Movie Subtitle Translation Based on Catford’s Translation Shifts Theory

李进荣

【摘要】本文以電影《聚焦》为例，对约翰·卡特福德的翻译转换理论在电影字幕翻译中的应用进行分析。旨在证明该理论电影字幕翻译实践中的重要性和可行性，并为以后的字幕翻译实践提供一些理论基础和应用实例。

【关键词】翻译转换理论 字幕翻译 卡特福德

1. Introduction

Subtitle translation of foreign movies has been a hot field for scholars. Nevertheless， a few people study the application of Catfords Translation Shifts theory in movies subtitles. This paper analyzes the importance and practicability of Catfords Translation Shifts theory in the movie SPOTLIGHT subtitle translation.

2. Theoretical Framework

Influenced by Halliday and J·R· Firth， Catford explains “Translation Shifts” as a phenomenon of linguistic form changing in translation process（Lei Mu， 1989： 42）. As to the term “Shift”， Catford （1965： 73） means the departures form correspondence in the process of going from SL to TL. Also， he categorizes the “Shifts” as two types- Level Shifts and Category Shifts.

2.1 Level Shifts

Catford （1965： 73） thinks that “Level Shifts” refers to the equivalent units of target language on different language levels. He mentions that the source text cannot be replaced by complete equivalent of the target language， and in translation.

2.2 Category Shifts

Category Shifts include “rank-bound translation” and “unbounded translation”. The “rank-bound translation” refers to the equivalences in some special cases which are deliberately limited to ranks below the sentences. While the “unbounded translation” means that the translation equivalences can occur in any ranks of language. （Catford， J. C， 1965： 76）. There are four types in Category Shifts： Structure shifts， Class shifts， Units shifts， and Intra-system shifts.

3. Application of Translation Shift Theory in “SPOTLIGHT”

This chapter tries to analyze the application of Catfords Shift Theory by giving some examples in the translation of movie “SPOTLIGHT”.

3.1 Introduction of “SPOTLIGHT”

Produced by the American company Anonymous Content， the movie “SPOTLIGHT” adapted from a report in the Boston Globe that a clergyman in the United States took advantage of his status to sexually molested children. SPOTLIGHT has been nominated six times at the 88th Oscar awards and wins two of them for the Best Picture and the Best Original Screenplay in 2016.

3.2 Use of Level Shifts

In English， the tense， aspect of verbs and nouns singular or plural forms will change with marked signs in different situations. However， it is impossible to translate them completely because there is no such equivalent grammar signs in Chinese. Thus， in order to translate these changes clearly and exactly， Level shifts occur.

3.3 Use of Category Shifts

According to Catford （1965： 76）， Category shifts are departures from formal correspondence in translation， which contains four kinds： Structure shifts， Class shifts， Unit shifts （rank changes）， and Intra-system shifts.

3.3.1 Structure Shifts

Structure shifts can happen in all ranks of language. As for English to Chinese translation， there are three main typical shifts that are between active voice and passive voice， between positive and negative， between personal subject and impersonal subject.

3.3.2 Class Shifts

Class shifts are actually entailed in the Structure shifts which means shifting the words part of speech to another.

3.3.3 Unit Shifts

Unit shifts， or rank shifts， refer to “departure from formal correspondence at one rank in the SL but it is a unit at a different rank in the TL” （Catford， J. C， 1965： 79）.

3.3.4 Intra-system Shifts

Intra-system means there is no equivalent term of the target language that can correspond to the article of the source language but they do have the approximate constitution in their language systems （Catford， J. C， 1965： 79）.

4. Conclusion

From the above， it is not difficult to see that Catfords “Translation Shift Theory” is widely used in the subtitle translation of the movie. It is really helpful and meaningful to use his theory to the movie subtitles translation practice.

References：

[1]Catford J.C.A Linguistic Theory of Translation[M].Oxford： Oxford University Press， 1965.

[2]陳宏薇.汉英翻译基础[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社，2011.