Subtitling Chinese Cinema: A Case Study of Zhang Yimou's Films

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Abstract
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgements
• Author's Declaration
• Chapter One
  • Introduction
• Chapter Two
  • Literature Review
• Chapter Three
  • Subtitling Humour: The English version of A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop (Zhang Yimou, 2009)
• Chapter Four
  • Politeness in Subtitling: To Retain or Not to
• Chapter Five
  • Dialect in Subtitling: The Flowers of War (Zhang Yimou, 2011)
• Chapter Six
  • Historical Subtitling: Archaisms and the Unstable Decades of Contemporary China
• Chapter Seven
  • The Subtitling of Songs and the Peking Opera in Zhang Yimou's Films

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This thesis aims to explore the subtitling of Chinese cinema into English, using Zhang Yimou's films as a case study. It examines the adoption of the domestication translation strategy in subtitling, which reduces or omits Chinese cultural references. The thesis investigates which cultural categories are most prone to domestication, with a focus on humour, politeness, dialect, history, songs, and Peking Opera.

• Subtitling practices in Chinese cinema
• Domestication translation strategy in subtitling
• Cultural references in subtitling
• The impact of cultural references on subtitle readers' interpretation
• The role of multimodal communication in film

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

Chapter One introduces the thesis and outlines its objectives. Chapter Two provides a literature review, examining previous research on subtitling, translation, and cultural references. Chapter Three focuses on the subtitling of humour in Zhang Yimou's film "A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop," comparing source dialogue lines with existing English subtitles. Chapter Four examines politeness in subtitling, exploring the translation strategies used to retain or omit politeness markers. Chapter Five investigates dialect in subtitling through an analysis of "The Flowers of War," comparing the source Chinese dialogue with the English subtitles. Chapter Six discusses historical subtitling, exploring how archaisms and the unstable decades of contemporary China are translated. Chapter Seven examines the subtitling of songs and the Peking Opera in Zhang Yimou's films, analyzing how these elements are translated.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

This study explores the subtitling of Chinese cinema into English, focusing on cultural references, domestication translation strategy, film semiotics, multimodal communication, and Zhang Yimou's films. It examines specific categories like humour, politeness, dialect, history, songs, and Peking Opera, and aims to understand the impact of translation on subtitle readers' comprehension and interpretation.