Report On The Chinese-english Subtitling Translation Of National Treasure ? From The Perspective Of Cultural Presupposition

This report is about how the Chinese subtitles of 4th episode of National Treasure II were translated into English.National Treasure II is a variety show made by CCTV to introduce nine Chinese museums and their collections.This episode introduces three items of cultural relics from Sichuan Museum: brick relief with scene of making salt,Gesar Thangka and Remaining Stone Classics of Later Shu.Two prominent textual features can be found in the source text(ST): from the form of subtitles,there are four types of subtitles on the screen: subtitles for synchronized sound and picture,annotations,referential subtitle and advertisement subtitle.Due to the spatial and temporal restriction,the simultaneity between sound and image is necessary,and as to its content,colloquial expressions,cultural-loaded words and figures of speech appear in a frequent way.In order to fulfill the communication purpose of subtitling translation,different types of subtitles are classified into five categories according to theory of culture presupposition: physical world and creatures,history and destiny,supernatural beings,interpersonal relations,and behavior norms.Since cultural presupposition differs in nation,if translated English subtitles about Chinese cultural relics need to be understood by English audience,they must meet some presuppositions in the target culture,such as their thinking modes,beliefs and value,and ways of behavior that are shared by members of a certain community.According to different cultural presuppositions and taking kinds of restrictions of subtitling translation into consideration,ST was translated into English with following skills.For words describing physical world and creatures,adjustment and transliteration are applied to make sure the integrity of information.For contents in history and destiny,omission,amplification,annotation and explanation are adopted to deliver the cultural connotation behind words.For those related to supernatural beings,replacement is took to reduce the burden for audience in decoding.For information related to interpersonal relations,addition,transliteration and replacement is combined to resolve conflicts caused by different cultural presuppositions.For behavior norms,negation and voice-changing are used to emphasize the national spirit embodied in culture.The cultural meaning behind the text is paid attention to in the translation process when the original meaning is conveyed accurately,so that the translation is both accurate and literary,and at the same time meets the characteristics and requirements of subtitle translation.