探討字幕翻譯中英語作為通用語對文化認同論述的影響：以新加坡及台灣影視劇集當中的文化詞翻譯為例

Abstract

受全球化影響，消費者對於非英語影視作品的興趣日益增長，連同串流平台愈發普及，更是帶動了觀眾對英語字幕的需求。有學者稱此現象為「逆流翻譯」（upstream translation），即將弱勢語種的影視作品翻譯成強勢語言，如作為國際通用語的英語（English as lingua franca，ELF），以此推動全球觀眾跨文化溝通。本研究以新加坡劇集《小娘惹》及台灣劇集《茶金》為例，探討譯者「逆流」英譯中文影視作品時所採用的翻譯策略及其對文化認同論述的影響，先將劇集中的特有文化詞彙（extralinguistic culture-bound reference，ECR）分類，再對譯文進行比較文本分析，主要聚焦飲食、民俗信仰等文化元素。初步分析顯示，兩部劇集的譯者雖都可視為 ELF 使用者，但他們傾向使用不同的翻譯策略。《小娘惹》譯者較常使用音譯等以原語言為主的翻譯策略，《茶金》譯者則相反，傾向意譯並將ECR刪除，僅保留其核心意義。《小娘惹》英語字幕的主要受眾為不識中文、但熟知在地文化概念的新加坡觀眾，因此譯者可對ELF進行調整、保留ECR，進而保留可傳達新加坡土生華人身分認同的文化元素。《茶金》英語字幕的目標觀眾則是來自全球各地的英語使用者，譯者因此需考慮觀眾普遍缺乏台灣客家文化相關知識，刪除、意譯ECR，淡化可傳達台灣客家人身分認同的文化元素。研究結果顯示，在英譯中文影視作品的過程中使用ELF可導致原文與譯文中的文化認同論述有所出入，異同程度受目標觀眾特性等文本以外的因素所影響。

As audience demand for non-Anglophone audiovisual products grows with the popularisation of streaming services in the globalised era, so does demand for English subtitle translation. Audiovisual series produced in less dominant languages are translated into dominant languages like English, which is used as a lingua franca (ELF), facilitating intercultural communication for worldwide audiences. This phenomenon is known as “upstream translation”. Against this background, this research examines the translation strategies utilised in upstream interlingual English subtitling of Singaporean series The Little Nyonya and Taiwanese series Gold Leaf, and the translation choices’ potential impact on representations of cultural identity. Cultural references in the series are classified using Newmark’s taxonomy of cultural words, before Pedersen’s model of extralinguistic culture-bound references (ECR) translation strategies is applied to assist comparative textual analysis. Textual analysis demonstrates that the respective translators of Gold Leaf and The Little Nyonya favour different approaches for rendering ECRs, despite their commonality as ELF users. Translators of The Little Nyonya opted for source-language oriented strategies like retention by directly transliterating terms from Chinese into English, while the translator of Gold Leaf favoured target-language oriented strategies like paraphrasing with sense transfer, removing ECRs and distilling them into their implied meaning. As the English subtitles of The Little Nyonya serve non-Chinese-speaking Singaporeans who share background knowledge of cultural references, the translators can adapt ELF and retain ECRs, hence retaining the embedded signifiers of Singaporean-Peranakan cultural identity within the subtitles. In contrast, the English subtitles of Gold Leaf serve English-speaking global viewers, and the translator accounted for this by omitting or paraphrasing Taiwanese-Hakka cultural references in her use of ELF, thereby diluting signifiers of source cultural identity and affecting their transference in translation. The results show that use of ELF in interlingual subtitling can impact telecinematic representations of cultural identity to varying degrees, influenced by paratextual factors like target audience demographics.