An Analysis of English-Chinese Subtitle Translating Strategies: Taking Gossip Girl as an Example
An Analysis of English-Chinese Subtitle Translating Strategies: Taking Gossip Girl as an Example
Ⅰ. Introduction
A. An overview of the study Subtitle translation studies began with the development of film industry, high technology and globalization. From a tentative start involving somewhat superficial contributions to audiovisual translation in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, followed by a couple of decades of relative lethargy in the 1970s and 1980s, people have entered a period of vigorous activity, dating back to the early 1990s and pointing to a very promising future in the new millennium. The research has taken place in this field in western countries (particularly in Europe). Compared with the studies in the West, the Chinese scholars, however, have attached much less importance to the studies of this field. A glance at Journal of Chinese Translator, the most prestigious journal in the field of translation studies in China, will be sufficient to show an amazing scarcity of research done in this area. As far as it could cover, there were four articles on audiovisual translation in the Journal of Chinese Translator. Zhang Chunbai, whose article on audiovisual translation was published as early as 1998, gave a brief account of the characteristics of audiovisual works, instantaneousness and popularity. Qian Shaochang, an experienced subtitler, conducted a practical research in this regard entitled “Audiovisual Translation: An important Area in the Field of Translation Studies” (Qian 61). The greatest contribution of Qian's research lies in that he described five characteristics of film language: listening, comprehensiveness, instantaneousness, popularity and no notes. In 2001, one article entitled “Strategies for Translating Subtitles” (Li 38) written by Li Yunxing came out. In Li’s article he analyzed the features of subtitling in terms of time-space constraints, informative function and cultural factors and then put forward
Ⅰ. Introduction
A. An overview of the study Subtitle translation studies began with the development of film industry, high technology and globalization. From a tentative start involving somewhat superficial contributions to audiovisual translation in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, followed by a couple of decades of relative lethargy in the 1970s and 1980s, people have entered a period of vigorous activity, dating back to the early 1990s and pointing to a very promising future in the new millennium. The research has taken place in this field in western countries (particularly in Europe). Compared with the studies in the West, the Chinese scholars, however, have attached much less importance to the studies of this field. A glance at Journal of Chinese Translator, the most prestigious journal in the field of translation studies in China, will be sufficient to show an amazing scarcity of research done in this area. As far as it could cover, there were four articles on audiovisual translation in the Journal of Chinese Translator. Zhang Chunbai, whose article on audiovisual translation was published as early as 1998, gave a brief account of the characteristics of audiovisual works, instantaneousness and popularity. Qian Shaochang, an experienced subtitler, conducted a practical research in this regard entitled “Audiovisual Translation: An important Area in the Field of Translation Studies” (Qian 61). The greatest contribution of Qian's research lies in that he described five characteristics of film language: listening, comprehensiveness, instantaneousness, popularity and no notes. In 2001, one article entitled “Strategies for Translating Subtitles” (Li 38) written by Li Yunxing came out. In Li’s article he analyzed the features of subtitling in terms of time-space constraints, informative function and cultural factors and then put forward
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