Cover not available

Article published In: Audiovisual translation in context: Granting access to digital mediascapes
Edited by Jorge Díaz-Cintas, Alessandra Rizzo and Cinzia Giacinta Spinzi
[Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 9:3] 2023
► pp. 352–378

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

The Chinese Oliver Twist

Transcreation in digital subtitling settings

 | Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
Published online: 9 November 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.00118.lia
Abstract
This article sheds light upon subtitling as the audiovisual translation (AVT) mode applied to three subtitled versions of Oliver Twist. The comparison takes place within the subtitling context of two officially sanctioned versions (i.e., the musical and the film) and the non-professional and transcreated versions released on social media platforms. Research has been carried out within audiovisual translation studies with the scope of verifying issues relating to the translation of characters’ names (appellation), religious terminology, and songs, which are subject to changes and innovative transformations when transcreated. There is an increasingly high demand for viewer-generated participation in the translation of audiovisual productions as opposed to traditional passive viewing experiences (Di Giovanni, Elena, and Yves Gambier (eds). 2018. Reception Studies and Audiovisual Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, vii–viii). The significant rise of user-oriented modes of translation released on popular video-sharing platforms has not been systematically researched. Attention is primarily paid to the Chinese subtitles produced for Oliver Twist’s most recent film adaption directed by Polanski, Roman, director. 2005. Oliver Twist. R.P. Productions. 125 minutes.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. These subtitles reinterpret and redirect the product’s cultural and temporal specificities and complexities to reinforce Chinese cultural heritage (. 2020. “Reshaping History: Cultural and Temporal Transfer in a Heritage Film Oliver Twist (2005).” Journal of Audiovisual Translation 3 (1): 26–49. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 26). A particular role is played by transcreation in subtitling as a translation method that is able to embrace the richness of Oliver Twist in its various adapted forms: theatre, cinema, and social media platforms. Drawing upon the concept of abusive subtitling coined by Nornes, Abé Mark. 1999. “For an Abusive Subtitling.” Film Quarterly 52 (3): 17–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, the paper investigates the definition of transcreation within subtitling procedures and scrutinises technological advances and multimodal creativity within the context of Oliver Twist. In this sense, transcreation as a fan-driven practice in subtitling has the scope of giving visibility to artistic works in a more creative way, as well as of presenting them tinted with individualised characteristics which cater to the various demands for a variety of audiences.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The context of transcreated subtitling
  • 3.Literature review
    • 3.1The translation of character names in Oliver Twist
    • 3.2The translation of religion in Oliver Twist (2005)
    • 3.3Song translation of Oliver Twist (2005)
  • 4.Conceptual framework
    • 4.1Multimodality
    • 4.2Social semiotics
  • 5.The corpus
    • 5.1Case study
      • 5.1.1The translation of appellation of characters in Oliver Twist
      • 5.1.2The translation of religious terminology in Oliver Twist
      • 5.1.3Song translation in Oliver Twist
        • 5.1.3.1The translation of song featured with end rhyme
  • 6.Results and discussions
  • 7.Future directions and current limitations
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (57)
References
Baldry, Anthony, and Paul Thibault. 2006. Multimodal Transcription and Text Analysis: A Multimedia Toolkit and Coursebook. London: Equinox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chaume, Frederic. 2018. “Is Audiovisual Translation Putting the Concept of Translation up against the Ropes?” The Journal of Specialised Translation 301: 84–104.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, Xijinyan. 2022. “Taboo Language in Non-Professional Subtitling on Bilibili.com: A Corpus-Based Study.” Languages 7 (138): 1–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dickens, Charles. 1861. Great Expectations. London: Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1868. The Adventures of Oliver Twist. London: Ticknor and Fields.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Di Giovanni, Elena, and Yves Gambier (eds). 2018. Reception Studies and Audiovisual Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ezika, Chidoo. 2016. A Translation of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens: Problems and Principles. Unpublished MA Thesis. University of Nigeria.
Fernández-Costales, Alberto. 2018. “On the Reception of Mobile Content: New Challenges in Audiovisual Translation Research.” In Reception Studies and Audiovisual Translation, ed. by Elena Di Giovanni, and Yves Gambier, 297–319. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fox, Wendy. 2016. “Integrated Titles: An Improved Viewing Experience?” In Eyetracking and Applied Linguistics, ed. by Silvia Hansen-Schirra, and Sambor Grucza, 5–30. Berlin: Language Science Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gao, Xiu. “The Image of Jews Reconstructed in A Chinese Translation of Oliver Twist from the Perspective of Imagology.” Journal of Literature and Art Studies 10 (8): 682–688.
Grove, Nicola. 1998. Literature for All. London: David Fulton Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grubb, Gerald Giles. 1941. “On the Serial Publication of Oliver Twist.” Modern Language Notes 56 (4): 290–294. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Guo, Ting. 2011. “Dickens on the Chinese Screen.” Literature Compass 8 (10): 795–810. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Herzfeld, Michael. 2004. The Body Impolitic: Artisans and Artifice in the Global Hierarchy of Value. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
HI-COM. 2021. “Top 24 Chinese Social Media Apps, Websites, and Platforms in 2021.” Accessed June 11, 2022. [URL]
Higson, Andrew. 1996. Dissolving Views: Key Writings on British Cinema. London: Cassell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hung, Wai-Yee Eva. 1980. “A Critical Study of Chinese Translations of Oliver Twist and David Copperfield.” Mphil diss. The University of Hong Kong.
Ivarsson, Jan, and Mary Carroll. 1998. Subtitling. Simrishamn: TransEdit HB.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jewitt, Carey, and Berit Henriksen. 2016. “Social Semiotic Multimodality.” In Handbuch Sprache im Multimodalen Kontext, ed. by Nina-Maria Klug, and Hartmut Stöckl, 145–164. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kapsaskis, Dionysios. “Creative Subtitling as Film-Transformative Practice: from Immersion to Amazement in Edgar Pêra’s The Baron.” Online Talk organised by the Centre for Translation and Interpreting Studies, University of Leicester, UK, November 22nd, 2022.
Kei, Chu, director. 1955. An Orphan’s Tragedy. Union Film Enterprise. 113 minutes.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kress, Gunther, and Theo van Leeuwen. 2001. Multimodal Discourse. The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication. London: Arnold.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuhn, William M. 1987. “Queen Victoria’s Jubilees and the Invention of Tradition.” Victorian Poetry 25 (3/4): 107–114.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lean, David, director. 1948. Oliver Twist. Cineguild. 116 minutesGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, Seryun. 2021. “Translating YouTube Vlogs for a Global Audience: Innovative Subtitling and Community-Building.” International Journal of Cultural Studies 24 (5): 767–790. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lian, Min. 2017. “Discourse Analysis of Oliver Twist from the Perspective of Pragmatics.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies 7 (8): 626–632. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liang, Lisi. 2018. “Translation and Transcultural Creativity: A Comparison of Chinese Authorized Subtitling and Fansubbing in the Case Study of Notting Hill (1999).” TranslatoLogica 21: 26–48.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2020. “Reshaping History: Cultural and Temporal Transfer in a Heritage Film Oliver Twist (2005).” Journal of Audiovisual Translation 3 (1): 26–49. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2022. Subtitling English-Language Films for a Chinese Audience: Cross-Linguistic and Cross-Cultural Transfer. Guangzhou: Sun Yat-Sen University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Manini, Luca. 1996. “Meaningful Literary Names: Their Forms and Functions, and their Translation.” The Translator 2 (2): 161–178. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McClarty, Rebecca. 2012. “Towards a Multidisciplinary Approach in Creative Subtitling.” MonTI 41: 133–153. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. “In Support of Creative Subtitling: Contemporary Context and the Theoretical Framework.” Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 22 (4): 592–606. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nemoto, Kumiko. 2006. “Intimacy, Desire, and the Construction of Self in Relationships between Asian American Women and White American Men.” Journal of Asian American Studies 9 (1): 27–54. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nornes, Abé Mark. 1999. “For an Abusive Subtitling.” Film Quarterly 52 (3): 17–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ødegaard, Emma Bruin. 2011. “We’ve Taken to You so Strong” Oliver Twist in Norway.” Unpublished MA Thesis. University of Oslo.
Orrego-Carmona, David. 2018. “New Audiences, International Distribution, and Translation.” In Reception Studies and Audiovisual Translation, ed. by Elena Di Giovanni, and Yves Gambier, 321–342. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d). Accessed June 30, 2023. [URL]
Paganoni, Maria Cristina. 2010. “From Book to Film: The Semiotics of Jewishness in Oliver Twist.” Dickens Quarterly 27 (4): 307–320.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Park, Keith. 2001. “Oliver Twist: An Exploration of Interactive Storytelling and Object Use in Communication.” British Journal of Special Education 28 (1): 18–23. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pérez-González, Luis. 2007. “Intervention in New Amateur Subtitling Cultures: A Multimodal Account.” Linguistica Antverpiensia 61: 68–80.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. “Multimodality and Audiovisual Translation.” Online Talk organised by Shanghai International Studies University, May 25th, 2022.
Pogacar, Ruth, Agnes Pisanski Peterlin, Nike K. Pokorn, and Timothy Pogačar. 2017. “Sound Symbolism in Translation: A Case Study of Character Names in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist.” Translation and Interpreting Studies. The Journal of the American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association 12 (1): 137–161. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Polanski, Roman, director. 2005. Oliver Twist. R.P. Productions. 125 minutes.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quizlet. 2022. “Oliver Twist Vocabulary.” Accessed June 16, 2020. [URL]
Reed, Carol, director. 1968. Oliver! Romulus Films. 153 minutes.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Romero-Fresco, Pablo, Frederic Chaume. 2022. “Creativity in Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility.” The Journal of Specialised Translation 381: 75–101.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scorus, Vali. 2021. “China Tech Express: Bilibili Releases 2020 Influencer Report.” China Tech Express. Accessed June 08, 2022. [URL]
Scribner, George, director. 1988. Oliver & Company. Walt Disney Feature Animation. 74 minutes.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sertkan, Kamer. 2007. The Ideology of Lexical Choices in the Turkish Translations of Oliver Twist. MA Thesis. Dokuz Eylul University.
Sheehan, Lucy. 2020. “Legal Intimacies: Slavery and Marriage in Victorian Law and Literature.” Law, Cultural and the Humanities. Accessed June 30, 2021. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
TranscriptDB. 2005. “Oliver Twist (2005) Script.” Accessed November 28, 2022. [URL]
van Leeuwen, Theo. 2005. Introducing Social Semiotics. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. “Multimodal Literacy.” Viden om Literacy, 211: 4–13.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence. 1995. The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yang, Yuhong. 2020. “The Danmaku Interface on Bilibili and the Recontextualised Translation Practice: A Semiotic Technology Perspective.” Social Semiotics 30 (2): 254–273. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Meifang, and Li Pan. 2009. “Introducing a Chinese Perspective on Translation Shifts: A Comparative Study of Shift Models by Loh and Vinay & Darbelnet.” The Translator 15 (2): 351–374. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Wang, Feng, Feifei Wang & Zhong Lin
2024. ‘There are no restrictions on me’: a netnographic approach to amateur subtitling from the perspective of translanguaging. International Journal of Multilingualism ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 21 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue