A Comparative Study on the Subtitling of The Shawshank Redemption from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory

【Abstract】A good subtitling helps to transmit cultural values and contributes to the building of national identities and stereotypes. However research on it is far from being adequate and is mainly about subtitling among Western languages， without involving Chinese. This study compares two of the most popular versions of the subtitling of an American moive The Shawshank Redemption， revealing that neither version is proper in all cases， and that Functional Equivalence Theory is the indispensable theoretical underpinning for successful subtitling practice.

【Key words】Subtitling； functional equivalence theory

【作者簡介】章成成（1985.10-），女，三亚学院，讲师，研究方向：跨文化交际，中外文化比较。

1. Introduction

Subtitling is defined as the translation of the spoken （or written） source text of an audiovisual product into a written target text which is added onto the images of the original product， usually at the bottom of the screen （Gottlieb， 1994）. There are two types of subtitling that are widely known， namely intralingual subtitling and interlingual subtitling. Subtitling in the paper hereby is used to refer to interlingual subtitling， unless otherwise stated.

A good subtitling helps to transmit cultural values and contributes to the building of national identities and stereotypes. However there is a startling imbalance between research on it and its immense impact due to the fact that subtitling is a newly-emerging area in translation studies， with a history of no more than half a century.

This study takes the American moive The Shawshank Redemption as an example. Under the theoretical guidance of Functional Equivalence Theory of Eugene Nida， the paper compares two of the most popular versions of subtitling， trying to shed some light on strategies for proper subtitling practice and its theoretical framework.

2. Literature Review

Qian in China has defined subtitling as being listenable， integrated， transient， popularized， and un-annotated； and that subtitling should be as “expressive” as possible （Qian， 2000）. The process involves addressing verbal and non-verbal components and switching from spoken text into written mode， which may result in plenty of linguistic challenges. All of the above might get more difficult when the restrictions of both time and space are brought into consideration， or as Gottlieb put it， “the famous and infamous time and space constraints” （Gottlieb， 2004： 219）.

Despite all the difficulties there have been relentless effort striving to frame subtitling practice under certain constructive theoretical underpinnings. Karamitroglou （2000） tried to deal with audiovisual translation research from the perspective of norms and poly-system theory， using examples of Greek subtitles though. Yet he ended up with the conclusion that “norms in AVT are much more complex than merely technical limitations” （McLoughlin & Biscio， 2011： 11）. Henrik Gottlieb points out that as the audience can see or hear the original text while reading subtitles， there is always a risk of subtitles being compared to the original text， which is seen as a valuable contribution to subtitling theory by the descriptive approach， because “it brings to the light the fact that subtitling is more than merely functioning within certain formal constraints. It emphasizes the dynamic and interactive nature of subtitling and the demands this places on the subtitler” （Kruger， 2001： 179）. J. Díaz Cintas （2004） advocates DTS （Descriptive Translation Studies） and Norms of Toury， holding that the subtitler has to acquire certain norms to produce desired subtitling， yet again， his examples being Spain subtitles though. There are also efforts made concerning subtitling within other theoretical guidance like Skopos theory （Lv & Zhu， 2014） and Action Research （AR） method （McLoughlin & Biscio， 2011： 14）.

Among various voices Functional Equivalence Theory of Eugene Nida is being given high opinion and drawing increasing attention. The Theory was considered the beginning of translation studies when first known as dynamic equivalence， whose impact remains enormous in China till today. It aims at the closest natural equivalence of the source language and centers on the impact that target language has on its receptors being the same as source language does to its counterparts. To achieve that it prioritize functional equivalence of two languages over their formal correspondence. Nida then specified six principles to govern whenever and wherever the adjustments are necessary and presented three criteria to judge a translation being functional equivalent or not. The merits of undergirding subtitling practice with the theory include that it leaves little trace of foreignness and thus sounds natural and fluent to target language ears； and that would help preserve the indigenous identity of Chinese language （Ye， 2008）.

In conclusion， it is worth noticing that much subtitling research done is between Western languages.

3. Functional Equivalence in Two Versions of Subtitling of the Sample Movie

The Shawshank Redemption is an American movie shot in 1994. It ranks top three in IMDb （International Movie Database）， the world’s most popular and authoritative source for movies. It is nearly a household name to Chinese audiences due to its inspiring spirit and fascinating story， which is continuing its impact today and widely acknowledged as one of the best films of all time. The two versions of subtitling are the DVD version released and subtitled by General Recording and Videoing Publishing Association of China （hereby referred as DVD）； the other one from a famous online subtitling team The Last Fantasy （hereby referred as TLF）.

3.1 Equivalence at Linguistic Level

The crucial conflict of translation often comes out as the conflict between form and content， which is also the major the argument of Nida’s functional equivalence theory. He said， “A natural translation involves two principal areas of adaption， namely， grammar and lexicon” （Nida， 1964：167）. Here grammar adaption refers to formal correspondence and lexicon to content. It is therefore quite necessary to weigh these two aspects when comparing two pieces of translation. Formal consistency in this paper is probed into as equivalence in syntax， which is mainly about grammatical structure； whereas content is dealt with semantic equivalence.

（1）Syntactic Equivalence

Example1： Forget that there are places in the world that aren’t made out of stone.

忘记有一些地方，在这个世界上，是不用石头围成的。（TFL）

忘记这世上，还有不用高墙铁栏围起的地方。（DVD）

This is a case with the adverbial clause of place. The quality of naturalness is usually noticeable only when it is absent， just as the TFL version does. It is virtually a word for word translation and sounds awkward and unnatural. On the other hand the DVD version sounds more natural syntactically because it has altered the order of the phrase “in the world” to suit Chinese grammar. What’s more， semantically “高墙铁栏” is more adequate than “石头” because the former is more suitable to a Chinese prison situation. The addition is made to make it more familiar to Chinese audience.

（2）Semantic Equivalence

Example 2： I tell you， those voices soared... higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like a beautiful bird flapped into our drab cage... and made those walls dissolve away.

我告訴你，那声音飞翔，比在这个灰暗地方的任何一个人梦想的都要高远，像一只美丽的小鸟，飞进了我们这灰色的鸟笼，让这些围墙消失了。（TFL）

那歌声高亢悠扬，其高其远高墙内无人敢梦想，像一只美丽小鸟，飞进我们单调的牢房，让你忘记了高墙铁栏的存在。（DVD）

This is Red’s describing how he felt when he heard the music Andy played. The DVD version sounds more natural and logical than the TFL one. This may be attributed to the redistribution of the English semantic components. Nida （1969） pointed out that there are two types of redistribution， namely， analytical and synthetic. The former means expansion or distribution over several different words， whereas the latter means grouping several components into one. In the case， the single word “soar” is redistributed in the DVD version as a four-character adjective； the phrase “higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream” is redistributed in the DVD version “其高其远高墙内无人敢梦想” as another complete sentence by altered the order of grammar elements. The same is true with the phrase “made those walls dissolve away”， which has been expanded semantically into “让你忘记了高墙铁栏的存在”， which is also a more accurate rendering than the TFL one. It is then the DVD version that has achieved higher functional equivalence.

Example 3： They broke the door down before I could take requests.

还没来得及接受点播，他们就破门而入了。（TFL）

听众点播还没开始，他们就破门而入了。（DVD）

As it can be seen， the adverbial clause of time is usually placed at the end of the sentence as subordinator in an English sentence； however it would be necessary for them to appear at the beginning of a Chinese sentence as a statement of the situation. Both versions have made this alteration to appear acceptable to Chinese audiences. And also the subtraction of the vocative “I” is made for the sake of conciseness and naturalness.

3.2 Equivalence at Stylistic Level

Example 4： Red： There must be a con like me in every prison in America. I’m the guy who can get it for you.

我想在美国的每个联邦或州监狱里都有像我一样的人物，就是能够给你搞到东西的家伙。（TFL）

美国每个监狱都会有我这种人，我能弄到各种东西。（DVD）

Red in the movie is serving a life sentence with the charge unknown. He has been in the prison for 20 years when first seen as the head of a gang and is capable of smuggling things into the prison. The translations of TFL in example 3 of “a con like me” to “像我一样的人物”， “the guy who can get it” to “能搞到东西的家伙”， sound more like the style of a person who is a gang leader in a prison. On the other hand， the other one appears to be word to word translation and not very distinguishing in speech style. In this sense it is then considered that the TFL version has achieved stylistic equivalence by making appropriate alterations to match the identity of the image.

3.3 Equivalence at Cultural Level

Example 5： Yes， sir！ I’m a regular Sears and Roebuck.

是的，先生，我是个冷酷的人。（TFL）

我就像个流动商店。（DVD）

“Sears and Roebuck” is such a kind of ECRs as mentioned above. One may fail to understand them even if he/she knows exactly the language. The full name is “Sears， Roebuck & Company” and it is a leading retailer in the U.S providing merchandise and related services. Apparently the DVD version which has made complete alteration in its meaning is an accurate and equivalent translation.

Example 6： Hey， fish！ Come over here！

過来啊！到这里来！（TFL）

新来的，过来！（DVD）

Besides a creature living in water， “fish” in oral English more often refers to a person， always peculiar in some way. The word appears many times in the movie， including “Most new fish come close to madness the first night” and “Rumor has it you’re a real cold fish”. The accurate message has been conveyed in the DVD version through liberal translation but missing in TFL.

4. Summary

There are different levels of equivalence to be reached in subtitling since it is such a distinct type of rendering. The major levels include functional equivalence in the following aspects： syntax， semantics， style and culture. One has to deploy certain strategies to achieve the closest natural equivalence since there are huge differences between Chinese and English. The major adjustments include addition， subtraction and alteration. It must be pointed out that from the evaluations above neither version is successful in all cases， as we can see that the TFL version manages to achieve equivalence in some examples while the DVD succeeds in some others. Part of this is because subtitling is really a demanding job and the accomplishment of a high quality one requires a firm and sound theoretical basis like Functional Equivalence Theory to provide consistent and all-round guidance. Last but not the least， there are many limitations in the study. Relentless efforts are still required to fulfill this complicated endeavor.

References：

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[2]Gottlieb， Henrik.Subtitling： Diagonal Translation[J].Perspectives： Studies in Translatology，1994：101-121，Vol.2.

[3]Gottlieb， Henrik.Subtitles and International Anglification[J].Nordic Journal of English Studies，2004，219-230；Vol.3（1）.

[4]Karamitroglou， Fotios. Towards a Methodology for the Investigation of Norms in Audiovisual Translation[J]. Amsterdam： Rodopi，2000：115-135.

[5]McLoughlin， Laura & Biscio， Marie. Audiovisual Translation： Subtitles and Subtitling[J]. Oxford： Peter Lang AG，2011，11-15.