Characteristics of film subtitle translation

First, the characteristics of film subtitle translation

1. Multimedia translation

A movie is a combination of sound and picture. Subtitle translation, as a multimedia translation, is different from dubbing, and basically does not change the image and sound (including language, music and other sound effects) information of the original film. Therefore, the subtitle information received by the audience will interact with the original sound information, and the audience can get compensation from the original sound that the subtitles cannot be expressed or are not fully expressed. But at the same time, in subtitle translation, it is sometimes necessary to make corresponding adjustments in combination with images. Moreover, because the sound of the source language is clear and correct, anyone who knows something about the source language will unconsciously take a critical attitude towards subtitles, which makes subtitle translation the most vulnerable to attacks and doubts from the audience.

2. Diagonal translation

Traditional translation has not changed the text style, but the translation of movie subtitles has to undergo the transformation from the spoken form of the source language to the written form of the target language, so gottlieb (1994) called it "diagonal translation". This requires the translator to retain the characteristics of spoken language to the maximum extent, especially the treatment of pauses, interruptions and ungrammatical spoken language.