Besides, the thesis has practical significance. For example, firstly, the thesis can providesome guidance for similar translations in the future. Secondly, the translation errorsmentioned in this thesis can also provide much experience for future translation practice.Thirdly, interdisciplinary research on communication theory and subtitle translation canencourage scholars to conduct more interdisciplinary research.
Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Previous studies of translation from the perspective of Communication
According to Wikipedia, “translation is the communication of the meaning of asource-language text by means of an equivalent target-language.” Communication is theprocess of transmission and exchange of information between senders and receivers. “Thenature of translation is communication” (Lv, 1997, p.41). Translating and communicatinghave the same essence: the transmission of social information. Accordingly, translation is akind of communication, and communication and translation overlap deeply. Communicationtheory provides a new perspective and model for translation practice and research.
2.1.1 Previous studies abroad
Communication was conceived in the early 20th century and became an independentdiscipline in the 1940s. In the 1960s, some scholars has realized that communication theorycould be used as a theoretical system of translation and has put forward their own views.
Eugene Nida applied information theory to translation studies. “Communication theory,which is an enlargement of information theory, has helped translators see the importance ofall the many factors that enter into interlingual communication: source, target, transmission,noise (physical and psychological), setting, and feedback (immediate and anticipatory)”(Nida,2001, p.245-246). According to Nida, “language communication occurs in social situations,and translation could not be understood if it was extracted from a situation. On the contrary, itshould be placed in the whole environment, including the relation between discourseparticipants and language, the relationship between discourse participants as a specificlinguistic group, and the method connecting sender and receiver.” He believes that translationwith no value if the translation could not be understood by readers and emphasizes theinteraction among audiences. That is to say, the purpose of translation is communication, sothe audiences’ feedback is an important element to judge the quality of translation. Nida has broken through the limitations of structural linguistics and found a new breakthrough point fortranslation studies, but his research is still guided by linguistic theories.
2.2 Previous studies of subtitle translation for Film and Television
The international communication of Chinese culture is mainly translingual exchangesand communication. Because of the differences among countries, most foreigners could notunderstand the real essence of Chinese culture. Film and TV are the two primary ways tosolve this problem. With the rapid development of international cultural exchanges andaudiovisual industry, subtitle translation has made great progress at home and abroad. Thissection will make a synthesis of subtitle translation research.
2.2.1 Previous studies abroad
Subtitle translation is a branch of Audiovisual Translation(AVT). In other words, thedevelopment of subtitle translation reflects the development of AVT. AVT emerged in the1960s. Because of the social progress after World War II, the audiovisual industry hasemerged. However, although European countries are near to each other, they have differentlanguages, forcing people to conduct research on audiovisual translation. In 1960, thepublication of Cinéma et traduction represented the beginning of AVT research. Since then,AVT has become a primary point in translation study. AVT research began in the 1960s,while subtitle translation began in the 1970s. Previous studies on subtitle translation inwestern countries
