On Translation Strategies For Chinese Culture Background Films

Subtitling is an emerging field in the study of translation. After China's reform and opening up, a large number of foreign television programs and films have been released and played in China, bringing on large-scale film translation activities. Film translation compared with literary translation is more colloquial, and has its specific characteristics.With the development and progress of Chinese society, the oriental culture receives greater attention and acceptance. Many Western films begin to tell stories with Chinese culture background. When these films were brought into China, what kind of translation strategies the translator can employ, in order to meet the taste of Chinese audience, is the key to good film translation. Because Chinese culture background films have their unique features compared with other films, the translation of these films raises special requirements to the translators. Meanwhile, the increasingly frequent cultural exchanges between China and Western countries have greatly enhanced the aesthetic vision and understanding of the film among the Chinese audience, also they have raised a higher standard for the foreign film translation. How to define good subtitles, what evaluation criteria is, and how the criteria can guide the translator, all of which are worthy of our discussion. This paper will discuss in detail the characteristics of Chinese culture background films and the translation strategies for them.The overall thesis is divided into five chapters which play different functions as it will be seen in what follows:Chapter 1 is the introduction which consists of three sections: the background of film subtitle translation study, the significance of the thesis, and related terms of the thesis. Chapter 2 is analysis of some sections of Chinese culture background films on the theoretical basis of theories of functionalism.Chapter 3 gives a detailed discussion of constraints of subtitle translation and evaluation criteria.Chapter 4 is on the translation strategies of film subtitle translation.Chapter 5 is conclusion. Film subtitle translation has general characters with all the translation fields, but it also has its own specific characters. Based on the original film, the translator must be faithful to the original text, fully grasp the content and the essence of the original film, the historical background, language function and style characteristics, and adopt different strategies and various means of re-creation so as to achieve communication between different cultures and commercial benefits.