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Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting 

www.jhkpress.com 

Volume 01, Issue 01, 2021, ISSN: 2766-791X 

The Translation’s Role in Chinese Film Entering the 

Western Market 

Zhimei Zhu1 

Wuxi Canal Experimental Middle School, Jiangsu, China 

11694503@qq.com 

Abstract: Based on data retrieved from different databases and interviews with Chinese 

film translators, this research reviews the translation’s role in Chinese films entering the 

Western markets, especially the American market. To increase the understanding of 

Chinese film translation involved in the film industry, the Translation Economics theory 

was applied in this paper. It is recommended that film translators bear in mind Nida’s 

functional equivalence standard to produce a translation conducive to film profitability. 

Keywords: Chinese films, American market, film translation 

1. Chinese film export since 1980

In its broad sense, the 1980s was an era of the rise of Chinese language movies. Waves of 

movies from Hong Kong, then Taiwan and China, were brought to overseas Chinese 

communities in Southeast Asia and other regions, becoming a new force in the 

international film industry. Among the films produced in China, the works produced by 

the “fifth generation” directors (i.e. graduates from the Beijing Film Academy in the 

1980s) and animation movies produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio were first 

imported by European cinemas and TV stations. However, even in this unprecedented 

golden age, few commercial films produced in Hong Kong were able to enter the sub-

market of Europe and America in the mode of “trade circulation”, while Chinese movies 

were only “exotic” artworks appreciated by the western intellectual class. They were not 

parts of the mainstream consumer culture like Hollywood movies in the United States or 

animation and video games in Japan. Previously, the state-owned China Film Import & 

Export Corporation had exclusive export privileges. When private studios gained the 

rights to export Chinese movies, China Film Import & Export Corporation’s export 

1 Author’s contact information in Chinese  (作者): 朱志梅, 江苏无锡运河实验中学 

http://www.jhkpress.com/


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business shrank much. Most of the overseas distribution of work by the “fifth generation” 

was undertaken by Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japanese investors.  

In recent years, a new generation of Chinese film directors and producers have shown 

their strength and international insight. High-quality films that have grossed over 

hundreds of millions of dollars at the Chinese box office have been distributed in 

European and American markets, bringing increasingly great profits. Among them, 

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon grossed US$ 128 million in the USA, 60% of the 

worldwide total, topping the chart of Chinese films released overseas (Box Office Mojo, 

2000). Nevertheless, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a rare case generating high 

profits in America. Most Chinese movies yielded less than one million dollars in the 

USA, with a few grossing several million. Due to the huge cultural differences between 

China and the west, Chinese films are not well recognized or appreciated by audiences in 

Europe and America. For example, the Chinese epic war film Red Cliff was only 

distributed in Asian markets. The cultural references in Red Cliff are very exotic to 

American audiences so it is difficult for them to understand. The total box office of  Red 

Cliff (Parts 1 & 2, 2018) worldwide was 250 million US dollars, while its American 

version grossed only $627,047 in 2019, less than 0.5% of the international total  (Box 

Office Mojo, 2019). These box office receipts mainly come from China and Asian 

markets.   

This paper intends to answer the following research questions: When will Chinese films 

have the opportunity to win coveted Oscars? When will Chinese movies join the overseas 

ten-million-dollar box office club? When can Chinese movies take on the responsibility 

of cultural communication between China and the world? To answer those questions, this 

research examines the mechanism for the Chinese film translation industry, identifies its 

shortcomings and proposes solutions.  

2. Film translation cost 

The film transmits information through languages of picture and sound. The importance 

of translation cannot be overstressed for a Chinese film to be understood in English-

speaking countries, but translation has not been valued highly by the Chinese film 

industry. To better understand the film translation industry in China, a professional film 

translator’s online journal (J. Dong, 2020)  was analyzed and relevant movie data 

analyzed. The translator, Dong Jing, is the founder of Beijing Erdongxuan Translation 

Studio. The studio has participated in the translation of famous film and television 

programs such as Wandering Earth (2019), Crazy Alien (2019) and Sheep without a 

Shepherd (2019). 

Through the analysis, it is found that translators of Chinese Films have not been given 

full credit. For example, in 2019, Dong Jing, the translator mentioned above, checked 

three films translated by his team and discovered that only in one movie, his name and 

his studio’s logo were included. From 2010 to 2020, Dong Jing has been involved in the 



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translation of dozens of films, and eight out of the ten clients considered his prices for 

translation were too high. 

Dong Jing described how his translation studio gave quotes. A complete movie script 

usually has 30,000-50,000 words, and the subtitles are about 9,000-15,000 words. The 

translation price quoted is less than 100,000 yuan (15, 313 USD) for the translation of 

both the script and subtitles by native English speakers. Most customers considered that 

price too high. In sharp contrast, these film production companies are usually willing to 

invest more than 200,000 yuan on the production of one second of special effects. 

The market outlook for TV programs translators is not strong either. For example, for the 

translation of a TV series, with about 8,000 words in one episode, the customer budget 

maybe only 1000 yuan, and needs to be completed within one day. According to Dong 

Jing, his company’s experienced Chinese translators with more than 10 years' experience 

usually can only complete 2,000 - 3,000 words of translation from Chinese to English per 

day, and even translators who are bilingual in English and Chinese can only translate up 

to 5,000 words a day. 

The price 150 yuan (23 USD) for the English translation of one thousand Chinese 

characters to be completed within one day is extremely low. To cut the cost and complete 

such a project within the expected time, a translator can use machine translation (e.g. 

Google), then post-edit it. Though the deadline may be met, the translation quality is low. 

As Michael Sinterniklaas, an American dubbing actor and founder of NYAV Post 

recording studio suggested, Chinese film companies should invest no less money in 

translation than the cost of filming and promoting movies, to ensure the movie’s success 

in the western market. 

Currently, to release a Chinese film in overseas markets, the first step is to send the 

English version of the script outline to overseas partners and publishers; the second step 

is to ensure that the reviewers from different countries in each film festival can 

understand and like the script; the third step is for the foreign audience to read the 

subtitles (usually disappearing quickly on the screen) and understand the story and 

feelings of the characters. In each step, the corresponding script outline (including story 

brief and biographies), script and subtitles all contribute to the audience's perception of 

the whole movie. 

A Chinese movie may create more than 2 billion yuan (306 million USD) of profit in the 

Chinese market but only less than 1 million dollars at the overseas box office. The 

cultural barrier may be the main contributing factor of the low profit overseas, but the 

ineffective translation produced by Chinese translators (non-native English speakers) can 

be another major factor. As native English speakers are a portion of the expected 

audience, it is suggested that professional native English speaker translators produce and 

evaluate the translation. The English spoken by Native English speakers is the most 

dominant language among all the languages used by different audience groups, so their 

use of the language is the most acceptable and practical in film translation.  



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3. Film translation quality control 

Influenced by the “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” (aka xindaya) theory 

prevalent in China, many producers believe that Chinese-English translation must also 

embody faithfulness and elegance. However, the translation standard “faithfulness, 

expressiveness and elegance” is inapplicable in the film translation. As translation clients 

or patrons, the film production company may misuse the standards choosing translation 

service providers. The standards applied by these translation amateurs to evaluate 

translation professionals are unreliable.  

As Dong revealed, rather than hiring native English speakers to translate a film or 

evaluate a film translation, Chinese film producers often ask a Chinese staff member 

proficient in English to check the translation quality using the translation standard 

“faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance”. Even if the original script is not literary (or 

“elegant”), these translation gatekeepers (quality control) still expect the translation to be 

“high-class and elegant” and “beautifully written”. However, these Chinese translators 

hired are non-native English speakers and may produce “elegant” translation that 

contains grammar and word usage errors. 

The film production crew members judging the translation are usually not qualified in 

this matter, as their English level is often not sufficient. Furthermore, these translation 

gatekeepers may have only been exposed to the “faithfulness, expressiveness and 

elegance” standard, unaware of other translation theories. The “faithfulness, 

expressiveness and elegance” standard, proposed by the famous translator Yan Fu, is not 

a systemic theory (Huang, 2003). It remains to be well expounded and improved. 

Compared with the “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” standard, Eugene Nida's 

“functional equivalence” theory is more applicable for the translation of commercial 

films which stress profitability. In translation academia, Nida's “functional equivalence” 

theory has received wide and attention. According to Nida, “Translating consists in 

reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language 

message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style” (Nida, 1969:12), and 

“there should be a high degree of equivalence of response, or the translation will have 

failed to accomplish its purpose” (Nida, 1969:24). By Nida’s “functional equivalence” 

standard, the meaning is the most important, followed by linguistic form. In other words, 

it is necessary to avoid mechanical translation in the process of switching between two 

languages and achieve functional equivalence in the transfer of meaning between the two 

languages. It can be seen that translation is the reproduction of the form and meaning of 

the source language in the target language, and the form may hinder the reader's 

understanding of the meaning.  The purpose of film translation is to help the target 

language audience receive the amount of entertainment similar to that of the source 

language audience. Therefore, without an understanding of the meaning conveyed in the 

film, the audience will not be able to enjoy the film fully, and the film production 

company or distributor will suffer a loss of revenue.   



Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting 01(01) 2021 

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By using the “functional equivalence” translation standard, film translation is expected to 

be the most functional one that is often (though not always) colloquial and easy to 

understand.  As Zhou Tiedong, a famous translation reviewer of China Film Group 

Corporation argued in the interview, from the perspective of producers, screenwriters and 

directors, the Chinese films for export should overcome the tendency of one-way 

personal expression; movies are a product, so they should be audience-oriented and the 

market should be considered (K. Dong, 2011).  In that sense, Chinese film translation 

should tell a Chinese story in a way that foreign audience can understand.  

4. Balancing between time and quality

The expectations of film and television translation customers are always that the 

translation should be both “fast” and “good”, but they create a dilemma for the translator 

as they usually need adequate time to produce a high-quality translation. Many film and 

television producers have not recognized that translating scripts is, just like writing 

scripts, art that requires time. 

A high-quality translation requires close cooperation between film producers and 

translators. For example, in the summer of 2016, film translator Dong Jing and his team 

translated the script of Wandering Earth from Chinese into English. The producer of 

Wandering Earth gave them a very detailed glossary at the beginning, which was very 

helpful in increasing work efficiency. At that time, Dong Jing led two translators and 

translated more than 20,000 words in seven days. With the original English script for 

reference, Dong Jing clarified the basic elements of script translation, such as format, 

tense and style. To complete the translation in a short time, the producer of Wandering 

Earth found more than one translation team, and Dong Jing’s team only did part of the 

translation project. 

Another example illustrating the importance of cooperation between the translators and 

the film production company is translating Crazy Alien (2019).  In the early stage of 

Crazy Alien, Dong Jing’s team was the only translation team outside of the film 

production crew, and they raced against the clock to ensure the quality. However, the 

crew still hoped that the translation team could complete the translation within one week 

or update the script within two or three days. Crazy Alien had numerous versions of the 

script. While they were translating between Chinese and English, the Chinese and 

American screenwriters were also revising the scripts. It took the translation team around 

four months to complete the work. 

Errors occurring in English subtitles of Chinese movies are mostly because the film 

production company does not provide translators with the actual film. For the sake of 

confidentiality, the company only provides some lines or subtitles. When a scene changes 

greatly, it is often difficult for translators to understand the connections between two 

scenarios so they can only guess what happened. 

Another difficulty translators often encounter in film and television translation is the 

frequent changes in the original text. After finishing the first edition of Chinese and 



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English subtitles, movies are often edited and modified more than once, which means that 

the translation and subtitle timing should be changed too. If the changes are not 

communicated to the translator in time, then mistranslation or misplacement of subtitles 

will occur. 

The advantage of teamwork is that the project can be completed quickly, and the 

disadvantage is that it is difficult and time-consuming to unify different team members’ 

translation styles and quality. The ideal method to translate a film or a television program 

is to use only one translator to translate a script from beginning to end, which is most 

conducive to maintaining a consistent terminology and style. If it is Chinese-English 

translation, it is recommended to have native English translators involved in translation 

or proofreading. 

In China, film translation for export is often completed by Chinese translators who are 

not native English speakers. That is mostly due to the high cost of using native English 

speaker translators. Film translation customers are often skeptical about native English 

speaker translators’ Chinese proficiency as in their impression, very few native English 

speakers can speak Chinese. However, as Dong Jing stated, American translators that 

they have cooperated with for a long time have not only high proficiency in Chinese but 

also more than ten years’ experience in translating literary works and publishing 

translated books. Nevertheless, the price of native English speakers is considered high for 

most customers. So it is important to caution them that the lack of native English speaker 

translators may lead to the failure of the English translation.     

5. Dubbing, an expensive but effective translation mode 

 Due to its high labor cost and longtime requirement, dubbing is an expensive translation 

option for a small-budget film distribution company. Nevertheless, it may be an 

investment risk that is worth taking. For example, after Ne Zha grossed over 700 million 

US dollars in China, ranking No. 2 on the box office chart for all films screened on the 

Chinese mainland in 2019, the film entered overseas markets, equipped with the English 

dubbing aiming to eliminate the cultural barrier. In August 2019, Ne Zha (English dubbed 

version) was screened in North American cinemas. The English subtitles and dubbing 

were produced professionally in the United States and helped the film yield over 3 

million dollars in the American market. 

Chinese films are usually subtitled and rarely dubbed in the USA.  In comparison, most 

Hollywood films entering the Chinese market are dubbed in Chinese. Compared with 

subtitling, dubbing is more time consuming and the cost is more than ten times higher. So 

the film distribution company has a difficult decision to make in terms of producing a 

dubbed version for the film. When a Chinese film’s overseas box office is expected to be 

$500,000, the $100,000 budget for the subtitle translation may be too high. However, if 

the box office is expected to be $10 million, it will be a cost-effective option to spend $2 

million on English dubbing. Although it costs more than subtitling, the dubbing produced 

by native English speakers and voice actors allows the audience to understand the 



Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting 01(01) 2021 

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dialogue without relying on subtitles. Compared with English subtitles, English dubbing 

is an easier way for English-speaking audiences of all ages and different cultural levels to 

appreciate Chinese movies. 

6. Conclusion

To further promote the “going out” of Chinese films and television programs, more 

private enterprises should be encouraged to participate in the distribution overseas as the 

overseas distribution monopoly by China Film Group has been broken. To promote 

Chinese culture overseas, it is suggested that film translation, along with the artistry and 

technicality of films, should be improved to win over the audience. For a Chinese film to 

be exported is a product for profit, film translation should be conducted and judged by the 

“functional equivalence” rather than the “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” 

standard. If the budget allows, native English speaker translators should be employed for 

the film translation work; and dubbing (rather than subtitling) should be used to 

maximize the profit. 

References 

Box Office Mojo. (2000). Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. from 

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2739766785/ 

Box Office Mojo. (2019). Red Cliff,  a two-part story centered on a battle fought in 

China's Three Kingdoms period (220-280 A.D.). from 

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2003666433/weekend/ 

Dong, J. (2020). The inner monologue of a film and television translation practitioner (in 

Chinese) [一位影视翻译从业者的内心独白], Sohu News. Retrieved from 

https://www.sohu.com/a/372940528_120474495  

Dong, K. (2011). Chinese film export intensified (in Chinese) [中国电影出口上演"欧美

总动员" ], China Economy. Retrieved from 

http://www.ce.cn/culture/whcyk/gundong/201101/24/t20110124_22165683.shtml 

Huang, K.-w. (2003). The reception of Yan Fu in twentieth-century China. Cindy Yik-yi 

Chu, Ricardo KS Mak, China Reconstructs, Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 

25-44.  

Nida, E. A. T., Charles R.  . (1969). The Theory and Practice of Translation: Leiden: E. 

J. Brill. 

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC-BY) 4.0 
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any 
medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2739766785/
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2003666433/weekend/
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