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these circumstances is shown as follows:
Circumstances Strategies used
CSIs involved are absent in the
culture of the target audience
CSIs involved are absent in the
culture of the target audience but a
practical equivalent (a CSI available
in both cultures) can be found
6.4 Summary of chapter
Repetition is replaced by deletion
Repetition is replaced by universalisation
This chapter has presented a discussion of the use of strategies used by the subtitle
translators to deal with CSIs in Friends. Scenes containing a selection of CSIs taken
from Friends were presented and their background described. Original subtitles were
transcribed and presented, mostly with a back translation into English. Where the
subtitle contained a sound translation of particular names, this was indicated in the
discussion. This was followed by a discussion of the subtitle translation and the
strategies chosen by the subtitle translators to achieve these translations. The discussion
clearly showes that subtitlers appeared to favour the strategy of repetition in handling
CSIs. While repetition allows the translators to preserve the CSIs of the source text, it
was clear from the discussion that it could be said that repetition failed to help the
audience understand these CSIs in most cases.
The HPTEs presented by the researcher aimed to achieve four standards described in
the literature on screen translation (e.g. Ivarsson, 1998) including reliability,
synchronisation, efficacy and brevity. It would appear from these HPTEs that creation
and deletion are two strategies that may be useful in the translation of handling CSIs
and that may better serve the needs of the audience. A tentative explanation for this
might be that many CSIs in the US culture do not have practical equivalents in the
Chinese language and culture, hence mere repetition or reproduction of these CSIs does
not assist the audience to understand the scenes.
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