Introduction

This article investigates the development of training activities for subtitlers based on the psychological processes of subtitling English movies for Chinese. In following the action research paradigm, I have used qualitative research methods to collect and analyze data. The latter consists mainly of my own experience in subtitling more than 300 English movies for Chinese, along with my observation of subtitling behaviors exhibited by my students and colleagues working at translation agencies. I will introduce research backgrounds, research methods and psychological processes of subtitling, as well as identify subtitling subskills and propose learning activities.

Background

Since the Taiwanese government has mandated that all foreign films released to the public be subtitled in Mandarin Chinese, subtitling probably has the largest number of consumers in the translation business next to news translation in Taiwan. After the lifting of martial law, foreign movies (English language movies in particular) have inundated cable channels and movie theaters throughout the island. However, subtitling quality remains dubious, mainly because subtitlers have not been systematically trained. Many schools have started offering subtitling programs; however, no research has been available that investigates how to design or implement such courses of study.

Based on my research that training tasks be based on subskills identified in the psychological processes of subtitling, I would recommend that the following components be included in a subtitling program: background knowledge, vocabulary, translation automaticity, listening comprehension, short consecutive interpretation, summarizing and the inputting skills for Chinese characters.

I would also propose that subtitling and translation differ in the following ways: different input, different output, different translation processes and different characteristics, and thus, different training is required. I will discuss how to integrate them into subtitler training further on in this article.

Research Methods

I have used three research methods:

1. my own subtitling experience
2. observation of my students' and colleagues' subtitling behavior
3. the development of a series of training tasks based on subtitling subskills.

My research attempts to answer the following questions:

1. What are the psychological processes of subtitling?
2. What are subtitling subskills?
3. How can these subskills be sequenced systematically for subtitler training?

Mental Processes Involved in Subtitling

Since Taiwanese subtitlers are paid meagerly for their work, they tend to translate in the most efficient way in order to make a profit. Depending on their experience, they generally follow one of the following four, sometimes overlapping, processes:

• Translate the subtitles based on the script. The subtitlers translate based on the script downloaded with a password from the Internet. Then they watch the movie on a VCR to check for translation accuracy between the source and target languages, and revise accordingly. I observed this in my students as they subtitled a movie for a TV company for the first time.
• Consecutive interpretation. The subtitlers watch the movie played on a VCR, listen to the soundtrack, pause at thought or meaning units, and interpret consecutively while another person inputs the Chinese. In this case, subtitling is similar to consecutive interpretation without taking notes. The only difference is that the subtitler must be very accurate and precise in wording. This is the fastest mode because the subtitler and computer operator can each focus on their job.
• Watch a movie played on a VCR and listen to the soundtrack. The subtitlers pause momentarily after one or two sentences, translate, and then input the Chinese characters. (Subtitlers used to write down the subtitles before personal computers became widely available). They return to the previous segment to revise, proofread and edit before continuing on to the next one.
  Using this method, scripts are rarely consulted, partly to save time and partly because they are sometimes unavailable. Thus, subtitlers have learned to rely completely on their aural skills. When the original language is incomprehensible, the subtitler can ask native speakers of English or adapt, paraphrase or summarize, based on the context. For example, I used this mode to subtitle over 300 movies. This is a very efficient way to subtitle, but it is sometimes difficult, particularly when the original language is incomprehensible due to slang, unusual manners of articulation, poor recording and/or exotic accents.
• Watch the movie played on a VCR, listen to the sound track, stop momentarily to consult the script, translate and input the Chinese characters. This mode is used by novice subtitlers who can translate based on the script and who have enough listening comprehension ability to distinguish the discrepancies between the script and the soundtrack. Without the script, the subtitler cannot work efficiently with this method.
• Listen to the soundtrack recorded on a tape played on a tape player and translate, consulting the script if available. The subtitler may or may not have watched the movie. This method is probably the most difficult and most inaccurate because the subtitler relies exclusively on audio input. The accuracy may be enhanced by watching the movie, proofreading and editing.

In summary, subtitlers follow different mental processes, depending partly on their abilities and partly on their experience. Experienced subtitlers rely more on their aural skills than do novices, who tend to rely on the scripts. The latter often need to go back and forth between the script, the computer screen and the TV.

Subtitling Subskills

Based on the mental processes delineated above, subtitling subskills may be identified and taught as follows:

• Becoming familiar with the linguistic norms of subtitling. Individuals should first become familiar with the linguistic norms related to subtitling. These include clarity, conciseness, omission and the synchronization between subtitles and the original information.
• Translating the script. Since nowadays most movies come with a script that may be downloaded on the Internet with a password, students need to learn to translate the script.
• Identifying the discrepancies between the script and the soundtrack. The script often carries lines that are different from the information on the original soundtrack. Translating the script sentence by sentence will result in subtitles that do not match the original soundtrack. Therefore, students need to learn how to match the script with the original soundtrack and revise the subtitles accordingly.
• Listening comprehension. A subtitler needs to be able to understand the audio information on the soundtrack. Listening ability is fundamental since the subtitler may not always have a script available.
• Understanding slang, jargon, special terms, collocations, etc. The meaning of most of these expressions is context-dependent, so they cannot be located in bilingual dictionaries. Students need to learn to check them in an unabridged English dictionary and then translate them based on the context of the movie.
• Adapting, abstracting, summarizing and condensing. Since subtitles should be as concise and short as possible to avoid straining the eyes of the viewers, the subtitler must learn to adapt, abstract, summarize and condense when the information in the source language is dense, redundant, complicated or even incomprehensible.
• Revising and editing. Subtitlers usually do not revise, proofread or edit after the entire project is finished. However, all subtitlers revisit and revise previous segments of their work before continuing on to the next segment.

In summary, the subskills of subtitling consist of translating the script; identifying the discrepancies between the script and the soundtrack; listening comprehension; understanding slang, jargons, special terms, and collocations; adapting, abstracting, summarizing; and revising and editing.

Learning Activities

The following classroom activities can help systematically prepare students to be professional subtitlers:

• Phrased reading. Students are instructed to watch a move played on a VCR or DVD player and stop the machine momentarily at a thought / meaning / phrase unit. This seemingly easy task may take a long time to learn.
• Repeat after the message heard. Students are required to watch a movie with the subtitles turned off and repeat after the message by pausing at thought units. If the students can repeat correctly, they tend to be able to understand the source language and know how to look up unfamiliar words in the dictionary based on how they sound.
• Enhance Chinese character inputting speed. Because all subtitling work is finished by computer, students should develop the skills required to input Chinese characters. Obviously, this skill takes a lot of practice and can be developed through requiring students to turn in assignments on computer diskette.
• Identify the discrepancies between the source and target languages. This seemingly easy task is probably the most difficult because it is often hard to distinguish between a translation error, abstraction, adaptation, condensing and omission.
• Consecutive interpretation (CI). Students listen to the source language and pause momentarily to interpret into the target language. This form of CI usually does not require taking notes, but wording should be extremely precise.
• Listen to an audio tape recording of a movie and provide subtitles. The more advanced students can listen to an audiotape and provide subtitles based on the information heard.

Play the DVD Movie in Different Modes

Movies on DVDs may be played in different modes using Power DVD software and Microsoft Office XP.

• Turn on both the source and the target language subtitles. Pause at each thought unit to compare the original subtitles with the target language subtitles, and critique. This mode may increase input and familiarize students with the linguistic norms for subtitling. It should be used first because it enhances students' abilities in listening comprehension, reading and critiquing. This in turn will develop the students' ability to revise and edit subtitles. Students can also enhance their general English skills by expanding their vocabulary, idioms, slang, register, etc.
• Turn on the source language subtitles. Pause momentarily at thought units and ask beginning students to provide subtitles. Request that more advanced students perform consecutive interpretation.
• Turn off both the source and the target language subtitles. Instruct advanced students to create subtitles by watching a movie with both subtitles off.

In summary, the process of training subtitlers should imitate that of actual subtitling itself.

Suggestions for Teaching

Students should be allowed to choose the movies to play in the classroom based on their preferences. However, there are a few basic principles to follow to allow for effective and efficient training:

Inputs Before Outputs

• Students should receive a lot of input by watching many movies and critiquing their subtitling techniques. In addition, they need to be exposed to movies of different genres. Learning subtitling is just like putting money in the bank. What you put into the bank is what you get out of it. That is to say, if students get very little input, they are unlikely to be very efficient when they create subtitles for movies. On the other hand, if they receive a lot of input by watching a lot of movies and reading their subtitles and comparing them with the original language carefully, they will become familiar with the norms of subtitling and the different parameters used for evaluating it.
  Critiquing and discussing movie subtitling in the classroom may increase input. Movies may be critiqued in the classroom, and students may be required to watch movies and critique them as assignments. This includes identifying subtitling errors and verifying that the subtitles meet the norms.
• Movies should be sequenced in terms of difficulty. Movies should be selected and sequenced based on their level of difficulty. Although movies from all genres should be used, easier movies in each genre should be viewed before more difficult ones.
• Movies played in the classroom should be interesting and fun. Avoid tedious and boring movies, particularly if younger learners are involved.
• Avoid movies that are sexually explicit or too bloody and violent. Whatever is inappropriate in regular classrooms is also inappropriate in a subtitling course.
• Do not play a movie from beginning to end. Due to time constraints, and the need to cover movies of as many genres as possible, only representative sections of each movie should be played and discussed in the classroom. Most important of all, play each segment of a movie more than once. In real situations, subtitlers will listen to each segment at least once, then backtrack to verify what they have heard and/or to proofread and edit before proceeding to the next segment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this article first outlined the background and mental processes required for subtitling. It then identified subskills involved in subtitling, explained how to play DVD movies in different modes and created a sequence of training activities. Finally, it pointed out what needs to be taken into account when implementing a subtitling course. Other researchers are encouraged to implement subtitling courses involving different languages and students at varying levels of competency.

Dr. Sheng-Jie Chen teaches consecutive and simultaneous interpretation, subtitling, business negotiation and public speaking at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Taipei, Taiwan and has published extensively in all of these areas. He has taught sight translation at the graduate school of business communication at the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology. Dr. Chen's working languages are Mandarin Chinese, English, and Taiwanese for conference interpretation. His experience includes subtitling more than 300 English movies into Chinese, and fifty Chinese movies into English. He has also interpreted at international conferences for companies such as IBM, Lucent Technologies, Ford Motor, Acer and Converse. Dr. Chen may be reached at shengjie@mail.ntust.edu.tw.

NOTE: This paper is part of a research project funded by the ROC National Science Council under grant number NSC91-2516-S011-002-. I would like to thank LISA's General Editor for reviewing this article. However, if there are any errors, I am completely responsible for them.