ABSTRACT
This chapter takes a systemic functional multi-modal discourse analytical (SF-MDA) approach to study the narrative coherence constructed in the English translation of the Chinese costume drama Zhenhuan Zhuan. The affordances of dynamic multi-modal resources in audiovisual translation enable the semiotic meaning-making mechanism of it a complex narration. As such, what meaning-making mechanism is deployed? Can the intersemiotic narrative coherence be kept in the audiovisual texts with translated subtitles? To answer these questions, this chapter takes Zhenhuan Zhuan, one of the most popular Chinese costume dramas exported overseas, as a case study to unveil the synergy brought about by varied semiotic resources. Theories from SF-MDA and film studies are drawn upon to propose an analytical framework to examine the multi-modal coherence in audiovisual translation. A systematic analysis is conducted by transcribing and analysing representative phases, sequences, and scenes. The chapter shows that in most cases, the image–text status, the logico-semantic relations, and the glue logic in the English subtitled Zhenhuan Zhuan can hardly be kept intact. As such, the narrative coherence of it gets impaired.
