從語境觀點探討字幕翻譯的理解：以連接詞的縮減為例

An Exploration of the Role of Context in the Understanding of Subtitles: Connectives and the Use of Reduction

受到時間和空間的限制，字幕翻譯的譯文時常有所縮減，從而影響其訊息的完整傳達和理解，但有關縮減是否會影響字幕理解的研究付之闕如，因此本研究旨在探討字幕縮減，尤其是英文連接詞（例如：moreover， but， because， at first）的省略，對字幕的理解是否有影響及其程度。本研究採取問卷調查法，以四段Discovery 頻道英語發音配以中文字幕的影片（兩段紀錄片和兩段旅遊節目），測試158 名受測者對中文字幕中連接詞增減的看法。本研究根據原文的英文連接詞，將這四段影片的中文連接詞增加或減少至極限。研究結果顯示，連接詞的省略不會影響受測者對中文字幕的理解，而此結果可以字幕翻譯的語境因素加以解釋，這些因素包括：語域（語場、語旨、語式）、語用原則（例如：格萊斯關聯準則）、字幕翻譯的多重符號特色（例如：字幕、聲音和影像共存）。換言之，本研究主張從翻譯語境的觀點解釋字幕翻譯的縮減現象。本研究的發現可應用於字幕翻譯的教學和評估。

Due to time and space constraints, film subtitles are often subject to reduction, which in turn may lead to information loss and hamper comprehension. However, little research has been done on this issue. Therefore, this study aims to find out whether and to what extent the reduction of subtitles may affect readers' comprehension, with particular reference to connectives (e.g. moreover, but, because, and at first). The present study used a questionnaire survey concerned with four English-language film clips (two documentaries and two travel programs from the Discovery Channel) to test the response of 158 participants to the reduction or elimination of connectives in Chinese subtitles. The connectives of the Chinese subtitles in the four clips had been either increased or reduced to a maximum degree in order to enhance or reduce the cohesion level of Chinese subtitles without impairing their original meaning and syntax. The results of the survey show that the participants seemed to have no difficultycomprehending Chinese subtitles when most English connectives were intentionally not translated. That is, the omission of connectives did not seem to affect the comprehension of subtitles, which may be explained by contextual factors such as register (field, tenor, and mode), pragmatic principles (e.g. the Gricean maxim of relevance), and the multi-semiotic features of subtitling (e.g. the co-presence of subtitles, image, and sound). In other words, the present study shows that the use of reduction in subtitling could be justified from theperspective of context. These findings have implications for the teaching and assessmentof English to Chinese subtitling.