Subtitling Humour in Transcultural Context

DOI 10.1515/css-2014-0023 |

Chinese Semiotic Studies 10(2): 267-281

Dingkun Wang

Subtitling Humour in Transcultural Context Abstract: In China, subtitling is replacing dubbing as the preferred mode of audiovisual translation. Fans of particular shows form groups to circulate their video resources and translations online. Although remaining controversial, ‘fansubs’ shed light on and raise questions in both theoretical and practical aspects of subtitling. Herein I define what the product of subtitling should be and investigate strategies of translation in use. The analysis focuses specifically on translators’ strategies in complying with the constraints of a multimodal medium in order to explain, transform, or neutralize the subtitle for transcultural purposes. This goal is achieved by comparing different versions of Chinese subtitles for the same episodes selected from two American TV sitcoms - The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men. Keywords: AVT; Chinese subtitling; fansubs; multimodal medium; transcultural || Dingkun Wang: The Australian National University, E-mail: [email protected]

1 Subtitling and the Audience In the Chinese media broadcast and cinema exhibition, two ways of audiovisual translation (AVT) are frequently used to bridge the language barrier. Traditionally, subtitling differs from dubbing in each of the following ways. Dubbing replaces the SL voice with the TL. To the contrary, the SL elements are preserved in a subtitled version. Subtitles transgress into the original audiovisual medium and make the difference between the meaning of the SL dialogue and its translation more obvious to the audience. In subtitling, translators deal with, not only the language transfer, but also the spatial and temporal constraints of the audiovisual medium. To the viewers, the original may “remain foreign and slightly strange” (Farrell 1996: 55), even though the subtitles deliver all the meaning of ST with adequacy and fluency. The reception context forces the original to be reshaped through censorship, alternative endings, marketing, and programming practices, and essentially the strategies of translation (Hansen 2000: 12). The expectation of the TL audience may insist on compliance with its socio-cultural

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM

268 | Dingkun Wang

idiosyncrasies that can be largely independent from those of the audience from the SL culture. The viewers of the audiovisual materials are constantly engaged in the dual observation on both the subtitles and the reel (Nornes 2007: 162). They do not have the privilege to stop at anywhere interesting as the readers of books do, though this does not apply to the home-viewing context. However, the subtitle translators are not obliged to consider the coincidental pause or playback, which may be required by the audience. Their task is to immerse the translation into the original narrative and help the audience to understand the SL information within the limited time.

2 The Multimodal Structure of the Audiovisual Text Subtitle translations should capture as much of the original audiovisual language as possible. However, translating speech will not completely translate an original. A new notion of fidelity should be introduced. Delabastita (1989, 1990) is among the first scholars to have addressed the complexity of the audiovisual semiotic construction in which the linguistic component is only one of the objects that the translator deals with. The meaning of an audiovisual text is manifested through the collaboration between many signifying codes. Therefore, a target text (TT) emerges from a series of source texts (ST), which can be illustrated in the star-like constellation like that proposed by Cattrysse (1997: 79) and presented in Figure 1. This conception changes the traditional binary approach in analysing the relation between the ST and the TT into a multilateral approach. Each mode has its materiality, affordance, functional specialization, and functional load (Kress 1997, 2003). The materiality of the mode (e.g. the material of ‘sound’ in music or speech) determines its affordance in certain contexts, e.g. the printed media cannot involve motion and sound. In multimodal translation, the ST modes are imposed on the translation process and lead it to the TT and all its modes. The distribution and integration of the potentials meaning show how the semiotic modes in a subtitled version function as an entity to respond to the audience’s expectation, and to the socio-cultural standards of the TL context (Chuang 2009: 85).

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM

Subtitling Humour in Transcultural Context | 269

Figure 1: From Cattrysse (1997: 79)

3 Background In modern China, the content of audiovisual products such as films and TV programmes has to be “modified” to conform to the local standard. However, the primary limit on the import of audiovisual products is rather out of the consideration of the financial cost in dubbing and subtitling; the maintenance of political control is, however, a subsidiary concern. Nowadays, subtitling and dubbing co-exist (occasionally voice-over is also used) in Chinese cinema and TV. Dubbing has been used for a long time in audiovisual translation in Mainland China. Poor literacy is the main obstacle standing between subtitling and wider public reception (Qian 2001, Zhang 2004). Besides, the linguistic diversity among the different ethnic groups creates more obstacles to subtitling as a mode of audiovisual translation in China, though Mandarin Chinese is taught nation-wide. The majority of the Chinese audience still finds dubbed films more vivid and entertaining, though young viewers from urban areas are used to viewing subtitled versions. In recent years, online piracy has taken more and more consumers from the pirate DVD market with the ultimate capacity of copy and free circulation. However, this free sharing of video resources online, most of which are provided by the so-called fansubbing groups, is not a typical Chinese phenomenon. It has an earlier beginning in the circulation of Japanese

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM

270 | Dingkun Wang

animation among fans in North American and Europe. As Nornes points out in his book Cinema Babel: … a massive fandom […] around Japanese animation (anime) throughout the world. […] Scripts are posted on internet newsgroups and circulated among clubs and individuals. Fan hackers write software […] that enables them to take the subtitling apparatus into their own hands. Groups collaborate on not-for-profit subtitled versions of their favorite anime. (Nornes 2007: 182)

Despite being controversial, fansubs promote foreign media products further into Chinese people’s daily life. Their behaviour also contributes significantly to the flourishing popular media in modern China.

4 The Practice of Chinese Subtitling 4.1 The Traditional Approach In subtitling, punctuation is used sparingly. Each turn of subtitle should stay on the screen for three to six seconds. The presentation of a single-word subtitle should not be shorter than one second, otherwise the subtitle would be a flash on the screen, which makes it difficult for the audience to absorb its meaning. In feature films and TV series, one-line subtitles are used. In documentaries or ethnographic films, the translator seems to prefer two-line subtitles because of the amount of information to be delivered in each turn of presentation. Traditionally, Chinese subtitles are presented in white and centred at the bottom of the screen. The number of characters per line is fifteen or less.

4.2 The Fansubs Subtitles are not supposed to provide any extraneous information besides what has been spoken or presented on the screen. However, the online fandoms produce subtitles with footnotes and explanations in different colours, fonts and sizes to replicate the paralinguistic features in the ST. These amateurs tend to put the nonexistent information anywhere they like in the picture (Nornes 1999: 14).

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM

Subtitling Humour in Transcultural Context | 271

5 Subtitling The Dialogue on the Screen Subtitling initially deals with the scripted dialogue on the screen. Dialogue is a supporting semiotic sign system in the audiovisual medium, which takes a considerable portion of the original narrative. They build the background information of the characters by giving them different accents, idiolects and registers of speech. Dialogue also creates tension to put viewers on alert or keep their attention. Dialogue in the audiovisual context aims to imitate the actual oral features in the spontaneous speech. However, it cannot replicate the entire reality of the daily communication because the scripted dialogue cannot involve all the hesitations, repetitions and syntactic anomalies in the real oral discourse (Chaume 2004: 850).

6 Subtitling for the Chinese Audience 6.1 Subtitles as Supplement? A subtitled film presents a dual-channel of information in which the subtitles inevitably transgress the coherence of the visual. Subtitles fill the lack of information but also repeat information conveyed through other channels in the original. To the TL audience, subtitles are crucial rather than supplement to the original (Fong 2009). The TL audience can only enter the world of the original through the intermediation of subtitles. For the duration of the subtitle, the viewers are doubly engaged in absorbing the information emanating from the upper screen space (Hillman 2010: 380). If the original dialogue is stylized and patently false, like the dialogue in many popular films, the subtitles must show the same exaggeration or ridicule. However, when the dialogue is made with profound thought and artistic refinement, like the meaningful and credible dialogue in some high quality films, the translator should consider the potential solutions carefully before the final decision is made. Consequently, the supplementary role of the subtitles is easy to overdo when the information in the original is plentiful.

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM

272 | Dingkun Wang

6.2 Strategies of Translation Chinese translators either bring a foreign original to the audience (domestication/naturalization) or lead the audience to ST (foreignization), or let the audience to make the decision (neutralization). Among the patterns of cooperation, foreignization and neuralization are frequently used, while naturalization emerges only in certain situations, such as comic effect or the purpose of characterization. Despite the purpose to assimilate the audience to the original narrative, it is crucial to keep distance between the world in the film and the world presented by the subtitles. The excessive naturalization might achieve the opposite due to the loss of the authenticity of the ST. This is an important reason that makes subtitling more applicable than dubbing in facing the translation of films and TV drama.

7 The Subject of this Discussion 7.1 Subtitling Humour In this discussion, we will look at the translation of humour, which is culturally and linguistically bound to the SL context. In facing the SL humour, the choice of subtitle translators are further limited by the audiovisual constraints rooted in the practice of AVT, in addition to the cultural and linguistic constraints of the TL. To replicate the SL humour, subtitle translators have to be more precise in understanding the ST and more creative in using the TL. The TT will either make the TL audience laugh as hard as the SL audience, or leave the former in a state of confusion or even an annoyance – particularly in facing the laughter preserved in TV sitcoms.

7.2 The Data The data will be selected from two American sitcoms - The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men. We use TV series rather than featured films because the reception of Chinese subtitling mostly takes place in the home viewing context, where the audience mostly rely on access to the Internet through their computer or other electronic devices, such as the iPad. In such circumstance, the line

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM

Subtitling Humour in Transcultural Context | 273

between featured films and TV series diminishes, as far as most of the Chinese viewers recognize. The two series have the widest reception among the Chinese viewers, who watch the series on the Chinese online franchise or download the series from the fan’s website. Although being questioned for its legitimacy, the latter activity – illegal downloading – has become a component of the daily life in modern China. On the other hand, for the officially sanctioned online broadcast, the local franchises, such as Sohu, Sina, and Youku, are hiring the Chinese fandoms to translate the purchased foreign audiovisual materials, such as the two series in discussion. Such online broadcast is only accessible to Internet users in Mainland China, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: A screenshot of the Sohu TV. When Internet users from overseas try to access the video resources on Sohu TV, they will be informed that the resource is only accessible to the users in Mainland China, as the image above shows.

The quoted Chinese subtitles of The Big Bang Theory are produced by the Fansubbing group YYeTs (人人影视 http://www.yyets.com ), which is hired by Sohu TV (http://tv.sohu.com/s2012/4402/s353901232/) to translate the series for online broadcast. There are two versions of the subtitles of Two and a Half Men used in this paper. One is used on the DVD released by Warner Bro. Home Video, and the other is produced by the fansubbing group YTET ( 伊 甸 园

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM

274 | Dingkun Wang

http://www.sfileydy.com/bbs/index.php). The data used for the purpose of this discussion can be found on the Chinese subtitling database Shooter (射手网 http://www.shooter.cn).

8 Translating Humour in the Audiovisual Context 8.1 The Parameters of Humour Attardo and Raskin (1991) analyse verbal humour through the following parameters, which are also applicable to the humour in the audiovisual context. “Language” in this section refers to the creator’s choice on each linguistic level. Comparatively, “narrative strategy” is the micro-genre of the joke (Attardo and Raskin 1991: 300). In addition, there are (i) the “target”, which includes the individuals, (ii) groups and parties, which are captured by the humourist (Attardo and Raskin 1991: 301; Attardo 2002: 178); (iii) the “situation”, which gives the details of the context of the joke, i.e. the objects, participants, instruments, and activities (Attardo 2002: 179); and (iv) the “logical mechanism”, which resolves into the incongruity in a joke (Attardo and Raskin 1991: 303; Attardo 1997: 409–415). SHELDON: I want to build a road/But I need wood/Do either of you fellows have wood?/(Rajesh and Howard are trying very hard to prevent themselves from laughing)/I don’t understand the laughter/The object of Settlers of Catan…/…is to build roads and settlements/To do so requires wood/ 我想修条路／但是我需要硬木 （wood 亦指勃起的阴茎）／你俩谁有硬木吗？／我不知道 你们在笑什么／《卡坦岛》的目标…/…就是修建道路和房屋／所以需要硬木

In the American sit-com The Big Bang Theory the character Sheldon makes his friends laugh because he frequently brings up the words “wood” and “sheep” while seemingly unaware of the sexual allusions in these two words as shown above. Opposite to him, Howard and Rajesh are too sensitive to ignore the connotations. In the example given above, the word “wood” can be used to refer to the male genital. The word and its potential meaning create ambiguity in the SL speech, which cannot be preserved in the Chinese subtitle due to the absence of the same allusive usage in the TL. In YYeTs’ translation, the explanation appears at the top of the screen when the word “wood” is spoken by Sheldon for the first time in the relevant scene. With the support of the visual,

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM

Subtitling Humour in Transcultural Context | 275

in which the three characters involved are reacting differently towards the word, the audience will realize the implied meaning and will not miss the humour again when the doublespeak is repeated later in the same scene. SHELDON: Hello, I’m here for my haircut with Mr D’Onofrio 嗨 我来找诺费奥先生为我理 发 BARBER: I’m sorry, Uncle Tony’s in the hospital/He’s pretty sick 真抱歉 托尼舅舅还在医 院呢／他病得很厉害 SHELDON: Oh, dear, Mr D’Onofrio’s in the hospital/Why do these things always happen to me? 天啊 诺费奥先生在医院／我的命运为何如此多舛 BARBERL I can cut it for you 我可以帮你理发 SHELDON: You’re not Mr D’Onofrio/I get my hair cut by Mr D’Onofrio/(Turns to Leonard)/ Do you believe this guy? 你不是诺费奥先生／我的头发一般是诺费奥先生理的／你信得过 这家伙吗 … LEONARD: Sheldon, it’s okay, he can do it/He’s a barber 谢尔顿 没关系 他能行／他也是理 发师 SHELDON: He’s not a barber, he’s the nephew/He’s an example of the kind of nepotism…/…that runs rampant in the barbering industry/Besides, Mr D’Onofrio knows exactly how I like my hair done…/…because he has all my haircut records from my barber in Texas 他不是理发师 他是理发师的外甥／他就是理发界日益猖獗的…/…裙带关系的典型 范例／另外 诺费奥先生很清楚我喜欢什么样的发型／因为他有我在德州理发时的理发记 录 LEONARD: What are you talking about? 你在瞎扯什么啊 SHELDON: When I first moved here/I was nervous about finding a new barber…/…so my mother had all my haircut records…/…sent here to Mr D’Onofrio 我刚搬来这里的时候／找 新理发师这事儿很让我发愁／所以我妈妈就把我的理发记录…/…都寄给了诺费奥先生 LEONARD: There’s no such thing as haircut records 根本没有理发记录这回事 SHELDON: Yes, there are 不肯定有的 LEONARD: Have you ever seen them? 你见过你的理发记录吗 SHELDON: No, but my mother assured me they were sent here 没 不过我妈妈保证肯定寄 过来了

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM

276 | Dingkun Wang

In the dialogue above, Sheldon insists on having Mr D’Onofrio cut his hair rather than letting the barber’s nephew act as a substitute. This incorrigible life routine is further revealed when he mentions certain “haircut records” which, according to Sheldon, can be preserved and delivered to the barbers who are chosen by him to cut his hair. The humour also lies in Sheldon’s complaint about D’Onofrio’s absence in hearing the latter is in hospital, revealing the speaker’s self-centred perspective. The translation aims to inform the audience, first of all, of the incongruity in Sheldon’s understanding of his haircut routine, which is core of the humour of this scene, and which corresponds to the character’s rigid routine and selfcentred perspective. In addition, the translation, for the purpose of portraying the character for the audience, also reveals the naïve nature of Sheldon who relies on his mother for many things in his life. The translation uses “我妈妈” rather than “我妈” which is the way an adult refers to his/her mother, to replicate Sheldon’s childish manner of behaving and thinking. The “script opposition” is on the top of the hierarchical organization consisting of the aforementioned parameters (Attardo 1994: 277). However, jokes can be produced from any knowledge resource. The hierarchical order is not applied to the consecutive stages in the actual production (Attardo and Raskin 1991: 237). Ideally, a translated joke should have the same script opposition, e.g. sexual vs. nonsexual readings, as the sexual allusions in “wood” and “sheep” and their meanings in other circumstances. The translation should also maintain the same logical mechanism, the same situation, the same target and the same narrative strategy as the original, though the language and the scheme are changed.

8.2 Subtitling Wordplay Wordplay is a typical challenge for non-native speakers as well as translators. Languages maintain the characteristics of polysemy and homonymy, which give birth to the punning use or wordplay. As a particular kind of wordplay, puns take advantage of hyponymy or identical pronunciations of different words to create ambiguity, euphemism or metaphor for the purpose of humour. A punning effect can also be achieved through the modification of sound and spellings, while the close resemblance of spelling and sound always dissimilates the literal meaning from the user’s intention. In the audiovisual context, the meanings of a punning use are alterable according to the pictorial components, which further confounds translatability and challenges the creativity of subtitle translators. Consider the following:

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM

Subtitling Humour in Transcultural Context | 277

ALAN: Uh, no, I—I have other plans 不，我有其他事要做 HERB: Oh, got a date? 你要去约会？ CHARLIE: Yeah, Alan, you got a date? 是啊，艾伦，你有约会？ ALAN: No, no, a date? Pfft!/Not likely, ha-ha-ha/No, I have a meeting with the, uh, thing about the—About the group/I told you, remember? 不，约会？不是／不，我要菜价一个 团体的聚会／我告诉过你，记得吗？ CHARLIE: No, tell me again 没有，你再说一次 ALAN: He’s a little pickle/Uh, well, if you must know…/…uh—I—I belong to a book club that I am going to 他有点醉了／如果你想知道／我要去一个读书会 CHARLIE: Oh, that’s right/What book are you reading again? 没错／你们今天要念什么 书？ ALAN: It—It—It’s a mystery/Uh, called Why Are You Doing This to Me 是推理小说／叫做 《为何这样搞我？》 CHARLIE: Oh, yeah/It’s by the same guy who wrote Because It Amuses Me 没错／《因为 我爽》的那个人写的 HERB: Boy, I wouldn’t have had you two pegged as readers 天啊，我怎么觉得你们不只是 读书 ALAN: Well, there you go. Good night 这就是了，晚安 HERB: Hey, Alan 艾伦 ALAN: Yeah? 什么事？ HERB: You talk much to Judith? 你最近有跟裘蒂丝说话？ ALAN: Nope. See you 没有，再见 HERB: Oh, well, if you speak to her, tell her I said hi 如果你有跟她说话 帮我跟她问好 ALAN: Okay 好的 HERB: And that…/…the time we spent together is very special to me…/…and if she needs anything, uh, just call me/I’m there 还有…/我们一齐的时光 对我来说非常特别／如果她需 要帮忙，可以找我／我会在那等她 CHARLIE: You know what’s a good book?/Under the Dinning-Room Table by Richard Gobbler 你知道一本好书吗？／姚你爽写的《餐桌下的秘密》

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM

278 | Dingkun Wang

ALAN: But—But it does not compare to…/Wait Till Your Liver Fails by Hope Udai 但是比不 上…/…王你死的《等你爆肝吧》

In the episode of Two and a Half Men, where the conversation above takes place, Alan revives his old affection for his ex-wife, Judith, who has married Herb. The couple, Judith and Herb, are living separately due to a family dispute. This temporary separation gives Alan a chance to re-establish his relationship with Judith. In this conversation, Alan is heading for Judith’s place when Herb, who has no idea about the affair between Alan and Judith, calls on Alan and Charlie. Charlie in turn sees the situation as a chance to play his prank on Alan who is afraid of being exposed. When Charlie brings the conversation to the edge of a truth that he has no genuine intention to expose, he and Alan talk in riddles or encrypted phrasing to keep Herb in the dark. The subtitles on DVD, which are displayed above, domesticate the SL wordplays and contain the sexual allusions that are not intended in the original. The translation of “Because It Amuses Me” responds to that of “Why Are You Doing This to Me” as the SL lines do to each other. However, the TT shows “为何 这样搞我”, which means “Why you f**k me in this way?”, rather than the meaning of the ST. In response to this meaning, “Because It Amuses Me” is translated as “因为我爽” which means “Because I enjoy it so much”. Compared with the DVD’s subtitles in this part of the conversation, YTET’s translation (given as below) is closer to the meaning of the ST, which show “你干嘛老找我 的茬儿” for “Why Are You Doing This to Me”, and “因为我高兴” for “Because It Amuses Me”. However, in dealing with the wordplay in the rest of the conversation, the fansubs cannot replicate the English humour successfully. In the subtitles on DVD, the personal names mentioned in the SL conversation are localized to make them sound natural to the Chinese audience. “Robert Gobbler” is transformed into “姚你爽” which alludes to “咬你爽” (bite for arousing you). “姚”, pronounced as “yáo”, which is a Chinese surname. The character sounds close to “咬” (yǎo), which means “bite”, particularly in the context of this conversation. The translation corresponds to the meaning of “Under the Dinning-Room Table” – of which the translation is “餐桌下的秘密” (secret under the dinning-room table) – to remind the audience of the previous event between Alan and Judith. The same strategy applies to the translation of “Wait Till Your Liver Fails by Hope Udai”, in which he name “Hope Udai” alludes to “hope you die”. The word “hope” can be translated as “望” (wàng) of which the pronunciation is close to “王” (wáng), a Chinese family name. Thus “Hope Udai” is translated as “王你死” which implies “望你死”. This punning effect in Chinese functions together with “等你肝爆吧” (wait till your liver explodes) to

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM

Subtitling Humour in Transcultural Context | 279

replicate the cursing attempted by Alan, in response to the potential tell-tale in Charlie’s speech. In maintaining the colloquial register, YTET’s translation contains more the modal particles in Chinese, such as “哟”, “咧”, “嘛”, “啦”, and “吧”, and the dialectical expressions, such as “喝高了” and “啥事”, which are rarely used in the DVD subtitles. ALAN: Uh, no, I—I have other plans 算了 我 我 我... 我有约了 HERB: Oh, got a date? 约会? CHARLIE: Yeah, Alan, you got a date? 哟 Alan 是要去约会? ALAN: No, no, a date? Pfft!/Not likely, ha-ha-ha/No, I have a meeting with the, uh, thing about the—About the group/I told you, remember? 不是 约会? 不算啦 我是要跟... /某人开 一个某会... 某个社团 我跟你说过了的 记得不? CHARLIE: No, tell me again 忘了 再说一次咧 ALAN: He’s a little pickle/Uh, well, if you must know…/…uh—I—I belong to a book club that I am going to 估计喝高了/如果你非要我说 那我就告诉你.../我今晚上是要去读书会 CHARLIE: Oh, that’s right/What book are you reading again? 哟 是嘛/你读的是啥书来着?/ ALAN: It—It—It’s a mystery/Uh, called Why Are You Doing This to Me 是... 是关于神秘事 件的书 书名叫做 “你干嘛老找我的茬儿”? CHARLIE: Oh, yeah/It’s by the same guy who wrote Because It Amuses Me 哦 想起来了 不 就是那个“因为我高ﾐﾋ”的作者写的嘛 HERB: Boy, I wouldn’t have had you two pegged as readers 伙计 你俩读的都是啥乱七八糟 的书呀 ALAN: Well, there you go. Good night 可不是嘛 晚安 HERB: Hey, Alan 嘿 Alan? ALAN: Yeah? 啥事? HERB: You talk much to Judith? 你最近有跟裘蒂丝说话？ ALAN: Nope. See you 没有，再见 HERB: Oh, well, if you speak to her, tell her I said hi 噢 如果你有跟她说话 就帮我带个好 ALAN: Okay 没问题

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM

280 | Dingkun Wang

HERB: And that…/…the time we spent together is very special to me…/…and if she needs anything, uh, just call me/I’m there 我们在一起的那些时光对我来说 意义非凡 如果她需 要帮助 随时找我/我等着她 CHARLIE: You know what’s a good book?/Under the Dinning-Room Table by Richard Gobbler 你知道啥才是好书不?/Richard Gobbler 写的“餐桌之下” ALAN: But—But it does not compare to…/Wait Till Your Liver Fails by Hope Udai 但是... 跟 Hope Udai 写的 “你就等着酒精肝吧”根本没法比 [注：Hope Udai 音同“你去死吧”]

9 Conclusion In this discussion we have looked at the Chinese subtitles of the English humorous effects. To translate the dialogue, mannerism of speech must be reinforced. Otherwise, the subtitles will jeopardize the quality of the original, and the audience will be suspicious on the credibility of the translation. Only with a profound understanding of the ST, would the translation be able to realize the pragmatic and sociolinguistic issues of the SL. To make the SL humour accessible to the TL audience, the subtitle translators converge the meaning of the original differently in Chinese subtitles. The SL humour may be omitted due to the linguistic and cultural gaps between the SL and TL recipient contexts. The Chinese audience may react to the SL humour differently, in comparison with the audiences in the SL contexts. The differences between the ST and the TT are visible on various levels of the humorous communication, from slight changes to the complete recontextualization and the transformation in every linguistic unit. When the SL humour cannot be adapted to the TL context, the subtitle translators have to resort to the standard language that at least inform the TL audience about the literal meaning of the SL speech. The fans’ practice establishes new rules and gives more liberty to the translators. The strategies applied in this amateur activity, such as the translator’s note, inevitably challenge the traditional method of subtitling. Compared with the subtitles produced for the authorized distribution, fansubs are bound to the informal and popular colloquial expressions. However, in dealing with the humorous effects, such as wordplay, the authorized translation reveals a more profound learning of the SL and the TL and thus preserves more of the original rhetorical device than fansubs do. Despite this, the fansubs offer the viewers a more endearing experience of the original through re-presenting the SL speech with the expression and register used in the viewers’ daily life.

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM

Subtitling Humour in Transcultural Context | 281

Their strategy of subtitling is to domesticate or neutralise the foreignness of the original, which conforms to the present-day dominant trend of translation.

References Attardo, S. (1994). Linguisitc Theories of Humour. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Attardo, S. (1997). The semantic foundations of cognitive theories of humor. Humor International Journal of Humor Research, 10(4), 395–420. doi: 10.1515/humr.1997.10.4.395 Attardo, S. (2002). Translation and Humour: An Approach Based on The General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH). The Translator (Special Issue: Translating Humour), 173–194. Attardo, S., & Raskin, V. (1991). Script Theory Revisited: Joke Similarity and Joke Rrepresentation Model. Humour: International Jounal of Humour Research, 4(3 & 4), 293– 347. Cattrysse, P. (1997). Audiovisual translation and new media. From One Medium to Another, Kansas (EEUU): Sheed & Ward, 67–89. Chaume, F. (2004). Discourse Markers in Audiovisual Translating. Meta, 49(4), 843–855. Chuang, Ying-Ting. (2001). Subtitling as a Multi-modal Translation. In G. C. F. Fong & K. K. L. Au (Eds.), Dubbing and Subtitling in a World Context. Hong Kong (pp. 79–90). Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. Delabastita, D. (1989). Translation and mass-communication: film and TV translation as evidence of cultural dynamics. Babel, 35(4), 193–218. Farrell, J. (1996). Servant of Many Masters. In Johnston (ed.) (1996: 45–55) Stages of Translation, ed. by David Johnston, Bath: Absolute Classics. Hansen, M. (2000). Fallen Women, Rising Stars, New Horizons: Shanghai Silent Film as Vernacular Modernism. Film Quaterly, 54(1). Hillman, R. (2011). Spoken Word to Written Text: Subtitling. In K. Malmkjear & K. Windle (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Translation Studies (pp. 379–393). New York: Oxford University Press. Kress, G. (1997). Before Writing: Rethinking the Path to Literacy. London: Routledge. Kress, G. (2003). Literacy in the New Media Age. London: Routledge. Nornes, M. (1999). . Film Quaterly, 52(No. 3), 17–34. Retrieved from JSTOR website: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1213822 . Nornes, M. (2007). Cinema babel : translating global cinema. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Qian, S. (2009). Screen Translation in Mainland China. In G. C. F. Fong & K. K. L. Au (Eds.), Dubbing and Subtitling in a World Context (pp. 13–22). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press. Zhang, C. (2004). The Translating of Screenplays in the Mainland of China. Meta, 49(1), 182– 192.

Brought to you by | Australian National University Authenticated | [email protected] author's copy Download Date | 7/22/14 4:54 AM