Research on Efficient Communication of Subtitle Translation of National Propaganda Film of Winter Olympics

Abstract

During the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, China showed the historical background and tourism information of the host city Zhangjiakou to the international community through national propaganda films, which aimed to spread Chinese culture and attract foreign investment. Therefore, the publicity effect of the national propaganda films is extremely important. Subtitle translation plays an important role in the process of cultural export in Chinese film industry and serves as the bridge and link in the interaction between China and other countries. Considering the communication effect of propaganda films, Peter Newmark’s communicative translation theory focuses on readers’ understanding and response, which is in accordance with the purpose of subtitle translation of propaganda films. Based on the communicative translation theory proposed by Newmark, this paper takes the English subtitles of the propaganda film of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games Great Beauty Zhangjiakou as the research object and analyzes the translation methods of English subtitles from the aspects of proper nouns and syntax. In proper noun translation, simultaneous screen is used as an auxiliary tool for proper noun annotation, and transliteration, the combination of transliteration and free translation, and free translation are adopted respectively, which not only shorten the subtitle space but also contribute to the effective transmission of cultural information. Syntactically, the number of the second person is increased, the person subject is converted into object subject and transcreation is properly used in the translation of some sentences, which enhance audience reception and the summoning function of subtitle. It is such kind of subtitle translation that enables Chinese propaganda films to achieve efficient dissemination.