Strategies for Translating Puns in Movie Subtitling:Taking Three Taiwanese Films as Examples

Strategies for Translating Puns in Movie Subtitling:

Taking Three Taiwanese Films as Examples

電影中雙關語之字幕翻譯策略：以三部台灣電影為例

Cheng-yang Chu (朱正揚) Department of English

National Pingtung University of Education

Abstract

Although playing an important role in communicating between local films and foreign audience worldwide, the English subtitles of Taiwanese films have not received as much attention as they are supposed to in previous translation studies. To bridge this gap in research, the present study examines the English subtitles of three recent popular Taiwanese films: Cape No.7, Night Market Hero, and Din Tao: Leader of the Parade. Focusing on the puns spoken in the films, the present study analyzes what translation strategies are used in subtitling the spoken lines into English as well as how the English subtitles represent the original meanings of the spoken lines by adopting these strategies. With several examples, the present study also suggests how certain strategies can be used in translating puns in the films under certain circumstances so that the findings can be provided as practical reference for subtitle translators or anyone interested in this subject.

Introduction

Since the huge success of Cape No.7 in 2008, the entire box office of Taiwanese films has been growing enormously. More and more local films have become box office hits and received the attention of foreign audience as well. As these popular films often contain rich Taiwanese cultural and linguistic features, how foreign

audience worldwide in the future.

Statement of the Problem

In the translation process, it is likely to encounter certain terms or expressions that are so unique to the source language that “there is no obvious official equivalent” in the target language (Pedersen, 2005, p. 1). Such kind of terms may be very unfamiliar to target language viewers and need to be rendered with various translation strategies. Especially when dealing with puns, the challenges result from not only the differences between two languages but also the knowledge gaps between two cultures. According to the online Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and Oxford Dictionaries, a pun refers to a humorous, amusing, or clever use of a word that has more than one meaning, or of words that have different meanings but sound the same or similarly. For example, the words

帶

and

娶

are both pronounced as [tshua] in Taiwanese. The former means to bring, take, or lead, while the latter to marry. If a man says he wants to bring or take someone in Taiwanese, others may make fun of him since it sounds like he wants to marry that person. Due to the differences in pronunciation, puns in one language usually cannot be comprehended by the speakers of another language if translated literally.

The challenges in subtitling can be even more complicated than those in translating a printed document such as a book or a magazine. In subtitling, the amount of words shown on the screen at the same time is limited and each line of words only appears a few seconds to match the timing of the oral dialogue. Under these particular restrictions of space and time, the translated subtitles tend to be concise and even reductive so that they can be more readable to the audience (Li, 2001). Even when dealing with certain unique terms that are supposed to be explained with plenty of descriptions, subtitle translators still have to use as few words as possible and maintain the correspondence between the subtitles and the visual contents on the screen (Tortoriello, 2006). Therefore, various translation strategies are required as well.

Purpose of the Study

To find out what translation strategies can be used in subtitling Taiwanese films into English, the present study examines the English subtitles of three recent

Taiwanese films: Cape No.7, Night Market Hero, and Din Tao: Leader of the Parade, with particular focus on the puns spoken in the films.

The research questions are as follows:

1. What translation strategies are used in subtitling the puns in the films into English?

2. How do the English subtitles represent the original meanings of the puns in the films by using these translation strategies?

Significance of the Study

The present study analyzes the translations of puns in the English subtitles of three Taiwanese films. The source languages include the Mandarin spoken in Taiwan, and other common dialects in Taiwan such as Taiwanese and Hakka. Also, the translation process involves subtitling, which provides a rendition “from a spoken to a written medium” (Gonzalez, 2009, p. 14). So far, this kind of research is still rarely seen in Taiwan and abroad. Moreover, in contrast with the Taiwanese films selected in previous translation studies (M. Y. Yang, 2008; Y. C. Yang, 2009), the research samples of the present study are the three top-selling Taiwanese comedies released during 2008 to 2012. Through examining the English subtitles of these appealing films, the present study provides findings on how certain colloquialisms and humorous elements in Taiwanese films can be translated through subtitling.

Limitations of the Study

Since the research samples of the present study are only three Taiwanese local comedies, the findings may not be applicable to all other Taiwanese films. As the spoken lines in these three films are often presented in a local comedic style, the findings may not be applied to especially the films of other genres, for example, drama, action, thriller, science fiction, documentary, etc.

In addition, the analysis mainly focuses on how the original meanings or

intended effects of the puns can be expressed through the translated English subtitles. Therefore, the changes of grammatical or syntactical structures in the translation process are not particularly discussed in the present study.

Translation Theories and Strategies

Among the various translation theories proposed by different researchers, many of them share two major concepts: source-language (SL) orientation and

target-language (TL) orientation. SL orientation refers to a concept that the

translated text tend to conform to the source language/culture as well as the form and meaning of the original text. Theories conforming to this concept include formal equivalence (Nida, 1964/2004), semantic translation (Newmark, 1988), foreignization (Venuti, 1995), etc. On the contrary, TL orientation is a concept that the translated text tend to conform to the target language/culture, so that it may appear more

acceptable and familiar to the target audience. Theories of this kind include dynamic equivalence (Nida, 1964/2004), communicative translation (Newmark, 1988),

domestication (Venuti, 1995), etc.

In practical translation processes, there can be a series of translation strategies ranging from the most SL-oriented to the most TL-oriented. As argued by Ramière (2006), “most classifications of translation strategies follow a common general

progression from the most exoticising to the most domesticating” (p. 156). Based on the strategies or procedures classified by different researchers in translating between English and other European languages (Newmark, 1988; Pedersen, 2005; Vinay & Darbelnet, 1995/2004) and translating between English and Chinese (Chang, 1989; D. A. Chen, 1997; Li, 2001; Zhang & Wang, 2010), there are at least nine types of basic strategies, including retention, literal translation, specification, annotation,

generalization, cultural substitution, paraphrase with sense transfer, adaptation, and omission. To fill the need of the present study, the following sections review and illustrate these strategies with the corresponding examples found in the English subtitles of the three selected Taiwanese films.

Retention. Similar to transference (Newmark, 1988), borrowing (Vinay &

Darbelnet, 1995/2004), or what many people know as loanwords, the strategy of retention may be the most SL-oriented since it “allows an element from the source language to enter the target text” (Pedersen, 2005, p. 4). However, in

Chinese-English translation, it is unlikely to directly borrow a word from the source language into the target text because the writing systems of these two languages are completely different. Therefore, it is more appropriate to use the term transliteration, which refers to “the conversion of different alphabets” or writing systems (Newmark, 1988, p. 81). For example, in the film Cape No.7, the term

恆春

, the name of a town in southern Pingtung County, is translated as Hengchun in the English subtitles. This is a kind of transliteration since it simply converts the Chinese characters into the corresponding letters of the English alphabet.

Pedersen, 2005), this strategy is “the direct transfer of a source language text into a grammatically and idiomatically appropriate target language text” (Vinay & Darbelnet, 1995/2004, p. 130). Different from plain word-for-word translation, literal

translation needs to follow the grammatical or idiomatic rules in the target language. Therefore, certain modifications in grammatical or syntactical structures are very likely to be made, for example, inversing the word order, transposing the part of speech, modulating the voice of speech, and adding or reducing certain function words. As long as “the semantic load of the source texts is unchanged” (Pedersen, 2005, p. 5), these modifications can also be regarded as the treatments in literal translation. For example, in Cape No.7, the Chinese term

孔雀之珠

, the name of a handicraft, is subtitled as Bead of Peacock in English. Instead of following the original word sequence Peacock’s Bead, the rendition directly transfers the source text into a grammatically appropriate target language text, with no relevant information added or subtracted.

Specification. Similar to notes, additions, or glosses (Newmark, 1988),

specification means “leaving the source text in its untranslated form, but adding information that is not present in the source text, making the target text more specific than the source text” (Pedersen, 2005, p. 4). In Chinese-English translation, it is unlikely to leave the source text “in its untranslated form” since the writing systems of these two languages are totally different. Therefore, a more appropriate specification for Chinese-English translation is to keep the source text in its transliterated or

literally translated form and add supplementary information to make the target text more specific. For example, in Night Market Hero, the term

金門

is translated into Jin-Men Island in the English subtitles. In here, Jin-Men is the transliterated form of

金門

, while Island is the added information.

Annotation. Similar to specification, annotation also adds extra information to

explain the original context, but the additional description is placed in parentheses, brackets, or as footnotes. As the added information can be written as another phrase or sentence, it may somehow interrupt readers’ or viewers’ flow of attention (D. A. Chen, 1997; Newmark, 1988). For example, in the film Din Tao: Leader of the Parade, the Chinese term

抓周

is translated as zhuazhuo (a traditional ritual predicting a child’s future) in the English subtitles. The explanatory information is added in parentheses instead of being merged into the main text.

Generalization. This strategy means replacing the source text “referring to

generalization may be the expediency when the reference of the source text is quite unique to the source culture and the translator does not feel like spending too much effort to explain it explicitly. For example, in Din Tao: Leader of the Parade, the Chinese term

師娘

[shi niang], meaning the wife of a teacher or a master, is subtitled as auntie in English. The rendition replaces the original term with something more general in the target language so that part of the original meaning is lost in the target text.

Cultural substitution. Similar to cultural equivalent (Newmark, 1988),

equivalence (Vinay & Darbelnet, 1995/2004), borrowing (D. A. Chen, 1997; different from Vinay and Darbelnet’s borrowing), or naturalization (Li, 2001), the strategy of cultural substitution replaces the source text by a different reference that is more familiar to the target audience (Pedersen, 2005). In addition, this kind of treatment can be frequently applied in translating fixed expressions such as “idioms, clichés, proverbs, nominal, or adjectival phrases” (D. A. Chen, 1997; Vinay & Darbelnet, 1995/2004, p. 90). For example, in Night Market Hero, the Taiwanese term

蚵仔煎

[o a tsian], a Taiwanese snack with fried oysters, eggs, and vegetables, is subtitled as oyster omelet in English. The translation uses a western snack, omelet, to replace the Taiwanese snack to make it more familiar to the target audience.

Paraphrase with sense transfer. This strategy means removing the reference

of the source text, but keeping “its sense or relevant connotations” (Pedersen, 2005, p. 8). When the source text is unlikely to be translated according to its literal meaning and no appropriate cultural substitutions can be found in the target language as well, this strategy makes it more possible to preserve the idea expressed in the original context (D. A. Chen, 1997). Although the translated text may appear very different from the source text, the original meaning between the lines can be revealed. For example, in Night Market Hero, the Taiwanese term

白賊七

[peh tshat tshit], the nickname of a well-known character in Chinese folklore who was good at lying, is translated as that big liar in English. This is a kind of paraphrase with sense transfer since it removes the original reference of the source text and reveals the intended meaning.

Adaptation. This strategy is “a special kind of equivalence, a situational

limit of translation” (Vinay & Darbelnet, 1995/2004, p. 90). For example, in Night Market Hero, the Taiwanese term

里長伯

[li tiunn peh], referring to the head of a neighborhood or of a smaller district, is subtitled as my friend in English. The rendition replaces the source text with a totally different term, regardless of the original meaning.

Omission. This strategy means replacing “the reference of the source text with

nothing” (Pedersen, 2005, p. 9). For example, in Cape No.7, the Chinese spoken line

好酒量，女中豪傑

is translated as You really can drink in the English subtitles. The term

女中豪傑

[nu zhong hao jie], meaning a heroine or an excellent woman, is totally omitted in the target text. As omission neither retains nor intervenes the reference of the source text and “tends to be culturally neutral” (Pedersen, 2005; Ramière, 2006, p. 158), it is still questionable whether the strategy is SL-oriented, TL-oriented, or neither of both.

From the review above, we can see that the strategies available in practical translation processes are numerous, rather than just one way or the other. Translators can take advantage of these strategies according to the real situations and do not need to be limited by the boundaries of SL or TL orientation.

Empirical Studies about Subtitling Translation

Before examining what translation strategies are used in subtitling Taiwanese films into English, the following sections discuss the empirical studies abroad and in Taiwan about subtitling translation.

Subtitling between English and other languages. As mentioned earlier, the

strategies that are used in practical translation processes may vary from time to time. In previous translation studies about subtitling between English and other languages, there was no general agreement on whether the translated subtitles tended to be SL-oriented or TL-oriented.

Some researchers concluded that the translated subtitles were more SL-oriented. In the study of C. Chen (2005), it was argued that the Chinese subtitles (Hong Kong version) of the English-speaking film Quills “appeared to be unidiomatic enough and not audience-oriented enough” (p. 222). Besides, Matielo and Espindola (2011) found that the most frequent procedure for translating culture-specific items was foreignization in the Brazilian Portuguese subtitles of the American science fiction TV series Heroes.

“lost,” “gained,” and “re-created” could refer to TL-oriented strategies such as generalization, cultural substitution, paraphrase with sense transfer, and adaptation. The word “lost” could also refer to omission, a strategy which is still questionable to be SL-oriented or TL-oriented. According to Tang (2008), the Chinese subtitles of Disney’s animated film Mulan “employed a variety of linguistic strategies to make them more familiar to, rather than foreign for, potential Chinese viewers” (p. 156). The concern for target language audience also corresponded to the perspective of TL orientation.

In addition, some researchers argued that there was no general tendency in the use of translation procedures. Ramière (2006) pointed out that almost all translation procedures of both SL orientation and TL orientation were used in the English

subtitles of three French films, “making it impossible to demonstrate any form of consistency as far as foreignizing or domesticating norms are concerned” (p. 159). Her findings also matched the idea that translators may select translation strategies on a case-by-case basis instead of following either SL orientation or TL orientation all the way through.

Subtitling Taiwanese films into English. According to the search result from

National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan, only two studies (M. Y. Yang, 2008; Y. C. Yang, 2009) analyzed the English subtitles of Taiwanese films from the year 2000 to 2012; both of them were master theses. Different from the popular Taiwanese comedies produced in recent years, the ten films studied in these two theses were mostly serious dramas released many years ago. Four of the films were released in the 1980s, four in the 1990s, and two in the 2000s. Also, these two studies did not particularly discuss the translation of puns in the films. Therefore, it is still required to investigate what translation strategies can be applied for translating puns in recent local comedies.

Methods

Rationale

With particular focus on puns, the present study aims to find out what translation strategies are used in subtitling three Taiwanese films into English and how the translated subtitles represent the original meanings of the spoken lines through these strategies. To achieve such purpose, the present study adopts qualitative research methods to collect and analyze data. As qualitative research is more

to observe and identify the puns in the spoken lines, analyze the strategies used for translating the collected terms, and discuss how the translated subtitles represent the original meanings of the spoken lines by applying certain strategies.

Research Samples

The research samples of the present study are the officially released DVD-Video titles of three purposefully selected films: Cape No.7, Night Market Hero, and Din Tao: Leader of the Parade. All of these DVD-Video titles are published in Taiwan and include two versions of subtitles: Traditional Chinese and English. In contrast with the other Taiwanese films examined in previous translation studies, the three selected films are the top-selling Taiwanese films released during 2008 to 2012 and are all local comedies rather than serious dramas or art films. The language spoken in the films includes Mandarin and other dialects commonly spoken in Taiwan such as Taiwanese and Hakka. As these three films represent not only parts of Taiwanese local culture but also the speech used by ordinary people in daily life, they can be suitable research samples for understanding how Taiwanese cultural and linguistic features are translated into English through subtitling.

Cape No.7. Directed by Te-Sheng Wei, this movie describes a story about how

a bunch of ordinary residents in a small town in southern Taiwan become a warm-up rock band for a Japanese super star concert and their relationships with an old love letter left behind from the Japanese colonial era. The film was released in August 2008 and eventually received a box office of approximately 530 million NTD in Taiwan.

Night Market Hero. Directed by Tien-Lun Yeh, this movie describes a story

about how a group of local night market vendors fight against an evil business

corporation that attempts to illegally take over the land of the night market. The film was released in January 2011 and eventually received a box office of approximately 128 million NTD in Taiwan.

Din Tao: Leader of the Parade. Directed by Kai Feng, this movie describes a

story about how a local religious troupe combines tradition with innovation and becomes a successful artistic performance troupe. The film was released in January 2012 and eventually received a box office of approximately 317 million NTD in Taiwan.

Data Collection and Analysis

Literature Review sections, the translation strategies to be identified for data analysis are as follows: transliteration, literal translation, specification, annotation,

generalization, cultural substitution, paraphrase with sense transfer, and adaptation. Examples of how these strategies can be applied in Chinese-English translation have been demonstrated in earlier sections.

The following procedures were taken for data collection and analysis:

First, the researcher watched the three films and made sure that all the plots and spoken lines in the films were understood. This step was essential since sometimes there was no complete correspondence between some dialects or colloquialisms spoken in the films and the written Traditional Chinese subtitles. To understand what were actually spoken in the films, the researcher needed to watch the films and listen to the oral dialogue before using the subtitles as sources of data collection and analysis.

Second, with the software tool Xilisoft DVD Subtitle Ripper, all the Traditional Chinese subtitles and the English subtitles in a DVD-Video title were output to an image file. Although the words displayed in the image file could not be edited, the file was printed out as a paper document so that the researcher could refer to this document instead of playing the DVD over and over again to look for puns.

Third, searching through the above document, the researcher marked all the puns that were found and typed them into an editable text file, together with the

corresponding English subtitles. In this new text file, the words that were

transcribed for the original spoken lines were based on what was actually heard from the movies rather than the Traditional Chinese subtitles. Moreover, in transcribing some Taiwanese spoken lines into Traditional Chinese words, the researcher did not always follow the official written forms but use the forms that were more commonly known to the general public. For example, the Taiwanese term

土虱

[thoo sat], meaning catfish, officially should be written as

塗虱

according to the Taiwanese dictionary of Ministry of Education, but it was written in the more usual format

土虱

in the researcher’s transcription.

Findings and Discussion

As stated earlier, a pun is often employed to create humor or amusement in the context by using a word with more than one meaning, or different words with different meanings but are pronounced the same or similarly. After watching the three films and observing the spoken lines, the researcher has found 15 cases of puns; three of them are from Cape No.7, six from Night Market Hero, and six from Din Tao: Leader of the Parade. Most of these puns utilize different words that sound alike to achieve a witty or even ironic effect. Comparing the original spoken lines with the English subtitles, the researcher has also discovered that the strategies originally used for translating the puns in the films include annotation (four cases), paraphrase with sense transfer (four cases), and adaptation (seven cases). The following sections illustrate how these strategies are applied in the films with several examples and discuss if there are other ways to revise the English subtitles so as to achieve the intended humor in the dialogue.

Annotation

One of the common strategies for dealing with the puns in the films is annotation. Although the strategy can easily explain the ambiguity in a pun, it may also disrupt the coherence or smoothness of the target text.

Example 1.    Here is an example of how the annotation strategy is originally  adopted for translating a pun in Din Tao: Leader of the Parade:  Spoken lines:

橫直妳不要管那麼多啦！

我不是叫妳妃子，我說反正妳別管那麼多好不好！

English subtitles:

Anyway, mind your business.

I didn’t call you a princess (pun on anyway). Anyway, leave me alone, okay?

The above are the words spoken by a husband, who is arguing with his wife over the phone. During the quarrel, the wife seems to misinterpret one of the husband’s words

橫直

[huinn tit], meaning anyway, as

妃子

[hui ji], referring to the

anyway added in parentheses to explain the pun. Although the explanation looks understandable, it somehow interrupts the connection between the second sentence I didn’t call you a princess and the last sentence Anyway, leave me alone, okay? Even if the English subtitles are revised as the following by still adopting the annotation strategy, the irrelevance between the words anyway and concubine in English and the extra description in parentheses still may confuse target language viewers when watching the film:

Mind your own business, anyway.

I didn’t say “concubine” (pun on “anyway” in Taiwanese). I said “anyway.”

As shown above, using annotation may make the English subtitles much less amusing than the oral dialogue. If the original strategy can be replaced by adaption, it is applicable to make use of other words that sound alike in English to achieve a similar punning effect, for example:

Anyway, will you leave me alone?

I don’t need “a loan.” I said “leave me alone!”

In this way, the witticism in the dialogue can be expressed through another pun in the target language without disrupting viewer’s flow of attention.

Example 2. The following is another example of annotation from Din Tao:

Leader of the Parade:

Spoken lines: Son:

給我帶！

Father:

娶娶娶…你是在發春喲？

好啦！看要娶阿珠還是阿美，隨便你挑啦！

English subtitles:

Son: Let me lead the troupe.

Father: Lead, lead, lead (pun on marry). Are you on the heat? Okay, let me know which woman you want to marry.

necessarily need to be followed by an object noun. And then, the father uses the word “marry” (

娶

) to pun on “lead” (

帶

), for both words are pronounced as [tshua] in Taiwanese. Since it is unlikely to replicate the same pun in English, an annotation pun on marry is added in parentheses in the English subtitles to explain the pun. However, the object noun the troupe somehow interrupts the association between the words lead and marry because if anyone says he wants to lead a troupe, no one will confuse it with the notion of marrying someone. To concentrate on the pun, the first line can be rephrased as, for example, Let me get in charge! so as to avoid mentioning the troupe. Moreover, the father’s words

發春

[khi tshio] is a Taiwanese slangy way of saying someone is in heat or horny. To make closer connection with the idea of desiring for women, it is suggested the word marry be replaced with a stronger phrase like get a wife or get mated. As a result, the dialogue can be translated as below:

Son: Let me get in charge!

Father: Get a wife… (pun on “get in charge” in Taiwanese) Are you in heat or something?

Fine. Just let me know which woman you want to marry.

Although the pun may be explained more clearly as the above, the annotation still disrupts viewers’ flow of attention. To maintain the continuity in this dialogue, the original pun can be replaced by another pun that fits the situation. For example, the phrase the man in English can refer to both a husband and the person who takes control. By using this phrase with the adaptation strategy, the subtitles can be revised as the following:

Son: Dad, I wanna be “the man” here!

Father: You wanna be “the man?” Go get a wife!

Just let me know which woman you wanna marry.

In this way, the intended humor and irony can be expressed through another pun without interrupting the coherence and smoothness in the English subtitles. From the discussion above, we can see that annotation can be easy to use, but does not help much in making the translations as amusing as the original. Before directly adopting annotation to deal with puns, translators can try to apply other strategies and see if they work better in maintaining the intended humor in the original dialogue.

Another common strategy for translating the puns in the films is paraphrase with sense transfer. By using this strategy, it is possible to preserve parts of the original meaning in a less conflicting way. However, the pun may not be revealed and the original effect may be lost as well.

 

Example 3. Here is an example of using paraphrase with sense transfer in the

film Cape No.7: Spoken lines:

Salesman:

馬拉桑！

Customer:

馬…馬上什麼啦？

English subtitles:

Salesman: Malasun!

Customer: What did you say?

In this scene, a salesman is promoting a new product and yelling out the brand name

馬拉桑

[ma la sun] at a customer. The customer is quite confused and wonders if the salesman is saying another word

馬上

[ma shang], meaning right away, so he asks “Right away for what?” At this point, the original dialogue

attempts to create a comic effect by playing on the two terms that sound similarly,

馬

拉桑

and

馬上

. Since the pun in Chinese is not likely to be duplicated in English, the customer’s words are simply translated into an ordinary interrogative sentence What did you say? in the English subtitles. The sense of the original dialogue is rephrased by using the paraphrase strategy, but the humor is completely gone. To create a similar effect, the adaptation strategy can be used to subtitle the customer’s response as, for example, My…My son? In this way the connection of Malasun and My son may create a nearly equivalent effect that the original dialogue attempts to produce. Example 4.    Another example of using paraphrase with sense transfer in Night  Market Hero is as follows:  Spoken lines: Youngster:

害啊…大哥的菜…

Middle-ager:

什麼咧菜？我看是餿水啦！走！

English subtitles:

The above is a dialogue spoken in Taiwanese between a young man and a middle-aged man. The young man thinks that his boss is attracted to some girl and says that the girl is the boss’s

菜

[tshai]. In Chinese,

菜

literally refers to dishes, meals, or vegetables, but it is also a slangy way to refer to someone’s ideal type. With a paraphrase, the young man’s spoken line is translated as she’s his type in the English subtitles. In fact, the amusing use of words continues in the next line. Disagreeing with the young man, the middle-ager unkindly taunts that the girl is not some dish but just

餿水

[phun], which means hogwash or leftovers in Taiwanese. The term is paraphrased as rubbish in the English subtitles. However, the words type and rubbish do not reveal the sharp contrast or irony originally made by playing on the notions of “dish” and “hogwash.” In fact, it is applicable to use another word that sounds like type and has a negative meaning, for example, typo. With the adaptation strategy, the English subtitles can be revised as the following to create a similar punning effect:

Youngster: Oh no… she’s his type…

Middle-ager: What type? More like a typo to me! Let’s go.

Or, similar to the Chinese word

菜

, the English word dish can refer to both a meal and a sexually attractive person. Since people don’t usually say “she’s his dish” in English, the first spoken line can be adapted as, for example, she’s quite a dish. And then, the word hogwash can be used as the opposite of dish. The English subtitles can be revised as the following:

Youngster: Oh no… she’s quite a dish…

Middle-ager: What dish? More like hogwash! Let’s go.

As shown above, through adapting some of the spoken lines, the sarcasm in this dialogue can still be expressed with the original punning images.

Adaptation

To avoid any misunderstanding caused by the original pun, the adaptation strategy changes the context regardless of the original meaning. If the strategy is applied appropriately, the witticism can be expressed through a new image in the target text without interrupting the continuity of the dialogue.

follows:

Spoken lines:

Nun:

阿彌陀佛，這位菩薩…

Frog:

阿彌陀佛，我不是土虱，我叫做水蛙，我沒錢。

English subtitles:

Nun: Amitabha, please…

Frog: Amitabha, I’m not Police. I’m Frog, and I have no money.

The above is a dialogue spoken in Taiwanese between a Buddhist nun and a funny guy nicknamed Frog. At first, the nun wants to ask for a donation from Frog and addresses him as Bodhisattva (

菩薩

[phoo sat]), which also refers to a

kindhearted person. As the word “Bodhisattva” sounds like “catfish” (

土虱

[thoo sat]) in Taiwanese, Frog jokingly replies that he is not a catfish. He later continues to explain that his name is Frog and that he has no money. Playing on the two terms, Bodhisattva and catfish, that are pronounced similarly in Taiwanese but totally

different in meaning, the dialogue attempts to lay bare the disparity of social status and create a somewhat ironic effect. In the English subtitles, the original punning words are replaced with another set of words with close pronunciations, please and police, to create a new witticism. Although the adaptation fit the situation in this scene, the humorous effect in the dialogue is not accomplished yet. Originally, “Bodhisattva” and “catfish” are associated with each other because of similar

pronunciations in Taiwanese. In the later lines, “catfish” and “frog” are also related because they are close species. However, the English translations police and frog do not seem to have any kind of connection at all. The disconnection also makes the last line I have no money rather awkward because even if the speaker were a

policeman, he might offer the nun some sort of assistance but would not necessarily have to give her money. To make the dialogue more reasonable and continue the alliteration on the letter p, the spoken lines can be subtitled as Amitabha, I’m not Police. I’m poor, and I can’t help you. In this way, please, police, poor, and I can’t help you can all make sense together with the adaptation strategy.

Example 6. Here is another example of using adaptation in the English

subtitles of Din Tao: Leader of the Parade: Spoken lines:

Master:

鵝？鵝比鴨大隻咧！鵝！

English subtitles:

Apprentice A: Did master catch up with us? Apprentice B: No, he’s getting old.

Master: I’m getting old, eh?

In the above scene, a couple of apprentices are running and hiding from their master. One of the apprentices says that the master is too old to catch up with them. Suddenly, the master shows up and beats them up. Originally, the apprentice uses the word “no” to indicate that the master is not coming because he is too old.

Offended by the apprentice, the master angrily replies “a goose is bigger than a duck” (

鵝比鴨大隻

) because the word “goose” (

鵝

[go]) sounds like “no” (

沒

[bo]) in Taiwanese. Irrelevant to the literal meaning, the above expression is just a ridiculous way used by the master to argue with the apprentices. In the English subtitles, the master’s words are adapted as I’m getting old, eh? to avoid any misunderstanding. Although the translated text seems to be more reasonable, the pun and the intended humor are completely lost. To express the ridiculousness in the original dialogue, the translator can make use of other words that are pronounced similarly in English, for example, No way and Norway. The English subtitles can be revised as the following:

Apprentice A: Did master catch up with us? Apprentice B: An old man like him? “No way.” Master: “Norway” is in Europe!

However, since the speaker is a very old Taiwanese living in a traditional rural area in Taiwan, it may sound unnatural for him to speak out words like Norway and Europe. To replace such western terms with a more general expression, the English subtitles can be revised as the following:

Apprentice A: Did master catch up with us? Apprentice B: An old man like him? No way! Master: No way for you to escape!

Discussion

From the actual cases in the films, it is found that strategies of annotation,

paraphrase with sense transfer, and adaptation, listed from the most SL-oriented to the most TL-oriented, have been used by the translators to deal with the puns in the films. As for how the English subtitles represent the original meanings or effects of the puns by using these strategies, the results can be summarized as follows. Among the applied strategies, annotation may be the simplest way to preserve the literal

meanings and to explain the puns at the same time, but the coherence and the intended effect in the dialogue can be easily disrupted. To preserve parts of the original meanings and make the English subtitles reasonable and coherent, using paraphrase with sense transfer can be a practicable way. However, the puns may not be revealed and the original effect may disappear as well. In most cases, perhaps the most likely way to preserve the original effect or at least create a similar effect is the adaptation strategy. As suggested by Newmark (1988), when the pun is used mainly for fun, it can be replaced by another pun whose associated meanings are more accessible to target language viewers. By changing the original meanings, adaptation provides more free space to fit the English subtitles to the context and a greater potential to achieve the original effect as long as enough efforts have been made by the translators.

Since puns can make sense only when their ambiguous meanings or the sound relationships between the punning words are understandable to the viewers or

listeners, they are not likely to be rendered with whatever strategy the translators feel like using. Although other strategies like transliteration, literal translation,

specification, generalization, and cultural substitution can be useful under difference circumstances, they may not be applicable for dealing with puns unless the

translations of the punning words can be provided with double meanings or special sound relationships with each other through these strategies.

Conclusion

As the population watching Taiwanese films is increasing in recent years, the role of English subtitles in Taiwanese films should be more emphasized. To reveal the cultural and linguistic features in Taiwanese films, subtitle translators can make better use of various translation strategies, especially when dealing with puns.

the same way in English, it is almost impossible to preserve all the above three

features at the same time in the English subtitles. To keep the literal meanings, using the annotation strategy may be the only practicable way. To maintain the coherence of the context, it is more likely to use paraphrase with sense transfer or adaptation. For achieving the original effect in the dialogue, there seems to be no other way except adaptation.

As puns in comedies are meant to be fun, translators should not be satisfied with just explaining the meanings or making the English subtitles coherent with the context. With the adaptation strategy, it is more likely to attain the original, or at least similar, effect that the spoken lines attempt to produce. Although a large proportion of the original sense is changed, it should be acceptable because puns in comedies usually make jokes on less serious matters. However, when using adaptation, translators enjoy the privilege of interpreting the source text in the freest way, so they are more obligated to maximize the potential of this strategy and make the English subtitles as amusing as supposed to be. Otherwise, it may not be worth sacrificing the original meaning.

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Online Dictionaries

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Retrieved from http://www.ldoceonline.com

Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved from http://oxforddictionaries.com

Retrieved from http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/index.html

Audiovisual Media

Cape No.7 [DVD] (2008). Taipei: Deltamac.

Night Market Hero [DVD] (2011). Taipei: CaiChang.