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Film Dialogue Translation and the Intonation Unit : Towards Equivalent Effect in English and Chinese

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Film Dialogue Translation and the Intonation Unit : Towards Equivalent Effect in English and Chinese Edith Cowan University Research Online Theses: Doctorates and Masters Theses 1999 Film Dialogue Translation And The Intonation Unit : Towards Equivalent Effect In English And Chinese Jian Li Edith Cowan University Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Li, J. (1999). Film Dialogue Translation And The Intonation Unit : Towards Equivalent Effect In English And Chinese. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1480 This Thesis is posted at Research Online. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1480 Edith Cowan University Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorize you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. A reproduction of material that is protected by copyright may be a copyright infringement. Where the reproduction of such material is done without attribution of authorship, with false attribution of authorship or the authorship is treated in a derogatory manner, this may be a breach of the author’s moral rights contained in Part IX of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Courts have the power to impose a wide range of civil and criminal sanctions for infringement of copyright, infringement of moral rights and other offences under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material into digital or electronic form. EDlTH i:OW.~N UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Film Dialogue Translation and the Intonation Unit: Towards Equivalent Effect in English and Chinese Jian Li BA, MA (Applied Linguistics) A Thesis Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of PhD in Applied Linguistics Edith Cowan University, Perth March 1999 USE OF THESIS The Use of Thesis statement is not included in this version of the thesis. ABSTRACT This thesis proposes a new approach to film dialogue translation (PDT) with special reference to the translation process and product quality of English-to­ Chinese dubbing. In response to the persistent translation failures that led to widespread criticism of dubbed films and TV plays in China for their artificial 'translation talk', this study provides a pragmatic methodology derived from the integration of the theories and analytical systems of information flow in the tradition of the functionalist approach to speech and writing with the relevant theoretical and empirical findings from TS and other related branches of linguistics. It has developed and validated a translation model (FITNIATS) which makes the intonation unit (IU) the central unit of film dialogue translation. Arguing that any translation which treats dubbing as a simple script-to-script process, without transferring the prosodic properties of the spoken words into the commensurate functions of TL, is incomplete, the thesis demonstrates that, in order to reduce confusion and loss of meaning/ rhythm, the SL dialogue should be rendered in the !Us with the stressed syllables well-timed in TL to keep the corresponding information foci in sync with the visual message. It shows that adhering to the sentence-to-sentence formula as the translation metastrategy with the information structure of the original film dialogue permuted can result in serious stylistic as well as communicative problems. iii Five key theoretical issues in TS are addressed in the context of FDT, viz., the relations between micro-structure and macro-structure translation perspectives, foreignizing vs. domesticating translation, the unit of translation, the levels of translation equivalence and the criteria for evaluating translation quality. If equivalent effect is to be achieved in all relevant dimensions, it is argued that 'FITness criteria' need to be met in film translation assessment, and four such criteria are proposed. This study demonstrates that prosody and word order, as sensitive indices of the information flow which occurs in film dialogue through the creation and perception of meaning, can provide a basis for minimizing cross-linguistic discrepancies and compensating for loss of the FIT functions, especially where conflicts arise between the syntactic and/ or medium constraints and the adequate transfer of cultural-specific content and style. The implications of the model for subtitling are also made explicit. IV TO MY MOTHER (1918 -1991) WHO TAUGHT ME TO PERSEVERE V DECLARATION I certify that this thesis does not incorporate without acknowledgement any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any institution of higher education; and that to the best of my knowledge and belief it does not contain any material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text. Jian Li Feb. 1999 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful for the help and support of many people in enabling this thesis to become a reality and I regret that space does not permit them all to be mentioned here. First and foremost, beyond power of words goes my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Ian G. Malcolm, for the best kind of guidance, assistance and encouragement that a research student can ever expect to get. Without his sagacious and unreserved help, this PhD study would not have been possible, nor would the thesis have been upgraded to the present form. Not only did he respond to every mention of my needs and requests in the most prompt and scholarly manner, but also he offered me facilities and avenues to the best of his ability to keep my research up and running and my information and knowledge of the field updated. I am grateful for his effort to widen my horizons by urging and supporting me to attend the two international conferences on translation studies at the crucial junctures of my research when I was most in need of insights, inspiration and confidence. I hasten to support the view shared by many of his students that to work under him is always a privilege, pleasure and precious learning opportunity, not only for his masterful linguistic knowledge and language power but also for being with the best example of a man of high professional and personal standards. I also owe special thanks to Associate Professor Brian Shoesmith and Dr. Tian Se Ang for their invaluable expert opinions provided in relation to Asian film and Chinese language respectively in the preparation of the thesis drafts. I am very grateful to many other people at Edith Cowan University and beyond who helped me in one way or another in the course of this study. To Associate Professor Robyn Quin, Head of Communications and Multimedia, I am indebted for her generous subsidy to cover the airfare (together with Prof. Ian Malcolm) for my trip to the 1996 Berlin conference on Translating for the Media. This support led to my having the opportunity to meet and open up a timely interaction with such leading vii translation scholars as Professor Irena Kovacic and Professor Yves Gambier. Many thanks are due to Dr. David Elder and Dr. Wally Frick of Edith Cowan University for their concern and input in the early stages of this work, especially their very helpful comments and suggestions derived from their expertise in translation between English and French/German. The staff of the Library of Edith Cowan University have left me with a beautiful impression of being the most friendly and obliging people, many of whom worked diligently behind the scene in providing quality help and services to people with many requests like me. Among so many others, Jenny Marshall and Julia Gross deserve my special thanks for their warm support and instant assistance to my initial research needs. This programme was generously sponsored by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), whose financial support I greatly appreciate. I will always hold dear the privilege of being a beneficiary of an AusAID Scholarship whereby my treasured Australian experience was made possible. Many people offered assistance during my fieldwork in China in 1994. Among them my sincere thanks go to the staff of the Guangdong Television (GDTV), especially to Mr. ZHANG Shiliang, Head of Centre for the Production of the Television Art, from whom I obtained the videotapes for the dubbed and subtitled versions of Jackie with the original translation script and subtitles; Ms WANG Di, Dubbing Director of the GDTV, who directed the dubbing of the mini-series and offered much first-hand data on filmffV dubbing in China; and Ms XU Ning, Translator of the TV Station's dubbing team, without whose helpful introductions I would not have had an inside view and actual experience of the relevant topic for my investigation. The data preparation in this study has also benefited immesely from the generosity and kindness of many other people. Among them, I owe my gratitude especially to Mr. Walter Hoylman, Sound-mixer of the teleplay Jackie, for providing me with the complete original shooting-script from his personal archive. To John Duff, Media Vlll Technician at Edith Cowan University, I am thankful for his devoted assistance which was important to my analysis of the audio-visual materials for this thesis. My thanks also go to my wife and daughter for patiently helping me with the transcriptions from the film soundtrack in either Chinese or English. No one has been so immediately and so continuously affected by my full-time commitment to this prolonged project as my wife and daughter. Its enormous emotional and economic impact on their life situation commanded all their patience, forbearance and willpower, for which I shall always be grateful. Thanks to my wife for her support and sacrifice for so many years.
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