A Study of the Subtitle Translation in Titanic from the Perspective of the Relevance Theory

遲皓月

【Abstract】As a particular translation pattern， movie subtitle translation has played a vital role in the field of translation. Thus， in terms of cross-cultural communication， it is necessary to deepen the comprehension of the translated subtitles by translating subtitles.This paper consists of four parts. The first part mainly discusses the current situation of movie subtitle translation and gives the introduction of the paper. The second part mainly introduces something about the Relevance Theory. The third part makes a detailed study of the subtitle translation of Titanic from the perspective of Relevance Theory. The forth part is the final conclusion of the paper. For the sake of convenience of research， some Chinese subtitles will be chosen as exam.

【Key words】Relevance Theory； subtitles； subtitle translation； Titanic

I. Introduction

It is well known that the movie sector has been booming all over the world. However， the movie subtitle translation， which is a type of particular language conversion， draws public attention in the field of translation. And as a newly established term and type， the movie subtitle translation aims to assist the audiences of target language to comprehend the movie plots.

A gratifying translation is supposed to be a close connection between source language speakers and target language audiences. What is more， proper subtitles should offer adequate messages about what the film initially should convey so that the movie can attain the value of its entertainment， culture， and appreciation for the audiences. This paper will apply the Relevance Theory to analyze the subtitle translation of the English movie Titanic into Chinese， which aims at attesting that this translated Chinese version has fulfilled the optimal relevance and that the initial intention has been clearly conveyed to the audience of target language. This paper selects some examples from the movie screen. With all of these considered， the Relevance Theory， through explanation and description， shows how the translated Chinese subtitles will be presented. In the meantime， this paper selects some examples to discuss the successful subtitle translations and unsuccessful subtitle translations in Titanic on the basis of the Relevance Theory.

II. The Relevance Theory

The Relevance Theory is a cognitive theory of human communication on the basis of the intention and inference in communication. The Relevance Theory was firstly put forward in the book：Communication and Cognition in 1986. In 1991， Wilsons student Ernst-August Gutt published his doctoral thesis Translation and Relevance. His doctoral thesis introduced the Relevance Theory to the area of translation studies. People got a new translation theory from his doctoral thesis. Meanwhile， his doctoral thesis also presented an effective tool to help people interpret the relatively complicated phenomenon.endprint

A. The Inferential Nature of Relevance

Generally speaking， communication was generally regarded as a matter of encoding and decoding information through the code model. People express their ideas through communication.Because of the exploration of conversational implication without consideration of the cultural background， the unavoidable result is that the meaning of an utterance will be misunderstood due to the wrong equivalent with its literal meaning and that the communicative intention will not be achieved. When the literal meaning of utterances is not in line with its implied meaning， the code model fails to play an effective part in conveying the true meaning of utterances.

Nevertheless， the Relevance Theory cannot be simply regarded as a process of linguistically encoding and decoding. Generally speaking， a scientific definition of communication should be an unity of encoding， decoding together with inference. The inference can be regarded as an effective tool to obtain the real meaning of the utterances on the basis of decoding.

B. The Principle of Relevance

Relevance can be defined as“An assumption is relevant in a context if and only if it has some contextual effect in that context.”（Sperber 122）. That is considered as a central notion in the Relevance Theory. And there are two fundamental factors in the determination of the degree of relevance. One is about the contextual effect， and the other is about the processing effort. And the human cognition and communication are the two main factors in claiming the principle of relevance.

Human cognition intends to be adapted to the maximization of relevance. In other words， the process of human cognition aims at attaining the greatest cognitive effect through the least possible effort. What is more， speakers claim their intention through communication. And people communicate with each other， which is to imply that the information is worth processing.

III. A Study of Subtitle Translation in Titanic Based on the Relevance Theory

Titanic is a film about the sinking of the RMS （Royal Mail Steamship） Titanic in 1997. And James Cameron directed this film. In the film， Leonardo DiCaprio acted as Jack Dawson， and Kate Winslet acted as Rose DeEitt Bukater， who were from the different social classes. In this film， the director made up the love story and the major characters， but some supporting characters were shaped on the basis of the actual historical characters. In order to be convenient， the case study of subtitle translation in this paper will be organized according to different translation skills or methods.endprint