On Subtitle Translators’ Subjectivity From The Perspective Of George Steiaer’s Hermeneutics

Due to the “cultural turn”, the translators’ subjectivity was discovered. The rising status oftranslators in the process of translation brought researches on translators themselves. Recentresearches study the translators’ subjectivity more generally, and less attention has been given tothe subtitle translators’ subjectivity, neglecting the special features and technical constraints ofsubtitle translation. Because of the instantaneity as well as the limiting factors of the object,subtitle translators are confronted with larger challenges. They are requested to make full andproper use of their subjectivity. Therefore, the subjectivity of subtitle translators should play animportant role that cannot be ignored in the study of subtitle translations.Hermeneutics, the theory of understanding and interpreting of the meaning, provides a newtheoretical perspective for the study of the subtitle translators’ subjectivity. Based on the theoryof George Steiner’s fourfold Hermeneutic motion, this thesis aims to display the existence of thesubtitle translators’ subjectivity in the process of subtitle translation and analyze how subtitletranslators adopt corresponding strategies and skills under the influence of internal and externalfactors in order to give full scope to their subjectivity. By employing the research methods ofanalysis, description and interpretation, this thesis puts the Hermeneutics into translationpractices by analyzing a number of examples, extracted from various movies for the sake ofjustifying the existence of the subtitle translators’ subjectivity in the process of translation fromfour aspects: trust, aggression, appropriation and compensation. Making a case study of the threedifferent Chinese versions of the animated movie Ratatouille, this thesis also illustrates thedifferences of the three versions as well as expounds the subtitle translators’ subjectivity exertedrespectively in the three versions to help subtitle translators develop their subjectivity in a correctway.The significance of the study lies in that, through a comparative study of the three Chineseversions of Ratatouille, this thesis makes up for the deficiency of the previous studies whichfocus only on one translated version and enables us to approach the subtitle translators’subjectivity from the perspective of subtitle translation, which may contribute to thedevelopment of the subtitle translators’ subjectivity. Besides, this thesis embodies the abstractconcept of the subtitle translators’ subjectivity into the four concrete steps to analyze how thesubtitle translators’ subjectivity exerts influence on the translated audiovisual works, proving thatthe fourfold Hermeneutic motion is an effective as well as practical theory in studying thesubtitle translators’ subjectivity, and affirming the crucial significance of the subtitle translators’subjectivity in the process of subtitle translation. Lastly, this thesis may help subtitle translatorsto overcome the cultural, conventional and even political factors, thus subtitle translators can give full play into their subjectivity.