On Translation of Cultural-Specific Items in Two Broke Girls

《破产姐妹》中文化专有项的翻译研究

Against the backdrop of globalization, coupled with the fast development of mass media and technology, particularly the popularity of the Internet among Chinese people, thousands of audio-visual products that are mainly produced in the United States have poured into China at an unprecedented rate and thus become an essential means for us Chinese audiences#8217; accessing to exotic cultures. Therefore, when it comes to the transmission of cultural information in subtitle translation, one can never choose to ignore the fact that the gap of Cultural-Specific Items studies in subtitle translation because it is of great significance for foreign audio-visual materials#8217; entry into the local market in China.

Among these exotic audio-visual products, with their attractive plots and quality production, American sitcoms grab an increasing number of Chinese people#8217;s attention, especially those who have received better education. In today#8217;s multi-cultural context, the translation of cultural elements in the realm of translation studies, is not merely treated as a transfer of linguistic sign, but as a way to conduct cultural exchanges, and a cross-cultural act, so to speak. In other words, the fundamental goal of the translation boils down to the exchanges of cultures between different countries. Besides, the biggest challenge that translators will be faced with in the translation process is the cultural differences, instead of differences between languages. In terms of cultural differences in translation, translation of cultural-specific items is, again, the profound difficulty for translators. What#8217;s more, cultural-specific items are distinct in audiovisual materials, particularly the sitcom like Two Broke Girls. Studies on translation of cultural-specific items in subtitle translation have made some great achievements for the past few years. However, with respect to audiovisual translation practices and theoretical research, China is falling behind. Therefore, more attention should be paid to and more studies should be conducted on it.

This paper will be divided into three main parts. In the first place, I will introduce something about subtitle translation.Then, I will present some translation strategies, which are related to the translation of Cultural-Specific Items in subtitle translation in Two Broke Girls. Last but never the least, I will give my opinion on all the analysis made in the previous studies.

Literature review

In the past decades of years, a number of famous translation scholars at home and aboard have engaged themselves in studies on subtitle translation, but just from the linguistic and technical angle. A few researches on the cultural factors in subtitle translation are also discussed.

At present, in the academic circle, two major translation strategies- domestication and foreignization, are mentioned a lot in the subtitle translation researches from the cultural perspective. One Chinese scholar, Zhao Chunmei(2002), she argues in her paper Four Pairs of Conflicts in the Audio-visual Translation that subtitles, as an important manner for cultural exchanges, should include large amounts of cultural information. And in translation process, translators should spare no effort to retain the distinct language and cultural features in the original language. We can see that Professor Zhao Chunmei promotes the use of foreignization in the subtitle translation. Another Chinese scholar, Zhang Chunbai(1998), views that the audio-visual product is to serve the general public, which means that translation should be made free. As we can see, he tend to favor domestication. Although there is no consensus has been achieved on how to cope with cultural elements in subtitle translation, it seems that the debate over domestication and foreignization would have the potential to expand to the subtitle translation area.