Third language translation strategies in subtitles from the perspectives of translators and audience a case study on skipped l3 in the tv series grimm season 1

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER THIRD LANGUAGE TRANSLATION STRATEGIES IN SUBTITLES FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF TRANSLATORS AND AUDIENCE: A CASE STUDY ON SKIPPED L3 IN THE TV SERIES GRIMM (SEASON 1) Supervisor: Ngô Hà Thu, MCS Student: Phạm Hồng Anh Course: QH2013.F1.E16 HANOI – MAY 2017 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP CÁC CHIẾN THUẬT DỊCH NGÔN NGỮ THỨ BA TRONG PHỤ ĐỀ PHIM TRÊN QUAN ĐIỂM CỦA DỊCH GIẢ VÀ KHÁN GIẢ - TRƯỜNG HỢP NGHIÊN CỨU: PHIM TRUYỀN HÌNH GRIMM (SĂN LÙNG QUÁI VẬT) MÙA Giáo viên hướng dẫn: ThS Ngơ Hà Thu Sinh viên: Phạm Hồng Anh Khóa: QH2013.F1.E16 HÀ NỘI – THÁNG 5, 2017 Page | i I hereby state that I: Phạm Hồng Anh, class QH13.E16, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (English Language – Translation and Interpreting) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature of the supervisor Signature of the student Hanoi, May 31st 2017 Page | ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper was able to become reality thanks to the kindness of numerous individuals that forever shall I remain indebted to First and foremost, I would like to express my utmost gratitude towards my supervisor, Ms Ngo Ha Thu, MCS., for accepting my thesis proposal and believing in my potentials to conduct the study Her kind support, continuous encouragement, as well as constructive advice and feedback altogether are the greatest sources of motivation leading me through this journey Secondly, I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to Dr Do Minh Hoang, for the guidance and opportunities offered by him have greatly enhanced my self-confidence and perseverance on this pathway In addition, I am also thankful to other academic and non-academic staffs from the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, ULIS, and particularly the lecturers from Translation and Interpreting Division With a special mention to Ms Trieu Thu Hang, MA, Mr Nguyen Thanh Van, MA, and Ms Nguyen Thi Dieu Thuy, MA, for their helpful suggestions in my thesis proposal and work-in-progress reports Moreover, I also owe indebtedness to the translators from iflix Vietnam and Phudeviet, as well as the survey respondents participating in my research Without their help, this paper would never be completed Another word of gratefulness should be addressed to iflix Vietnam, as this paper rooted from my own experience collaborating with the company as a freelance subtitle editor and translator Furthermore, I am truly grateful to my former teachers and friends, especially those from class C42 – Foreign Languages and International Studies (FLSS), for their mental and physical encouragement Page | iii Je tiens également exprimer ma profonde gratitude Mme Dao Thi Le Na et mes camarades (notamment Khuc Thuy Duong, Nguyen Tien Dat et Nguyen Quang Hung) au Lycée option de Langues Étrangères (THPT Chuyen Ngoai Ngu) Cette dissertation n’aurait jamais vu le jour sans leurs soutiens et leurs encouragements Last but not least, had it not been for the unconditional love and support from my family members and university classmates, I might have abandoned the thesis Particularly, I am thankful for the constant assistance and stimulation of my two best friends at the university, Nguyen Tat Dat and Nguyen Hoang Anh Phuong Once again, thank you all for helping me through this life phase Page | iv ABSTRACT This paper utilized the TV series Grimm (season 1) to investigate the perception of translators and audience towards third language (L3) translation strategies By using the term L3, the researcher aimed at any languages other than the main language used in the source text (ST) Specifically, for translators, it aimed at exploring the possible difficulties they encountered when subtitling skipped L3 (i.e the untranscribed or untranslated L3 in the original English subtitles) in relation to their choices of translation strategies As for audience, the goal was to find possible inter-relations between their selections and their language competencies To achieve these objectives, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were utilized, corporealized by document observation, interview and questionnaire In fact, the findings justified that translators’ L3 competency, quality of the original English subtitles and the commissioners’ requirements are three major hindrances to their decision-making process Overall, the translators and audience’s preference of strategies are quite similar, but it is noteworthy that the audience favors side notes indicating L3’s origins Unfortunately, a small number of respondents obstructed the researcher from deducing any significant connection between foreign language competencies and audience’s perception of the translations Nonetheless, the existing limitations in this paper are unavoidable since L3 in audiovisual translation has not received adequate attention from both international and Vietnamese scholars Therefore, to shed light on further studies, the researcher included her own recommendations and suggestions for improvement in the last chapter of the paper Page | v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .iii ABSTRACT v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF FIGURES xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale and statement of the research problems 1.1.1 Background of the study 1.1.1.1 Audiovisual (AV) and Audiovisual translation (AVT) 1.1.1.2 Third language (L3) and multilingualism in films 1.1.2 Personal motivations 1.1.3 Justification for the choice of the case study 1.2 Objectives of the study and research questions 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Organization of the thesis CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Third language translation 2.1.1 Definition 2.1.2 Classification of third language 2.1.3 Third language - a constraint in translation 10 2.2 Subtitling 11 2.2.1 Overview of subtitling and other common AVT modes 11 2.2.2 Rules of subtitling 13 2.2.3 Subtitling third language 13 2.2.3.1 Strategies to translate third language in film subtitles 13 2.2.3.2 Priorities and restrictions in subtitling L3 16 2.3 Assessment of L3 subtitling and audience’s perception on L3 subtitling 18 2.3.1 Assessment of L3 subtitling 18 2.3.2 The use of audience’s perception for assessment 18 Page | vi 2.4 Summary of the chapter 19 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 20 3.1 Case study - the series Grimm 20 3.1.1 Synopsis of the plot 20 3.1.2 Overview of the characters and L3 used in the series 20 3.1.3 Further justifications 22 3.2 Data collection procedures and research instruments 23 3.2.1 As for the RQs and 2: 23 3.2.1.1 Phase 1: Document observation 23 3.2.1.2 Phase 2: Interview 24 3.2.2 As for the RQ3: 26 3.2.2.1 Phase 3: Questionnaire Design 26 3.4 Data analysis methods and procedure 29 3.5 Summary of the chapter 30 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 31 4.1 Results 31 4.1.1 Research question 1: What are the strategies chosen by the translators to translate the non-transcribed and directly transferred L3 in the original English subtitle of Grimm (season 1)? 31 4.1.2 Research question 2: What are the factors affecting the translators’ choice of L3 translation strategies? 33 4.1.2.1 Translators’ choices of strategies 34 4.1.2.2 Affective factors 35 4.1.3 Research question 3: From the audience’s perspective, how the strategies chosen by the translators affect their comprehensibility of the series? 36 4.2 Discussion 43 4.2.1 Hypothesis 1: Translators’ restrictions and priorities 43 4.2.2 Hypothesis 2: Audience’s perception 45 4.3 Summary of the chapter 46 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 47 5.1 Summary of the findings 47 5.2 Limitations of the study 48 5.3 Recommendations for further studies 49 5.4 Contributions of the study 50 BIBLIOGRAPHY 52 FILMOGRAPHY 56 Page | vii APPENDIX A - Interview questions 57 A.1 Vietnamese version 57 A.2 English version 59 APPENDIX B 61 B.1 Vietnamese version 61 B.2 English version 65 B.3 Fully-expanded version of Table 69 APPENDIX C 70 APPENDIX D 74 APPENDIX E 78 APPENDIX F 82 APPENDIX G 86 APPENDIX H 90 APPENDIX I 97 APPENDIX K 102 Page | viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AV Audiovisual AVT Audiovisual translation L1 First language L2 Second language L3 Third language RQ Research question ST Source text TT Target text TQA Translation quality assessment Page | ix APPENDIX K Data collected from subtitles S Ep L3 – ST Language origin Type of L3 Type of (skipped L3 or not) (Length) Type of L3 (Naturalness) TT (iflix) Strategy of TT TT (phudeviet) Strategy of TT2 A Grimm German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Một người gia tộc Grimm unchanged Một người gia đình Grimm unchanged Blutbad German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Blutbad (tộc người sói) unchanged blued bott' adapted A wieder Blutbad German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Một "Blutbad" khác biệt unchanged Một 'blued bott' khác hẳn adapted So how many of you Blutbads are there? German Directly transferred Proper name invented Có unchanged Blutbads ngồi đó? Có Blued batt ngồi đó? adapted the plural is Blutbaden German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Số nhiều Blutbaden Số nhiều Blued Bott adapted (from iflixVietnam) 1 unchanged Page | 102 Grimm German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Gia tộc Grimm unchanged người nhà Grimm unchanged Jagerbars German Directly transferred Proper name Natural bọn Jagerbar (gia tộc gấu)/Jagerba rs unchanged + side note bọn Jagerbar unchanged Blutbaden German Directly transferred Proper name Natural tộc Blutbad unchanged tộc Blutbad unchanged Jagerbaden German Directly transferred Proper name invented Jagerbarden unchanged + (số nhiều side note Jagerbar) tộc Jagerbar unchanged Roh-hatz German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Roh-Hatz unchanged Roh-Hatz unchanged mitzvah German Directly transferred noun Natural nghi thức Bar Mitzvah (nghi lễ trưởng thành) unchanged + side note quán Bar Mitzvah unchanged Jagerbar mitzvah German Directly transferred noun phrase invented Jagerbar Mitzvah unchanged Jagerbar Mitzvah unchanged Page | 103 Hexenbiest German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Hexenbiest unchanged Hexenbiest unchanged Mellifer German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Mellifer unchanged Mellifer unchanged Mellifers German Directly transferred Proper name Natural lũ Mellifers unchanged Mellifer unchanged Bordeaux French Directly transferred Proper name Natural Bordeaux unchanged Bordeaux unchanged C'est moi Je suis ici I'll call when it's finished French Directly transferred Long sentence Natural (Tiếng Pháp) Tôi Tôi Tôi gọi lại xong việc neutralized + side note Tôi gọi xong việc neutralized + signal Ziegevolk German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Ziegevolk unchanged Ziegevolk unchanged Je sais qui tu est, ferme la porte French Directly transferred Long sentence Natural (Tiếng Pháp) Tơi biết anh Đóng cửa lại neutralized + side note Je sais qui tu est, ferme la porte unchanged + signal Page | 104 Reinigen? German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Reinigen? (gia tộc chuột) unchanged + side note Reinigen? unchanged Von Hamelin German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Von Hamelin unchanged Von Hamelin unchanged Blutbaden German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Blutbaden unchanged Blutbaden unchanged Capiche? Italian Directly transferred Short sentence Natural Capiche? (Tiếng Ý, có nghĩa "hiểu chứ?") unchanged + side note Capiche? unchanged + signal Directly transferred Proper name Natural unchanged Bauerschwein unchanged unchanged Gefrieren Geber unchanged Bauerschwein German Bauerschwei n Gefrieren Geber German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Gefrieren Geber Knochen Hof German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Knochen Hof unchanged + signal Knochen Hof unchanged + signal Siegbarste German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Siegbarste Siegbarste unchanged unchanged Page | 105 10 Siegbarste gift German Directly transferred Proper name + noun Natural quà Siegbarste neutralized + unchanged quà Siegbarste neutralized + unchanged + signal gift German Directly transferred noun Natural quà neutralized + signal quà neutralized + signal Mauzhertz German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Mauzhertz unchanged Mauzhertz unchanged Lausensch German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Lausensch unchanged Lausensch unchanged Lausenschlang German e? Directly transferred Proper name Natural Lausenschla nge? unchanged Lausenschlang e? unchanged Blutbads German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Blutbads unchanged Blutbads unchanged Siegbarsts German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Siegbarsts unchanged Siegbarsts unchanged Hexenbiests German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Hexenbiests unchanged Hexenbiests unchanged Page | 106 11 Look, isn't there a way that you could… You know, blutbad for her? German Directly transferred Proper name used as a verb invented Này, khơng có cách anh có thể… Nói chuyện Blutbad cho biết? unchanged Này, khơng có cách anh có thể… Biết đấy, Blutbad với ấy? unchanged Geiers German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Geiers unchanged Geiers unchanged Fuchsbau German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Fuchsbau unchanged Fuchsbau unchanged Waschbar German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Waschbar unchanged Waschbar unchanged Les Fauves French Directly transferred Proper name Natural Les Fauves unchanged Les Fauves unchanged Wesen German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Wesen unchanged Wesen unchanged Nada? Spanish Directly transferred Short sentence Natural Nada? unchanged Nada? unchanged Page | 107 Blutbaden, Fuchsbau, Wildschwein, German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Blutbaden, unchanged Fuchsbau, Wildschwein , Blutbaden, Fuchsbau, Wildschwein, unchanged Baddenwurst German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Baddenwurst unchanged Baddenwurst unchanged Spinnetod German Directly transferred Proper name invented Spinnetod unchanged Spinnetod unchanged Klosterhaus German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Klosterhaus unchanged Klosterhaus unchanged Schneetmache rs German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Schneetmach unchanged ers Schneetmache rs unchanged dégueulasse French Directly transferred noun Natural dégueulasse unchanged dégueulasse unchanged Le Retour D'age French Directly transferred noun prase Natural Le Retour D'age unchanged le retour d'âge unchanged Page | 108 12 (SPEAKING IN LATIN) Latin Nontranscribed Long sentence long speech Latin Nontranscribed Natural This here is the base of the Lowen Latin Translated* Natural Welcome to the lion's games Latin Translated* This is the evening of the washing of blood Latin Translated* (TIẾNG LATINH) note Scire mori sors unchanged prima viris (transcription) note sed proxima cogi unchanged (transcription) (TIẾNG LATINH) Đây đấu trường người Lowen neutralized + side note Haec Lowen turpis elit! unchanged (transcription) Natural Chào mừng đến với trò chơi sư tử neutralized Grata ludos Leo unchanged (transcription) Natural Đây buổi tối rửa máu neutralized Hoc vespere… "Sanguinis lavacro" unchanged (transcription) Natural Page | 109 13 The face of the greatest champion Dimitri! Latin Translated* Natural Gương mặt nhà vô địch vĩ đại nhất, Dimitri! Wish to hell I knew what that meant English English Natural Giá mà hiểu câu nghĩa Choose your weapon! Latin Translated* Natural Chọn vũ khí đi! neutralized Arma sumo vestri! unchanged (transcription) Lowen Spanish Directly transferred Proper name Natural người Lowen unchanged người Lowen unchanged deutscheschwierigkeit German Directly transferred noun phrase Natural vài gã Đức neutralized vài gã Đức neutralized neutralized facies maximis… Propugnator Dimitri! unchanged (transcription) Chả biết nói quái Page | 110 (SPEAKING German IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Nontranscribed Long sentence Natural Auf dem weg unchanged von (transcription Munchen ) nach Augsburg fand ich am waldrand ein kleines feuerlein vor Auf dem weg von Munchen nach Augsburg fand ich am waldrand ein kleines feuerlein vor unchanged (transcription) (SPEAKING German IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Nontranscribed Long sentence Natural Indem er eine axt niedergeschl agen hat unchanged (transcription ) Indem er eine unchanged axt (transcription) niedergeschlag en hat Schakal German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Schakal unchanged Schakal unchanged Steinadler German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Steinadler unchanged Steinadler unchanged Bis Spater German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Ngủ ngon neutralized Ngủ ngon neutralized Page | 111 streng geheim German Directly transferred noun phrase Natural "streng geheim" unchanged "streng geheim" unchanged 14 Daemonfeuer German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Daemonfeue r unchanged Daemonfeuer unchanged 15 Fuchsbau German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Fuchsbau unchanged Fuchsbau unchanged Gallenblase German Directly transferred noun Natural Gallenblase unchanged Gallenblase unchanged Beramethyl silacybanate Latin Directly transferred Proper name (medicine) invented Beramethyl silacybanate unchanged Beramethyl silacybanate unchanged Hornisolic fullmanoxin Latin Directly transferred Proper name (medicine) invented Hornisolic fullmanoxin unchanged Hornisolic fullmanoxin unchanged Zaubertrank German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Zaubertrank unchanged Zaubertrank unchanged Page | 112 16 17 Saugendampf German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Saugendamp f unchanged Saugendampf unchanged Trauminsel German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Trauminsel unchanged Trauminsel unchanged Klaustreich German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Klaustreich unchanged Klaustreich unchanged Seltenvogel German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Seltenvogel unchanged Seltenvogel unchanged Unbezahlbar German Directly transferred Proper name Natural "Unbezahlba r" unchanged "Unbezahlbar" unchanged Faserig German Directly transferred noun Natural màng Faserig unchanged màng Faserig unchanged (SPEAKING French IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Nontranscribed Long sentence Natural Xin chào người anh em họ, khỏe không? (Tiếng Pháp) neutralized + side note Khỏe không anh họ? neutralized + signal Hexenbiest Directly transferred Proper name Natural Hexenbiest unchanged Hexenbiest unchanged German Page | 113 Zaubertrankar e 18 19 Directly transferred Proper name Natural Zaubertranka unchanged re Zaubertrankar e unchanged (SPEAKING French IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Nontranscribed noun phrase Natural Chết tình (Tiếng Pháp) neutralized + side note La mort pour l'amour unchanged + signal Klaustreich German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Gã Klaustreich unchanged Klaustreich unchanged Lausenschlang German e Directly transferred Proper name Natural Lausenschla nge unchanged Lausenschlang e unchanged Hundjager German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Hundjager unchanged Hundjager unchanged Freidenreden German Directly transferred noun Natural Freidenreden unchanged Freidenreden unchanged Eine doppelarmbru st German Directly transferred noun Natural Eine doppelarmbr ust unchanged Eine doppelarmbru st unchanged + signal Skalengeck German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Skalengeck unchanged Skalengeck unchanged German Page | 114 20 21 Eisbiber German Directly transferred Proper name invented Eisbiber unchanged Eisbiber unchanged Hasslich German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Hasslich unchanged Hasslich unchanged Hasslichen German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Hasslichen unchanged Hasslichen unchanged Fernichter Der German Grimms Directly transferred Proper name Natural Vernichter der Grimms unchanged + signal Vernichter der Grimms unchanged + signal Murcielago Spanish Directly transferred Proper name Natural Murcielago unchanged Murcielago unchanged Geolter Blitz German Directly transferred Proper name invented Geolter Blitz unchanged Geolter Blitz unchanged Murcielago Matraca Spanish Directly transferred Proper name natural Murcielago Matraca unchanged Murcielago Matraca unchanged Wildermann German Directly transferred Proper name natural wildermann unchanged wildermann unchanged woge German Directly transferred verb natural woge ( Woge: Biến hình) unchanged woge unchanged Page | 115 German Directly transferred misused verb invented dewoge unchanged dewoge (SPEAKING German IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Nontranscribed Long sentence Natural Alles hat ein ende, nur die wurst hat zwei unchanged (transcription ) + signal Alles hat ein unchanged ende, nur die (transcription) wurst hat zwei + signal Chimera Greek Directly transferred Proper name Natural Chimera? (Đầu sư tử, rắn, dê) unchanged + side note Chimera? (Đầu sư tử, rắn, dê) unchanged + side note Aegishjalmur Icelandic Directly transferred Proper name Natural unchanged Aegishjalmur unchanged de-woge 22 unchanged Aegishjalmu r Schlaftrunk German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Schlaftrunk unchanged Schlaftrunk unchanged Wesen German Directly transferred Proper name Natural Wesen unchanged Wesen unchanged Page | 116 ... questions 1. 1 Rationale and statement of the research problems 1. 1 .1 Background of the study 1. 1 .1. 1 Audiovisual (AV) and Audiovisual translation (AVT) Since the first appearance of motion picture made... CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. 1 Rationale and statement of the research problems 1. 1 .1 Background of the study 1. 1 .1. 1 Audiovisual (AV) and Audiovisual translation (AVT) 1. 1 .1. 2 Third. .. assort L3 in the series Grimm (season 1) 2 .1. 3 Third language - a constraint in translation As stated in the first chapter, research on third language or multilingualism has only blossomed since