Re-subtitling the West: a comparative study of simplified Chinese subtitles of anglophone television series and their retranslations (2000s-2020s)

Abstract

This thesis examines the evolving practice of English-to-Simplified Chinese re-subtitling in mainland China from the early 2000s to the early 2020s. It focuses on how subtitling strategies and norms shift across time, patronage, and audience orientations. Grounded in Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS), the study adopts a product-oriented, norm-based approach that treats re-subtitling as both a textual practice and a cultural phenomenon. Cultural references (CRs), as key sites of translational challenge and strategic choice, are used as empirical indicators of shifting norms.
Three comparative case studies are conducted: (1) diachronic fan retranslations of Doctor Who (2005), (2) synchronic fan retranslations of four Netflix Originals, and (3) diachronic commercial retranslations of Friends (1994). Each case draws on self-compiled subtitle corpora, enabling systematic analysis of the strategies used to render CRs across initial and retranslated versions.
The findings complicate both the assumptions of the Retranslation Hypothesis and the view that fansubbing is inherently more interventional. Retranslations vary: some display stronger source orientation and intervention, while others move towards domestication. These differences cannot be explained by time alone, as they are also shaped by institutional conditions and audience dynamics, particularly where multiple subtitle versions circulate and viewers differ in cultural literacy and engagement.
By tracing how CRs are handled across fan and commercial re-subtitling, this study develops a context-sensitive account of Simplified Chinese subtitling practices. It challenges the divide between amateur and professional subtitling and shows how re-subtitling mirrors wider transformations in audience agency, patronage, and platform governance over

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ORCID for Xuesi Yang: orcid.org/0009-0006-0537-509X

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