Translation of English Movies to Chinese - Research Paper Example

According to Kasparek (2003) noted that there is a heightened demand to cope with the latest text, be it a song, dance style, or a film, and this has brought in translation as a subject that has been given high-value importance. The first films to be invented were silent movies (Newmark, 1988). Silent movies were easy to translate by inserting inter-titles to the audiences’ languages. Later, sound films resurfaced which made the inter-titles disappear and this brought with it the problems of movie translations (Mona & Gabriela, 2008).

However, around 1932, the American film industry tried to sort out the challenges posed by film translations by producing films in multiple languages. Bassnett (2000) stated that this later turned out to be unprofitable, the films that were being produced were of poor artistic quality and the public shunned away from them resulting in great losses by the big studios that had specialized in the translations by then. Movie translation enables people to overcome language and cultural barriers but it should be done in such a way that the intended message is not distorted (Parks, 2007).

 Chang (2012) noted that movie translations have proved to be hard tasks. This is due to the presence of many factors that need to be considered to deliver a good movie translation. These factors range from considerations on linguistic and cultural facts. He further emphasized that the quality of the translated script is of great concern not only to movie fans all over the world but also to movie business industries. This research paper through the documentary review will conduct a depth review of English to Chinese translation of movies.

English has been chosen due to its dominant use and application in the movie industry. The research shall provide major principles and strategies involved in movie translations; highlight various challenges facing the translation industry as well as outline procedures likely to be adopted by translators while doing their work. Such findings will be useful as an addition to the already existing body of knowledge within the scope of movie translation scholars.Nowadays, with the introduction of new technologies, the boom in satellite, radio communication, the internet, and television has transformed the world into a global village.

This has enabled cultures, languages, and all manner of artistic work to interact more easily and frequently. Eugene (2004) asserted globalization is the force that has made film industries to flourish and intensified the role of movie translators. This task has never been easy though, it required high-level skills in languages most preferable bi-lingual or multilingual speakers. A translator should have mastery of different approaches, styles, and strategies of movie translation (Darwish, 1999).

Parks (2007) while examining different translation approaches noted the following; Linguistics based approach, functionality approach, and a more modern linguistic approach affects the choice of a translation method. 

Linguistic approach view translation as transferring meanings in the original text to foreign language, in other words it can be said that it is substituting source language (SL) by the target language (TL) both in context and form. Functionalist approach view translation as an activity whose purpose is to improve trans-cultural interaction by enabling people all over the world to share, appreciate, and influence each other through cultural infiltration. Translation of any artistic work under this school of thought is affected by both contextual and cultural factors.

Modern linguistics highlight the complexity in the process of translation, they hold the view that translation should not be word by word substitution but rather a complex text analysis and text processing activity. This sentiment was in agreement with one of the early translation writer Newmark (1988) who also proposed the role of linguistic and functionality approach. 2.3 Classification film translation Films translation is classified into four categories: that is subtitling, dubbing, free commentary, and narration (Newmark, 1988).

Chang (2012) while conducting tentative analysis of film classifications in China identified two broad classification models in china market, which is subtitling and dubbing. Subtitling is a process by which the translator provides synchronized captions while dubbing on the other hand refers to replacement or insertion of sound trucks by another. 2.4 Translation of Metaphor in Movies Metaphor is the use of any figurative speech, the personification of abstracts, the use of a word to denote different things (Newmark, 1988).

This is linguistic phenomenon. It can be referred to us as an imaginative insight, it main function is to shock the audience through creating an aesthetic impact. The shock effect has to be maintained from the source language to target language. Rose (2000) on the other hand noted that wherever the cultural and linguistic factors are affecting the shocks then metaphor should never be translated Target Language (TL).   A more clear explanation on equivalence based approach was postulated Delabastita (1989) who clarified those movie translators should identify metaphors and transfer it intact from source language (SL) to Target Language (TL).

He emphasized that Metaphors is inseparable to any language, and it translation is a daunting task. Most movies are in form of dialogue, often the speech may be characterized by metaphoric expressions. This has been noted by Eugene as well (2004) as a process that requires careful attention in order to maintain the original meaning in the text. Different strategies are used by translators all over the world to translate metaphors. Modern linguistics like Rose (2000); Darwish, (1999) agree that metaphoric language is so contextual that it is difficult to maintain a particular view on how a particular script ought to be translated in an exercise in futility.

Any good translator has to judge each text separately and appreciate the uniqueness of any language. Newmark (1988) suggested a seven approach strategies for translating metaphors. The first approach available to a translator is to reproduce the same image in target language as in the source language. Next approach is to replace the source language image with standard target language image. The next option available under this model is translating metaphor by a simile as well as translating metaphor with simile and plus sense.

A translator can also convert metaphor to sense, delete the use of metaphor in the target language however this may distort the meaning, and finally there is option of combining sense and metaphor together in target language scripts (Baker & Saldanha, 2008). 2.5 Subtitling This is the first category of screen translation. This translation method involves transfer of spoken language from a movie or film into written language of the viewing audience. However, this process is faced by many challenges.