Political TV documentary subtitling in China: a critical discourse analysis perspective

ABSTRACT

This study is premised on the hypothesis that subtitling for political documentaries is bound to be the subject of ideo-political manipulation. Given China’s changing socio-political landscape and evolving political representations, it is of interest to examine the forms of mediation enacted by institutions and other parameters at work to influence the subtitling practices of political documentaries. A critical discourse analysis of political documentary translation was thus carried out, not merely as an investigation of the textual features, but also as an integrated socio-cultural projection to account for the subtitling choices. Two TV political documentaries were selected for analysis in terms of the context of production and reception, censorship, subtitling norms and subtitling choices. The findings reveal that although the subtitles in political documentaries can be delivered in a pleasingly functional and mediated form, ideo-political factors still constitute the underlying forms of manipulation that operate in a less visible fashion in the new era of China’s governance.

KEYWORDS:

• Political TV documentary translation
• critical discourse analysis
• ideo-political manipulation
• subtitling choices

Acknowledgements

I am grateful for Professor Miao Ju at the English Department of Nankai University for her source of information and generous support. I am also grateful for the anonymous reviewers and editors for their constructive and detailed comments to help improve the article in many aspects.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr. Jingjing Li is Lecturer in the Translation Department of Nankai University, specialising in political discourse studies and audiovisual translation of Chinese political discourse. She was awarded a PhD Degree in Translation Studies at the University of Salford in the UK in 2013 and a MSc Degree with Distinction in Translation and Conference Interpreting at Heriot-Watt University in 2009. Dr. Li has published articles on translation studies of Chinese political discourse in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Tianjin Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Sciences [grant number TJWW16-003]; and the Special Fund for Basic Research in Central Universities [grant number 63172041].