THE SUBTITLING OF CHINESE TV SERIES FOR THE WEST: THE TASK OF MEANING CONSTRUCTION IN PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR TRANSLATIONS
Translation. Fansubbers. Translators. Culture. Chinese TV series.
Translation is an ancient art that arises from the need to establish a connection with people from other languages and cultures. However, translating is more than the traditional concept of transferring a sequence of words to another language. Translation depends on cultural factors, and it is undeniable that, during this process, some cultural aspects of the original work may end up being lost in order to achieve cultural localization. This research, through the analytical-descriptive method, aims to map and gather translation data from the Chinese TV series "The Untamed," in episodes 1, 5, 6, 7 and 17 translated by professionals on the Netflix platform and by fansubbers on the Viki platform, in order to identify the translation differences in the construction of the dialogues' meaning and to attempt to establish and hypothesize how and why these differences may occur, utilizing theoretical reflections on foreignization and localization and the translation strategies presented by Tomaszkiewicz (1993). The results indicate that while professional translators adhere more closely to the localization rules established by the hiring company, amateur translators delve into the cultural elements of the original language, even if they end up exceeding the predetermined characters on the screen. Finally, it is concluded that the translation method and equivalence choices used by both sides depend on external and intrinsic factors of the translator, as translation is a creative process, and we cannot erase the professional's life experience and how it affects the final product.