Translating Linguistic Metaphors in Documentary Subtitles: A Cross-Cultural Reconstruction Perspective

Abstract

This paper examines the challenge of translating Chinese metaphors into English subtitles from a cross-cultural reconstruction perspective. Drawing on Eugene Nida’s functional equivalence theory and Peter Newmark’s metaphor translation strategies, it analyzes a Chinese documentary and its English subtitles as a case study. Under the constraints of audiovisual translation, the goal is to achieve an equivalent effect on the target audience. The findings indicate that effective subtitle translation of metaphors requires creative adaptation. Culturally shared metaphors can often be translated literally, while culture-specific or conceptually dense metaphors demand adaptation or brief explanation to preserve their meaning and impact. The study illustrates how theoretical principles of dynamic equivalence and metaphor translation are applied in practice, ensuring that translated subtitles remain faithful in spirit to the original yet accessible to international viewers despite spatio-temporal constraints.