Ever since film was brought into China at the end of the nineteenth century, translation has conquered language, ideological and cultural barriers and facilitated the dissemination of films in China. Offering fresh visions and innovative studies on various important issues, including mistranslation, the dubbing of Hong Kong kung fu films, the dubbing of foreign films in China, the subtitling of Chinese dialect films, the subtitling of independent Chinese documentaries, and a vivid personal account of the translation and distribution of Chinese cinemas in France, this book aims to generate international dialogue by presenting diverse approaches to the translation and dissemination of Chinese cinemas. This book builds on previous research and further expands the horizons of the subfield, with the hope that this intervention will suggest new possibilities and territories for the study of the translation of Chinese cinemas. Translated foreign films have become an integral part of Chinese cinemas and translated Chinese films have in turn enriched the concept of world cinema. In many ways, it is a timely publication in the context of the globalization of the film industry - as Chinese films increasingly go global. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Chinese Cinemas.
This book examines Chinese films made and shown abroad roughly between the 1920s and the 2020s, from the beginning of the international exchange of the Chinese national film industry to the emergence of the concept of soft power. The periodisation of Chinese cinema(s) does not necessarily match the political periods: on the one hand, the technical development of the film industry and the organisation of translation in China, and on the other hand, official relations with China and translation policies abroad impose different constraints on the circulation of Chinese films. This volume deals with the distribution and translation of films from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Chinese diaspora. To this end, the contributors address various issues related to the circulation and distribution of Chinese films, including co- productions, agents of exchange, and modes of translation. The approach is a mixture of socio- cultural and translational methods. The data collected provides, for the first time, a quantitative overview of the circulation of Chinese films in a dozen foreign countries. The book will greatly interest scholars and students of Chinese cinema, translation studies, and China studies.
Honourable Mention, Best Monograph Award, BAFTSS Publication Awards 2022 Sheldon Lu's wide-ranging new book investigates how filmmakers and visual artists from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan have envisioned China as it transitions from a socialist to a globalized capitalist state. It examines how the modern nation has been refashioned and re-imagined in order to keep pace with globalization and transnationalism. At the heart of Lu's analysis is a double movement in the relationship between nation and transnationalism in the Chinese post-socialist state. He considers the complexity of how the Chinese economy is integrated in the global capitalist system while also remaining a repressive body politic with mechanisms of control and surveillance. He explores the interrelations of the local, the national, the subnational, and the global as China repositions itself in the world. Lu considers examples from feature and documentary film, mainstream and marginal cinema, and a variety of visual arts: photography, painting, digital video, architecture, and installation. His close case studies include representations of class, masculinity and sexuality in contemporary Taiwanese and Chinese cinema; the figure of the sex worker as a symbol of modernity and mobility; and artists' representations of Beijing at the time of the 2008 Olympics.
Motion pictures were introduced to China in 1896, and today China is a major player in the global film industry. However, the story of how Chinese cinema became what it is today is exceptionally turbulent, encompassing incursions by foreign powers, warfare among contending rulers, the collapse of the Chinese empire, and the massive setback of the Cultural Revolution. This book coversthe cinematic history of mainland China spanning across over one hundred and twenty years since its inception. Historical Dictionary of Chinese Cinema, Second Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 200 cross-referenced entries on the major filmmakers, actors, and historical figures, representative cinematic productions, genre evolution, significant events and institutions, and market changes. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Chinese Cinema.
With the implementation of the “Belt and Road” Initiative and the development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, the demand for translators and interpreters continues to grow in China. The breakthrough in artificial intelligence, which has contributed to an enormous improvement in the quality of machine translation, means challenges and opportunities for translators and interpreters as well as studies of translation and interpreting. Studies of translation and interpreting have been further expanded and diversified in the era of globalized communications. The interrelation between translation and globalization is essential reading for not only scholars and educators, but also anyone with an interest in translation and interpreting studies, or a concern for the future of our world’s languages and cultures. By focusing on the connection between the two, various researches have been conducted in all forms of communication between languages, including translation, interpreting, cross-cultural communication, language teaching, and the various specializations involved in such activities. This has resulted in The Third International Conference on Globalization: Challenges for Translators and Interpreters co-organized by the School of Translation Studies, Jinan University on its Zhuhai campus and South China Business College, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, November 16-17, 2019. The response to the conference was once more overwhelming, which was partly attributed to the previous two conferences held successfully under the same title. Apart from five keynote speakers, over one hundred and fifty participants came from universities, institutions or organizations from mainland China, Spain, New Zealand, as well as Hong Kong and Macao to attend the event, contributing over 130 papers in total. Among the keynote speakers are internationally renowned scholars in translation studies, such as Dr. Roberto Valdeón, professor of English Linguistics at the University of Oviedo, Spain, and the Chief Editor of Perspective: Studies in Translatology; Dr. Sun Yifeng, chair professor of Translation Studies and head of the English Department at the University of Macau; Dr. Tan Zaixi, distinguished professor of Shenzhen University and Chair Professor of Beijing Foreign Studies University, and Professor Emeritus of Hong Kong Baptist University. After careful evaluation and compilation, 90 papers have been selected for this conference proceedings, which was summarized into the following four topics: “Translation and Interpreting Theory and Practice,” “Translation and Cross-cultural Studies,” “Evaluation of Translation and Interpretation,” and “Studies on the Teaching of Translation.” By no means is it difficult to find some interesting and thought-provoking papers under each topic. For example, concerning “Translation and Interpreting Theory and Practice,” “To Translate or not to Translate? That is the Question----On Metaphor Translation in Chinese Political works” (by Dong Yu) explains that in judging whether or not a Chinese metaphor can be translated into English, an indispensable step is to decide whether or not the two cultural connotations can be connected. But this can easily be influenced by subjective factors. Yu has suggested some ways in which subjective factors could be controlled to some extent so that the translator could be more confident in his or her decision. He has also suggested three steps. The first step is to assume that the cultural connotation of the Chinese metaphor can be connected with that of its English version. For example, the metaphor ???? in ??????????? could be translated as rain or shine; The second step is to find out whether or not this translated version is acceptable both linguistically and culturally in English. The third step is to consider the systematicity of the metaphor in regard with the context in both the source and target texts. This involves a process of recontextualization. When it comes to “Translation and Cross-cultural Studies”, “On Translation of the English Guide-interpreter from the Perspective of Intercultural Communication” (by Fengxia Liua and Xiaoning Bi), points out that inbound tourism serves as a window through which foreign tourists get to know China, so the interaction between the guide-interpreters and foreign tourists are the typical activity of cultural communication. Foreign-language-speaking guides are usually regarded as “people-to-people ambassadors” or “cultural ambassadors”, who have played an essential role in the international tourist industry. Therefore, they argue that it is extremely important for tourist guides to cultivate their cross-cultural communication awareness, enhance their overall communicative competence, observe and distinguish east-and-west differences with multi-dimensional perspective, transcend cultural barriers and learn to use translation skills. “Studies on the Teaching of Translation” is another interesting topic that has attracted enormous attention, such as “Business Translation Teaching from the Perspective of Metaphors” (by Dandan Li) which explores application of conceptual metaphor theory in the translation process of business lexicons, business discourse and business English culture so as to provide a new perspective in business English pedagogy. Another study entitled “Cognitive Studies in Translation” (by Xin Huang), analyzes the cognitive studies of translation / interpreting processes over the past three decades, with focus on the issues examined, the findings reached as well as the recent development. She explains that cognitive studies of translation process examine the translation competence, on-line translation behaviors such as how the eye gazes and how the words are typed and the brain activities when doing translation. Special interests are paid to the working memory, problem-solving, the executive function and some linguistic relative factors such as text difficulty. Over the past thirty years, the interest in the field has been gaining considerable momentum and increasing issues have been involved. Finally, she concludes that with the advancement of technologies and interdisciplinary approaches, the black box, the previously unforeseeable cognitive activities of how human process translation, can be unfolded. Considering the importance of integrating theory with practice, the proceedings are therefore compiled in such a way as to be balanced and inclusive in the hope of summarizing current accomplishments as well as providing certain insights for teaching and further research in the field of translation and interpretation studies.
This book provides a unique perspective on contemporary German and Chinese cultural encounters. Moving away from highlighting exchanges between the two countries in terms of colonial connections, religious influences and philosophical impacts, the book instead focuses on the vast array of modern cultural dialogues that have influenced both countries, especially in literature, theatre and film. The book discusses issues of translation, adaptation, and reception to reveal a unique cultural relationship. The editors and contributors examine the existing programs and strategies for cultural interchange, and analyse how these shape or have shaped intercultural dialogue, and what kind of intercultural exchange is encouraged. This book is of interest to students and researchers of film and media studies, Sinophone studies, transnational studies, cultural studies and social and cultural anthropology.
The present book features some introductory discussions on martial arts for the international audience and highlights in brief the complexities of translating the genre into English, often from a comparative literature perspective. Martial arts, also known as Kungfu or Wushu, refer to different families of Chinese fighting styles over many centuries. Martial arts fiction, or Wuxia literature, is a unique genre that depicts adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Understanding martial arts and the Chinese culture and philosophy behind them creates an intriguing experience, particularly, for non-Chinese readers; translating the literature into English poses unparalleled challenges for translators not only because of the culture embedded in it but also the fascinating martial arts moves and captivating names of many characters therein.
This new major reference work provides a comprehensive overview of linguistic phenomena in a variety of Sinitic languages in a global context, highlighting the dynamic interaction between these languages and English. This “living reference work” offers a window into the linguistic sphere in China and beyond, and showcases the latest research into diverse and evolving linguistic phenomena that have resulted from intensified interactions between the Sinophone world and other lingua-spheres. The Handbook is divided into five sections. The chapters in Section I (New Research Trends in Chinese Linguistic Research) present fast-growing research areas in Chinese linguistics, particularly those undertaken by scholars based in China. Section II (Interactions of Sinitic Languages) focuses on language-contact situations inside and outside China. The chapters in Section III (Meaning, Culture, Translation) explore the meanings of key cultural concepts, and how ideas move between Chinese and English through translation across various genres. Section IV (New Trends in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language) covers new ideas and practices relating to teaching the Chinese language and culture. The final section, Section V (Transference from Chinese to English), explores dynamic interactions between varieties of Chinese and varieties of English, as they play out in multilingual sites and settings
The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Media provides the first comprehensive account of the role of translation in the media, which has become a thriving area of research in recent decades. It offers theoretical and methodological perspectives on translation and media in the digital age, as well as analyses of a wide diversity of media contexts and translation forms. Divided into four parts with an editor introduction, the 33 chapters are written by leading international experts and provide a critical survey of each area with suggestions for further reading. The Handbook aims to showcase innovative approaches and developments, bridging the gap between currently separate disciplinary subfields and pointing to potential synergies and broad research topics and issues. With a broad-ranging, critical and interdisciplinary perspective, this Handbook is an indispensable resource for all students and researchers of translation studies, audiovisual translation, journalism studies, film studies and media studies.
This volume explores the notion of German cinema as both a national and increasingly transnational entity. It brings together chapters that analyse the international circuits of development and distribution that shape the emerging films as part of a contemporary “German cinema”, the events and spectacles that help frame and re-frame national cinemas and their discoverability, and the well-known filmmakers who sit at the vanguard of the contemporary canon. Thereby, it explores what we understand as German cinema today and the many points where this idea of national cinema can be interrogated, expanded and opened up to new readings. At the heart of this interrogation is a keen awareness of the technological, social, economic and cultural changes that have an impact on global cinemas more broadly: new distribution channels such as streaming platforms and online film festivals, and audience engagement that transcends national borders as well as the cinema space. International film production and financing further heightens the transnational aspects of cinema, a quality that is often neglected in marketing and branding of the filmic product. With particular focus on film festivals, this volume explores the tensions between the national and transnational in film, but also in the events that sit at the heart of global cinema culture. It includes contributions from filmmakers, cultural managers and other professionals in the field of film and cinema, as well as scholarly contributions from academics researching popular culture, film, and events in relation to Germany.
