“Based upon the previous studies, the definition of translator’s subjectivity is summed up as the subjective agency of the translator reflected in the translating process in order to achieve his translating purpose(Lu Na, 2009: 35).” “Its major characteristics include the translator’s cultural consciousness, aesthetic tendency, creativity and judgment standards, etc. (Lu Na, 2009: 35).”
2.2 Current Study on Subtitle Translation
With the wide spread of Internet, the transmission of American TV series on the network is much wider and faster. Besides the officially imported TV series which are broadcast in TV programs, there are many non-official ones online presenting Chinese subtitles and keeping the original sound track. Although there are many advanced theories in the field of translation and interpretation, research on subtitle translation is still needed. Actually, currently there is no unified and systemic standard and agreement on how to translate subtitles and therefore discrepancies often appear during the processes of practical translation. Generally speaking, nowadays the subtitle translation is accomplished by a kind of subtitle translation group (usually referred to as “Zi Mu Zu (字幕组) ” in Chinese), which have produced a lot of translated TV series for netizens. According to the previous research into their forums online and a comparison between their works, it is found their translating styles and methods differ from one group to another, while inside the groups they usually have certain conventions and regulations for translation. Different from works translated by official institutions, internet movies demand a much higher speed of reaction, which as a result demand a greater efficiency of the whole translation process. In most cases the subtitle translation groups are attached to a certain forum in the website whose web space resources can be used as their platform of work. Their work pision among group members is very clear and the member in charge of one procedure may even not be familiar with others’ work.
3 Translator’s Subjectivity
3.1 Definition of Translator’s Subjectivity
According to this thesis, the definition of translators' subjectivity is referred to as the translator’s subjective initiative in order to meet the environmental and cultural needs of the original language with the effect of the subject, external environment and their horizon. It has the characteristics of autonomy, initiative, purposiveness and creativity. It mainly manifested in four aspects, such as the translation process, translator's awareness of target language culture, relationship between translation and the source language and the translation subjectivity. Among them, translation process is the most important one in translator's subjectivity.
3.2 Translators’ Subjectivity in Subtitle Translation
“Translating, as a process, inevitably involves the two steps of understanding source text and re-expressing what is conveyed in the original with the target language(Li Jiayu, 2008: 20).” During the process of translation, the translator at least shows three kinds of identities, including a reader, an interpreter and a creator: as a reader, the translator needs to mobilize various kinds of ability and understand the work to the maximum extend, achieving as close as possible of the text original meaning; as an interpreter, the translator needs to dig out the ideological connotation and aesthetic implication of the work and consider how to make the target readers accept their translation; as a creator, the translator needs to convert the language and pay attention to how to reproduce the original ideas of work in order to provide a good exchange platform for target readers and the translation work. “In such a process, the creative cognition of a translator plays a decisive part, and his or her subjectivity is not just restricted by the source text. This can be at least revealed in: a) His attitudes towards the original text; b) His personal experience, judgment standard, values and views; c) His target culture and target readership consciousness; d) His intention, self-determination, initiative and creativity and so on (Lu Na, 2009: 35-36).”文献综述 从译者主体性探讨美剧字幕神翻译现象(3):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_75230.html