1.2 The Concept of Movies Subtitle Translation

Since movies penetrated into our lives with more and more communication among different cultures, races, thoughts, religions and educations, the subtitle translation among different languages brings a strong impact. Numerous theoretical translators and practitioners have been exploring ways to high-quality language transfer for movies in foreign countries, so as to facilitate a better cross-cultural communication among people worldwide. Henrik Gottlieb, the legal authority of the 20th century subtitle translation, defines it as the rendering in a different language of verbal message in filmic media, in the shape of one or more lines of written text, presented on the screen in synch with the original verbal message. While, another scholar, Remael states its definition further, “a translation practice that consists of presenting a written text, generally on the lower part of the screen, that discursive elements that appear in the image (letters, inserts, graffiti, inscriptions, placards, and the like), and the information that is contained on the soundtrack (songs, voices off).” Based on others’, I prefer to give my straightforward definition on movie subtitle, “it’s a translation practice which is designed to provide written explanations on the soundtrack and image information of filmic media.”