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【Abstract】As a particular translation pattern， movie subtitle translation has played a vital role in the field of translation. Thus， in terms of cross-cultural communication， it is necessary to deepen the comprehension of the translated subtitles by translating subtitles.This paper consists of four parts. The first part mainly discusses the current situation of movie subtitle translation and gives the introduction of the paper. The second part mainly introduces something about the Relevance Theory. The third part makes a detailed study of the subtitle translation of Titanic from the perspective of Relevance Theory. The forth part is the final conclusion of the paper. For the sake of convenience of research， some Chinese subtitles will be chosen as exam.
【Key words】Relevance Theory； subtitles； subtitle translation； Titanic
I. Introduction
It is well known that the movie sector has been booming all over the world. However， the movie subtitle translation， which is a type of particular language conversion， draws public attention in the field of translation. And as a newly established term and type， the movie subtitle translation aims to assist the audiences of target language to comprehend the movie plots.
A gratifying translation is supposed to be a close connection between source language speakers and target language audiences. What is more， proper subtitles should offer adequate messages about what the film initially should convey so that the movie can attain the value of its entertainment， culture， and appreciation for the audiences. This paper will apply the Relevance Theory to analyze the subtitle translation of the English movie Titanic into Chinese， which aims at attesting that this translated Chinese version has fulfilled the optimal relevance and that the initial intention has been clearly conveyed to the audience of target language. This paper selects some examples from the movie screen. With all of these considered， the Relevance Theory， through explanation and description， shows how the translated Chinese subtitles will be presented. In the meantime， this paper selects some examples to discuss the successful subtitle translations and unsuccessful subtitle translations in Titanic on the basis of the Relevance Theory.
II. The Relevance Theory
The Relevance Theory is a cognitive theory of human communication on the basis of the intention and inference in communication. The Relevance Theory was firstly put forward in the book：Communication and Cognition in 1986. In 1991， Wilson’s student Ernst-August Gutt published his doctoral thesis Translation and Relevance. His doctoral thesis introduced the Relevance Theory to the area of translation studies. People got a new translation theory from his doctoral thesis. Meanwhile， his doctoral thesis also presented an effective tool to help people interpret the relatively complicated phenomenon. A. The Inferential Nature of Relevance
Generally speaking， communication was generally regarded as a matter of encoding and decoding information through the code model. People express their ideas through communication.Because of the exploration of conversational implication without consideration of the cultural background， the unavoidable result is that the meaning of an utterance will be misunderstood due to the wrong equivalent with its literal meaning and that the communicative intention will not be achieved. When the literal meaning of utterances is not in line with its implied meaning， the code model fails to play an effective part in conveying the true meaning of utterances.
Nevertheless， the Relevance Theory cannot be simply regarded as a process of linguistically encoding and decoding. Generally speaking， a scientific definition of communication should be an unity of encoding， decoding together with inference. The inference can be regarded as an effective tool to obtain the real meaning of the utterances on the basis of decoding.
B. The Principle of Relevance
Relevance can be defined as“An assumption is relevant in a context if and only if it has some contextual effect in that context.”（Sperber 122）. That is considered as a central notion in the Relevance Theory. And there are two fundamental factors in the determination of the degree of relevance. One is about the contextual effect， and the other is about the processing effort. And the human cognition and communication are the two main factors in claiming the principle of relevance.
Human cognition intends to be adapted to the maximization of relevance. In other words， the process of human cognition aims at attaining the greatest cognitive effect through the least possible effort. What is more， speakers claim their intention through communication. And people communicate with each other， which is to imply that the information is worth processing.
III. A Study of Subtitle Translation in Titanic Based on the Relevance Theory
Titanic is a film about the sinking of the RMS （Royal Mail Steamship） Titanic in 1997. And James Cameron directed this film. In the film， Leonardo DiCaprio acted as Jack Dawson， and Kate Winslet acted as Rose DeEitt Bukater， who were from the different social classes. In this film， the director made up the love story and the major characters， but some supporting characters were shaped on the basis of the actual historical characters. In order to be convenient， the case study of subtitle translation in this paper will be organized according to different translation skills or methods. 1. Brief Explanation
In accordance with the skill of“Brief Explanation”， a propositional content may imply the meaning particular to its culture. And in some cases， a brief explanation is a must for the audiences so as to achieve the optimal relevance and the speaker-intended contextual effects.
Example 1：Lizzy：You actually think this is you， Nana？ 你覺得这真是你吗， 奶奶？
Old Rose：It is me， dear. Wasn’t I a dish？ 是我， 亲爱的。我当时是不是很漂亮？
The above dialogue happened when Old Rose was 84 years old at the beginning of the film. Old Rose and her granddaughter whose name was Lizzy gathered on the ship. They helped some people find the necklace—the Heart of Ocean in the wreck of ship called Titanic. When Old Rose glared at the naked girl in the picture， she could not help recalling the memorable scene. And in 1912， Rose was so young. Thus， when Old Rose’s granddaughter asked her whether she was the young lady in the picture or not， Old Rose felt in fact a little unpleasant. This is because the young lady in the picture was Old Rose herself actually in 1912.
“A dish” here was applied to mean a physically alluring person in spoken language rather than“a container for holding or carrying food” or“a specific kind of food prepared for a meal” or other meanings in accordance with the dictionary. Thus， if the translator translated this word as“盘；碟”or“具有某种风味的菜”， the Chinese viewers will find it is hard to comprehend that meaning in their cultural environment. Because the word dish had no connection with a beautiful person. Hence， they cannot think of the two different things together. However， the translator here can faithfully convey the meaning of“dish” by presenting an explanatory note in the Chinese subtitle. Thus， the appropriate comprehension will be ensured.
2. Addition
The people under diverse cultural circumstances vary in cognitive ways and cognitive customs. Hence， the subtitle translation can narrow the cultural differences by adding some vital messages to minimize the processing efforts of the foreign viewers.
Example 2：Jack：…And I had no brothers or sisters or close kin in that part of the country， So I lit on out of there and I haven’t been back since.You can just call me a tumbleweed blowing in the wind.Well， Rose. We’ve talked…
……在那儿我没有兄弟姐妹，没有任何亲人，所以我出来以后，再也没有回去。我就是那种秋天一来就齐根断掉，随风飘零的野草。喂，露丝，我们……
After being stopped by Jack from committing a suicide， Rose lived on confidently and became even extremely grateful to him. Due to her thanks and curiosity about Jack， Rose invited this poor young man to walk with her on the deck. They wandered together for about a mile on the boat deck. It can be inferred from his words“tumbleweed”that Jack suffered a lot when he was young. The translator here did not translate the word“tumbleweed” literally into“风滚草”， but properly added more words to convey its intended information in that context， for there is no such a plant or grass in China. Actually， tumbleweed is“a plant that occurs in desert areas in North America. It breaks away from its roots at the end of its life and then goes off around on the ground.” Jack applied this type of plant here as a figure of speech—metaphor to describe his rootless and homeless life. Thus， the translator added some words in order to provide most related translation to the audiences and reduce the processing efforts and time. 3. Omission
In accordance with the translation skill of“Omission”， the subtitle is able to omit some messages which are less important or are clear from the context.
Example 3：Cal：Mr.Dawson is joining us from the third class. He was of some assistance to my finance last night.他是从三等舱过来来加入我们。昨晚帮了我的未婚妻。
Rose：It turns out that Mr.Dawson is quite a fine artist.He was kind enough to show me some of his work today.事实上，道森先生是个画家。我看了他的作品。
Cal：Rose and I differ somewhat in our definition of fine art.Not to impugn your work，sir.露丝跟我对美术的看法有非常大的差异。当然我不是在批评你的作品。
（Rose indicates silently to Jack to put his napkin on his lap.）
（露丝示意杰克把餐巾铺在大腿上）
Comparing the source language with the Chinese version， it can be seen that the underlined parts in the original are omitted in the translated version. Nevertheless， the original information of the speakers is expressed clearly. There is no misunderstanding or bemusement to some degree for the Chinese viewers in the translated version. That is a result of the translators’ focus on the intention of the translation， because there are many other factors to satisfy the needs in the whole communication. For the ostensive-inferential communication， the translators ought to pay attention to the original intention of the communicators.
IV. Conclusion
This paper mainly discusses the subtitle translation of the English movie Titanic into Chinese on the basis of Sperber and Wilson’s Relevance. In the case study， examples of translated subtitles are selected from the movie screen and studied based on the Relevance Theory. Researching the conversation in the movie and analyzing the translated Chinese subtitles of the English movie Titanic have been done in this paper with many limits. I hope that in the future more translators and researchers will attach more importance to foreign movie subtitles and do more studies to get a more proper theoretic basis so that more foreign movies can be improved and translated subtitles can better ensure the effective inter-lingual and cross-cultural communication.
References：
[1]Bartoll，Eduard.“Parameters for the classification of subtitles” Journal of Cambridge University.6（2004）：14-20.
[2]Fang Mengzhi.Application of English - Chinese Translation Course.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2004.
[3]Gottlieb，Henric.Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2004.
作者簡介：迟皓月，在哈尔滨理工大学攻读英语笔译硕士学位，目前是研二学生。
【Key words】Relevance Theory； subtitles； subtitle translation； Titanic
I. Introduction
It is well known that the movie sector has been booming all over the world. However， the movie subtitle translation， which is a type of particular language conversion， draws public attention in the field of translation. And as a newly established term and type， the movie subtitle translation aims to assist the audiences of target language to comprehend the movie plots.
A gratifying translation is supposed to be a close connection between source language speakers and target language audiences. What is more， proper subtitles should offer adequate messages about what the film initially should convey so that the movie can attain the value of its entertainment， culture， and appreciation for the audiences. This paper will apply the Relevance Theory to analyze the subtitle translation of the English movie Titanic into Chinese， which aims at attesting that this translated Chinese version has fulfilled the optimal relevance and that the initial intention has been clearly conveyed to the audience of target language. This paper selects some examples from the movie screen. With all of these considered， the Relevance Theory， through explanation and description， shows how the translated Chinese subtitles will be presented. In the meantime， this paper selects some examples to discuss the successful subtitle translations and unsuccessful subtitle translations in Titanic on the basis of the Relevance Theory.
II. The Relevance Theory
The Relevance Theory is a cognitive theory of human communication on the basis of the intention and inference in communication. The Relevance Theory was firstly put forward in the book：Communication and Cognition in 1986. In 1991， Wilson’s student Ernst-August Gutt published his doctoral thesis Translation and Relevance. His doctoral thesis introduced the Relevance Theory to the area of translation studies. People got a new translation theory from his doctoral thesis. Meanwhile， his doctoral thesis also presented an effective tool to help people interpret the relatively complicated phenomenon. A. The Inferential Nature of Relevance
Generally speaking， communication was generally regarded as a matter of encoding and decoding information through the code model. People express their ideas through communication.Because of the exploration of conversational implication without consideration of the cultural background， the unavoidable result is that the meaning of an utterance will be misunderstood due to the wrong equivalent with its literal meaning and that the communicative intention will not be achieved. When the literal meaning of utterances is not in line with its implied meaning， the code model fails to play an effective part in conveying the true meaning of utterances.
Nevertheless， the Relevance Theory cannot be simply regarded as a process of linguistically encoding and decoding. Generally speaking， a scientific definition of communication should be an unity of encoding， decoding together with inference. The inference can be regarded as an effective tool to obtain the real meaning of the utterances on the basis of decoding.
B. The Principle of Relevance
Relevance can be defined as“An assumption is relevant in a context if and only if it has some contextual effect in that context.”（Sperber 122）. That is considered as a central notion in the Relevance Theory. And there are two fundamental factors in the determination of the degree of relevance. One is about the contextual effect， and the other is about the processing effort. And the human cognition and communication are the two main factors in claiming the principle of relevance.
Human cognition intends to be adapted to the maximization of relevance. In other words， the process of human cognition aims at attaining the greatest cognitive effect through the least possible effort. What is more， speakers claim their intention through communication. And people communicate with each other， which is to imply that the information is worth processing.
III. A Study of Subtitle Translation in Titanic Based on the Relevance Theory
Titanic is a film about the sinking of the RMS （Royal Mail Steamship） Titanic in 1997. And James Cameron directed this film. In the film， Leonardo DiCaprio acted as Jack Dawson， and Kate Winslet acted as Rose DeEitt Bukater， who were from the different social classes. In this film， the director made up the love story and the major characters， but some supporting characters were shaped on the basis of the actual historical characters. In order to be convenient， the case study of subtitle translation in this paper will be organized according to different translation skills or methods. 1. Brief Explanation
In accordance with the skill of“Brief Explanation”， a propositional content may imply the meaning particular to its culture. And in some cases， a brief explanation is a must for the audiences so as to achieve the optimal relevance and the speaker-intended contextual effects.
Example 1：Lizzy：You actually think this is you， Nana？ 你覺得这真是你吗， 奶奶？
Old Rose：It is me， dear. Wasn’t I a dish？ 是我， 亲爱的。我当时是不是很漂亮？
The above dialogue happened when Old Rose was 84 years old at the beginning of the film. Old Rose and her granddaughter whose name was Lizzy gathered on the ship. They helped some people find the necklace—the Heart of Ocean in the wreck of ship called Titanic. When Old Rose glared at the naked girl in the picture， she could not help recalling the memorable scene. And in 1912， Rose was so young. Thus， when Old Rose’s granddaughter asked her whether she was the young lady in the picture or not， Old Rose felt in fact a little unpleasant. This is because the young lady in the picture was Old Rose herself actually in 1912.
“A dish” here was applied to mean a physically alluring person in spoken language rather than“a container for holding or carrying food” or“a specific kind of food prepared for a meal” or other meanings in accordance with the dictionary. Thus， if the translator translated this word as“盘；碟”or“具有某种风味的菜”， the Chinese viewers will find it is hard to comprehend that meaning in their cultural environment. Because the word dish had no connection with a beautiful person. Hence， they cannot think of the two different things together. However， the translator here can faithfully convey the meaning of“dish” by presenting an explanatory note in the Chinese subtitle. Thus， the appropriate comprehension will be ensured.
2. Addition
The people under diverse cultural circumstances vary in cognitive ways and cognitive customs. Hence， the subtitle translation can narrow the cultural differences by adding some vital messages to minimize the processing efforts of the foreign viewers.
Example 2：Jack：…And I had no brothers or sisters or close kin in that part of the country， So I lit on out of there and I haven’t been back since.You can just call me a tumbleweed blowing in the wind.Well， Rose. We’ve talked…
……在那儿我没有兄弟姐妹，没有任何亲人，所以我出来以后，再也没有回去。我就是那种秋天一来就齐根断掉，随风飘零的野草。喂，露丝，我们……
After being stopped by Jack from committing a suicide， Rose lived on confidently and became even extremely grateful to him. Due to her thanks and curiosity about Jack， Rose invited this poor young man to walk with her on the deck. They wandered together for about a mile on the boat deck. It can be inferred from his words“tumbleweed”that Jack suffered a lot when he was young. The translator here did not translate the word“tumbleweed” literally into“风滚草”， but properly added more words to convey its intended information in that context， for there is no such a plant or grass in China. Actually， tumbleweed is“a plant that occurs in desert areas in North America. It breaks away from its roots at the end of its life and then goes off around on the ground.” Jack applied this type of plant here as a figure of speech—metaphor to describe his rootless and homeless life. Thus， the translator added some words in order to provide most related translation to the audiences and reduce the processing efforts and time. 3. Omission
In accordance with the translation skill of“Omission”， the subtitle is able to omit some messages which are less important or are clear from the context.
Example 3：Cal：Mr.Dawson is joining us from the third class. He was of some assistance to my finance last night.他是从三等舱过来来加入我们。昨晚帮了我的未婚妻。
Rose：It turns out that Mr.Dawson is quite a fine artist.He was kind enough to show me some of his work today.事实上，道森先生是个画家。我看了他的作品。
Cal：Rose and I differ somewhat in our definition of fine art.Not to impugn your work，sir.露丝跟我对美术的看法有非常大的差异。当然我不是在批评你的作品。
（Rose indicates silently to Jack to put his napkin on his lap.）
（露丝示意杰克把餐巾铺在大腿上）
Comparing the source language with the Chinese version， it can be seen that the underlined parts in the original are omitted in the translated version. Nevertheless， the original information of the speakers is expressed clearly. There is no misunderstanding or bemusement to some degree for the Chinese viewers in the translated version. That is a result of the translators’ focus on the intention of the translation， because there are many other factors to satisfy the needs in the whole communication. For the ostensive-inferential communication， the translators ought to pay attention to the original intention of the communicators.
IV. Conclusion
This paper mainly discusses the subtitle translation of the English movie Titanic into Chinese on the basis of Sperber and Wilson’s Relevance. In the case study， examples of translated subtitles are selected from the movie screen and studied based on the Relevance Theory. Researching the conversation in the movie and analyzing the translated Chinese subtitles of the English movie Titanic have been done in this paper with many limits. I hope that in the future more translators and researchers will attach more importance to foreign movie subtitles and do more studies to get a more proper theoretic basis so that more foreign movies can be improved and translated subtitles can better ensure the effective inter-lingual and cross-cultural communication.
References：
[1]Bartoll，Eduard.“Parameters for the classification of subtitles” Journal of Cambridge University.6（2004）：14-20.
[2]Fang Mengzhi.Application of English - Chinese Translation Course.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2004.
[3]Gottlieb，Henric.Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2004.
作者簡介：迟皓月，在哈尔滨理工大学攻读英语笔译硕士学位，目前是研二学生。