Chapter 1 Introduction
2.4 Subtitling – Constraints and Features
another and from one medium to another.’ (1984: 84) On a similar note, Gottlieb, a veteran subtitler-turned-professor, coins the subtitling process as ‘diagonal translation’, arguing the complexity of interlingual subtitling as ‘being two-dimensional, 'jaywalks' (cross over) from source-language speech to target-language writing.’ (2004:220) Their views acknowledge the high level of complexity involved in the process of rendering movie subtitles that is far more than traditional translation of written texts.
2.3 Audiovisual Translation in Taiwan
Popular English-speaking TV series such as MacGyver, Michael Knight, and
Sledge Hammer! were broadcast in Chinese dub in Taiwan, back in 1980’s.
However, for more recent English-speaking TV series or programs, dubbing has been replaced by Chinese subtitles, a result that can be linked with the country’s rigorous effort to promote English education and a demand of authenticity. Currently in Taiwan, only TV drama series from South Korea and Hong Kong and cartoon programs, aimed at children or teenagers, use dub and subtitle broadcast in Chinese dub with same language subtitles. There are some exceptions, such as that re-runs of the programs are broadcast with the original soundtrack and Chinese subtitles. In general, Taiwan is a ‘subtitling’ country because the country embraces imported a great amount of audiovisual contents. Therefore it has a high and steady demand for subtitling translation.
2.4 Subtitling – Constraints and Features
2.4.1 Constraints of Subtitling
As O’Connell notes (126), interlingual subtitling leaves original soundtrack intact and ‘those who know both languages to a greater or lesser extent have the chance to check the translation for themselves.’ This phenomenon is also observed by Fong (44), adding that in Hong Kong, catching subtitle mistakes on the television
or cinema screen is ‘the favourite game of many audience members.’ Gottlieb acknowledges the phenomenon as the ultimate constraint for translators because of the pressure from audience’s constant supervision. In this sense, the translation is
constantly ‘monitored’ by receivers, who will find out what part of the soundtrack is missing in the subtitle. Scandura argues that ‘when watching subtitled material, audiences often feel they are being cheated because they realize that what was said could not have been what was written in the subtitles. (2004: 126) Any omission or adaptation in subtitle due to the various constraints stemmed from the nature of audiovisual text is often not understood by audiences, who are more likely to blame translators for infidelity to the text.
Guardini (1998: 97) suggests three main categories of the constraints in subtitling:
technical, textual, and linguistic.
(1) Technical constraints are space and time limitation.
(2) Textual constraints are the need to synchronize visual and verbal elements of the original content with subtitles and the change in medium.
(3) Linguistic constraints include the differences in grammar, syntax and culture related elements between the source and the target language.
Since the number of words uttered in a sentence can be faster than eyes to finish reading its written form, having the subtitle to “sync” with the scene will nevertheless compress the written words. The technical constraints thus force the translator to truncate and compress the written form of the oral dialogue, which naturally contains verbal fillers, false starts, backtrack, discourse markers and swearwords. The translator has to make decisions about what part of messages should remain and the like. Under the three constraints, subtitling translator is to provide one to two sentences of “meaningful translation,” to be appeared at the bottom of the screen, which should not occupy the screen, compact enough to appear at the same time as
the speaker begins and finishes each sentence.
For Chinese subtitles, the limit for each line ranges from 11 to 15 characters.
Each broadcasters and film festival organizers have different rules on the maximum characters appearing on the screen due to technical reasons. Drawing from my own experience with subtitling translation, I find the limit of one or two lines make a huge difference in rendering a text into Chinese translation, since each sentence has to make sense to viewers during the very brief time it appears on the screen. Because the usage of two lines of Chinese characters, which add up to, say, 30 characters tops, has enough room to express a lengthy sentence, but it would take much more effort to express a long sentence using several lines, while making sense of each line. This is the usually case with film festival, which adopts open subtitles. However, there are not many researches on the differences between the two subtitling methods, i.e., breaking sentence into one or two lines. The issue can be further discussed if the synchronization differences matter to the segmentation of subtitle translation into Chinese.
2.4.2 Features of Subtitling
Tianjin University Professor Li Yun-xing acknowledges that the two features of subtitling. First, the appearance of subtitles does not change the video, audio including language, music and other sound effects, and original spoken dialogue.
Therefore the subtitle compliments the message on the original soundtrack. What is lacked or missed in subtitle can be compensated from the original soundtrack, i.e. the tone of the sentence and other image or details that cannot be expressed in written texts. Secondly, the soundtrack provides the original dialogue. Any viewer who has a relatively high level of the foreign language proficiency will unconsciously criticize the subtitle. Therefore, a minor inappropriateness will raise the eyebrow of audiences (2001: 39). Li’s second point coincides with the certain constraints
aforementioned by Fong, Gottlieb and O’Connell.
Two other features concerning the functions of subtitling are the intertwined relations between written words and auditory message and that subtitle is presented to audience in a gradual manner, though the wait time is only seconds away. Unlike books that readers can always go back and check, the short-lived appearance of each sentence in subtitles creates a constraint, which requests translators to make
connection between each line to guarantee audience can grasp most out of the subtitles in a minimum effort. In order to achieve the goal, the text of subtitles should be commonly used characters, simple and brief words in concise sentence patterns (Li, 2001: 39).