On The Translator's Subjectivity In Audiovisual Translation

Translation is very important to communicate with people from different countries. Although translation plays such an important role in the communication, the translator, as the executer of the translation process, did not receive the deserved attention, and the study of the translator's subjectivity was long ignored in the history of translation studies. In translation, the original author, the source text and the target text were focus of attention. With the cultural turn in translation studies in the 1970s, studies about the translator began to attract more attention, and the translator's subjectivity became an increasingly popular topic. This thesis is an attempt to combine the study of the translator's subjectivity with the audiovisual translation, so as to explore the display of as well as the restrictions on the translator's subjectivity in the audiovisual translation.The study of the translator's subjectivity is closely related to that of subjectivity and subjects in translation. Up until now, no consistent definition of the subjectivity and subjects in translation or the translator's subjectivity has been made. Some scholars view the original author, the translator and the target reader all as subjects in translation, thus the translator's subjectivity is merely one part of the subjectivity in translation. However, other scholars maintain that the translator is the only subject in translation while the original author and the target reader serve as the translator's objects instead of as the subjects in translation. In their opinion, the translator's subjectivity is identical with the subjectivity in translation. This thesis holds the second one.The study of translation has existed for a long time and formed a mature theoretical system. However, the study of audiovisual translation is still at an infant period. Film is not only a medium of entertainment but an effective way of culture communication. It is a kind of multi-media art transferring information with visual images and soundtracks. Thus, audiovisual translation has its own distinctive features: double channels, degree of lip movements, oral language, characterization of roles in the target language and more complicated transfer procedure. This thesis tries to adopt Nida's Functional Equivalence theory and Vemeer's Skopos theory to display the translator's subjectivity in audiovisual translation.This thesis firstly briefly introduces the studies of audiovisual translation at home and at abroad, then discusses the definition of the translator's subjectivity and put emphasis on the demonstration of the subjective role of the translator in the audiovisual translation. Specifically, the translator has freedom in choosing the source text, applying the translation strategies and interpreting the source text. At last the thesis comes to this conclusion: in audiovisual translation, the translator should bring his subjectivity into full play on the basis of correct understanding of the original work and reduce the impacts of the restrictions, then try to represent the artistic constituents of the original. Therefore, it is necessary to note the roles of the translator in audiovisual translation.Audiovisual translation has seldom been explored from the perspective of the translator's subjectivity. The very author hopes this perspective will be helpful in the study of audiovisual translation.