A Report On The E-C Subtitle Translation Of Documentaries From The Perspective Of Multimodal Discourse Analysis

In recent years,the domestic and overseas film and television markets have entered an era of diversity and prosperity.Documentaries,as a bridge of cross-cultural communication,play an increasingly prominent role in the field of cultural communication today.Subtitle translation carries important cultural significance,and it also brings documentary subtitle translation new opportunities and challenges.The translation of subtitles for documentaries involves multiple aspects of cross-cultural communication between the source language and the target language.The appropriateness and accuracy of subtitle translation directly affects the audience’s viewing experience,and it also affects whether the cross-cultural communication can be proceeded smoothly.Since the object of documentary subtitle translation is a multi-symbol carrier formed by the fusion of images,language,sound,color,etc.,it has a certain particularity which is of research value.This translation practice report is based on the author’s translation practice of documentaries series on the Discovery Channel.It aims to explore the guiding significance of multimodal discourse analysis theory for documentary subtitle translation.The report selects examples from the four levels of culture,context,content,and expression,combined with the relevant characteristics of documentary subtitle translation,and adopts a variety of effective methods to back up the author’s choice on translation strategies and techniques with detailed theoretical support under different segments,different cultural backgrounds and contexts.Out of audience-oriented perspective,subtitle translation is expected to enhance audience’s viewing experience,thereby combine translation theories with translation practice.Through the research,the author has come to a conclusion that as a new research perspective,the framework of multimodal discourse analysis integrates multiple modalities such as sound,language,image,and text,and takes social and cultural factors of the target language into the subtitle translation process.Under the framework,information can be conveyed as completely as possible,and the social and cultural information are also presented,which further enriches the meaning to be expressed.In summary,the theory of multi-modal discourse analysis provides a more comprehensive perspective for the study of subtitle translation,and well matches the special features of subtitle translation.The author hopes that in the future,more subtitle translators will start from the theory of multimodal discourse analysis,break through the limitations of traditional film and television research,and continue to develop the Chinese subtitle translation business.