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Target: Online-First Articles

The translation of extralinguistic cultural references in subtitling

An investigation of translation fidelity in Chinese films

ORCID logo | Huaiyin Normal University | Tohoku University
ORCID logo | Tohoku University
| Huaiyin Normal University

There has been substantial scholarly interest in extralinguistic cultural references (ECRs) in translation, especially in audiovisual translation (AVT). However, most scholars have investigated subtitling from English into other languages. Although China has a long tradition of film production, few studies have investigated the subtitling of ECRs from Chinese into English. This article attempts to remedy this by investigating the translation strategies, translation strategy distribution, and fidelity indexes of six subtitled versions of Chinese-language films. We compare our results with Gottlieb’s (2009) results on Danish subtitles, and find that both Chinese and Danish subtitlers hold a target-oriented attitude. We then investigate the share of the strategies in the subtitling of ECRs across different Chinese films and determine that this varies by genre and that the difference in the fidelity index among films of different genres is substantial. The translation of epic films appears to be highly faithful, whereas that of crime and gangster films is much less faithful.

Keywords: extralinguistic cultural references (ECRs), subtitling, fidelity, Chinese–English
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.ECRs and genres
    • 2.1Literature review: ECRs
    • 2.2The film genres
    • 2.3Corpus
      • 2.3.1The films included in the corpus
      • 2.3.2ECRs in the corpus
  • 3.Translation of ECRs
    • 3.1Taxonomies of ECR translation strategies
    • 3.2Subtitling ECRs
    • 3.3Subtitling strategies for ECRs
      • 3.3.1Transliteration
      • 3.3.2Direct translation
      • 3.3.3Official equivalents
      • 3.3.4Specification
      • 3.3.5Generalization
      • 3.3.6Substitution
      • 3.3.7Omission
  • 4.Method
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Localism and genre
    • 5.2ECR translation strategies and genre
    • 5.3Fidelity in subtitling
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Filmography
  • References
Published online: 11 August 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.20011.che
References

Filmography

Chinese films

建国大业
The Founding of a Republic (2009) Dir. by Huang Jianxin and Han Sanping. IMDb entry: [URL]
聂隐娘
The Assassin (2015) Dir. by Hou Hsiao-hsien. IMDb entry: [URL]
无间道
Infernal Affairs (2002) Dir. by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. IMDb entry: [URL]
私人订制
Personal Tailor (2013) Dir. by Feng Xiaogang. IMDb entry: [URL]
芳华
Youth (2017) Dir. by Feng Xiaogang. IMDb entry: [URL]
我在故宫修文物
Masters in Forbidden City (2016) Dir. by Xiao Han. IMDb entry: [URL]

Danish films

Tæl til 100 / Count to 100
(2004) Dir. Linda K. Holmberg. IMDb entry: [URL]
Mifunes sidste sang / Mifune
(1999) Dir. Soren Kragh-Jacobsen. IMDb entry: [URL]
Arven / Inheritance
(2002) Dir. Per Fly. IMDb entry: [URL]
En kort en lang / Shake It All About
(2001) Dir. Hella Joof. IMDb entry: [URL]
Elsker dig for evigt / Open Hearts
(2002) Dir. Susanne Bier. IMDb entry: [URL]
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