The Art of Paper Cutting: Strategies and Challenges in Chinese to English Subtitle Translation of Cultural Items

Authors

  • William Chai Department of English Language and Communication, UCSI University, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Hui Yi Ong Department of English Language and Communication, UCSI University, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Mansour Amini School of Languages, Literacies and Translation, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia
  • Latha Ravindran Faculty of Education, Languages & Psychology, SEGi University, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22452/jml.vol32no1.5

Keywords:

challenges, Chinese, English, strategies, subtitling, translation

Abstract

Culture is a way of life and embodiment of civilizations that is expressed through a language. The transfer of culture is a significant aspect of audio-visual translation as translators deal with more than just the written texts on surface level. Translating culture-specific items on paper cutting is an intercultural communication. However, translating cultural items in subtitling could cause challenges and problems for translators during the translation process. In this qualitative study, the translation strategies and challenges were explored in the subtitling of a Chinese cultural documentary on the art of papercutting titled The Life of Paper-cutting (剪紙人生; Jiǎn zhǐ rén shēng) retrieved from YouTube. The original video was subtitled to identify the challenges in subtitling. The strategies and challenges were first identified and then the process was described. It was found that the most appropriate translation strategies were omission, direct transfer, equivalence, and adaptation. The analysis revealed that the challenges were mainly technical, cultural, and linguistic. The findings can be used as a guide to utilise the translation strategies effectively in subtitling translations of similar audio-visual products to tackle the challenges faced in the Chinese to English translation of culture-specific items.

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Author Biographies

William Chai, Department of English Language and Communication, UCSI University, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

BA in English Language and Communication, Department of English Language and Communication, UCSI University Malaysia

Hui Yi Ong , Department of English Language and Communication, UCSI University, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

BA in English and Communication from Department of English Language and Communication, UCSI University Malaysia. 

Mansour Amini, School of Languages, Literacies and Translation, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia

Mansour Amini has a PhD in Translation Studies. He is a senior lecturer attached to the department of MA Translation for professionals at the School of Languages, Literacies and Translation, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia. To date, he has published 49 peer-reviewed papers in the field of language and interdisciplinary areas. 

His profiles are as below: 

https://ppblt.usm.my/index.php/about-us/academic-staff/ma-in-translation-for-professionals-section 

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=CdHFKG8AAAAJ&hl=en  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mansour-Amini  Web of Science ResearcherID: AAE-1991-2019 Scopus Author ID: 57203152771

Latha Ravindran, Faculty of Education, Languages & Psychology, SEGi University, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Latha Ravindran is a senior lecturer of English at the Faculty of Education, Languages & Psychology, SEGI University, Malaysia. She is the former Head of English department at UCSI University Malaysia, Faculty of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts. She has a wide range of experience in English language teaching and research. 

 

Article 5_ The Art of Paper Cutting

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Published

2022-07-31 — Updated on 2022-07-31

Versions

How to Cite

Chai, W., Ong , H. Y., Amini, M., & Ravindran, L. (2022). The Art of Paper Cutting: Strategies and Challenges in Chinese to English Subtitle Translation of Cultural Items. Journal of Modern Languages, 32(1), 84–103. https://doi.org/10.22452/jml.vol32no1.5