Doctoral Dissertation Research: Subtitle Groups as Cultural Translators in China

加州大学洛杉矶分校博士生萧志华将在埃莉诺·奥克斯博士的指导下，以中国业余译者的互联网地下网络为背景，研究文化翻译现象。自上世纪90年代初的后经济改革时期以来，互联网在中国城市地区的发展，为居民提供了绕过政府对信息垄断的机会。非正式的志愿者字幕组出现于20世纪90年代中期，他们开始为电视节目添加和分发中文字幕，然后将这些字幕发布到网上，以满足年轻一代对美国流行文化的渴望。中国观众已经接受了这种非官方的渠道，将其作为外国流行文化的另一种来源。本研究以北京为中心，采用多种民族志方法记录语言和文化翻译过程，通过这些过程，字幕作者以符合中国年轻一代观众的社会文化理解的方式传达文化特定概念。本研究以文化翻译为主题，探讨中国志愿翻译的字幕与社会文化意识形态全球化的关系。这项研究将有助于理解全球化和信息技术的社会协调使用，通过深入了解协作中文字幕团队如何充当文化经纪人，并在虚拟社区中代表中国青年和年轻人的牺牲和道德的新范式。此外，本研究将展示这些举措如何影响中国年轻一代对外国流行文化的看法，作为更大的全球化信息流的一部分。资助这项研究也加强了与中国的国际学术合作，并支持研究生的教育。

University of California-Los Angeles doctoral student Chi-hua Hsiao, under the guidance of Dr. Elinor Ochs, will investigate the phenomenon of cultural translation in the context of an underground network of internet-based amateur translators in China. Since the post-economic reform period in the early 1990s, the growth of the internet in urban areas in China has afforded residents opportunities to circumvent the state-party monopoly of information. Informal volunteer subtitling groups emerged in the mid-1990s and began catering to the younger generation's thirst for U.S. popular culture by adding and distributing Chinese-language subtitles to TV programs, which they then posted online. Chinese audiences have embraced this unofficial outlet as an alternative source of foreign popular culture.Centered in Beijing, this research adopts a variety of ethnographic methods for documenting the linguistic and cultural translation processes through which subtitlers communicate culturally specific concepts in ways that fit the sociocultural understandings of the younger generation of Chinese audiences. Focusing on the theme of cultural translation, this linguistic anthropological study will explore how Chinese volunteer translators' subtitles relate to the globalization of sociocultural ideologies.This study will contribute to the understanding of globalization and to the understanding of socially coordinated uses of information technology by offering insights into how collaborative Chinese subtitling groups act as cultural brokers and represent a new paradigm of sacrifice and morality among Chinese youth and young adults within the virtual community. In addition, this research will demonstrate how such initiatives influence the younger Chinese generation's perceptions of foreign popular culture as part of the larger globalized flow of information. Funding this research also strengthens international scholarly collaborations with China and supports the education of a graduate student.