Studying the Translation of Musicals from a Cross-Cultural Perspective

Details

Supervisors

Lefer, Marie-Aude

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en communication multilingue, à finalité spécialisée: langues des affaires

Abstract

As more and more foreign language musicals enter the Chinese market, the importance of Chinese translations of musicals is increasing. The translation of a musical not only needs to match the artistic characteristics of the musical but also needs to convey the meaning of the original work accurately. For translators, choosing the right translation strategy is a big challenge. However, compared with the West, Chinese musical translation research still needs to be improved, and there is an urgent need to improve the study of translation strategies for the rich cross-cultural elements contained in musicals. This study focuses on four common cultural elements: names, idioms, proverbs, memes, and religious beliefs, analyzes the translation strategies adopted by Chinese translators in dealing with the corresponding cross-cultural elements, taking the plot segments of several well-known Western musicals as case studies. The findings reveal that strategies such as transliteration, explanation, explicitation, imitation, transposition, local culture adaptation, omission, and softening are commonly used. Furthermore, translators often combine multiple approaches to tackle the semantic, artistic, and cultural constraints faced in musical translation.