A Study On The Subtitle Translation Of Performing Kunqu Opera Based Lipon Multimodal Discourse Analysis

In 2001,Kunqu opera was listed as the "World Register of Oral Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mankind" by United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization,known as UNESCO.It is a combination of artistic factors such as literature,music,dancing,performance,makeup and clothes-which make up the very components of multimodal and semiotic systems.As a Chinese classic opera,The Peony Pavilion created by the great playwright Tang Xianzu,representing the quintessence of traditional Chinese art,has never fallen into oblivion among people and instead gone uninterrupted on the stage.In order to promote the art of Kunqu opera,many artists and translators have made energetic efforts to bring various translated and adapted versions to the world,mainly represented by The Peony Pavilion,which boasts of more than 20 translated versions and famous translators,including Cyril Birch,Wang Rongpei,Zhang Guangqian,Lindy Li Mark,Wang Ban and Xu Yuanchong.Peter Sellers,Pai Hsien-yung,Wang Shiyu,Tan Dun and others have tried to adapt the great opera into wonderful performance on the stage,and in particular,lover's edition of The Peony Pavilion has enjoyed a great popularity.And many have also rained praises for the version of A Kunqu opera in the Garden-Peony Pavilion performed at Met's Astor Court.Over the past twenty years,research on the translation of The Peony Pavilion is not appreciable,so this phenomenon is not well matched with the status enjoyed by the great work,thus having an impact on the communication and translation of this classic opera.Besides,study on the subtitle translation of the performing drama turns out to be not innumerous.Starting in the 1990s in the western world,the concept of multimodal discourse analysis has been introduced to China for several decades.However,this theory has not found wide application especially in the field of drama translation,but it is often used in the studies of linguistics,hence it is certainly a new direction of applying the theory to translation study,particularly in the translation of drama translation in the years to come.Kunqu opera is no longer limited to one single modality but tends to move towards multimodality,because Kunqu is a kind of artistic form that is inherently linked with multimodal characteristics,so the study on The Peony Pavilion from the perspective of multimodal discourse analysis is worthy of attention and possesses potential research significance.Based upon the theories of multimodal discourse analysis involving the grammar of visual design by Gunther Kress and Theo Van Leeuwen and the grammar of audio design by Theo Van Leeuwen,the author aims to identify whether the translator considers reflecting and conveying the multimodal information by analyzing modalities in English subtitles,see if he or she effectively reflect the original drama and point out potential problems before offering corresponding suggestions regarding A Kunqu Opera in the Garden-Peony Pavilion performed at Astor Court in 2012.The research methods include multimodal discourse analysis framework,literature review,comprehensive analysis,and evaluation.After his research based on analysis,the author observes that what the translator does in the process of subtitling translation proves to be undesirable in terms of conveying multimodal information.This involves the lack of visual images or information due to the failure to consider some aspects of visual modality,the deprivation of beauty and charm given no reflection of meter and regularity in some aspects of audio modality.In view of these findings,the author holds that since Kunqu opera is an item of combining multimodalities,whether the translator conveys these corresponding modalities in the course of subtitling translation has a great influence upon the target audience and the success of the performance.Therefore,the author has pointed out potential problems and contributed to relevant suggestions.