the loss and gains in “equivalent translation”
TRANSCRIPT
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Cross-Cultural Themes
The Loss and Gains in “Equivalent Translation”:
Insights into Cross-Cultural Film Communication Strategies
Tong Xin1
Abstract: As a medium of expression of language and culture and an integral part of
artistic creation, film translation shoulders the dual task of conveying information and
expressing artistic spirit. In recent years, however, with the introduction of an increasing
number of foreign films, the quality of film translation in China has become the hot topic in
debate. Some translators adopt radical and one-sided translation ideas and methods, resulting
in many problems in film translation, which have exerted a negative impact on the development
of China's film market. From a strategic perspective of the artistic value of the film, I argue for
the translation method of rhetoric reconstruction and the theory of “translators' invisibility”.
The pursuit of film translation should not only be confined to "telling the story precisely", but
also “telling a good story”, namely equivalent translation is the purpose of film translation.
Translator should try positive rhetoric reconstruction, and not impose excessive intervention on
film text. This paper takes English-to-Chinese film translation for example, discussing from
aspects of language, cultural and communicative dimensions, summarizing the main problems
of translation in China in recent years, and try to analyze its causes and effects. Moreover, from
these problems, which reflecting the main contradiction of the development of film translation
in China, this paper tries to explore corresponding translation strategies from aspects of both
cognition and practice levels - that is, the translator should be adhering to the theory of
"invisibility", following four strategies in practice level in order to achieve the effect of
equivalent translation. These four translation strategies are also the dominant methods of
rhetoric reconstruction, including recognizing themes, labeling characters, following rhythms
and fitting into lives.
Keywords: film market; rhetoric reconstruction; role character; theme coherence;
translator’s invisibility
In recent years, with the increasing prosperity of global multicultural exchanges, the
communication between Chinese and Western cultures has been expanded. As one of the
medium of cultural communication, foreign films flood into the domestic market in large
quantities, providing a necessary informative window for Chinese audiences to enjoy various
1 Tong Xin, Graduate student in English Translation Program at the Communication University of China. E-mail:
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types of excellent foreign films, to obtain artistic enjoyment and to get closer to foreign cultures.
However, due to the rapid expansion of the foreign film market, the workload of film translation
in China has increased sharply. The contradiction between the huge and heavy loads of film
translation market and the limited translators and the translator's limited time and energy on
translation work has resulted in uneven quality of film translation, and many problems have
emerged, which include: misuses of words and wrong sentences; only remaining at the level of
"telling the story correctly"; most of the film dialogues being nothing more than the oral
expression of daily life and the pursuit of “simple and down-to-earth” style; mixed use of
written and oral words which do not conform to the language expression habits in life; over-
assimilation in order to highlight the characteristics of local culture and so on. Such problems
have emerged in like an endless stream, which has exerted a negative impact on the
development of the film translation in China. The pursuit of film translation is to "tell a good
story" (Ma, 2020). Successful film translation enables audiences to appreciate the plot and
theme and artistic effect of the film itself despite all those differences in language and
restrictions of context, while the lack of translator literacy and excessive intervention in film
text are the crux of the problems in film translation. How do we recognize these problems?
What strategies should we adopt to solve them in order to promote the development of film
translation and further flourish the film market in China? This paper has a discussion of the
main problems in film translation in China and try to find corresponding translation strategies,
which may help improve the self-consciousness of translator about the problems in film
translation by mediating the main contradictions of the development of film translation, and
use appropriate translation strategies to help audiences to adapt to target language environment
in order to realize and have an effective interaction with the film. Also, these strategies help
promote the efficiency of translators, so that they could bring more great film translation into
Chinese film market.
1 Main Problems
When I watch foreign films and read relevant materials about film translation, I find that
there are some problems in these film translation works in China in recent years, which are
highlighted by the translator's failure to deal with his/her position in the translated works -
namely, the translator takes an excessive intervention in the film text. This paper has
summarized these relevant problems. It will have a discussion of the main problems existing in
film translation in China in recent years from three aspects of language, cultural and
communicative dimensions.
1.1 Language dimension: the words fail to convey the meaning
In the process of translation, when translators carry out adaptive conversion at the
language level, the possible problems that may emerge include mistranslation, missing
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translation, wrong sentence, word misuse, etc. At present, the problems of the language
dimension in film translation in China are concentrated in the aspect of "the words failing to
convey the meaning ", that is, some sentences in the target language films cannot express their
meaning and convey the information behind them exactly, which may make the audience
confused or misunderstood.
Green Book (2018) tells a story of a black pianist who began a performing tour from New
York, and a cross-racial, cross-class friendship he had with a white driver he hired on the road.
Tony, the white driver, was away from home for several months. During this period, under the
guidance of his employer, he wrote a touching letter to his wife, Dolores, who was thousands
of miles away from him. One of these letters began with a sentence intended to show Tony's
romantic and deep yearning for his wife (see Table 1).
Table 1
Original Text Translation 1 Translation 2
The distance between us is
breaking my spirit.
我的精神被我们之间的
距离折磨着。
我们之间的距离让我魂牵梦绕。
Is the passive sentence in Translation 1 smooth? As Chinese is a language based on active
sentences, this passive form seems a little awkward here. In addition, the meaning of "精神被
折磨着" is not clear. Translation 1 only stays at a word-for-word translation level. It cannot
express Tony's feeling of missing for his wife, nor can it reflect the romantic feelings of this
letter. The word "魂牵梦绕" in Chinese means "missing someone very much". However, the
word "魂牵梦绕" in Translation 2 is corresponding with the word "distance" instead of "wife".
Moreover, "breaking my heart" actually contains a feeling of "blue mood", however, the word
"魂牵梦绕" fails to show it.
1.2 Cultural dimension: over-assimilation
In the process of translation, when the translator carries on the adaptation conversion at the
cultural level, the most common problems include two kinds: translationese and over-
assimilation ( here a better substitute for domestication in Lawrence Venuti). The former refers
to the foreignization of the translation that does not conform to the Chinese expression habits,
while the latter refers to the excessive presentation of the local cultural characteristics by the
translator (Sun, 2011). At present, the main problem of cultural dimension concentrates in film
translation in China is over-assimilation.
The sci-fi comedy Men in Black III (2012) tells a story of Agent J’ s adventure through time
and space to solve crime cases with Young Agent K in order to save his partner Agent K's life
in another time and space and the dying earth. There is a large number of over-assimilation
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phenomena in this film translation, which makes the audience unable to understand the film
plot clearly, and the appreciative effect of the film is negatively influenced. For example：
Original Text: Lonelier too, since you are the last Bogladyte standing.
Translation：天长地久有时尽，此恨绵绵无绝期。
"The last Bogladyte" is a reference to the Boglordian Boris The Animal, who was a
nefariously evil Boglordian committed an evil crime and was taken back to prison with his arm
cut off. A comparatively original and clear translation of this sentence should be “你活得比我
寂寞，因为你是最后一个伯格罗多人”. However, the original meaning of this sentence is
ignored when the ancient Chinese poem “天长地久有时尽，此恨绵绵无绝期” is quoted in
the translation, which is not in harmony with the artistic conception and picture of the film.
Original Text: I keep emotion out of it.
Translation：我这叫老当益壮。
"我不把情绪放在脸上" is a better translation than "老当益壮". The official translation in
the film has tendency to use idioms to change the meaning of the sentence. Even if the translator
want to use an idiom to convey the information in this sentence, the word “不露声色” should
be a better choice than "老当益壮".
1.3 Communicative dimension: staying out of life
In the process of translation, the main problems that arise when translators carry out adaptive
conversion at the communicative dimension are also the problems in the film translation in
China in recent years, which is manifested in the aspect of "staying out of life". In the translation,
there is often a confusing mixture of positive and negative words, a mixture of written and oral
words, and a disconnection between the way the sentences is expressed in the film and in the
real situation. In other words, the translation is out of touch with the way people use to speak
in daily life, so that it cannot smoothly and clearly express the language or behavioral motives
of the characters, which leaves the audience an awkward feeling that "normal people don't speak
like this".
The sports film Million Dollar Baby (2004) tells a story about the fighters’ life and their
unyielding striving spirit. The voice-over of the old fighter Scrap often serves as a reminder of
the film theme (see Table 2)。
Table 2
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People love violence. They'll slow down at a
car wreck to check for bodies. Same people
claim to love boxing. They got no idea what
it is.
人们热爱暴力。他们会在车祸现场减慢车
速查看死尸。就是这些人宣称他们热爱拳
击。他们根本不了解拳击是什么。
In the translation, the use of some words such as “热爱”, “查看死尸”and“宣称”is too written
and formal. Scrap is an old fighter and his voice sounds low and deep and full of vicissitudes
of life. According to the film, we know one of Scrap’s eyes was blind because of a serious
injury in his 109th game. Scrap had to interrupt his beloved boxing career, but even he could no
longer take part in boxing game and his life was down and out, he did not feel regretted. Because
he had once struggled in it, also harvested, so in his view all costs were worth it. Scrap is a
mature and stable character with low education level and rich life experience. Obviously, the
way of speaking in line with his life situation should be casual, simple and clear, with a thorough
understanding of life, rather than the rigid and pale way of the speaking style in this translation.
In this sentence, the old fighter's way of speaking was so out of character that it was impossible
to show his thoughts in a natural and fluent way. It was inevitable that the audience would feel
disaffected and unable to outline a true-to-life Scrap.
2 Causes and Effects
In recent years, with the increasing prosperity of global multicultural exchanges, the
communication and exchanges between Chinese and Western cultures have been constantly
promoted. As one of the medium of cross-cultural communication, film plays an important role
in information conversion, artistic communication and cultural interaction. A large number of
imported Western films have indirectly promoted the development and prosperity of the film
translation market in China, which requires us to re-examine the film translation from a modern
perspective and puts forward higher requirements for Chinese translators' quality and
translation strategies. In the past, when the information was blocked, translators were
constrained to the limited cultural knowledge and less practical experience, and their pursuit of
film translation often remained at the level of "getting the meaning right", ignoring the
rhetorical art in a film and also the literary and aesthetic value of it. However, nowadays, which
is an era of "medium is the message", people can share a large number of film information that
exist in the media. An excellent translator should try to achieve the goal of “telling a good
story”, making audience of the target language better into plot, receive and understand emotions
and values a film wants to convey and what’s more, appreciate the aesthetic effects of in it.
However, as a film translator, one should never forget the essential purpose of film
translation is always to "letting the audience understand the story". In recent years, with the
extension significance of film translation which is the function of intercultural communication
and international cultural exchange is explored by people, the critical highlight of cultural
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context on cultural background and connotation have been exhibited in film translation theories
(Xie, 2015). Also, when doing film translation work, many translators take it as a way to
promote national culture and international cultural exchange, regardless of the types, social
backgrounds and emotional tone of films, take the multiple tasks consciously and actively
trying to trigger the audience to individual and national cultural thinking. In other words, in the
process of film translation, some translators try to carve out a place for native culture. This
emphasis on the status of native culture leads to the loss of "invisibility" and equivalent
translation for translators in the film translation market, and causes the problems of
inarticulation, over- assimilation and separation from life as described in the previous part of
my paper, and the problem of over-assimilation is especially serious. Is the 'surplus' native
culture in film translation an effective way to protect the native language? This kind of film
translation, supporters say, is the new tendency to cater to the popular film’s "entertainment
coming first" value with film translation full of native cultural elements and subtly
entertainment rewriting. They hold the opinion that it is a show of confidence on native culture
and can also stimulate and promote the audience perception of native cultural elements and
familiarity. Its opponents, however, think that putting "network catchword" and "Chinese
poems" in film translation did not take such as the diversity of audiences’ age or culture levels
or other things into account, thus the audience would inevitably feel unacceptable or have
disagreement on the translation because of their different understanding or acceptance levels
on the translation (Hu, 2019). As a result, the film’s expected appreciative effect is discounted
and this kind of translation may even have a negative impact on the original film. This paper
holds a negative attitude towards this translation strategy. The key to a movie is "faithfulness
and smoothness", while a great movie translation pursues effect equivalence. Either replacing
cultural images, or adding additional cultural images to dialogues that simply served for the
plot, the translator aims at separating himself from the original texts by doing his "subjective
creation". The audience would inevitably feel "uncomfortable" and "new problems crop up
unexpectedly". All these problems above and other relevant problems resulting from them
which also interfere with the audience, are the result of translator’s excessive intervention in
film text. The problems of "inarticulation" and "staying out of life" mainly come from some of
the translators are limited by its own literary level and do not have professional knowledge of
translation strategy. Moreover, they cannot have a comprehensive and thorough cognition and
grasp on the social background, cultural context and relevant rhetorical art, so they are unable
to accurately express semantics, properly handle keywords. They have to translate target texts
in their own familiar way. Their translation only stays at the level of word-for-word or sense-
for-sense, giving a big discount on the faithfulness of the target language film and its artistic
value. In addition, there are some amateur translators with a low social responsibility. When
doing film translation work, they have neither translation strategies to follow, nor a
summarization on their practical experience, thinking that film translation is ok by simply
translating words correctly. Their perfunctory attitudes towards film translation lead to a large
number of errors, omissions in even the basic language level of the film, causing terrible
experience to the audience when they are watching translated films.
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I believe that various flexible and free translation strategies adopted by translators
involved in film texts can help stimulate the vitality of the film market to some extent, however,
from the perspective of international cultural communication, it should not be a long-term
policy. In particular, it is unwise for a translator to put too much attention on the communication
function of film translation and deal with his own translation by using over-assimilation
translation strategy. It will not only divide the pure interaction between the audience and the
film and reduce or kill the original art value of the film, but also will make the audience feel
alienated and excluded from the translator and the native culture because of the intentional and
random displacement of text meaning, hindering the development of film translation in China
and even the film market.
3 Solutions
In view of the main problems in film translation in China in recent years and their causes
and effects, this paper tries to find some corresponding solutions: in terms of cognitive level,
translators should maintain the internal balance between the translator's subjectivity and the
artistry of the works, and dilute the traces of their own intervention in the film; in terms of
practice level, the translator should use rhetoric to di-encode the film, complete the equivalent
replacement from the source language context to the target language context, and establish
effective connection and dialogue with the author and the target language audience. At the same
time, this paper tries to summarize four translation strategies that should be followed in order
to achieve equivalent translation effect in the process of film translation. These four translation
strategies are also the necessary means for the translator to achieve rhetoric reconstruction in
order to complete the artistic decoding of the rhetoric in the film dialogues.
3.1 Cognitive level: "translator’s invisibility": the concession of translator in film
translation
"Translator invisibility" refers to the invisibility of translator in the translation. When the
target language audience receive this translation, it is like receiving the original information,
and is not disturbed by the translator, who serves as the translation medium. Translator Norman
Shapiro made a vivid metaphor about the "invisibility" of translator once he talked about
translation:“I see translation as the attempt to produce a text so transparent that it does not seem
to be translated. A good translation is like a pane of glass. You only notice that it’s there when
there are little imperfections-scratches, bubbles. Ideally, there shouldn’t be any. It should never
call attention to itself. (Shapiro, cited in Venuti, 2004)” "Translator’s invisibility" is not only
related to the translator's translation strategy, but also is closely concerned with the translator's
self-consciousness of his own position in the translation and his comparative concession on his
subjectivity.
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However, Lawrence Venuti, an Italian-American scholar, put forward the opposite opinion
in his famous book The Translator's Invisibility. Venuti believes that "translator's invisibility"
itself means that the translator imposes intervention on the translation. He points out that the
translation of "invisibility" has occupied the dominant position in modern Western translation
activities. When a translator is working with a text, regardless of its genre - whether it's poetry
or prose, fiction or non-fiction, he or she has to take the common belief of most publishers,
critics, and readers into account that a good translation should be clear, fluent, and easy to
understand. While translating, the translator has to abandon foreignization of the language or
style of the original text, so that making the translated text present an illusion of "transparency".
The style and creation intention of the author of the original text can be clearly presented in the
foreign context through the skillful manipulation of the translator - the translation is no longer
a translation, but a "reproduction of the original text". The clearer and smoother the translation
is, the less visible the translator. However, in the process of translation, the translator's
deliberate pursuit of "transparency" inevitably leaves out a large number of special situations
existing in the original work, and the loss of these key information starts from the translator's
"the intention of making it transparent and original", which interferes with the original text
(Venuti, 2004). The book The Translator's Invisibility critically and comprehensively examines
translation activities since the 17th century, challenges the theory of "invisibility" that
dominates in English-speaking countries, opposes the long-standing phenomenon of
"translator's invisibility" in translated works, and advocates "translator's visibility" to maintain
his subjectivity in the translated works. Influenced by the political, historical and cultural
background at that time, Venuti's view is a response to cultural hegemony, an emphasis on both
the diversity and equality of cultural values and the dignity of translators, which reflects the
humanistic thinking of his translation strategies and the ethical value of the theory of
foreignization. However, with the development of the society, there appears some limitations.
Is it still necessary to deny Venuti's objection that translators are invisible in order to obtain
"faithfulness and smoothness" - that is, what we used to call "信、达、雅" in Chinese? In the
practice of translation in China in recent years, especially the problems reflected in film
translation, the answer is obviously no. It is necessary for translators to re-consider the
rationality of "translator’s invisibility".
In the long-term translation activities, the translation theory of "faithfulness,
expressiveness and elegance" which has been raised by Chinese scholar Yan Fu has long been
the general principle of translation. As a kind of media and cultural products, film translation
cannot be separated from it and found a new way. Although in today's globalization and
informationization world, many scholars, including Venuti, keep a skeptical attitude towards it
and try to find some new theories to correct or reject this theory, but under these positive critics,
translators should still think rationally about this basic translation theory and the idea of
"translator’s invisibility" behind it.
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Is "translator’s invisibility" an excessive interference with the original text? Will it lead to
the marginalization of his subjectivity in the translation? The answer is no. Whether the
translator uses the equivalent translation of "reproduction of the original text" to make himself
"invisible" in the perception range of the target reader, or intentionally makes the translated
work read like the translated work, they are essentially all active choices and processes of
translators. "Translator’s invisibility" does not mean that the translator becomes a lowly
"mouthpiece" or "servant" (Wang, 2014). The criterion to judge whether "excessive" or not lies
in whether the translator takes a radical, one-sided and inappropriate conversion mode in the
rhetoric reconstruction, resulting in the translation being separated from the rhetorical meaning
of the original text construction, which is not fabricated by the choice of "translator’s
invisibility". The translator's choice of "invisibility" or "visibility" in front of the audience itself
is the embodiment of his subjectivity, which is the text effect pursued based on various
considerations (Li & Li, 2019). "Translator’s invisibility" is a selective concession made by the
translator when dealing with the source text. In view of the various problems in film translation
in China in recent years described in the above texts, this paper holds that the choice of
"translator’s invisibility" is reasonable and applicable in film translation.
As a kind of literary translation, film translation has sophisticated requirements on the
literariness and artistry of the translated works. The translator receives the rhetorical art of the
language symbols of the original text, understands and converts it into artistic images, and then
expresses the artistic images in the target language context with another artistic symbols, so
that the textual meaning constructed in the target language context can generate artistic images
that interact with the target language audience. This is the aesthetics in film translation, which
is also a two-way and reciprocal aesthetic process, requiring the translator to make certain
concession of his position and put himself in the position of "faithfulness and smoothness".
Faithfulness is to keep faithful with the original film, smoothness is to make the dialogues fluent
to cater to the target language audience. This bi-directional restriction of the translator's
freedom of creation and the feature of realizing "translator’s invisibility" are the guarantee of
the artistic character of film translation - the translation is the reproduction of the original work,
and it can never be the subjective creation of the translator. But who can deny that "translator’s
invisibility" is not, to some extent, the realization of the philosophical realm of "taking a step
back and there will be a bigger world in front of you"? The essence of translation lies in
"conversion", and the translator's achievement lies in "faithful conversion" behind the translated
work, lies in interaction and negotiation (Ma, 2005). A successful translator realizes his
subjectivity during the process of negotiation and from which he also makes the translated work
coherent with the artistic character of the original text.
3.2 Practice level: equivalent translation and the rhetoric reconstruction of film text
Rhetoric reconstruction refers to the reprogramming of the narrations, dialogues,
monologues and other film language texts in the target context. Rhetoric reconstruction is a
process in which the translator converts the artistic symbols of the original film into specific
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artistic images through understanding, vision fusion and other translation strategies, and then
presents the artistic images in an abstract way in accordance with the linguistic context of the
target language film. Rhetoric reconstruction is a two-way and reciprocal linguistic symbol
replacement between the original film and the target language film, which is equivalent
translation that takes both the aesthetic and literary features into account. At the same time, it
is revitalized in the target context and endowed with a new aesthetic experience. Film
translation is the bridge of communication with the original language culture. It not only
reproduces the character, thought, emotion and behavior motivation of the source text, but also
accurately and exquisitely conveys the characters and plot theme of the source language context
in the target language context. What's more, it organically integrates the language, culture,
social, communication and other information contained in the original film with the optimal
translation which is equivalent to the effect of the original film, and realizes the interaction with
the target language audience in language, culture, communication and other dimensions. It is
worth noting that the reciprocity and duality of film translation is precisely the internal
constraint that restricts the translator's free creation of the film translation is the reproduction
of the source film, not a free and independent place for the translator to express his subjectivity.
Excellent translators achieve the equivalent communication between the original film and the
target language film through skillful translation, and the artistic character of film translation is
born in this "conversion". In short, in film translation, the essence of rhetoric reconstruction is
to achieve equivalent translation between the original film and the target language film through
the conversion of the language symbol system and the bi-construction of the meaning of the
film text. The noumenon of film translation is rhetoric reconstruction.
3.2.A. Rhetoric and rhetoric reconstruction
The original meaning of rhetoric refers to "words that modify the debate". In its application,
the meaning of rhetoric is gradually extended to "language activities that using multiple
language means in the process of using language in order to get the best possible expression
effect". Rhetoric is the study of the art of language, and its development and evolution has gone
through a long process. Classical rhetoric originated in ancient Greece and was first recognized
by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato and French Renaissance essayist Montaigne as "a purely
instrumental technique of persuasion. If it is used as an artistic expression, it is a modification
that obscures the truth". Later, rhetoric was first valued and developed by Plato's student
Aristotle, placing it between science and poetics, believing that "rhetoric is an auxiliary
technology of logic and positivism, with the goal of resorting to human performance." At this
time, rhetoric is more suitable to be defined as "the art of speech". In his book Tekhne Rhetorike,
Aristotle mentioned that "rhetoric is the relative thing of dialectics", that is, dialectical method
is a means to explore truth, and rhetorical method is a way to communicate the truth. During
the period from ancient Rome to the Renaissance, rhetoric gradually formed an excellent and
refined rhetoric system in the West, and its content was specifically classified according to
different purposes and effects, and gradually became the study of discourse and literary skills.
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In ancient China, sporadic remarks on rhetoric appeared in the pre-Qin Dynasty, such as
Zhuangzi attached great importance to the effect of fables, Hui Shi took a fancy to figurative
skills, and so on. From the Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there were many literary
works discussing rhetoric, but the works devoted to rhetoric were relatively rare. Rules of the
Article, written by Chen Kui in the Song Dynasty, is the first rhetoric monograph in China.
Since modern times, with the spread of humanistic ideas such as democracy and freedom,
people's pursuit of freedom of language and authenticity of expression has been strengthened,
and the popularity of rhetoric has declined. It was not until the late 20th century that it was re-
examined by people with a new perspective. Rhetoric at this time absorbed post-modern
viewpoints and methods and became a new language discipline. New rhetoric holds that social
life and rhetorical environment support and influence each other. Language itself is rhetoric,
and rhetoric reflects the social reality (Ma, 2012).
The study of rhetoric focuses on the effect of discourse communication and the construction
of meaning by language symbols. According to the semiotic viewpoint of the German
philosopher Cahill, man is an animal of symbols, and the world is essentially a symbolic world
created by human beings. People create and use symbols for exchanges and communication
activities. Any interpersonal interaction cannot exist without the symbolic system, and the
interaction between language symbols and rhetorical meaning is translation. Translation is the
interpretation and reproduction of the original text. Translation is a way of communication.
Therefore, fundamentally speaking, translation embodies human symbolic interaction and
rhetorical art. Specifically, translation is a two-way conversion of meaning into symbols and
symbols into meaning, in which the process of meaning construction between the source
language and the target language is the embodiment of rhetorical art. In the process of
translation, as the receiver of the information, the translator first talks to the source language
author and the original text, constructs the text meaning from the language symbols of the
source text, and obtains the understanding of the source text through the fusion of the
translator's horizon and the source text horizon - this is decoding. Then, as the exporter of
information, the integrated meaning of the text is placed in the context of the target language,
and on the premise of following the basic translation principles of "faithfulness, expressiveness
and elegance", the meaning constructed by the rhetoric construction of the source language is
creatively transformed into a rhetorical discourse suitable for the context of the target language,
that is, meaningful and communicable language symbols for the target language audience and
to achieve an effective dialogue between the author, the text and the target language audience
- this is coding. From the perspective of rhetoric, the above process is the process of rhetoric
reconstruction, that is, the "bi-coding" of translation. When rhetoric reconstruction is applied
to translation, aesthetic character is its inherent requirement, that is, translation should have
both "reason" and "emotion". "Reason" means that the translator should consider the language
and thinking habits of the target audience, construct the rhetorical meaning that the audience
can communicate effectively, and not deviate from the original text by over-creation of the
translation work. "Emotion" means that the translator should come into the emotions and
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imagination from the original film, go beyond the translation level of word-for-word and sense-
for-sense, enter the artistic conception of the original text, actively reprocess the source
language, and transform it into the target language to gain a second artistic life. That is, while
restoring the original work, the film translation itself can gain aesthetic value in a foreign
context.
3.2.B. The aesthetic pursuit of film translation
From the perspective of translation rhetoric, film translation can be roughly divided into three
levels: word-for-word, sense-for-sense and effect-for-effect (Ma, 2020). Word-for-word refers
to the direct and mechanical replacement of the literal meaning of the words in the source
language by the words in the target language, which is the mechanical copy and conversion of
the words and syntaxes of the source language. Word-for-word is the lowest level of conversion
in film translation, so it is difficult to solve many basic problems in film translation. First,
language is not only a symbol to convey information, but also a rhetorical device. In the film
text, the characters convey emotions and ideas through words, and the connotation of language
is far greater than its literal meaning; second, film is an audio-visual art in the social context,
and only the combination of language expression and performance in accordance with the target
context can show the artistic effect to be conveyed in the original text. Simple and direct typing-
word translation is difficult to form a clear and smooth target language and cannot make the
target audience understand the characters and plots, let alone feel the artistic expression of the
film and get aesthetic experience. Sense-for-sense is higher than the simple word-for-word
translation, which can guarantee "telling the story correctly", but still cannot reach the level of
"telling a good story". Because sense-for-sense only completes the conversion from the original
text to the target text from the point of view of the text as a whole, and conveys the basic
information of the film plot, however, it lacks a grasp of the artistic characteristics such as the
charm of characters and the plot, social psychology, cultural background and so on. All people
in the film - regardless of their emotions and psychology, personality traits, education, etc. -
talk about the same tone. Even due to the limitation of the translator's cultural literacy, the
translator is unable to complete the conversion from the source language to the language form
and syntactic habits in the context of the target language, which leads to the emergence of
"translationese" and the inability to achieve the artistic effect of the film. This kind of film
translation abandons the style of literary translation and the grasp of film artistry, and the target
audience loses the opportunity to experience the beauty of the original text. Effect-for-effect,
namely effect equivalence, is the highest translation strategy pursued by translators. It refers to
the equivalent translation between the original text and the target text. Not like the simple word-
for-word, nor like sense-for-sense translation that only “helps the audience understand the plot",
the effect-for-effect translation transcends the text meaning of the line itself from simply typing
to faithfully talking and how to talk them in the target language text, and shows a lot of
information such as theme, style, characters, psychology, social culture and so on through
rhetoric reconstruction. Thus, as far as possible, the target language audience can get the same
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artistic experience and aesthetic enjoyment as the source language audience in the target
language film. In film translation, the translator should have the aesthetic pursuit of "telling a
good story" and obtain effect equivalence through rhetoric reconstruction, so as to reproduce
the artistic charm of the original work.
If a translator wants to achieve effect-equivalent translation through rhetoric reconstruction,
so as to achieve equivalent translation and let the target audience get aesthetic experience from
the film, the first thing for him is to correctly understand the main part of the meaning of the
text constructed by the film, that is, the film dialogues and the rhetorical art behind them. I
believe that from the perspective of rhetorical art, film dialogues can be divided into four
aspects, which are important components of film construction of its literary and aesthetic
significance, namely, film theme, characters, discourse rhythms and style. When rhetoric
reconstruction is applied to film translation, if the translator grasps the literariness and artistry
embodied in these four aspects, he can generally understand and convey the artistic ideas of the
whole film. It is helpful to look for effective translation strategies from these four aspects to
discover and fundamentally solve the crux of the problems existing in film translation in China
in recent years and achieve the effect-equivalent translation more efficiently.
3.2.C. The application of rhetoric reconstruction in film translation
According to the main problems mentioned above that are reflected in the development of
film translation in China in recent years, as well as discussions of the position of the translator
in the translation, the development and evolution of rhetorical art and its relevant research, and
the aesthetic pursuit of film translation, this paper attempts to put forward the corresponding
translation strategies from the practice level in order to achieve the effect-equivalent translation,
that is, trying to find the artistic methods of reproducing the aesthetic value of the original work
through rhetoric reconstruction.
3.2.C(1). Recognizing themes
The creation and appreciation of the film text is a process of rhetoric construction, which not
only constructs the real world, but also reflects the author and audience's understanding of
reality. In the process of rhetorical interaction between film creation and appreciation, the
language symbol system formed by rhetoric gives the film text discourse meaning, that is, the
film theme. During the rhetoric reconstruction of film translation, the translator's first task is to
explore the film theme in order to gain an overall grasp of the film language style and emotional
tone when reconstructing the film rhetoric in the target context.
Specifically, what the translator needs to think about is: what is the theme of a film? In film
translation, all antithetical rhetoric should be understood, positioned and conveyed according
to the theme and style. After grasping the main theme of the film, it is necessary to judge the
purport and intention of the minor theme according to the scenes in the film, because the theme
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of the film is constructed by minor themes composed of countless sentences and paragraphs,
and the major theme permeates in these minor themes. The minor theme reflects the value
orientation of the main theme. Therefore, the translator should be good at “seeing the whole
world from a grain of sand”, that is, after repeatedly appreciating the film and understanding
the main theme of the film, the translator should divide the film scenes and sum up the minor
theme of each scenes during the rhetoric reconstruction of film translation and consider the
main theme of the film when understanding the minor themes. In this way, translators can not
only ensure that the details of the characters’ emotions, styles, aesthetics and other details of
the dialogues of each scene adapt to the theme of the film, but also ensure that it does not deviate
from the "main line" of the general direction, so as to show audiences a complete, coherent and
vivid aesthetic experience of the film. The theme of the film is the primary concern in the
rhetoric reconstruction of the film translation. If the translation deviates from the theme of the
work, the following translation strategies labeling characters, following rhythms and fitting into
lives will be useless. The target audience cannot fundamentally and faithfully obtain the
emotional tone and values conveyed by the original film. To some extent, the translation
becomes the translator's "subjective re-creation" away from the original film, which is no longer
an equivalent translation. Then it is impossible to talk about the literariness and artistry of his
rhetoric reconstruction.
The sci-fi film Cloud Atlas (2012) is composed of six stories that seem independent but have
some mysterious connection with each other. The author constructs a magnificent and grand
world covering the history of human development with the thought of "reincarnation" in Eastern
philosophy. When translating this film, especially the voice-over part, the translator should
focus on its serene and far-reaching philosophical meaning (see Table 3) (Huang, 2013).
Table 3
Original Text Translation 1 Translation 2
Fear ， Belief ， Love.
Phenomena that determine
the course of our lives.
These forces begin we are
born，and continue after
we die.
恐惧，信仰，爱。这些都
决定着我们人生走向。这
些能量在我们出生前就
存在，并在我们死后一直
延续。
恐惧，信仰，爱。本性注定了
命运走向。这些力量生前已
存，死后犹在。
Concise language contains the thorough power to face the fate. In this voice-over, the words
"phenomena", "determine" and "forces" imply the main theme of fate and choice in this film.
This main theme is reflected in this passage, and the minor theme is the character's perception
of "fear, belief, love". How to transform the views of "reincarnation" and "transcendental"
contained in this sentence into the meaning of Eastern cognition without losing the
interpretation of "fatalism" by Western philosophy expressed in the source language lines is a
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great test for the translator. At this point, Translation 1 only achieved the "correct meaning"
and failed to take the theme of the film into account. Also, the words "我们" and "这些" appear
twice in this short narration, which cannot help but only makes one feel superfluous, like the
royal ‘we’. When translating, the translator omits "phenomena" and translates "forces" literally
into "能量", which fails to convey the fatalistic meaning to the audience. For countless lives,
does birth mean the beginning and death means the end? Certainly not. Our karma existed
before the existence of our body, and goes on and on with the karma given by fate and hidden
in the soul - this is the minor theme that this line is trying to express, and it also conveys the
main theme that the film wants to show. Translation 2 translates "phenomena" into "本性",
which echoes with the following "begin we are born", and "本性" means "inherent attribute",
which is in line with the theme of reincarnation of fate theme of the film. "determine" translated
as "注定", "lives" translated into "命运", "forces" translated into "力量", "begin we are born,
and continue after we die" translated into "生前已存，死后犹在", in line with the style of this
voice-over pointing directly to "fate" and "karma" with concise and powerful words. The
audience can experience the charm of the blending of Eastern and Western philosophy from
this voice-over and the majestic theme of the film has also been sublimated.
3.2.C(2). Labeling characters
Whether it is a film that reflects reality or a fictional film, it is the artistic reproduction and
sublimation of life, which has aesthetic and literary values. The same is true of the characters
in the film. It can be said that people in the world have as many personalities as the characters
in the film. The accurate grasp of the characters by translators can reproduce the charm and
style of the film. The character is an important medium for the interaction between film
discourse dialogues and creative intention, and it is an important part of reading and
understanding the rhetorical art of film translation.
After the translator is familiar with the theme of the film and the minor themes metaphorized
by each scene, the second step for him is to explore the deep characteristics after the interactive
function of text discourse information, that is, finding the character characteristics through the
dialogue, monologue and narration in the film text. In modern film art, the shaping of characters
is often accomplished through the typification of characters, that is, different characters have
different and diverse "character labels". Some translators object to the act of "labeling"
characters in translation, thinking that it hinders the audience's deeper and diversified
understanding of "gray characters" or controversial characters in some films and considers that
this is an additional facial expression added by the translator to the characters in the original
film. But in fact, labeling characters in film translation does not mean to stereotype characters,
but finding and summing up the outstanding personality characteristics of the characters
according to the character's words, behavior, psychological logic and so on. In life, when people
talk about themselves or someone's character, they will also use simple and clear labels to
summarize the most obvious characteristics of themselves or others' personality. It is an
overview of the nature of the refinement based on communicative and interactive scenes, not
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the basis for judging the whole picture of a person's personality. And the same is true of
"labeling characters" in film translation. To stereotype someone refers to the formulaic
tendency to depict a character in creation, while to label characters refers to realizing the whole
picture of his characters through refining the most prominent characteristics of the characters.
Through the reconstruction of dialogue rhetoric, the audience can better understand the
adaptability and rationality of the character's discourse information in a certain scene and
understand the inherent logic of why the character says, how to say, what to say and what not
to say, and what tone he should or should not say, so as to understand the behavior and
psychology behind the language. The translator understands the inner thoughts and feelings of
the characters through his personality traits, and when dealing with dialogue rhetoric, he can
make the words of the characters "reasonable" and restore the meaning of the original film text
to the maximum extent. The target language audience can also appreciate the complete rather
than the separated characters in the translation, and gain better empathy and aesthetic
experience through the characters in the film by getting closer to the plot.
For example, the third story in the film Cloud Atlas (2012) is about Louisa Ray, a California
tabloid journalist who risked her life to investigate a nuclear power plant scandal in 1975. This
paper intercepts part of her conversation with her friends during her persistent investigation.
The paper chooses two translations to compare (see Table 4).
Table 4
Original Text Translation 1 Translation 2
I don't know. Just trying to
understand why we keep
making the same mistakes
over and over.
我不知道。我只是想试图
理解为什么我们会一遍
又一遍地犯着同样的错
误。
我不知道。只是想弄明白，为
什么我们总在犯同样的错。
Literally, there is little difference between the two translations, both of which convey the
information contained in the original text. However, from the artistic point of view of the film,
the translator should pay attention to the character characteristics of Louisa Ray reflected in the
translation of dialogue rhetoric, which is helpful for the audience to understand the characters'
image, behavior and psychology, and to better enter the plot through the characters and
understand the gist and artistic value of the film. It can be seen from the film that Louisa Ray
is an upright, intelligent, thoughtful woman with a high level of education, with a clear mind
and never fear scared in front of danger. Therefore, when translating Louisa Ray's words, the
translator should show her rationality and calmness. There is no break in the second sentence
of Translation 1, and the long sentence comes down in one breath, giving people a sense of
haste and confusion. Translation 2 well echoes the rhythm of the source language lines, timely
sentence breaking, logic intertwined, and consistent with features of the character. In addition,
in Translation 1, the concepts of "想" and "试图" have overlapped, which is suspected of being
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a wrong sentence, and is not consistent with the Ray’s identity as a well-educated journalist. In
Translation 2, " 弄明白" and "犯错误" are more natural and smooth expressions, and at the
same time show a sense of calm thinking, which coincides with the scene when Ray answers
her friend's question "why do you keep reading old letters" while carefully thinking about the
truth behind the letters.
3.2.C(3). Following rhythms
Whether it is dubbing translation or subtitle translation, the dialogue of the target language
should be as consistent as possible with the rhythm of the character's speech. In the process of
rhetoric reconstruction, the translator should feel the musical details such as the rhythms of the
source language lines, so as to make the prosodic sense of the translation consistent with the
original lines as much as possible. Of course, there are differences in syntactic structures,
language logics and expression habits between Chinese and English, so "prosodic consistency"
does not refer to "consistency of word pronunciation rules", but through discourse rhythm units.
The rhythm of discourse in English is light and heavy, while that in Chinese is slow and quick.
When changing from English context to Chinese context, the translator should find and divide
the rhythm characteristics and rhythm length of the source language lines according to the
emotional atmospheres conveyed by the film text messages such as scene atmospheres,
characters and settings. Then, according to the different rhythm characteristics of the two
languages, "light, heavy, slow and urgent", the translator fills the translation that adapts to the
rhythm characteristics and length of the source language into the existing rhythm unit of the
source language, so as to achieve equivalent translation (Ma, 2011). In addition, the mouth
shape of the translated lines of the characters should also be as close as possible to the mouth
shape of the source language lines. In this way, the audience can understand the emotional
expression, psychological and behavioral motivation of the characters in the film more
smoothly and truly, interact organically with the film and feel the exquisite rhetoric of the film.
The artistic effect produced by rhythm correspondence is also an important part of the rhetoric
reconstruction of film translation.
In this paper, two translations of a voice-over at the end of the film Cloud Atlas are selected
for analysis. When this voice-over is presented, the destinies of the characters in the six stories
are linked together, and different characters, scenes and events are shown in different time and
space scene after scene, reproducing the constant human struggle in reincarnation, and finally
interweaving into a bright and vast cloud atlas. It can be said that it is a place with a great sense
of rhythm and emotional expression in the film.
Original Text: Our lives are not our own. | We are bound to others, | past and present，| and by
each crime | and every kindness，| we birth our future.
Translation 1：我们的/生命|不是/我们/自己的，|我们和/其他人|紧紧相连，｜过去，|现
在，｜我们/所做的｜每一桩/恶行，｜每一件/善事，｜我们/都在｜孕育着|自己的/未来。
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Translation 2：命运/不由/已定。|过去/和/现在，|我们都|牵系他人，|每一桩/恶行，|每一
件/善事，|因果/注定了/未来。
By marking the stressed words in the original English film text, we divide the whole sentence
into six rhythmic units. Now look at Translation 1 and Translation 2. At this time, according to
the emotional focus of the original text and the prosodic habits of Chinese expression, we find
that there are twelve rhythm units in Translation 1, which is twice more than the original rhythm
units, and the rhythm length of Translation 1 and the time occupied by each rhythm varies
greatly, which will make the whole sentence unpalatable to read, giving the audience a sense
of "not consistent with the emotional rhythm of the original source lines" and "suddenly fast
and then slow". Translation 2 has little difference in the length of rhythm units, which is almost
the same as the number of rhythm units in the original text, and the rhythm of the translation is
stable, which is closely combined with the emotional connotation of the source film and
successfully convey the touching and grand emotions and the quiet, far-reaching, magnificent
and charming fatalism behind the voice-over to the audience. At the same time, the artistic
effect produced by the rhythm of film translation is also born.
3.2.C(4). Fitting into lives
In essence, film is a work of art derived from life, but also from the fickleness of human
nature and the concise and sublimated style of the world (Ma, 2012). Film is the convergence
and expression of all kinds of life, various possibilities and impossibilities. Therefore, it
presents a variety of work styles and diverse language styles, which brings different aesthetic
feelings to the audience. However, although the film is a work of art, it is ultimately born out
of real life, so when the rhetoric of film translation is reconstructed, the rhetorical art of film
translation should respect the principle of "fitting into life". "Fitting into life" does not mean
"colloquial" or "simplicity" or "down-to-earth". All these are the translator’s vague and
misunderstanding of the concept of "fitting into life" and the result of failing to consider the
corresponding effect of film translation. The term "fitting into life" here means that the
treatment of dialogue rhetoric in the translation should be in line with the speaking habits of the
characters in the real situation. For example, in different movies, different parts of the film, the
effect of "fitting into life" is different - some places should be long-winded, some places should
be concise. Some places should be rude and frank, others should be polite and restrained - all
these should be determined on the basis of artistic features such as film style and characters,
and are not same with the translation methods of "simplicity" and "down-to-earth". Otherwise,
it may cause the target language film to break away from the original film and become a
"shoddy fake" with its artistic value greatly destructing. In the film scenes, when the translator
changes the context, interprets and conveys the meaning of the original film text, he can convey
the emotions and artistic effect of the source language through the coherence of the discourse.
In other words, the translator can skillfully make use of "the power of words in life" to express
the emotions of the characters naturally and fluently. Making the translation "vivid and tasty"
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has become a work of art that makes the target audience "be delighted to hear and see", which
is also the embodiment of the humanistic spirit in the rhetoric reconstruction of film translation.
The sixth story in the film Cloud Atlas tells the future after the destruction of civilization, an
adventure of Zachary, a shepherd native on the island of Hawaii. Among them, because the
background is set in the post-apocalyptic era and human beings return to the primitive, the
protagonist Zachary's discourse contains many irregular expressions, as well as many words
and sentences that do not conform to modern English grammar. When translating, translators
should pay special attention to making Zachary's language style suitable to the life situation of
the "post-apocalyptic era". In this paper, one of Zachary's voice-over is selected for analysis
(see Table 5).
Table 5
Original Text Translation 1 Translation 2
Lornsome night. Babbits
bawling, wind bitten ’ the
bone. Wind like this…full
of voices. Ancestry
howling' at you,
yibberin'stories.
孤独的夜。婴儿号啕，寒
风刺骨。风中满是…一种
声音。是祖先向你的吼
叫，述说着他们的故事。
孤单的夜里。小孩在哭，大风
冻得人发抖。风里…传来声
音。是先人们在大喊，不断说
着往事。
Although it is a voice-over of the nature of description, the words "号啕", "刺骨" and "述说
" in Translation 1 are still too written and too "literary", which is not in line with the rough and
wild post-apocalyptic situation, not even more in line with the protagonist Zachary's extensive
and bold character. To put it popularly, the language style shown by the overall use of words
in Translation 1 is "not like what the protagonist says in his situation", which is not fitting into
life. Translation 2 pays attention to the unclear pronunciation of words and the characteristics
of short and straightforward sentences that Zachary said in this voice-over, translating
"lornsome" ("lonesome") into "孤单", "babbits" ("babies") into "小孩", "wind bitten 'the bone"
into "大风冻得人发抖", and "yibberin'stories" into "不断说着往事", which accords with the
normal speaking habits of Chinese and reads naturally and fluently. It is also in line with the
relatively rough and casual language rhetoric style of the post-apocalyptic era set by the film,
which can make the audience feel Zachary's emotion of "talking to himself and telling others at
the same time". Through the vivid description of the scene, we can enter that desolate and
remote post-apocalyptic era and realize the charm of the story in the film. This is the artistic
effect of the film that can be diverged and sublimated under the translation strategy of "fitting
into life".
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4 Conclusion
At present, with the advancement of globalization, the communication between world
cultures is increasingly frequent. The number of imported foreign films in China is increasing
year by year. As a bridge between the source language and the target language works, film
translation could realize the effective interaction between the audience and the film, which is
worthy of our attention and research. An excellent film translation always tries to tell a good
story, which conveys the plot, thoughts, feelings and aesthetic experience of the original film,
so as to achieve the corresponding effect between the original film and the translated film. This
paper summarizes and discusses the main problems of film translation in China in recent years
from the language dimension: the words fail to convey the meaning, the cultural dimension:
over-assimilation and the communicative dimension: staying out of life, and analyzes the
causes and effects of these problems. At the same time, this paper tries to find corresponding
translation strategies from both cognitive and practice levels from the main contradiction of
film translation development that these problems reflect - that is, translators should be adhering
to the "invisibility" principle, follow the four translation strategies in practice in order to achieve
the effect of equivalent translation, which include recognizing themes, labeling characters,
following rhythms and fitting into lives, also known as the artistic methods of rhetoric
reconstruction. The four-step translation strategies are progressive, complementary and
indispensable. What translators should always bear in mind is that film is a form of literary
creation, and they should not abandon its literariness and artistry while focusing on the most
essential pursuit of film translation, that is, making the audience understand the plot, thoughts
and emotions conveyed by the film. The highest level of a translator is to achieve an effect
equivalence film translation by rhetoric reconstruction. Through this way, the audience could
gain a further aesthetic experience when watching a film, and the aesthetic character of film
translation is born.
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