从目的论角度浅谈电影英语字幕翻译.docx

从目的论角度浅谈电影英语字幕翻译.docx

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从目的论角度浅谈电影英语字幕翻译

I.Introduction

Filmproductionhasbeendevelopinginleapsandboundseversinceandgraduallyboomasoneofthemostprofitableindustriesoftheworldnowadays.Asadominantroleintheworld,filmindustriesselltheirfilmproductsallovertheworld.TheHollywoodfilmindustry----theengineoftheworldfilmindustryisdefinitelythebestevidence．Accordingtothestatistics，inthe1930sand1940s，Hollywoodfilmsproducednearly75%ofthefilmmarketshareinchina.NeverbeforehaveweseensomanyforeignfilmsfloodingthedomesticmarketandneverbeforehaveweseensomanyChinesefilmsgoingabroad.ThesefilmsweregenerallydubbedintoChinesebecausefewChineseaudiencesunderstoodEnglishatthattime.Therefore,filmsubtitletranslationcannotpresentrealmeaningstotheviewersexceptforthetranslationofsomeinter-titles.

Thesignificancesofthepresentresearcharereflectedinthefollowingaspects.Sincethethesisattemptstocombinebothfilmsubtitletranslationandskopostheorytogether,itmightbeconductivetotheenrichmentofbothfields,beneficialtothepracticeoffilmsubtitletranslationaswellasthepromotionofourunderstandingofgeneraltranslationtheory.

II.Definitionoffilmsubtitling

A.Subtitle

AccordingtoGeorge-MichaelLuyken（1991）,“subtitlesarecondensedwrittentranslationsoforiginaldialoguewhichappearsaslineoftext,usuallypositionedtowardsthefootofthescreen,subtitlesappearanddisappeartocoincideintimewithcorrespondingportionoftheoriginaldialogueandarealmostalwaysaddedtothescreenimageatalaterdateasapost-productionactivity”（335）.

B.Definitionoffilmsubtitling

Filmsubtitleis“aprintedstatementorfragmentofdialogueappearingonthescreenbetweenthescenesofasilentmotionpictureorappearingasatranslationatthebottomofthescreenduringthescenesofamotionpictureortelevisionshowinaforeignlanguage”（Merriam1175）.Inshort，filmsubtitlesaresupplements，inthesensethattheysupplyinformationunavailablefromthephoneticdialogueandvisualpicture.

Filmsubtitlesaredifferentfrom“displays”or“captions”.“Displays”are“fragmentsoftextrecordedbythecamera-letters,newspapers,headlines,bannersetc”（Gottliebl01-121）.“Captions”（or“toptitles”）arepiecesof“textualinformationusuallyinsertedbytheprogrammakertoidentifynames，placesordatesrelevanttothestoryline”（Luyken）.Thisdistinctionismaintainedhereand“subtitles”donotincludedisplaysorcaptions,unlessotherwisestated.

Filmsubtitlecanbeboth“intralingual”（and“vertical”）,whenthetargetlanguageisthesameasthesourcelanguage,and“intralingual”（or“diagonal”）,whenthetargetlanguageisdifferentfromthesourcelanguage（Gottlieb249-258）.“Filmsubtitle”inthisthesisisusedtorefertointerlingualfilmsubtitle,unlessotherwisestated．

Filmsubtitlecanbe“open”,whenthetargettextconstitutesaphysicalpartofthetranslatedfilmandistransmittedtogetherwiththefilmsoundandimage，or“closed”,whenthetargettextisstoredinadigital/teletextformatwhichistransmittedinaswellasaccessedviaaseparatelycodedchannelatthediscretionoftheviewers（Gottlieb247）.Inthisthesis,“filmsubtitle”,referstoopenfilmsubtitle,unlessotherwisestated.

III.Abriefintroductiontoskopostheorie

A.Theprocessofskopos

SkoposistheGreekwordfor“aim”or“purpose”andwasinducedintotranslationtheoryinthe1970sbyHansJ.Vermeerasatechnicaltermforthepurposeofatranslationandoftheactionoftranslatingskoposfocusesonthepurposeofthetranslation,whichdeterminesthetranslationmethodsandstrategiesthataretobeemployedinordertoproduceafunctionallyadequateresult,thetargettext（TT）,calledthetranslatumbyVermeer（20-23）.Therefore，inskopostheory，knowingwhyansourcetext（ST）istobetranslatedandwhatthefunctionoftheTTwillbearecrucialforthetranslator.

Inthe1970sthereappearedaschoolintranslationstudiesinGermanyfunctionalism.KatharinaReissfirstlypointedoutinhisworkTranslationCriticism（2004）.TherepresentativesareKatharinaReiss,HansJ.VermeerandChristianeNord.Theyholdthattranslationisakindofactionwithapurpose.ThistheoryisfirstpresentedbyReissandVermeerintheirbookGrundlegungeinerallgemeinenTranslationstheorie（1984）（GeneralFoundationsofTranslationTheory）.

Since1978,GermantranslationtheoristH.J.Venneer,whobreaksthroughthetraditionalequivalence-basedthetheorythatcentersonsourcetext，createstheskopostheorieswiththetranslationpurposeorfunctionofatranslationasageneralprincipleonthebasisoftheoryofaction（23-24）.Itisgenerallyagreednowthattranslationisatypeofhumanaction.AccordingtoVermeer,humanactionisintentionalandpurposefulbehaviorthattakesplaceinagivensituation,whichmodifiesthesituationatthesametime（205-210）.Skoposarguesthattheshapeoftargettextshouldaboveallbedeterminedbythefunctionor“Skopos”thatitisintendedtofulfillinthetargetcontext.

Vermeerbelievesthatthepurposeofatargettextdeterminesthetranslationstrategies.Inhisopinion,thepurposeofatargettext,whichissoimportant,isgreatextentdecidedbytargetreaders,culturalbackground.InHansJVemeer’sSkoposandCommissioninTranslationalAction（1989）,VemmerputstheSkopostheorieinthisway：

“Anyformoftranslationaction,includingthereforetranslationitself,maybeconceivedasanaction,asthenameimplies.Anyactionhasanaim,apurpose.ThewordSkopos,then,isatechnicaltermfortheaimorpurposeofatranslation.”InherbookTranslatingasaPurposefulActivity:

FunctionalistApproachesExplained（2001）,ChristianeNorddefinestheskopostheoriethat“SkoposisaGreekwordforpurpose”（13-14）.Accordingtoskopostheorie（thetheorythatappliesthenotionofSkopostotranslation）,theprimeprincipledetermininganytranslationprocessisthepurpose（skopos）oftheoveralltranslationalaction.Thisfitsinwithintentionalitybeingpartoftheverydefinitionofanyaction.

B.ThreerulesoftheSkopostheorie

Skopostheoryinvolvesthreerules,i.e.skoposrule,coherenceruleandfidelityrule,whichwillbediscussedasfollows.

1.Skoposrule

Vermeerpostulatesthatasageneralruleitmustbetheintendedpurposeofthetargettextthatdeterminestranslationmethodsandstrategies.Fromthispostulate,hederivestheskoposrule:

Humanaction（anditssubcategory：

translation）isdeterminedbyitspurpose（Skopos）,andthereforeitisafunctionofitspurpose（Baker236）.

VermeerexplainstheSkoposruleinthefollowingway,

“Eachtextisproducedforagivenpurposeandshouldservethispurpose.Theskoposrulethusreadsasfollows:

translate／interpret／speak／writeinawaythatenablesyourtext／translationtofunctioninthesituationinwhichitisusedandwiththepeoplewhowanttouseitandpreciselyinthewaytheywantittofunction”（29）.

Itisalsopointedoutthatmosttranslationalactionsallowavarietyofskopos,whichmayberelatedtoeachotherinahierarchicalorder,andthetranslatorshouldbeabletojustifytheirchoiceofaparticularskoposinagiventranslationalsituationintranslation,.,theskoposmustbedecidedseparatelyineachspecificcase．

Skoposrulehelpsthetranslatorsolvetheeternaldilemmasoffreevs.faithfultranslation,dynamicvs.formalequivalence,andsoon.Nordpointsoutthattheskoposofaparticulartranslationtaskmayrequirea“free”ora“faithful”translation,oranythingbetweenthesetwoextremes,dependingonthepurposeforwhichthetranslationisneeded.（29）.

2.Thecoherencerule

Twofurthergeneralrulesarethecoherenceruleandthefidelityrule.Thecoherencerulestipulatesthatthetargettextmustbesufficientlycoherenttoallowtheintendeduserstocomprehendit,giventheirassumedbackgroundknowledgeandsituationalcircumstances.

Thecoherencerule,orinVermeer’sterms,thestandardof“intra-textualcoherence”means“thereceivershouldbeabletounderstandit:

itshouldmakesenseinthecommunicativesituationandcultureinwhichitisreceived”（Nord32）.Thecoherencerulespecifiesthat“atranslationshouldbeacceptableinasensethatitiscoherentwiththereceivers’situation”（Nord32）.

Thatistosay,thetranslator’staskistoproduceatextthatisatleastlikelytobemeaningfultotarget-culturereceivers,namely,tobecoherentwiththereceivers’situationandthustobeunderstoodbythereceivers.Onlywhenthereceiversunderstanditasbeingsufficientlycoherentwiththeirsituation,canthiscommunicativeinteractionberegardedassuccessful.

3.Thefidelityrule

However,justbeingcoherentwiththetargetsituationisnotenough.Atranslationisanofferofinformationaboutaprecedingofferofinformation;thereforethereisarelationshipbetweenthetranslationandthesourcetext.Vermeercallsthisrelationship“inter-textualcoherenceor“fidelity”.Thisispostulatedasafurtherprinciple,referredtoasthe“fidelityrule”（Nord32）

“Inter-textualcoherenceshouldexistbetweensourceandtargettext,whiletheformittakesdependsbothonthetranslator’sinterpretationofthesourcetextandonthetranslationskopos”（Nord1-32）.Forexample,onepossiblekindofinter-textualcoherencecouldbeamaximallyfaithfulimitationofthesourcetext.

Weknowthatthesourcetextisintendedforthesourceculturereceiversinsteadoftranslation，thereforewhenitistranslatedforthedifferenttarget-culturerecipients,maybethefunctionofthetargettextorthepurposeofthetranslationisdifferentfromthatoft