2.4.2 Period in which AVT Study Flourished
The year 1987 can be regarded as the start of a flourishing period for AVT Study in the West.The symbolic event was a conference held by the European Broadcasting Union on the subject of dubbing and subtitling which took place in Stockholm.After this conference,a number of other conferences as well as publications on film translation were organized.
In an article for Babel entitled “Translation and mass communication: film and TV translation as evidence of cultural dynamics”,Delabastita (1989) focused on cultural elements within AVT.Based on his early study of descriptive translation studies (DTS) and pun translation,his emphasis on “the norms that underlie translation behaviour” motivated other scholars in this area.I agree with the importance of cultural components in AVT.In the translated films,the transfer between two cultures is inevitable in the process of subtitle translation,since “language reflects and affects culture; they are human inventions.They are two dimensions of each other,interrelated and inseparable” (Fantini ed.1997: 4).In this study,two types of culturally loaded expressions (introduced in the abstract as traditional expressions and popular expressions) in the translated Chinese subtitles in the given data highlight the relationship between language and culture.In turn,the standards for ensuring the quality of subtitling should be linguistically correct and culturally accepted.
Since 1990,more and more scholars have contributed their talents and efforts to the study of film translation,typified by Luyken’s collaboration with other scholars in the publication of the book,Overcoming Language Barriers in TV: Dubbing and Subtitling for the European Audience.(1993) This book offered a great deal to the study of AVT at the time of publication.In it,Luyken stated that it was necessary to undertake classified study on various translation modes.He also analysed different translation methods that can be applied in various kinds of language transfer in films.Using a large amount of data that was collected from translated European films,costs and audience preferences helped this book become influential in its field.Luyken pointed out that,unlike literary translation,subtitle translation is restricted by time and space.As such,subtitlers should consider the readable length of translated subtitles first.An awareness of cultural elements is also important in the process of translation because cultural ignorance may result in undertranslation.In this research,I will take the consideration of the readable length as my first hypothesis.Besides referencing the standard length of Chinese subtitles and that of English subtitles,I also consider the regularity of E-C subtitling in the selected animation films.Cultural elements are also reflected in my second and third hypotheses.
Soon afterwards,in 1992,Ivarsson published his book,Subtitling for the Media: A Handbook of an Art.This book was regarded as the first authoritative work on the study of subtitle translation.In the book,Ivarsson explicitly introduced the developing history of subtitle translation and,informed by his rich practical experience as a subtitle translator,he recorded his own understanding of subtitle translation techniques and strategies.In 1998,Ivarsson published the second edition of this book with the help of Carroll,simply renaming the book Subtitling,and addressing more topical subtitle translation strategies that were being used in new media technologies such as digital technology.In so doing,Carroll and Ivarsson established “Practice Guidelines for Successful Subtitle Translation”.However,as these guidelines were limited by the scope of the study area,culture and language,they were too general in terms of offering suggestions and solutions to possible problems that the translator might meet in his or her practical work.Nonetheless,in terms of the development of AVT study in the West,Ivarsson’s two books are still considered as the foundation for the development of Europebased AVT study.
After 1995,AVT study in the West developed at a much faster rate with scholars carrying out more research on this subject,especially European scholars.The most influential amongst them are Gambier,Gottlieb,Karamitroglou,Ivarsson,Chaume and Diaz-Cintas.In the next section,their studies’ value and limits are reviewed.
One of the leading figures in the study field of AVT,Gambier has attended and presided over almost all conferences on the subject of AVT studies as well as having written books and edited a great number of academic journals.In his written work,he has classified the types of subtitle translation modes,discussed feasible translation strategies and approached the acceptance of subtitle translation.In 2001,Gambier and Gottlieb published a collection of symposium papers under the title,(Multi) Media Translation: Concepts,Practices and Research.This collection brought together 26 articles on various topics relating to multimedia translation from two famous conferences.Most of these articles discuss subtitling.The article authors provided different research perspectives on the strategies of subtitling,including James’ emphasis on quality control in subtitling,Diaz -Cintas’ discussion on certain factors in the quality of subtitling,and Ceron’s focus on punctuation in subtitling.In 2003,in his book,Screen Transadaptation: Perception and Reception,Gambier discussed the political impact on languages used in film translation.
Gottlieb can be said to be one of the pioneers in translation studies who are concerned with subtitling.He has studied subtitle translation from a linguistic perspective.His main contribution to this field of study can be summarized as subtitle translation strategies: “expansion,paraphrase,transfer,imitation,transcription,dislocation,condensation,decimation,deletion and resignation” (1992: 166) (Typology will be explained in details in the next chapter) as well as subtitle translation as a means of foreign language pedagogy.In 1992,he published an article entitled “Subtitling: a new university discipline” (Dollerup 1992).He defined the term “subtitle” in five respects: 1) written,2) additive (e.g.,new verbal material is added in the form of subtitles),3) immediate,4) synchronous,and 5) polymedial (e.g.,at least two channels are employed) forms of translation.(ibid: 162) A subtitle,according to Gottlieb,functions as a special translation form in writing that needs to include additional information for enhanced understanding by the target audience.It appears in the lower part of the screen immediately,and should be synchronous with audiovisual pictures and the characters’ performance (1992: 161).For Gottlieb,subtitle translation differs from other kinds of translation because it is limited by technical factors and situational contexts.Gottlieb classified the constraints of subtitle translation into two categories: formal/quantitative and textual/qualitative (ibid: 164).The former category deals with the physical limitations of subtitle translation; the latter,however,places an emphasis upon synchronism between characters’ dialogue and the moving image when subtitling.
According to Gottlieb,the acceptable time period for a subtitle to remain on screen is about two to three seconds,as it gives the audience enough time to read the subtitle.In the case of the English language,the recommended length for a subtitle is no more than 35 letters; for Chinese,however,the maximum is estimated at less than 15 characters (Wang 2014:306) or the ideal length of a Chinese subtitle is 11-15 characters (Li and Bo 2005: 46).The words in subtitles have the feature of instantaneity: they are unlike words in books and,as such,the audience may not get a chance to reread them.So,the expectations for subtitling are much greater than for other types of translation.
Over the past decade,AVT study has developed rapidly in European countries,while more and more international academic conferences and organizations are emerging related to this subject.Most scholars emanate from northern European countries where the leading topic is subtitle translation rather than dubbing translation.In turn,the main themes of the aforementioned conferences are always concerned with the study of subtitle translation.For instance,in February 2004,an international conference was held in London entitled “Language Transfer on Screen”.Over 100 scholars submitted and discussed their articles at this conference.Meanwhile,in October 2005,another international conference took place at the University of Bologna,Italy,on the topic of “Between text and images: the latest film translation study”.Moreover,the international “Languages and Media” conference,which is held every two years in Berlin,regularly brings together a great number of AVT researchers and scholars for the purpose of exchanging information with,and learning from,each other.
The International Federation of Translators (officially known as Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs,or FIT) was the first academic organization to understand the importance of AVT study.In 1987,they established a committee called “Media Translators and Interpreters” at the FIT World Congress,particularly to explore developing issues in Media Translation.Meanwhile,in 1995,the European Association for Studies in Screen Translations (ESIST) was set up and soon became the most influential academic organization for AVT studies in Europe.Prompted by the observation that AVT was not receiving enough attention from existing scholars,ESIST was established by 16 university teachers,drawn from 10 different European countries,all of whom were interested in the study of AVT.Since its establishment the association has sought to emphasize and improve the development of study in this area,with the purpose of offering an opportunity to scholars,teachers,students,and audiovisual translators to communicate with each other,and discuss the pedagogies and practicalities of AVT.
In recent years,publishers such as St.Jerome and John Benjamins have printed a number of Diaz-Cintas’ works as well as collaborations with other scholars These publications include Media for All: Subtitling for the Deaf,Audio Description,and Sign Language (2007),The Didactics of Audiovisual Translation (2008),Audiovisual Translation; Language Transfer on Screen (2009),New Trends in Audiovisual Translation (2009),and Insights into Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility (2010).In addition,in 2007,Diaz-Cintas collaborated on the textbook,Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling (Translation Practices Explained),with Remael.This book has since been widely recognized in a number of European countries as the first textbook of Subtitle Translation and includes assorted DVD materials as well.In his works,Cintas emphasized the importance of cultural elements when translating films and creating other types of AV products.(https://www.daowen.com)
In New Trends in Audiovisual Translation (2009),Cintas and other leading experts in the field of AVT discussed innovative and interdisciplinary topics that offered new insights into the study of AVT.In a highly convincing way,it discussed some of the main linguistic and cultural challenges that translators encounter when translating films and other audiovisual productions.In the first part of this work,he collated papers that shared the common thread of looking at AVT from the perspective of cultural awareness.Experts from different countries discussed their own specific studies from the viewpoint of cultural differences.For instance,in his article “Subtitling against the current: Danish concepts,English minds”,Gottlieb discussed the strategies used in the subtitling of extralinguistic,culturally specific references and discovered that the genre of film plays a part in some cases of subtitle translation.Within subtitle translation between Chinese and English,the current researcher found that the genre of film plays an important role to a certain extent.For example,when subtitling a documentary film about the life of ethnically diverse people in Southwest China,the subtitler may mainly use the strategies of cross-cultural awareness in their translation process.Meanwhile,when translating an English comedy film into Chinese,the subtitler may employ vernacular expressions in Chinese found on the internet in order to attract more audience.Pettit,in her article “Connecting cultures: Cultural transfer in subtitling and dubbing”,investigated the specific problems that relate to cultural features embedded within audiovisual products.From within her particular study area,she examined how cultural transfer is carried out between English and French in two AVT modes from the perspective of pragmatics and semiotics.Pettit’s view of “cultural transfer” in AVT subtitling is consistent with former scholars who consider that “language is a part of culture” and emphasized the importance of culturally loaded words in subtitling.
When considering E-C subtitle translation,I will also emphasize the importance of “cultural awareness” in the process of translation,because film products,as a form of cultural product,will inevitably be involved in cultural discourse.
In 2009,Cintas also edited a collection of symposium papers entitled Audiovisual Translation: Language Transfer on Screen,with Anderman.Included in this collection of papers were two on the topic of subtitling.These contributions offered a detailed view of translation modes used in audiovisual media.In “Subtitling for the DVD Industry”,Georgakopoulou discussed the rapid development of the DVD market and the rise in subtitling within the international market.She explained several constraints that are generally inherent in subtitling along with discussing subtitling from English into other languages in particular.She analysed data from the European Captioning Institute (ECI),a UK-based subtitling company and one of the global leaders in multilingual DVD subtitling.Georgakopoulou’s main contribution was to point out the potential of subtitling offered by the “template”,a file containing the master (sub) titles in English that is subsequently the foundation for translation into all languages in a given project.However,the understanding of “centralization” in this article only reflected the viewpoint of a company manager,not that of AVT professionals.
Meanwhile,in “Subtitling Norms in Greece and Spain”,Sokoli focused on norms in the choices made by subtitlers,as manifested in the translated films themselves.In response,she proposed bringing in an evaluative element as her contribution to the evolution of DTS.The following table shows the summary of her found norms (p.202):
Her findings from the corpus offer a useful document in her discussed languages.Meanwhile,regarding E-C subtitle translations,her concern for technique constraints,the expectancy norms of clarity and understanding,the professional norm of preference for simple words and uncomplicated structures are worth referencing and studying.In the second hypothesis of this research,the use of traditional expressions (e.g.,Chinese idioms,archaisms) in E-C subtitle translation is accepted as an effective way for shortening the length of a translated subtitle,and for it to be displayed in a simple structure.The expected third hypothesis will explore the use of popular expressions (e.g.,popular language in social networks,neologisms) in making the translated subtitle understandable and meeting the language preference of young people (the main audience for translated animation films in China).
However,the link between globalization and subtitling is her weakness.Furthermore,in “Amateur Subtitling on the Internet”,Bogucki assessed the available criteria (e.g.,there should be no more than two lines in subtitles) for quality assessment and their application to AVT by taking a film as a study sample.As for E-C subtitle translation,the readable number of lines is also considered to be “no more than two lines on one frame” (Yang 2012 cited in Yang 2014:174).Therefore,in this research,the readable length (the ideal numbers of words or characters) for a translated subtitle will be discussed in relation to single-line subtitles.
In summary,as a leading figure amongst current experts in AVT,Diaz-Cintas has made a considerable contribution to the discussion of translation strategies and modes from diversified and multidisciplinary perspectives such as linguistics,pragmatics,semiotics and cultural studies.Although his research has subsequently inspired other scholars,none of them are native Chinese speakers,and therefore his achievements have limitations for Chinese scholars.In recent years,more and more scholars have taken up the study of AVT,while young academics have conducted doctoral research into AVT and Subtitling.In 2013,Altahri investigated the problems and strategies involved in Arabic subtitling of the cultural references in the Harry Potter film series.He specifically analysed different types of cultural factor,such as names of people,mythological creatures,magical objects,place names,foods,and neologisms,which are considered to be the basic elements in a film.His conclusion was that there was a complexity of cultural,ideological and technical aspects,all of which has had a significant impact on subtitlers,and that the concern of cultural factors in AVT is necessary,especially when translating from English to Arabic given that the cultural backgrounds in these two languages are very different.His analysis shows that the Arabic subtitlers tend to use more strategies as intercultural communication,globalization,and localization in dealing with cultural references.Although his research focused on the transference of English into Arabic at the levels of language and culture,it still has relevance to this current study because of its focus on subtitling from the perspective of cultural awareness.His discussion of names of characters and places,proper nouns and translation strategies from the perspective of cultural awareness,such as globalization and localization,are new insights that are relevant to the current study.Besides making selections from Gottlieb’s typology,the consideration of globalization and localization forms part of my discussion about effective strategies in E-C subtitle translation.
It is clear that the work undertaken by scholars in Western countries that the study of AVT in the West has developed in a diversified and interdisciplinary way.Over 50 years ago,scholars began to carry out research on the topic of AVT in response to the invention of TV and films.In order to broaden the overseas market and attract more audiences,subtitle translation emerged as a new discipline in the film producing sector.Therefore,scholars and practitioners began to identify effective strategies in producing better quality translated products.In the past 20 years,experts in different European countries have carried out their own research in AVT from more varied perspectives.Some of them have investigated the strategies and typologies of translation modes from the viewpoint of linguistics; some of them have carried out their study from the perspective of cultural studies; and some have preferred to undertake research by considering the up-to-date forms of media,such as mobile and digital video.Moreover,study in this area has entered a boom period due to an increasing number of AVT academic committees being established,international conferences,and academic journals.
There are more and more scholars,practitioners,practical subtitle translators,university teachers and postgraduate students interested in this subject.Their research and achievements have offered other countries like China,which are in the early stages of studying AVT,innumerable invaluable ideas and information.The following section provides an historical overview of the development of AVT in China,followed by a detailed comparison and,finally,suggestions for promoting the study of AVT in China.