A Brief Analysis of Subtitle Translation of Documentary Wild China from the Perspective of Eco-translatology

Abstract

Based on the principle of truth, the documentary exchanges knowledge and conveys emotions. The documentary Wild China has received strong attention from domestic and foreign audiences since its launch on National Geographic. However, due to the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, most Chinese viewers need subtitle translation to have a better understanding of this documentary. Unlike the subtitle translation of films and TV plays, the content of the documentary has strong professionalism and knowledge. Thus, documentary subtitle translation requirements are also higher than those of films and TV plays. Meanwhile, it is necessary to discuss the subtitle translation of documentaries. Ecological translation was first proposed by Professor Hu Gengshen. In the past ten years, many remarkable research results have been achieved. Taking ecological translation as the theoretical support, this paper chooses the subtitle translation of the documentary Wild China (CCTV) as the research object, and combines the theoretical discussion and the case analysis to focus on the translator’s “adaptation” and “selection” in the linguistic, cultural and communicative dimensions, thus verifying the guiding significance of eco-translatology to the subtitle translation of the documentary and supplementing the theoretical research perspective of subtitle translation of the documentary.