Audiovisual translation in China: A dialogue between Yves Gambier and Haina Jin

Abstract

This dialogue was conducted between Yves Gambier and Haina Jin in April and November 2017, and April 2018 in Beijing, China, in order to give a panoramic view of audiovisual translation in China today, the history of which dates back to the silent film era. Audiovisual translation has played an important role in cross-cultural communication, industrial development and social integration in China. Vibrant audiovisual translation activities can be seen in three main directions: translating foreign audiovisual products into Chinese, translating Chinese audiovisual products into foreign languages and audiovisual translation into ethnic minority languages in China. In this dialogue, the three main translation directions, the status of translators, the role of associations, standards, education and training, as well as further development of audiovisual translation in China will be discussed.

Assessment criteria in audio describer training: An investigation of learner perceptions in a university interpreting programme in Hong Kong of China

“…The results show that most students (83%) had not heard of AD before the training. This is understandable given that the participants were from China's Hong Kong and mainland, where media accessibility services are limited (Jin & Gambier, 2018;Leung, 2015). Although the Chinese mainland has the largest number of people who are visually impaired in the world-12.63 million at the end of 2010 (China Disabled Persons' , 2018), no legal obligation has been imposed on broadcasters or media and production companies to address accessibility to the visually impaired.…”

“…The results show that most students (83%) had not heard of AD before the training. This is understandable given that the participants were from China’s Hong Kong and mainland, where media accessibility services are limited (Jin & Gambier, 2018; Leung, 2015). Although the Chinese mainland has the largest number of people who are visually impaired in the world—12.63 million at the end of 2010 (China Disabled Persons’ Federation, 2012)—and the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Disabled People （《中华人民共和国残疾人保障法》） stipulates that the government and society shall take measures to enrich the spiritual and cultural life of disabled persons (Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, 2018), no legal obligation has been imposed on broadcasters or media and production companies to address accessibility to the visually impaired.…”

Applying machine translation to Chinese–English subtitling: Constraints and challenges

“…With increasing economic and cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world, the demand for Chinese-English subtitling is constantly burgeoning (Gambier & Jin, 2018). Apart from the general obstacles to using MT in AVT, the integration of MT in Chinese-English subtitling faces further complexities.…”