On E—C Film Subtitling Translation from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory

張瑜

【Abstract】With the process of globalization and the development of the internet， there are booming markets for the film and film translation.Eugene A. Nidas Functional Equivalence Theory， has been widely adopted by many translators since it was born. This thesis attempts to do some research on E-C film subtitling translation from the perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory. With two films of Inception and Kung Fu Panda as examples， equivalence should be realized at the morphological， the syntactical， and pragmatical level.

【Key words】Functional Equivalence； subtitling； E-C translation

1. Definitions of Functional Equivalence

Functional Equivalence is a general principle that professional translators are supposed to follow.Eugene A.Nida proposes the “Functional Equivalence” and defined it as follows： “in such a translation， one is not so concerned with matching the receptor-language message with the source-language message， but with the dynamic relationship， that the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message.”（Nida， 1964：159）

2. Definitions of Film Subtitling

Merriam Webster defined subtitling as“A subtitle is a printed statement or fragment of dialogue appearing on the screen between the scenes of a silent motion picture or appearing as a translation at the bottom of the screen during the scenes of a motion picture or television show in a foreign language.”（Merriam Webster， 2008：872）

3. E-C Film Subtitling Translation from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory

3.1 Functional Equivalence at the Morphological Level

3.1.1 Amplification

During the film dialogues， sometimes there are some uncertainty or ambiguity in the utterance if the subtitling is not added enough relevant information. Therefore， it is necessary for the translators to add the omitted information or background knowledge to make the meaning of the film fully explicit.

Here is an example：

Example ： Never entire area.-why not？

但是不要利用記憶打造整片區域。-為什么？ （Inception）

The translator added“但是”because in Chinese the conjunction appears more frequently than in English and added“利用記憶” to explain the whole area， the purpose is to help Chinese audience understand the story.

3.1.2 Omission

Omission happens when the information is not important enough to be translated， or when the information is redundant or repetitious and omission in translation wont hinder the communication.

Example ： Cause there were still some time on the clock and you cant wake up within a dream.

因為時間還沒跑完，妳不能從自己的夢境中醒來。（Inception）

In Chinese there is no“there be” sentence pattern. Therefore， in order to comply with Chinese habits and Functional Equivalence， “there” should be omitted

3.2 Functional Equivalence at the Syntactical Level

In order to seek Functional Equivalence at the sentence level， sometimes we have to change sentence pattern or to adjust the word order of sentences， etc， in order to meet the needs of the target language audience.

3.2.1 Sentence Pattern

Example 10： But sometimes， it feels like its almost creating itself， if you know what I mean.

但有的時候它不知不覺就自己設計完成了，了解我的意思嗎？（Inception）

“If you know what I mean” is a statement here and it translated into an interrogative sentence to reach Functional Equivalence between ST and TT.

3.2.2 Sentence Order

Example11： Yeah， I cross it everyday to get to the college.

沒錯，我每天上學都會經過。（Inception）

If the sentence is translated literally， it would be“我經過它每天去上學”it is very strange in Chinese . In order to cater to the Chinese audience， “我每天上學都會經過is more scientific.

Conclusion

This paper is an attempt to apply Nidas Functional Equivalence Theory to the film subtitling translation based on its special features. The data are collected from the two films of Inception and Kung Fu Panda. The study shows Functional Equivalence in film subtitling translation can be realized at different levels： at the morphological and the syntactical level， and Language forms must be sacrificed in order to convey the meaning and flavors of the original film as close as possible to target language in most situations.

References：

[1]Nida，Eugene.A.Language，Culture and Translating[M].Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2004.

[2]貝克.翻譯教程[M].北京：外語教學與研究出版社，1993.

[3]韓曉玲，張弘.電影欣賞與英語學習[M].青島：青島海洋大學出版社，2002.