7.2.2 Suggestions on the Translation of Names in M...
In the last chapter,from the point of view of the comparison between the lengths of the two languages’ subtitles,I discussed the transfer of the names of the characters or those of some places and landmarks form the original subtitles to the translated ones.In this section,from another perspective — the effectiveness of the translation strategies — I will take these names to discuss the feasibility of using several strategies in order to make the translation in this category of words accepted by modern Chinese language users.Subtitlers sometimes translate certain original expressions in a direct manner,such as by copying the original place or character names and placing them into the translated version directly,so that the translated subtitles in this case are mixed with Chinese and English: this is an effect that characterizes globalization.Furthermore,because the names of places or characters usually have no intrinsic,specific meanings or rarely involve puns,such translations can be carried out without any substantial loss of meaning.This kind of linguistic “globalization” is commonly acceptable to a Chinese target audience.Thus,one social phenomenon in today’s China,which needs to be introduced here,concerns the current education level of the Chinese people,which is much higher than that of their ancestors in the last century.More and more families realize that the English language,being a very important international language,is often a vehicle for globalization.Therefore,the learning of English has been given a key role in the education of China’s younger generations.Consequently,the original English names for many well-known places,or common names for people,ought not to be unknown to a typical modern Chinese audience.Take the following subtitles from Despicable Me 1 as an example:In the 10 examples above,there are different names for certain characters in the film,as well as famous places and landmarks from around the world.Simply transferring these names into the translated subtitles represents a developing tendency in the practice of film subtitling because of globalization.Given that the main audience for these films comprises young people,a certain level of knowledge of other countries can be assumed,such that understanding of these original names should not be an obstacle in the process of watching and understanding a film.Even in the worst-case scenario where someone has no knowledge about English people’s names,wellknown places or landmarks,understanding the main idea of the film should not be affected in practice.In Chapter 2 “Literature Review”,I discussed some scholars’ different opinions on the translation of proper nouns.I suggest to keep the characters’ names of the original text; there will admittedly be an element of loss for the Chinese audience,as the guttural,somewhat ugly sound of “Gru” (not a standard name in English) may not be recognized,and the same applies to the reassuring normality of the name “Fred” and the slightly sophisticated effect of using the mathematical term “vector” for a person’s name (the son of the Evil’s bank,his original name is Victor).That said the pictures in the film can effectively make up for these limitations.For example,Gru’s strong accent reflects his non-English name.Therefore,in most cases,the translation of characters’ names is not necessary unless subtitlers prefer to explain the original meaning of these names in more detail in order to help the audience to better understand the personalities of the name bearers.On these occasions,the readable length and the audience reception should be the preconditions.
① 00:02:50,500 to 00:02:53,100
Outrage in Egypt tonight as it was discovered
② 00:02:53,150 to 00:02:56,100
That the Great Pyramid of Giza had been stolen.
③ 00:04:47,500 to 00:04:49,000
Morning,Gru!
④ 00:04:52,000 to 00:04:53,000
Hello,Fred.
⑤ 00:09:14,300 to 00:09:20,100
Well,we stole the Times Square Jumbotron!(https://www.daowen.com)
⑥ 00:09:31,900 to 00:09:35,000
We stole the Statue of Liberty
⑦ 00:09:36,400 to 00:09:39,500
...the small one from Las Vegas.
⑧ 00:09:40,000 to 00:09:43,000
And I won’t even mention the Eiffel Tower!
⑨ 00:15:57,400 to 00:15:59,999
Vector! That’s me.
(Despicable Me 1,2010)
What might be gained from changing these names into Chinese would be lost through problems of visual and narrative continuity later in the film，especially if the characters’ original names appear on screen.However，for places or landmarks，subtitlers would be better translating them by using standard or accepted Chinese characters，for example，for “Eiffel Tower”，the standard translation should be “艾菲尔铁塔”，but not other characters with the same pronunciation in Chinese，such as “爱飞儿铁塔”.Otherwise，this kind of careless translation will cause confusion among a typical audience.However，if the Chinese translation is much longer than the original English content，something that would take a subtitle beyond its recommended length，the transcription of original English names into the Chinese translated subtitle is recommended.In this kind of translation，the translation strategies of “globalization” and “transcription” should be used in the context of this target audience.If these two techniques are applied judiciously to subtitling，taking into account the linguistic ability of the target audience，they make the translation communicative，such that the target audience feel that these translated subtitles are readable and thus easier to understand.If the names of globally famous landmarks and phenomena are transcribed，the level of “intercultural communication” that would be achieved will outweigh the risk of audiences not understanding a subtitle’s content because of the exoticism of the references.