Yes Your Majesty Analysis

The term “Your Majesty” was and is used to address a king or queen in England. Its use in example (1) colours the dialogue with English culture. But in the Chinese version it is rendered into “启禀皇上” (qi bing huang shang), which immediately brings the audiences back to ancient China to watch a dialogue between the emperor and his subject. The translation of “Yes, Your Highness” into “臣在” (chen zai) in example (2) reconstructs a similar situation of conversation as if it were taking place in feudal China’s imperial palace. Here, the restoration of the authentic Chinese cultural context is based on diction. The translation does not only use the language used by ancient Chinese people but also chooses the language which is most appropriate to the

This kind of translation expands the scope of reference of “children” and the method may be labelled generalization. The expression “A single grain of rice can tip the scale” in example (6) is translated into “小兵也会立大功” (a common soldier can also achieve great military merit) instead of the literal rendering “一粒稻米也能使天平倾斜”. This is a kind of free translation which focuses on the deep meaning of the source language and can make the verbal context more coherent. The “man” in the same example is translated into “不起眼的人” (unimportant person) in which “不起眼的” (unimportant) is a kind of semantic addition and seems to allude to Mulan. Free translation is also used in translating “She could be killed” and “hear our prayer: Watch over Mulan” in example (7), which are translated into “这可是欺君之罪啊” and “求求你们，保佑木兰吧” respectively. A literal rendering of “She could be killed” is “她可能被杀头”, but “这可是欺君之罪啊,” which means “this is the crime of deceiving the emperor,” is the more probable utterance in the very context that the film has constructed. Likewise, the literal rendering of “hear our prayer: Watch over Mulan” into “听听我们的祈祷：看护好木兰” is not what Chinese people would utter on that occasion. Instead, they would more probably say “求求你们，保佑木兰吧” (Beg you, please bless and protect