3.5.10　Resignation

This strategy is similar to deletion.In film translation,there is a phenomenon that sometimes occurs because it is contingent upon imagery and on revealing body language.For example,characters may make various kinds of facial expression — such as smiles,frowns,nods,showing the whites of their eyes,and sniff — in order to reveal their inner feelings.Gottlieb’s strategy of “resignation” would apply where the subtitler gives up on the translation of certain aspects of verbal communication in situations like this,when there is an abundant degree of non-verbal communication also coming from the characters.

In researching the sample film,it was found that the subtitler tries strike a balance between the original English text and the translated Chinese subtitles.Therefore,it can be argued that it is not recommended for subtitlers to employ resignation in order to prevent losing any meaning from the original text.Therefore,in order to keep the essence of the limited original meaning,it is commonplace that the strategies of deletion,decimation and resignation are rarely used in subtitling of animation films.(https://www.daowen.com)

From one side,the target audience may need as much explanation and information as possible from the translation in order to fully comprehend the film.From the other side,in view of the nature of animation films,the original subtitles should not too difficult or complex language,because the film producers may consider the age range of his major audience.As the young people mostly welcome us all known,animation films,and the stories are always simple in plots,characters’ lines are normally simple and brief.(Huang,2015:16) Therefore,it is assumed that the chances of the use of decimation and deletion in subtitle translation of animation films are slim.

However,some may argue that,if visual clues are already clearly explain their meaning,can we consider the use of these three kinds of extreme strategies (decimation,deletion and resignation) in subtitle translation? My answer is,in view of the fact that the main audience for translated animation films are young people,text-based information (e.g.,translated subtitles) should be used as much as possible in order to help them better understand the film’s content.In other words,these extreme strategies are not advisable in my view.On the contrary,in some cases,subtitlers need to add a brief explanation to some translated patterns (e.g.,specialist terms) in order to help young audiences to better understand them.That said the mechanical constraints when making subtitles should also be borne in mind.