Subtitling: What To Keep & What To Dump?

Presently subtitle translation has gained increasing attention consistent with the rapid development of international film and TV media communication. Western academic groups have gradually established a relatively complete research system covering translation methods, education and training. Many special organizations and university disciplines have been established. Although Chinese academics and scholars have published papers about this field, most are about translation experience and methods which do not provide a complete theoretical framework.This thesis follows the requirements and standards of Relevance Theory to conduct a preliminary research addressing the most striking subtitle translation aspect, which is also the most frequently used strategy for subtitling, namely reduction. Subtitling should be concise and easy to understand. The thesis also includes a theoretical basis and feasibility analysis for implementing reduction. The author studies subtitling from a theoretical point of view to summarize selected regulations in order to guide translation practice.The thesis consists of six parts. The first part is the introduction, which presents the imbalance of subtitling research between the East and the West. The second chapter provides a brief background about the historical study of subtitling at home and abroad with examples of subtitling features, categories, norms and translation theories etc. The third chapter delivers a detailed description regarding the characteristics of subtitling. The author exemplifies why reduction is most prominent aspect of subtitle translation because of time and space constraints. Reduction constitutes several approaches: condensation, decimation, paragraph reduction and deletion. Chapter four provides the theoretical basis—Relevance Theory and film dialogue study. Relevance Theory informs us that individual understanding of text is inseparable from its context. In terms of subtitling, Relevance Theory is primarily dependent on the subtitler's judgment of the cognitive skills from the viewer's perspective. As a result of constrained time and space associated with subtitling, any redundant or less important information which is beyond the viewers understanding should be simplified or deleted to provide space for the most important and effective information. Meanwhile, moving pictures and music contained within the film are a good compensation for subtitling. Only after having a better understanding to both of these aspects—Relevance Theory and film dialogue, can we achieve the best subtitles. Chapter five combines practice with the Relevance Theory principle. The final part is the conclusion. Although there are different kinds of films with different themes including narratives, documentaries, music, and art etc., all of these film genres require a methodology for improving translation by making it shorter but more informative. The author hopes the thesis provides enlightenment for future study.