Impact caption translation on a streaming media platform: the case of a Chinese reality show

ABSTRACT

Impact captions are intra-lingual captions displayed onscreen with special typography to encourage viewers to think about onscreen content and immerse themselves in the programme. Normally, in audiovisual translation, some impact captions are translated as subtitles and placed at the bottom of the screen but most are not translated. Few academic studies have focused on impact caption translation. Through qualitative content analysis and comparative analysis, this study analyses the translation of impact captions in the English and Malay subtitles of an episode of a Chinese reality show. Impact caption functions and semiotic change that occurs in reconstructing the functions are explored using a social semiotic multimodal approach and functions of impact captions. Study findings indicate that top-of-screen notes are adopted as semiotic resources to convey the meanings of impact captions. However, overlapping makes some top-of-screen notes unreadable. It is suggested that making use of the interplay between modes and time spans for seamless transitions in presenting translations, and establishing guidelines can help reconstruct the function of impact caption.

KEYWORDS:

• Impact caption
• telop
• multimodality
• audiovisual translation
• streaming media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yean Fun Chow

Yean Fun Chow is a senior lecturer at the Translation Studies and Interpreting Section, School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Her research interests include media translation, multimodality, Japanese, Chinese and Cantonese translation.