Cartoons play a significant role in children’s learning, especially when combining scientific concepts with fun and humor. Subtitling these valuable resources deserves our attention as the quality and the comprehensibility of the resulting audiovisual product matter. In this regard, the present paper aimed to investigate translation strategies used for subtitling science-related intersemiotic metaphors in Netflix educational cartoon Ask the StoryBots. The cognitive model of Lakoff and Johnson (2003) and the concept of “polysemiotic message” (Pedersen, 2015) were considered for analysis. Qualitative data analysis also adopted a set of subtitling strategies based on the combination of Pederson’s (2015) strategies for subtitling visualized metaphors and Alshunnag’s (2016) strategies for translating metaphors in biomedical texts. Findings revealed that proper handling of intersemiotic metaphors requires careful consideration of all the audiovisual channels to convey both the intended meaning and effect lying behind the metaphors. Key priorities for the subtitler are delivering the metaphorical meaning, maintaining the intersemiotic cohesion between the channels, and ensuring adequate understanding among the young target audience.
【中文摘要】
卡通在兒童學習中扮演重要角色,尤其是將科學概念結合趣味和幽默的時候。為這些寶貴資源製作字幕應該受到重視,因為它們所產生的視聽產品品質和可理解性非常重要。就此而言,本文旨在研究 Netflix 教育卡通片《知識小奇兵》(Ask the StoryBots)中與科學相關跨語言隱喻字幕所使用的翻譯策略。分析時採用了 Lakoff 與 Johnson(2003)的認知模型及Pedersen(2015)的「多符號訊息」概念。質性資料分析亦採用一套字幕策略,其基礎是結合 Pederson(2015)的可視化隱喻字幕策略和 Alshunnag(2016)的生物醫學文本中隱喻的翻譯策略。研究結果顯示,恰當處理跨符號隱喻需要仔細考量所有視聽頻道,以傳達隱喻背後的意圖和效果。字幕製作者的主要任務是傳達隱喻意義、維持頻道間的語言連貫性,以及確保年輕的目標受眾能夠充分理解。