A Study On Subtitle Translation Of The Battle At Lake Changjin From The Perspective Of Toury’s Norms Theory

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,China has put forward cultural requirements for strengthening the construction of international communication capabilities and building a discourse system for external communication.The aim is to vividly present Chinese story and voice to the international community.Among them,the foreign language translation of Chinese film subtitles is of great significance in enhancing the international understanding of Chinese indigenous culture and elevating the international status of Chinese culture.In September 2021,the film The Battle at Lake Changjin attracted wide attention from both domestic and international society as soon as it was released.It is one of the best films in the path of Chinese films to the world.In the field of translation studies,norms are an important concept.Gideon Toury first provides a comprehensive study of translation norms.It suggests that translators’ behavior is always constrained by norms.Meanwhile,norms typically occupy a central position in translation activities and processes.Toury extensively discusses the definition,categories,characteristics of translation norms,as well as how to reconstruct the translation process.It posits that translation norms consist of initial norms,preliminary norms,and operational norms.These three types of norms reflect the shared values of specific social groups and thereby influence translators’ choices regarding specific translation strategies.In view of these,this study selects the subtitle of The Battle at Lake Changjin as the research object,aiming to investigate and reconstruct the norms in it and analyze the factors that constrain translator decisions.Drawing upon the framework of translation norms proposed by Toury,this study explores the norms in the subtitle translation of The Battle at Lake Changjin based on Toury’s norm theory.The findings are: In initial norm,translators strive to strike a balance between the adequacy and acceptability of the target text under the influence of source text features,socio-historical context,and audience expectations;In preliminary norms,the selection of translation works and the directness translation methods are influenced by the current Chinese film market and the expectations of overseas audiences.In operational norms,matricial norms encompass the integrity of textual materials,segmentation of lengthy dialogues,keep the conciseness of dialogues and so on.Textual-linguistic norms involve specific translation strategies,such as simplification,literal translation,word shift and replacement,allusions,and omission.Both matricial norms and textual-linguistic norms are influenced by the characteristics of the source text and the target language audience’ expectation.Under the theory of Toury’s translational norms,this study adopts a new perspective for the English subtitle translation of The Battle at Lake Changjin,with a hope to provide some insights into the studies and practices of film subtitle.