Getting the words in focus

The 16th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) opens on June 15 to screen 300 or so of the latest and best international films for local audiences. Unlike other international film festivals, however, the Chinese audiences get to see these films with Putonghua subtitles.

None of the major international film festivals subtitle competition films in local languages. In Cannes, Venice and Berlin, films are subtitled in English only. But in Shanghai, the film festival caters to an audience with limited English and it has traditionally hired city university language students to translate the dialogue into Chinese.

This has created problems in the past. Not least because the translators are classified as interns and their work costs the festival very little. This year, about 150 students from Fudan University, East China Normal University and Donghua University signed up for subtitling and began work at the beginning of May.

They work using DVDs in two six-hour shifts at an office in the Shanghai Television Station though some work double shifts. One student translates a film completely (to give the dialogue consistency), then that translation is checked closely by two others.

Unpaid interns

Over the years, the local media has referred to the SIFF's student translators as volunteers. Ju Li, who runs the SIFF's operating team, made it clear that the three-week job was, in fact, an unpaid internship for the participants. "University English departments were looking for a platform other than their lecture rooms to educate the students, so they approached the SIFF for a partnership deal that gave their students firsthand experience and extra training in translation," said Ju. 

This is why the film festival's translators are juniors - in Shanghai, it is a must for university students to go on an internship in their third year. By subtitling for the SIFF, these students gain a vital module pass.

Recruiting the interns begins three months before the festival opens. East China Normal University's International College of Chinese Studies, the SIFF's oldest partner, began recruiting in mid-March. Fudan University's English Department and Translation Department and Donghua University's English Department joined in April.