A Brief Discussion of Subtitle Translations in Pushing Hands

【Abstract】： Subtitle translations， besides facilitating watching experience， shall contribute to cultural communications.This paper aims to discuss the translation of different cultural specific items in the movie Pushing Hands.

【Keywords】： Pushing Hands；subtitle translation；Chinese culture；Chinese poem

Subtitle translations， besides facilitating watching experience， shall contribute to cultural communications. In Pushing Hands， frequent emergence of cultural specific items （CSI） poses a challenge for translators. Likewise， reproducing the aesthetic effects of a Chinese poem can be impeded in the clash of distinct cultures. Therefore， the author studied related samples and offered our versions of translation， drawing on theories like skopos， text typology， functional equivalence， etc.

1. Chinese Poem and Nursery Rhyme

1.1 Comments on the Original Translation of the Chinese Poem

晚年唯好靜 萬事不關心

自顧無長策 空知返舊林

松風吹解帶 山月照彈琴

君問穹通理 漁歌入浦深

“when you arrive at old age， everything is quiet.

There’s the gentle wind passing through the pine forest.

When the moon is rising and shining on the mountain I only want to go to the familiar forest

I reply with a simple fisherman’s song.” （Tian Yirui， 1998）

In the movie， the old man， Mr Chu， wrote and mounted a piece of Chinese calligraphy and sent it to an old Chinese lady， as a gift. The content was a poem written by Wang Wei， a famous poet in Tang Dynasty of China. Wang wrote this poem to express his disappointment towards the imperial court. He could not achieve his great ambition in political life so he wanted to escape from the reality and have a secluded life. Analysis on the translation （Tian Yirui， 1998） is as follows.

Firstly， some meanings in the source text are not adequately rendered， and certain images are lost in the target text. For instance， “唯靜好” （means “I only love a quiet life”） was rendered as “everything is quiet”. Another example is “山月照彈琴” （ means “The moon above the hill shining upon me who was playing Chinese piano / lute / zither”）， which was translated as “When the moon is rising and shining on the mountain”. The instrument player was omitted， which was a focal image in the poem.

Secondly， some contents of the ST were omitted in the TT. For example， the meaning of “自顧無長策” and “君問窮通理” were not rendered. It seems that the TT is not faithful enough， whereas， if we keep “自顧無長策” and ”君問窮通理”， it may lead to confusion of foreign audience who barely know the cultural background of this poem. They may wonder how these meanings are related to the plot. Therefore， the translator resorted to omission to avoid this kind of confusion.

1.2 Suggestions

Though content omission can be acceptable， the reader can still choose to go the other way. In hope of sharing Chinese culture， the reader should try best to reproduce both the aesthetic effect and the spirit of the original content， casting the light of oriental beauty on foreign audience， even if they may only feel a shred of it. Here， the author provide a different translation.

Turning old， I would rather pursue a serene life. Nothing will ever bother my mind.

Not able to change anything， I know it is time to return to those woods of pines.

Breezes stroking， moonlight shedding， in the mountains I pluck my qin strings.

What’s my philosophy， someone asking. Rowing away， I reply with a song of fishing.

In this version， the author try our best to sketch a resigned， helpless figure yearning to return to nature， from which he seeks freedom and unparalleled spiritual comfort. In the last two lines， the solitude and sorrow of the poet are embedded in the natural images， and by using infinite verbs， the author transfer the poetic tactic of “showing” in the source text to the translation， aiming to create a sense of timelessness and thus involve readers into the poetic scene.

1.3 Comments on the Original Translation of the Nursery Rhyme

In the movie， the grandpa was teaching his grandson an old Chinese nursery rhyme， and the following are the rhyme and the English subtitles：

東西街 南北走 出門看見人咬狗 拿起狗來打磚頭 又怕磚頭咬著手

“On East West Street. North South go. Outside the gate a man bites a dog. Grab the dog to hit the brick. Watch out！ That brick might bite the hand.” （Tian Yirui， 1998）

According to Reiss （2000）， a representative scholar of Functional School of Translation， the type of a text can largely influence the method a translator adopts. The rhyme is manifestly an “expressive text”， and its essence lies in its aesthetic value， namely， its syntactic structure and musical rhyming. Therefore， the information of the text is in an inferior position， which the translator of the subtitles may have not taken into account.

Moreover， the skopos of translating this rhyme is， firstly， to facilitate foreign audiences’ watching experience. Though the translation faithfully rendered the meaning of the ST， information like “a man bites a dog”， which sounds nonsensical， may baffle the foreign audience， thus partly depriving them of their fun watching the movie； Secondly， the spirit of original artistic approaches should be captured and reproduced in the target text， and the translation above fails to fulfill that， due to the loss of rhyming.

1.4 Suggestions

East and West， South and north， outside the door a man biting a dog.

Hold the dog and dodge the man. Careful！ It might bite my hand.

The suggested version above is provided by the author. Judging that the predominant function of source text lies in its expressive nature， in the translation the author adjusted the information so as to better reproduce the essence of the artistic approaches. the author were not utterly “faithful” to the source text， but rather， the effect on target audiences was our foremost concern. The author maintained the end rhymes， using both back vowels and front vowels to fulfill a musical rhyming and create an air of happiness； What’s more， the content is more acceptable to foreign audiences， not deflecting their attention from the movie itself.

2. Tai Chi Chinese Medicine in Pushing Hands

2.1 Terminology Translation

As a film themed in Tai Chi， it is a best reflection of showing the contradictions between two cultures， while it’s also a chance to learn how to translate CSI. Most of the Tai Chi terminologies consist of up to three or four Chinese characters such as '攬雀尾'， '白鶴亮翅'， which are full of artistic feature， reflecting the distinctive traditional Chinese characteristics. Due to no corresponding meanings or concepts in English， it is translator 's essential while extremely difficult duty to make translation of these CSI both vividly expressive and understandable.

2.1.1 “挒掌” and “靠（撞）”

'挒掌' （Lie Zhang） means using dexterous and skilful power rather than brute force to fight. In Chinese it has another expression- '四兩撥千金' which means that 'tiny strength can beat huge vigour'. While the general translation of '挒掌' is 'sweep'. '靠' means bumping opponents by shoulder， hands， or back when someone are closing to the opponents， while the general translation is “lean”.

Both of these two example indicates two things， first the lack of official English translation of Tai Chi， and second， the limitation of literal translation.

2.1.2 “白鶴亮翅” and ”單鞭”

The current translation of '白鶴亮翅' is 'White Crane Spreads its Wings'. '單鞭' is 'Single Whip'， which apparently applied linguistics translation of CSI. This transmit the term's literal meaning but actually is deficient， losing original charm of rhythm and the culture. Thus making it difficult for foreign readers to understand. According to Nida's Functional Equivalence （Nida， 1993）， we should try to make TT convey a similar meaningful information as ST does. One can hardly avoid a cultural gap when translating CSI， but marking notes， both extratextual or intratextual gloss can help to overcome such confusion.

2.2 Culture behind the terms

Translating CSI in a movie involves the culture behind the terms， CSI translation methodology and the subtitle translation methodology. This complex practice makes subtitles in Pushing Hands about the Chinese medicine more difficult to translate.

First we need to study the culture behind the Chinese medicine：

練精化氣，練氣化神，練神還虛

‘精’ ‘氣’ ‘神’ are Three Treasures in Chinese medicine. ‘精’ is ‘維系人體生長、發育和升值的精微物質’ （傅， 2002）. ‘氣’ is the most fundamental element of the universe， and Chinese medicine believes it is the most fundamental element of forming the human body and maintaining the vital activities of human body. （傅， 2002）. While ‘神’ in Chinese medicine is the exemplification of human body’s vital activities broadly and human mind， consciousness and cognition narrowly. （傅， 2002）

The current translation of ‘精’ ‘神’ are：

‘精’

1. essence， semen（謝， 2004； 李， 2008）

2. Jing， Vital Essence （傅， 2002）

‘神’

1. mind， spirit， vitality （謝， 2004）

2. spirit， vitality， mental activity （李， 2004）

3. shen， mind （傅，2002）

However， to carry the whole meaning of three terms while also keeping simple in subtitle is really difficult. In the film， this sentence has been translated into ‘We pursue the state with the loss of tension， so we can attain concentration， and from that one， we achieve carefree’ （Tian Yirui， 1998）. This is the Absolute Universalization strategy of translating CSI， after analyzing the three terms， translator converted it into three states： loss of tension， concentration and carefree， making it easier to understand Chinese culture for foreign audiences and also achieve the principle of subtitle translation： simple and audience centered.

For Chinese medical translation the main problem is the non-existence of a standardized English terminology. （Nigel， 2006） Also whether it is appropriate to translate Chinese medicine in accordance with the western medicine system is still an unfixed issue. Because Chinese medicine is totally a different system from the western one. Lack of standard and systematic translation is the current situation. According to Nigel （2006）， The success of transmitting a complex body of knowledge from one language to another depends on the effectiveness of the strategy chosen to overcome the language barrier. Therefore， based on this and the principle of subtitle principle-simple and clear， it’s better for us to adapt extratexual gloss for the translation of single Chinese medicine term and simplify the complex sentence into a absolute univerlisation text.

3. Conclusion

Under instructions of skopos， functional equivalence， etc， combining basic translation strategies of CSI and principles of subtitle translation， our group fulfilled our related discussions and analysis. When translating artistic texts， culture-loaded terminology， etc.， we can always push the boundaries of untranslatability by taking into account accessibility of readers and trying to convey the spirit and essence of ST.

References

Ang Lee， 1998， Pushing Hands [Video recording]. Central Motion Picture Corporation in association with Good Machine Ang Lee Productions.

Nigel Wiseman， 2006， Dictionary of Chinese Medicine， Human Science Technology Press.

Vermeer， Hans J， 2000. Skopos and Commission in Translational Action. In Lawrence Venuti （ed） The Translation Studies Reader. London New York： Routledge， 221-232.

Katharina， Reiss， Type， Kind and Individuality of Text----Decision making in translation. In Lawrence Venuti （ed） The Translation Studies Reader. London New York： Routledge， 160-171.

傅世垣， 2002， 中醫大百科全書， 中國大百科全書出版社.

李振吉， 2008， International Standard Chinese-English Basic Nomenclature of Chinese Medicine， People's Medical Publishing House.

謝竹藩， 2004， English Translation of Common Terms in Traditional Chinese Medicine， 中國中醫藥出版社.