6.4 Data Result of lnterviews
Moreover,from September 2015 to March 2016,I carried out a series of fact-finding visits and interviews at Shanghai Translated Film Studio,which is the second biggest official translated film workshop in China.In the course of this investigation,I reviewed translated subtitles of films from the past five years and interviewed three active subtitlers.When discussing awareness regarding the use of Chinese traditional expressions in the subtitlers’ work,each of them related details of their own working experience.Although they are happy to share their working experiences for the benefit of the current research,they would like the following comments to be anonymously recorded; because they thought their works are team work,they prefer to be anonymous in this book.Their specific comments are as follows:
One said he began using this kind of expression in 2005,which was his second year of working in this company.He carried out a survey in certain cinemas,finding that audiences had a more enjoyable experience when they read and heard Chinese traditional expressions in a foreign film.The second subtitler had collected online feedback from audiences about translated film subtitles,concluding that the turning point in the development of translated film subtitling occurred with Garfield (2005).In this film,the translated subtitles comprised more than 34% of expressions that were culturally loaded Chinese words,including traditional expressions and popular Internet words (one kind of popular expressions which will be discussed in the next chapter).Over 32% (2,810 out of 8,769) of netizens (net citizens) stated that they had noticed these expressions,while 60% (168 out of 281) indicated their preference for these kinds of expressions.
It also needs to be mentioned here that the researcher searched online,on reputable Chinese academic websites such as www.lunwenqikan.net and www.cnki.net,where she found 23 papers from the past five years,which discussed the translation in Garfield,whereby the two main discussion points were traditional expressions and popular Internet expressions.For instance,in Xiao’s dissertation (2012: 33),he emphasized the success of using culturally loaded expressions in subtitling of Garfield 2; in Tian’s view (2013: 39),the purpose of subtitle translation is to help the target audience comprehend the film,so the culturally loaded expressions in the target language,together with some specific strategies in the subtitling may have a positive effect in terms of helping the target audience to better understand the film.
For example,as manifestations of culturally loaded words,Chinese idioms help the expression to be symmetrical in structure,as demonstrated in the following:
Same difference,I rule,yes? (Original subtitle)
大同小异，我说了算，对吧？（Released translation）(https://www.daowen.com)
Same difference,I rule,right? (Back translation)
The underlined idiom explains the expression of “same difference” and makes the structure symmetrical.Moreover,for Chinese audiences,the use of Chinese idioms may make watching foreign films more culturally acceptable,because the use of such idioms often occurs in their everyday life.Indeed,Wang (2008: 36) pointed out that “a good quality of subtitle translation can definitely help the exported film win popularity in its foreign markets”.The other subtitler said that she always has two particular reference books by her side when she is working: 300 Chinese Ancient Poems (by Zeng,published in 2010 by the Publishing House of Jiangsu Province) and Chinese Idiom Stories (by the Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House,from 1952,published in 2007).She said that,although these two books belong to the teenage reader group in China,they are very helpful in her practical work.She thinks they are suitable for her because her translation style pursues simple but effective expressions.
Besides the three teammates’ practical comments,the leaders of the team,famous subtitlers in this company,expressed ideas similar to those of their team members once they accepted an interview from Shanghai ACME Translation Co.Ltd.The team leader,Gu,together with his teammates,finished the subtitle translation of Garfield 2.His idea of putting many popular expressions (this type of expression will be discussed in the next chapter) into the film translation made this film subtitling become a hot topic at that time in China.According to Gu,audiences have commented that “this translation of the film really moved the audience to the bottom of their heart” (Gu,cited in Wang 2012).However,he also emphasized the “degree” of this kind of expression being used in subtitle translation.He was worried that the excessive use of this kind of expression would also arouse the dislike of the audience.Another practical subtitler named Lu shared her experience of subtitling as: the subtitling should obey the original meaning of the language and culture; the subtitlers need not to do too much rewriting or recreating.They should find the equivalence as much as possible,and then consider how to insert the culturally loaded expressions to highlight the subtitling.
Generally,for the second hypothesis in this research,the interviewees discussed their understanding of the use of traditional expressions in subtitle translation.Some of them had already noticed the importance of using traditional expressions in their translation by certain specific strategies.For instance,one scholar mentioned the use of traditional expressions,such as Chinese idioms,which can make the translated subtitle shorter; this is a typical manifestation of the strategy of condensation.Others think that the expansion involved in using Chinese archaisms can offer more information to the audience,but that the subtitlers should be more careful when using such expansion: on the one hand,they have to consider the length limits problems; on the other,they need to ensure that the use of these traditional expressions is appropriate when transferring one culture to another,because misusing them in an inappropriate place may influence the delivery of the source culture.Therefore,my suggestion in this context is to use traditional expressions when subtitling,because this reflects current professional practice and elicits audience satisfaction; the subtitling is appropriate to the audience,while the translation is made more acceptable and meaningful to the target culture.As such,the use of traditional expressions is necessary.
Thus,the questionnaire survey and the above interviews help me collect concrete data for my research.As for the second hypothesis,in the next section I plan to discuss the importance of using traditional expressions in subtitle translations of English and Chinese.
In the next section,more specific examples will be collected from the different 15 selected films.I will observe them and discuss the imperfections of the translations in order to suggest the effective ways of using traditional expressions to improve the quality of Chinese translated subtitles.