2.7 Studying the Translation of Proper Nouns in AV...
Dang (1996) discusses the most useful strategies in the translation of proper nouns,namely,semantic translation and transliteration.
These two translation methods are regarded as the most frequently used methods in the translation of English and Chinese.Wang (2012) suggests two translation strategies in scene plays: transliteration (by using simple Chinese characters rather than complex ones,and by using conventional Chinese characters rather than their synonyms); and the direct transcription of English original names.Wang believes one advantage of film subtitle translation is that subtitles should match the corresponding film pictures,such that,when dialogue occurs between/among the characters of the film,audiences can connect the names to the relevant characters if they are keep on hearing these names.Therefore,the recommendation for the transcription of original English names in subtitle translation is feasible in practice.I agree with Wang’s two solutions to the translation of characters’ names.The first transliteration solution involves the traditional way of translating names in the history of English-Chinese translation works (Chinese people have already gathered a certain degree of knowledge about this),while the second solution is relatively new,but still workable,that is,synchronization between the subtitles and the pictures.In addition,for common names or famous people’s names,there is no need for transliteration because they are well known.For example,in Yang and Rong (2012)’s paper,it was stated that the transcription of the original English names of famous people was acceptable for a Chinese audience.They referred to examples such as Chaucer and Dickens,who are sufficiently well known that there is no need to translate their names (p.149).Besides,for commonly used names such as “Jack”,“Tom” or “Emma”,I believe the transcription of these kinds of names would not pose an obstacle for the majority of Chinese audiences,given the increasing communication between China and the rest of the world.Moreover,in view of the mechanical constraints of making subtitles,the transcription of original English names into translated Chinese subtitles will effectively shorten the length of the subtitles.(https://www.daowen.com)
When translating the names of landmarks and famous places，more care should be taken.As these names are always associated with particular or dramatic meanings about the city and country in which they are found，to help the audience understand them correctly，Yin referred to two approaches concerning the translation of place names from the perspective of functionalism （2012：72）.The first approach involves translating this type of name with Chinese Pinyin names，plus a function word for the place or building，such as road，garden or palace.Take，for example，Sanwei Study （三味书屋）： from this translation，the target audience may know the place is a study，named Sanwei.Although the meaning of Sanwei is not clear to the target audience，they know the function of this place，that is，it is a study，a place for reading and studying.The other solution is to use a full Chinese pinyin name，but by adding a note，for example，Sanwei Shu Wu （Three-flavour Study）（三味书屋）.For this kind of translation，the advantage is that the target audience may get to know “what this place is” and “what the original meaning of the place name is”.From the perspective of offering information to the audience，the second translation is clearer and more complete.However，considering the mechanical constraints of film subtitles，the method of adding a note is not always recommended； subtitlers need to estimate the overall length of the translated subtitle and then decide on a more effective way of translating place names.
In this study,since the translation of proper nouns is inevitable,I will discuss effective ways of translating proper nouns according to the collected data.