A Study Of Subtitle Translation From The Perspective Of Multimodal Discourse Analysis

Unlike unimodal written works,film and television productions are a fusion of various modalities,such as sound,image,and text.Therefore,when translating subtitles for film and television,it is necessary to consider each modality within the discourse.The advent of multimodal discourse analysis theory introduces fresh approaches to examining subtitle translation.First of all,it integrates sound,language,image and other modes,which can present the complete meaning of the text.Secondly,by factoring in the social and cultural factors of the target language,it offers more advantages in the process of subtitle translation.Finally,it breaks through the limitations of some linguistic and cultural factors in traditional translation studies.With Zhang Delu’s multimodal discourse analysis theory as the framework,this thesis carries out a contrastive study of the two translation versions of the film Green Book(WE TV’s official subtitle version and YYe Ts subtitle group’s fan-made subtitle version),focusing at cultural level,contextual level,content level,and expression level of multimodal discourse analysis.Based on the linguistic characteristics of the source text and the translation methods of the subtitle,a total of 82 translation differences were identified from the two translation versions,followed by an in-depth categorization and analysis.The objective of this thesis is to examine how various modes within the movie work together to construct meaning.In summary,the YYe Ts fansub group fully considers the influence of various modes on text meaning,employing translation techniques like literal translation,free translation,addition,and borrowing to achieve successful subtitle translation at cultural level,contextual level,content level,and expression level.Their translations versions also meet the technical requirements of subtitle translation,thus receiving public recognition.By contrast,WE TV tends to use literal translation,achieving semantic equivalence but overlooking the multimodal nature of subtitletranslation.As the version shown in theaters,WE TV faces restrictions in word choice and font,which makes it to be a more family-friendly film.However,this comes at the cost of losing some cultural and aesthetic aspects of the movie.