coming and development of information age, cross-cultural activities are more frequent. Foreign films and TV products, especially those in English, have flooded into China’s market. Chinese audiences enjoy wider range of foreign cultures and customs in their daily life. Film has become a part of people’s lives and has a strong influence on the formation of people’s language, life styles and values. Therefore, subtitle translation is very important in the transmission of different countries’ cultural information.

However, in China, film subtitle translation has not formed systematic theories and standards since the development of film subtitle translation started later than that in Europe. In 1949, Changchun Film Studio translated a film—An Ordinary Soldier from Russia. In 1950, Shanghai Film Studio established specialized dubbing department. Film did not find its popularity in China until the reform and opening-up. Although some scholars have made contributions to the study of subtitle translation, more researches need to be made in this field.

Dreamworks, a famous company for film production, released a successful commercial film Kungfu Panda in 2008. It received a box office of 135 million RMB just during the first several days of showing, which is meaningful in the history of international films. It is no doubt that the subtitle translation of Kung Fu Panda has a potential value of study. This paper tries to analyze the subtitle translation from the perspectives of Skopostheorie, applying the basic rules—skopos rule, coherence rule, fidelity rule and cultural-specificity to the subtitle translation of Kungfu Panda.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Previous Study on Film Subtitle Translation

The research of subtitle translation firstly began in European countries. The specialists at the leading edge of this field are mainly western scholars, especially those European researchers. The first academic research to study subtitle translation from the perspective of translation can be dated back to the late 1950s and early 1960s. The golden age of film subtitle translation started in the 1990s; theories of film translation made great progress in this period. In 1991, under the help of European Institute for the Media, Luyken and other four scholars from several European countries analyzed different translation models which applied to the linguistic conversion of films. Moreover, they introduced a large number of statistics, systematically and detailedly studied the number of translated programmes, expenses of labor and audience preferences. In 1992, Swedish subtitle translator Ivarsson published Subtitling for the Media: A Handbook of an Art. In this book, he provided guidance and practice for individuals involved or interested in subtitle translation. After 1995, the film subtitle translation developed rapidly. Gottlieb has been a scholar whose theory research is the most systematic in the field of film translation so far. He made a detailed research on film subtitle translation from the aspects of linguistics. He studied how to translate idioms in film works and had particular views on pedagogical value of subtitles.

In China, some researchers also made some researches in film subtitle translation. In 1998, Zhang Chunbo published A Primary Analysis of Audiovisual Translation . He illustrated the characteristics of audiovisual language — immediacy and popularity. Film translation should center on target language audiences and take their language level into consideration. He thought that free translation should be applied into film translation according to Nida’s functional equivalence. He proposed some differences between film subtitle translation and ordinary literary translation—constraints of the number of words, constraints of motions, emotion of actors. He also pointed out that it is difficult to deal with cultural items and puns.

In 2000, Qian Shaochang, pointed out that film translation was very important and called on translators to focus on film translation. In his article Film translation-An Increasing Important Part in Translation Field, he pointed out five characteristics of film language and summarized seven experiences of audiovisual translation. He thought that among the translation principle of “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance”, “expressiveness” is the most important.

In 2001, Li Yunxing analyzed the features of subtitle translation and put forward some strategies and skills from the perspective of the constraints of time and space, function of information and cultural factors. He pointed out that subtitle translation should produce the most relevant information in limited space and time.

In 2002, Zhao Chunmei discussed four conflicts in film translation; they are conflict between the shape of mouth and the content, conflict between word and moving pictures, conflict between foreignizing and domesticating method, conflict between transliteration and free translation. She also put forward some solutions to deal with them.

2.2 Introduction to Film Subtitle Translation

2.2.1 Functions of subtitle translation

Subtitling is the written form of oral language in a film or TV programmes which is translated into audiences’ language. It often appears at the bottom of the screen. In Shuttleworth and Cowie’s Dictionary of Translation Studies, subtitle translation is defined as “…the process of providing synchronized captions for film and television dialogue” (Shuttleworth and Cowie 161). The functions of film subtitle translation can be analyzed as follows:

First, subtitle translation narrates the plots of the films and helps the audience understand the plots of film. Subtitles reproduce the film scripts and present the information of conversations directly thus audience can clearly understand the information of oral and body language. Also they can make full use of vision and hearing. The limited time and space of a film increases the difficulty of narration but subtitles can produce the most relevant information in limited space and time.

Second, good subtitle translation reveals the connotation of the film by elaborate diction and organized sentence structures, thus it can reveal the individual emotion and changes of inner world, vividly presenting personal attitude and thoughts.

Thirdly, subtitle translation can reflect the flavor of foreign language and promote the connection of different cultures. Subtitle translation should be transformed flexibly according to cultural features. Subtitle translation can break barriers between different languages and let more audience become interested in films and promote the prosperity of culture.

2.2.2. Characteristics of subtitle translation

Film is a mixture of language, pictures, music and literature thus subtitle translation should present those elements of films. Besides, subtitles are different from other literary works because they appear in the screen and cannot read repeatedly which requires that subtitles should be easy to understand. Furthermore, film is a kind of public art, thus the translation need to correspond to people’s literacy levels and be easily accepted by audience. In conclusion, we can summarize the characteristics of subtitle translation as follows:

1. Instantaneity

Film subtitles appear with the images and sounds at the same time, so in many cases they flashes quickly and remains between 2 and 7 seconds. Audience cannot read repeatedly like reading literary works. The basic principles of translation should be brevity and easy understanding.

2. Colloquialism

The target text should not only be smooth and fluent in language but also close to people’s life. As we have mentioned before, film is a kind of public art, so it includes more use of informal language, phrases and Internet catchphrases. Sometimes if the target text remains the dialects and humor of the source language, it seems more close to people’s life.

3. Popularity

As we know, the audiences do not have the patience to figure out and digest the sophisticated expression of the dialogue. Besides, unlike readers who have a certain degree of comprehensive ability towards literary works, most film watchers are common people with no professional linguistic competence, therefore language used in film subtitles should be popular among the ordinary people and cater to different ages and tastes.

4. Characterization of the figures

Subtitle translation also reflects features of the different figures. When translating the source text into the target text, the translator should not neglect the background information, such as status and literacy of figures, in order to present the personality of them. Besides, the translator should grasp the inner world and emotion of characters and use vivid language that corresponds to the status of the figures.

3. Theoretical Framework

3.1 An Overview of Skopostheorie

It is Vermeer who develops the core theory of functional school—Skopostheorie. He introduces the Greek word “skopos” into translation theory and develops Skopostheorie. It is based on behavioral theory and the most important feature of behaviors is intention. Thus the process of translation is decided by the translation purpose.

Vermeer thinks that the element of function is the most important. He disagrees that people should view the source text as a static and absolute standard. The translation methods are decided by specific circumstances, so translation is a dynamic process. Translation is a kind of transformation in which verbal and non-verbal signs of communication are translated from one language into another, so translation belongs to one of humans’ behaviors. Humans’ behavior is intended and happens in a given situation. Any evaluation of a situation relies on the status of the situation in a cultural system. Therefore, translation cannot be viewed as a one-to-one conversion between different languages. Vermeer thinks translation is a kind of behavior which depends on the source text. He explains it as follows: “Any forms of translational action, including therefore translation itself, maybe conceived as an action, as the name implies. Any action has an aim, a purpose. The word skopos, then, is a technical term for the aim or purpose of a translation. An action leads to a result, a new situation or event, and possibly to a ‘new’ object”. (Nord, 2001: 12)

Vermeer points out that the most important element that decides the goal of translation is the addressees. They are receivers or readers of target culture and have their own culture, knowledge of the world, expectation and needs of communication. Each translation is designed for an intended audience, because translation means producing a text in a target background for a target goal and addressees in target situations.

3.2 Four Rules of Skopostheorie

3.2.1 Skopos rule

Traditional translation theories require translators to be loyal to the source texts and be in awe of the writers. But the top-ranking role of Functionalism is “Skopos Rule”—the form of translation is determined by the intention of translation and the translation strategies are decided by the purpose. Most of the translation behaviors allow the existence of different purposes and those purposes are relevant. The translator must have the ability of deciding the most important purpose in a specific circumstance. The use of translation strategies such as literal translation, free translation, foreignization and so on depends on which is the most beneficial to achieve the translation goal. The reader of the translated texts is the key element that influences the goal of translation. In principle, the clients illustrate the purpose of translation to the translator, but in fact, the clients don’t have clear ideas about the requirements of the translated texts. The translation purpose is often decided by the clients and the translators together.

In general, the direct production of translation is language. The translators need to adapt to the receivers when they organize texts and utterances. The achievement of communication depends on the expression of language. Any language must consider the addressee first and cater to the target readers. The target texts need to conform to the language style of target language and let receivers understand easily and directly.

3.2.2 Coherence rule

The coherence rule is also a significant rule of Skopostheorie, which emphasizes the relation between target text and its addressees. It points out that translation must submit to the criteria of “intratextual coherence”. This means the addressees should be able to understand the target text and it should be meaningful in the communicative situation and culture. Every text is producer of information and the translator selects the content which interests him and lets the text become new information producer by translating.

3.2.3 Fidelity rule

Since translation conveys the information to the target audiences by information processing, the target text should be faithful to the original text. The translator should first have a general knowledge about the culture of the source language, and then he needs to fully take the target audiences’ cultures and values into consideration. Only in this way can he decide which way to use.

The relationship between the three rules can be summarized as follows: Fidelity rule is inferior to the coherence rule, and both of them conform to the skopos rule. If the skopos demands to present the characteristics of the original text, then the fidelity rule conforms to the skopos rule. The translator will try to present the content and original flavor of source text. If the two rules are contradictory, the translator will give preference to skopos rule.

3.2.4 The concept of culture and culture-specificity

Translation is a kind of comparison between two cultures. Each cultural phenomenon is given a position in value system. Each individual is an element in space-time system. Therefore, translating cultural texts or communication beyond culture barriers needs to take the cultural differences into consideration. Translation means comparing two different cultures. The translators explain the original cultural phenomenon from the point of their own understanding of that culture. A foreign culture can only be understood by the methods of comparing with our own culture.

4. An Analysis of Subtitle Translation of Kungfu Panda

4.1 A Brief Introduction to Kungfu Panda

Kungfu Panda is a comedy film and its main character panda Po is a dreamer who likes to eat noodles. He works in his father’s restaurant and his father wants him to inherit it. But Po wants to learn martial arts and becomes the first master in the Valley of Peace. As for Po, who is lazy and idle, it is an unreachable dream. Oogway(乌龟) has a vision that Tai Lung will return from the prison and he is going to take revenge on the valley. The Valley of Peace needs to select a warrior to fight against the powerful leopard Tai Lung. There are five excellent warriors called the Furious Five in the valley. They are the most hopeful people to be the winner. Po also participates in the tournament and becomes the Dragon Warrior luckily. For Po’s master, his biggest challenge is to train Po to be a warrior from a fat panda in short time. At last, Po becomes a martial master and beats Tai Lung. He successfully saves the whole valley. This film adopts the most advanced special computer stunts and impresses the audience with enjoyment both in vision and hearing.

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