The Translator as Editor: Subtitle Translations for Chinese Films
Translation Watch Quarterly, (2007)Zusammenfassung
Much has been said about the features and constraints and guidelines for film subtitle translation. It is commonly acknowledged that subtitle translations are influenced by factors such as time, space on the screen, and speed of dialogue. Some research in this field has therefore suggested that film subtitling is really a combination of translation and interpreting, or more interpreting than translation (or even sight translation), as it is claimed that some subtitle translations bear more similarity to interpreting methods than to translation. However, in practice, the subtitle translator works with retrievable material, be it written scripts in print, subtitles on the screen or movie dialogue. The translator has plenty of time and opportunity to retrieve such material in the source language in order to change, modify, correct and polish the translation. This situation is therefore completely different from interpreting, where the interpreter has essentially only one immediate chance to deliver an interpretation of the speaker’s words. The research presented in this article looks into the practice of subtitling for Chinese films as well as the practices of a Chinese film distributor in Australia in dealing with subtitle translation before screening Chinese films. The result of the research suggests that film subtitling exhibits the characteristics of editing. This editing role is played by the translator or the film distributor.