A Skopos-Theory Perspective on the Vietnamese Translation of Culturally Loaded Terms in Ne Zha: The Demon Boy’s Rampage at Sea

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-577-5_23How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Ne Zha; The Demon Boy; Vietnamese subtitle translation; Skopos Theory; Culturally Loaded Words

Abstract

As Chinese film and television works increasingly reach international audiences, the role of film subtitle translation in cross-cultural communication has become increasingly prominent. As a translation form constrained by time and space, subtitle translation not only concerns the accurate conveyance of film content but also directly influences target-language audiences’ understanding and acceptance of the source-language culture. The Vietnamese subtitles for the Chinese animated film Ne Zha: The Demon Boy, which draws from Chinese mythology, present significant challenges in translating numerous culturally loaded terms—a focal point in cross-cultural communication. Building upon existing research in film subtitle translation, this study employs the German functionalist school’s Skopos Theory as its theoretical framework. Taking the Vietnamese subtitles of Ne Zha: The Demon Boy as its subject, it systematically organizes and categorizes the culturally loaded terms appearing in the film, analyzing their translation strategies within specific contexts. The study examines translators’ application of methods such as transliteration, literal translation, and free translation from three perspectives: Social Culture-Specific Terms, Linguistic Culture-Specific Terms, and Religious Culture-Specific Terms. Findings reveal that the Vietnamese subtitles generally revolve around the core translation goal of cultural dissemination, achieving to some extent the dual objectives of commercial communication and conveying Chinese mythological culture. However, the treatment of certain culturally loaded terms still falls short in fully realizing specific translation purposes. Through analyzing concrete translation examples, this study aims to provide theoretical reference for the Vietnamese translation practice of Chinese animated films.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Xinyue Qi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/15
TI  - A Skopos-Theory Perspective on the Vietnamese Translation of Culturally Loaded Terms in Ne Zha: The Demon Boy’s Rampage at Sea
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 5th International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities and Arts (SSHA 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 223
EP  - 235
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-577-5_23
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-577-5_23
ID  - Qi2026
ER  -