An Analysis of Subtitle Translation of Masters in Forbidden City from the Perspective of Bassnett’s Cultural Translation Theory_英语论文

摘要

随着中国经济的快速发展，文化走出去的战略已成重要课题。关于中国文化的纪录片电影是外国友人了解中华文化的重要媒介。因此，纪录片字幕的翻译在传播中华文化和促进跨文化交流方面发挥着重要作用。

纪录片《我在故宫修文物》包含了许多有关中华文化的内容。因此探究其字幕翻译策略是一件很有必要和有意义的事情。

本文以苏珊·巴斯内特的文化翻译观为理论基础，从文物、行话以及精神文化的翻译三个方面分析了《我在故宫修文物》的字幕翻译。研究发现，音译、直译、释译、文化替代及显化是在翻译纪录片字幕时可采取的有效策略。通过使用这些策略，翻译文本可以达到源语和目标语之间的文化功能对等。

关键词: 文化翻译观  字幕翻译  纪录片电影  文化功能对等

Abstract

Since Chinese economy has been flourishing during these decades, it has been an significant task for Chinese people to spread great Chinese culture to the world. Documentary films about Chinese culture are important vehicles for foreigners to enjoy Chinese culture. Therefore, their subtitle translation plays an important role in promoting Chinese culture and intercultural communication.

In the documentary film Masters in Forbidden City, there contains many factors about Chinese culture. It is thus believed that exploring the translation strategies of subtitle translation of this film should be a necessary and meaningful task. 

This paper, from the perspective of Susan Bassnett’s Cultural Translation theory, analyses the subtitle translation of the documentary film Masters in Forbidden City from three aspects: cultural relics, jargon and mental culture. It is found that transliteration, literal translation, interpretive translation, cultural substitution and explicitation are effective strategies for documentary subtitle translation, through which culturally functional equivalence can be better achieved.

Key Words: cultural translation theory  subtitle translation  documentary film  culturally functional equivalence

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction 1

1.1  Purpose of This Thesis 1

1.2  Significance of This Thesis 1

1.3  Structure of This Thesis 2

1.4  Research Methods of This Thesis 3

Chapter Two  Literature Review 4

2.1  Introduction 4

2.2  The Definition and Function of Subtitle Translation 4

2.2.1 Previous Studies on Subtitle Translation Abroad 4

2.2.2 Previous Studies on Subtitle Translation at Home 6

2.3  Comment 8

Chapter Three  Theoretical Framework 9

3.1  Introduction 9

3.2  Susan Bassnett’s Cultural Translation Theory 9

3.2.1 Definition of Culture 9

3.2.2 Relationship between Culture, Language and Translation 10

3.2.3 The Unit of Translation 10

3.2.4 Translating Process 11

3.2.5 Translating Principles 11

3.3  Guiding Significance of Bassnett’s Cultural Translation Theory in 

Subtitle Translation 12

Chapter Four  An Analysis of Translation Strategies in Masters in 

Forbidden City from the Perspective of Cultural Translation Theory 14

4.1  Introduction 14

4.2  Translation of Culture-loaded Words 14

4.3  Translation of Cultural Relics 15

4.3.1 Transliteration 15

4.3.2 Literal Translation 16

4.3.3 Interpretive Translation 19

4.3.4 Cultural Substitution 19

4.4  Translation of Jargon 21

4.5  Translation of Mental Culture 22

4.5.1 Explicitation 22

4.6  Comment 26

Chapter Five  Conclusion 27

Bibliography

Acknowledgements