The application of domestication and foreignization on subtitle translation

馬軍軍

Abstract：As China opened itself to the outside world some forty years ago， tremendous changes have taken place in every field of the society， especially in cultural transmission industry. Cultural exchanges have never been more frequent than ever before. Chinese films and televisions are going international to be displayed at abroad， and at the same time， more and more foreign works are pouring into families of the general people. Under such circumstances， subtitle translation， as an important tool of understanding the contents of a film or television， plays a decisive role in evaluating the quality of that work. All this finally gave birth to a subtitle translation. To fully complete this mission of building a language bridge between different cultures， some translating theories and strategies will be needed and adopted. So this paper will focus on the importance and application of domestication and foreignization implemented in subtitle translation， through an analysis on the features and characteristics of subtitle translation based on the lines of Friends， a popular American TV series. It is expected that more practical and helpful suggestions and advice can be produced so as to pave the way for better and more precise subtitle translation strategies， which in turn may greatly promote the development of subtitle translation industry.

Keywords： Subtitle translation； domestication； foreignization； Friends

1 Introduction

Subtitle translation is not all about simple language thing， but on some level， it is greatly influenced by the cultural habits of the translated language. Thats to say， when it comes to subtitle translation， much attention should be paid to how to properly manage the differences between the original language and target one. Translators， however， as a communicator between two cultures， they are supposed to assume responsibility to promote a harmonious integration of two languages， and reduce the differences in cultural fronts in order to build a bridge for better exchanges and communications. Professor Qianshaochang once said that people who learn about foreign culture and civilizations from films and televisions far outnumber those who get exposure to exotic cultures from books and literature. In this sense， study on subtitle translation is significantly vital to the development of cultural exchanges （Qianshaochang， 2000）.

Bao zhikun wrote in his essay “Research on Film Subtitle Translation from the Perspective of Domestication and Foreignization” that in the process of subtitle translation， not only should the source text be taken into account which highlights the faithfulness， but the translations content should be accepted and understood by the audience of target readers （Bao zhikun， 2012）. In such case， it is highly advised that the translator properly coordinate the two strategies， their pros and cons， so that a good translation can be achieved. Besides， Zhang yifei and Zhao yuhong made some efforts to demonstrate the way of appropriately managing the application of domestication and foreignization in “The Application of Domestication and Foreignization in Film Subtitle Translation” （Zhang yifei& Zhao yuhong， 2012）. Whats more， Liu xinzi in his essay of “Study on Translation Strategies of English Subtitles in Pirates of the Caribbean： On Stranger Tides from the Perspective of Domestication and Foreignization” alleged that domestication and foreignization are not contradictory with each other， but are complementarily related （Liu xinzi， 2012）. Chinese scholars and translators have published only a few articles which were mainly empirical discussion. Chinese Translators Journal published Zhang Chunbo's A General Study on Film Translation and Qian Shaochang also published an article named Film Translation -A More and More Important Field in the World of Translation in the same journal after two years （Qian Shaochang， 2001）. The book The Approach and Research of Foreign Film Dubbing， written by Zhao Huayong consists of a number of articles approaching to the film translation （Zhao Huayong， 2000）. In the next year， Li Yunxing's article Strategies for Translating Subtitles， approached the problems in subtitles translation， considering spatio-temporal constraints， informative function， and cultural elements （Li Yunxing， 2001）.

2 Theoretical Foundation

Friedrich Schleiermacher first purported the two definitions as paraphrase which were the earliest theory of domestication and foreignization （Schleiermacher 2004）. He put forward in the book “Analysis on the translating methods”in 1813 that there are two methods of translating. One is that the translator should try his best to guide the reader to understand the author while the author remain unchanged； the other is that he leads the author to approach the reader while the reader remain unchanged.

In Dictionary of Translation Studies， foreignization means that the translation text is entirely

different from the target language in cultural and linguistic customs， for it preserves the foreignness and strangeness of the source language. While domestication is the other kind of translation strategy that aims to adopt a fluent and smooth style in an attempt to minimize the strangeness and maximize the closeness （Shuttleworth&Cowie;， 2004）. In the west， domestication and foreignization have started since a long time ago which dates back to ancient Rome. At that time Latin translator attempted to reduce the cultural strangeness and they replaced the cultural images and pictures with the locally cultural ones （Baker 2004）. Until the 1990s， a new concept “cultural” was put forward by Susan Bassnett（1997） and Andre Lefevere（1997） who made studies about translation from the perspective of culture.

2.1 Domestication and foreignization

Domesticating translation seeks for a target-language-oriented translation， both the expressing form and written style are suitable for target-language readers. However too much emphasis on domestication may also wipe out the original styles and cultural and artistic distinctions， resulting in an underestimation of the source works values. Properly maintaining the western expressions is to some extent helpful to reflect the spirit of the original work. Foreignization is source language-oriented and it remains the original style of the source language and maintain the exotic flavor. Foreignizating translation is based on the source language， and the translation work aims to convey the cultural signals of the source language.

3 Application of Domestication and Foreignization in Friends

3.1 The application of domestication in Friends

Eg 1： ---Joey： I'm telling you that girl totally winked at me.

---All： Did not， she did not wink at you…

---那個(gè)女孩一定在跟我使眼色.

---她才沒(méi)有.

In this example， the translation reads very smoothly. “wink at ” this phrase was translated into “使眼色” instead of “眨眼睛”. The former is more adaptable to the context. To try further， if it is translated as “調(diào)情”， then it may be too much in the expression. Since our target watchers are Chinese， they are more implicate and conservative， and very cautious when it comes to sexual relationship， thats why “使眼色” is the best among the three options. Whats more， the translated phrase “她才沒(méi)有” is short and natural， so nicely it conveys the emotion of the speaker and in the meantime features the subtitle characteristic of being short and instantaneous. Besides this kind of expression is more oral so that it sounds more like daily conversations between friends. If compared with another version of “沒(méi)有，她沒(méi)有跟你調(diào)情”， we can find out that the most verisimilar word is “才”.

3.2 The application of foreignization in Friends

Eg 2：--- Joey： But it hurts my Joeys Apple.

---Chandler： （frustrated） Okay， for the last time. Its not named for each individual man.

---喬伊：可它弄痛“喬伊結(jié)”了。

---錢德勒：最后再說(shuō)一遍，那叫喉結(jié)。（Adams Apple 以亞當(dāng)命名）

This scenario happened when Joeys tie tightened his “Joeys Apple”， which is actually his throat. Chandler told him “Adams Apple” is special phrase used to symbolize ones throat. The name should only be Adam， but not each ones name. The translation text adopted the strategy of foreignization. It explained the real meaning of “Joeys Apple” and added the source phrase “Adams Apple” in an attempt to help the target audience understand the implication of the lines. With the source culture “Adams Apple”， Chinese audience understand Joeys characteristics， which is goofy and lovely， because he does not even know the basic common knowledge of “Adams Apple”.

4 Conclusion

This paper discusses the application of two translating strategies， namely domestication and foreignization， in subtitle translation on the basis of Friends. Subtitle translation is an emerging industry rising along with economic development and globalization. In the process of subtitling， a great number of cultural and linguistic problems will come out as barriers that hinder cultural transmission. In the meantime， subtitle itself has its own characteristics. Due to its strict limitation on time and space， the translator must use concise and short expressions to correctly and accurately expound the source language.

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