从功能对等理论视角分析美国情景喜剧字幕翻译

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第二篇:从功能对等看情景喜剧《老友记》的字幕翻译

湖南师范大学

硕士学位论文

从功能对等看情景喜剧《老友记》的字幕翻译

姓名:潘琛

申请学位级别:硕士

专业:英语语言文学

指导教师:黄振定

20080501

摘要

电视是当今人类文化的主要文化交流途径。当今的中国,越来越多人对外国影视剧开始关注和喜爱。近年来美国电视连续剧的流行大有上涨趋势,观看美剧已经成为一种时尚潮流。由于人们对影视产品的需求变大,美剧的字幕翻译重要性日益凸显,这种翻译的研究也日益提上日程。影视字幕翻译也成为一个新兴的不可或缺的翻译实践领域。但与之不相符的是在我国翻译界影视字幕翻译的重视不够,大多也是一些零散的关于相关论文,更没有形成成熟的有关字幕翻译的理论。

所幸的是其他人为我们提供了很多有价值的理论。其中奈达的“功能对等矽理论应该是很适合于字幕翻译的。本文先论述了把“功能对等"理论运用到电视情景喜剧《老友记》的字幕翻译的可能性和必要性。功能对等理论将译文读者与原文读者在阅读过程中的反应是否对等作为衡量翻译的最高标准,所以观众在观看情景喜剧时也有对等反应。

本文接着从具体翻译策略,从《老友记》中涉及对文化信息翻译的详细分析中,例证分析了字幕翻译如何达到动能对等,其中包括对幽默语的翻译、文化专属词的翻译、诅咒语及禁忌语的翻译和文字游戏的翻译。本文还提出当涉及文化翻译时,可用异化、归化的方法以更好地实现功能对等。如果异化能保留原文的信息和文化色彩,则是较好的选择;如果译文观众对异化的翻译理解困难,归化则为更好的选择。文章得出结论,无论用何种翻译策略和翻译方法,字幕翻译者的首要任务是要让译文观众可以很好地看懂节目,有着与源语观众相似的反应。

文章最后指出奈达的功能对等翻译可为字幕翻译提供一种新方法和新思路,可以解决许多问题,但也指出了功能对等翻译的局限性:在某些情况下达到功能对等非常困难,而且以“读者反应论”为中心的功能对等的比较,即源语观众和译文观众之间所产生反应的可比性有限。因此,好的字幕翻译还在于译者是否可把握原文在源语观众中产生的社会影响,同时也能了解译文观众的情绪和爱好,这样才可能译出较好的字幕。关键词:字幕翻译;功能对等;《老友记》;译文观众

Abstract

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Key

audienceWords:subtitlestranslation;functionalequivalence;Friends;target

湖南师范大学学位论文原创性声明

本人郑重声明:所呈交的学位论文,是本人在导师的指导下,独立进行研究工作所取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外,本论文不含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的作品成果。对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体,均已在文中以明确方式标明。本人完全意识到本声明的法律结果由本人承担。

学位论文作者蜊席缘

伽∥年∥月汐日

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作者签名:‘日期:概∥月乙日日期:沙曙年乡月砂日导师签名:

OnSubtitlesTranslatio—n—o—f—theSitcom

FriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

Introduction

0.1

ResearchBackground

Itisnow

all

emwhenglobalizationisdevelopingrapidlyandexchangesof

cross?culturalcommunicationbecomes

indispensable.As

further,an

China’sreformgoesdeeper

andheropeninguptotheoutsideworldgoes

increasingnumberofforeign

sees

filmsandTVshows

call

beaccessiblequiteeasilythroughvariousways.China

thegreatmovetowardmoviepeople

ale

and

TVprogramtranslation

on

activities.More

thatthey

can

andmore

startingtowatchprograms

theintemet

SO

watchsome

call

showspromptlyandgainasmuchinformationaspossible.Atthesametime,mey

cnjoytheoriginalprogramwith

help

people

no

interruptionofothersound.Theunderstand

the

show.Facing

objective

influx

ofof

subtitlesistobetter

this

informationintheofcertain

form

offoreignlanguages

and

thefactthatnoteveryoneis

master

toolto

or

foreignlanguages,translationonce

themass.Therefore,subtitles,as

againisused签amostimportant

entertainan

indispensablepartofmoviesubtitlesthis

or

TV

shows,isplayingmore

more

importantrole.Thus

translation

attractsmore

and

attentionandbecomesindispensableunder

SubtitlesaletextsputtotheTVprogram

circumstance.

filmduringthelaterstageofthe

editingaccordingtotheneedoftheshow.Subtitlesusuallyappearatthebottomoftheshow

or

themovieassome

explanatory

information.Theappearanceofsubtitles

help

theaudiencenotonlyknowthemovieorTVshowsfromthesound,butalsoknowthe

content

and

appreciatetheshowbetter.

TVplaysisincreasingrapidly

ThepopularityofAmerican

society

cannot

andits

influence

on

the

beignored.Itisbeyonddoubtthattheneedoffilm

willbe

ftu'therincreased

in

to

andother

multimediatranslationtranslation

exist

no

productshasnot

thefuture.However,subtitlesby

scholars.Compared

at

been

paidenough

attentionwith

ofliteratureworks,itisgenerallyless

as

studied,especially

home.There

systematictheoriestoact

guidelinesaccordinglyexceptforsomepapers

MAThesis

withsomefragmentedideasofmultimediatranslationanddubbingtranslation.AsProfessorQianShaochangmentionsinhisarticlethataudiovisualtranslationisbecomingamoreandmoreimportantfieldinthetranslationcircleandhecallsONthetranslatorstopaymoreattentiontoit.(钱绍昌2000:61)。

Friends,oneofthemostpopularsitcomsintheUS,hasmillionsoffansover60countries.ThetargetaudienceofFriendsinChinaaremainlyyoungeducatedpeoplerangingfromteenagersto40.IthasbecomeapopularkindofteachingmaterialformostEnglishlearners,especiallyintheaspectsoflisteningandspeaking.IthasalsobeenproducedintoanintegralmediapackagewhichincludesitsDVDs,EnglishandChinesescripts,explanationstodifficultpoints,backgroundinformation,introductiontoeachcharacter,relevantexercise,etc.Therefore,thestudyofthesubtitles仃ansiationinFriendsiscrucialtosomeextent.

0.2MajorTopics

TheaimofthethesisistofocusonthehiglllyspecializedareaofsubtitlestranslationforFriends.Thepresentstudyisatarget-orientedproductresearch.Thefunctionalequivalencetheoryisadoptedintotheresearch.Attemptwillbemadetofindoutapplicabilityoffunctionalequivalenceinsubtitlestranslation,relevantstrategiesandmethodswillbediscussedinsubtitlestranslationofthesitcomFriends.DiscussionsofthesubtitlestranslationonculturalinformationinFriendswillalSObeheld.

Thethesisconsistsoffourchapters.Eachchapteralsohasitsownparts,whichfocus011somedetaileddiscussion.

InChapterOne,thethesisstudiesandgeneratesstudiesonsubtitlestranslationabroadandhomebyfamousscholars.Theauthoralsopresentssomemeritsandshortagesoftheseresearches.

InChapterTwo,thethesisfirstdiscnssesthemajorpointsoffunctionalequivalenceandthendiscussesapplicationoffunctionalequivalenceinsubtitlestranslationfromtheperspectiveoflanguage,cultureandreceptorsrespectively.2

In

Chapter

Three,fromtheperspectiveoffunctional

as

equivalence,some

translationstrategiessuch

reduction,addition

are

discussedinsubtitlestranslation.

analysis

on

InChapterFour,thethesisgivessome

translationofculturalinformationunderthepresentingfourkindsofculturalspecific

detailedthe

subtitles

guidanceoffunctionalequivalence,

ofhumors,cultural.

translation,namely,translation

wordplay.

words,swearwordsandtaboowordsand

thesis

Thetranslators

concludesthat

asa

functional

equivalence

Can

offerTVsubtitlesspecial

thoughtful

sightuniversalprincipalbutsometimesthere

are

casesthatitis

notalways

applicable.The

authorhopesthatbythisdetaileddiscussion

ofthe

ofsubtitlesinFriends,sheCanarouseinterests

translation

circletopaymore

attention

tothisl【indofpracticaltranslation.

Adescriptive—explanatorymethodtogetherwith

Friendswillbe

casestudyofthesitcom

adoptedin

thisresearch.Comparativemethodwillalsobeused.

The

thesiswilldiscussparticularaspectsinsubtitlestranslationwiththematerial

fromthelasttwoseasonsofthemostpopularAmericansitcom

Season9

Friends,namely

Taiw锄and

andSeason

10.1Itwas

translated

bysubtitlestranslatorsin

intemetsubtitlesgroups.

us髑twoversionsofFriends.OneiscopyrightedDVD疔omTaiw锄,柚dthe叫btitlestrailslationisinChinesecomplicatedbyprofessionalTaiwansubtitlestranslators;theotherisfromthemternetandthetrailslation

isdonebymainlandsubtitlinggroup.

Thethesis

so眦anonymous

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

ChapterOne

StudiesofSubtitlesTranslation

Translationwastraditionallyusedtomakeaccessibleto

widerreadershipin

religious,literatureandscientifictexts,However,ithaschangedtothematerialtranslatednowadayssincethe20m

widerscopewith

century.Technical

andpoliticaltexts

弱well

as

popularliteraturehavebeenmadeaccessibletomassaudience(Newmark

over

1991:16).Studiesofsubtitlestranslationhaveundergonerapiddevelopmentpast

the

decadesthanks

to

thedevelopmentofmultimediaindustry,hi曲technologyand

globalization.Inthischapter,subtitleswillfirstlybe

introducedanditsstudieswillbe

discussed

in

thesecondsection,includingsomestudiesofmultimediatranslation,

qualitycontrol

andtranslationstrategies.

1.1Subtitles

Subtitles

are

tagged

atthebottomofthescreen嬲avisualchannelof

communication.Subtitlesareworthstudyingwiththeincreaseofmultimediaproducts.

Thesectionwilldiscussthedefinitionwellastheconstraintsofsubtitles.

andclassificationofsubtitles,thefeatureas

1.1.1DefnitionandClassificationofSubtitles

Translated

text

subtitlesCanbe

definedastranslationsofthe

spoken

or

writtensource

of

an

audio-visualproductinto

written

targettextwhichisaddedontothe

imagesoftheoriginaltextatthebottomoftheprocess

ofproviding

screen(Gottlieb

and

1994:262).ItistheTV

synchronized

captionsforfilmsdialogues.With

translatedsubtitles,theaudience

listeningtothe

isactuallyreading

one’S

nativelanguagewhile

originallanguage(Gottlieb1992:165).Inshort,itmaybeconsidered

translation.It

as

written,additive,immediate,synchronousandmultimedia

Can

be

MAThesis

explainedasfollows:

Beingwrittenisincontrasttoaspokennatureanddiffersformothertypesofscreentranslation.

Beingadditivemeansthatinsubtitlingverbalmessagesis

original,maintainingtheaddedtothesourcelanguagediscourse.

Beingimmediatereferstothefactthatinmediaalldiscourseispresentedinaflowingmanner,beyondthecontrolofthe

thatthelistener-audience—reader.orBeingsynchronousmeansoriginalfilmTVplayandthe

translateddialoguearepresentedsimultaneously.

aleBeingpolymedialreferstothefactthatatleasttwoparallelchannels

usedtoconveythetotalmessageofthe

Subtitlesserveasoriginal(Gottlieb1992:162)audiencefurtherunderstandtwomainroles:oneIStohelpthe

theplotofthemovieor"IVprogram,howthestoriesgoes,thecharacteristicofdifferentcharacters,thedetailoftheshowsuch

aasthenameofpeopleorplaces,anumbers,awrittennoteandtheheadlineof

personwithanewspaper;theotherroleistohelpdefectinhearingorwithdifficultyinunderstandingdialoguesbetween

audiencecharacterstobetterappreciatetheshow.Allinall,subtitles

createaCanhelpthementalpicturethatissimilartowhattheyseeonthescreen.

Linguistically,itisgenerallydistinguished

Intralingualsubtitles:Itisintwomaincategories.onewrittenwordswithinlanguage.It

onesservestoshowthecaptionsofdomesticprogramsforthedeafandthe

problems.whohavehearing

Interlingual

predominantsubtitles:Itistranslationbetweentwolanguages.Thistypeisinallnon-dubbingcountriesinEurope.Besidesthefeaturesinthe

adefinition,ithasdiagonalqualityoftransmission.InInterlingualsubtitles,the

spokenforeignsubtitlestranslators‘crossover’frominterpretingthedialogueto6

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSiteomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

presentingawrittendomestic—languagetranslation

areonthescreen.(Gottlieb1992:162)Technically,there

Opentwomaindistinctions.withtheoriginalfilmorsubtitles(receivedtelevisionversion).Allfilm

orsubtitlesstillbelongtothiscategory.Inthecinema,afilmisshowneitherwitll

withoutit.Andalsonormalmodern(electronic)television

onasubtitlebelongstothisaregroup.Althoughthesubtitlesarewritten

inseparablepartofthetelevisionsignal.

Closedfloppydisc,theybroadcastasallsubtitles(optionallyaddedtotheoriginalversion).Asweknowmanytelevisionprogramofdomesticlanguagearebroadcastwithintralingualsubtitlestransmitted

televisionviaaseparatesignal,visibleonlyafterbeingdecodedintheindividualofset.Withanincreasingoutputsatellite-transmittedtelevisionacrosslanguageboundaries,thissortofsubtitlesisrapidlygainingground,makingitpossiblefor

televisiondifferentlanguagecommunitiestoreceivedifferentversionsofthesameprogramatthesametime(Gottlieb1992:163).

Sincethisthesisstudiesthetranslation

Chinese,whatisbetweentwolanguages----Englishandillustratedisinterlingualopensubtitlesfortelevision.1.1.2FeaturesofSubtitles

Subtitleshavesomefeaturesasfollows:

OnefeatureiStoswitchthemodeofcommunication,i.e.fromaudiotovisual,fromcolloquialtowritten.Subtitlesinvolveachangefromaspokenmedium,theonginal,to

screen.The

oneawrittenmediumandintheformoftofaceoneortwolinesatthebottomofthesubtitlestranslatorhasthechallengespresentedbytheswitchfromasubcodetoanotherthedifficultiesof‘'retainingspeechcharacteristicsinwrittentext,especiallythoseinspontaneousspeech,suchaspauses,falsestarts,

1994:105).Theshiftinmodefromspeechinterruptions,ungrammaticalities'’(Gottlieb

towritinghastheresultthatcertainfeaturesofspeech(emphaticdevicessuchas

notintonation,code—switchingandstyle—shifting)will

thewrittenformofthetargettext.automaticallyberepresentedin

MAThesis

Thesecondfeatureisthecondensationandsimplificationofmessage.Thespaceislimited,SOcompressionofthemessageisinevitable.Thereassessscreentranslatorhastocoherence

astrategiesinordertomaximizetheretrievabilityofintendedmeaningfrommoreconcisetargetlanguageversion.

The

writtenlastfeatureisspecifictothenatureofmultimedia.Unlikethetranslationoftextssuchasnovelsandshortstories,thesubtitlesinmoviesandTV

tosay,peoplecannotareirreversible,thatisgobacktorevieweitherdialoguesor

subtitles.Subtitleshavetobeinaccordancewiththemotionpictureandthespeedofthedialogue.

1.1.3Constraintsi11Subtitles

ofiginalfilmorSubtitlespreservetheTVprograminitsentketyandofferthe

audienceunblockedaccesstoit,whichdoesnotdelete

aanyelementofitexceptforsomeminorimageloss.However,askindofmultimediatranslation,subtitles

inevitablyinvolvespecificconstraints.HenrikGottliebdescribedtheseconstraintsofsubtitlesinhispaper“Subtitles---ANewUniversityDiscipline'’(1992).

AccordingtoGottlieb,onemajorconstraintofsubtitlesis“formalorquantitativeconstraint'’,dealswiⅡlthephysicallimitationforsubtitlestranslators.Theother

orconstraintisthe‘'textualqualitativeconstraint’'’whichGottliebmeaIlsthatthe

matchofdialogueandpicturemustberetainedwhentranslating.Inotherwords,theappropriatesubtitlesmustappearsynchronouswiththepicture.1.Formal(quantitative)constraints

1)Thesizeofatelevisionscreen(incombinationwiththeminimumletter-size

alegibletotheaverage

withaviewer)limitsthenumberofcharacterstoabout35torow,maximumoftworows(spacefact00

oftheaveragevieweris2)Thereadingspeed

speedofthepersontobeconsideredslowerthanthetalkingsubtitled(timefactor).

2.Textual(qualitative)constraints

Asanadditivetypeofmultimediatranslation,subtitlesputitselfontopofthe8

exitingtractsofcommunication.Subtitlesintrudeintothepictureandchallengesthedialog.Ontheotherhand,thepicturetranslator:

and

even

thedialoglimitthefreedomofthe

1)Thepositioning(inspace)andcueing(intime)ofthe

con'espondwiththestatic

subtitlesmust

anddynamic

visualfeaturesofthefilmor'IV

program.

2)Thewordingof

toacertain

subtitlesmustreflectthestyle,speechtempoandthesyntax

degree--the

or

syntaxand

orderofkeyelementsinthedialog,whether

or

informative

entertaininginnature,instructed

spontaneousin

form.

as

Althoughsubtitleshaveitsconstraints,itmayberegarded

any

other

translationinthesameway:the

textwhichwill

goalisto

render

sourcelanguage

textinto

another

makethemeaningaccessible

to

targetaudience.Accordingto

Gottlieb,a

talentedand

conscientioussubtitlestranslatorCandealwith

minimalloss

ofinformation,to

thedelightofhisaudience.(Gottlieb1992:164)

1.2

OverseasStudiesofSubtitlesTranslation

Inwestern

countries,many

on

scholarsand

experienced

subtitlestranslatorshave

turnedtheireyes

subtitlestranslation.As

result,works

and

essayshavebeen

writtenandpublished.

1.2.1

Inhas

Multimedia

translation

Translation

been

ignored.Greatchange

studies,textswithpictureshavelong

taken

placesinceReissfirstdrewOurattentiontothe“audio—media'’textwhich

hasvisualbutnotacousticelements.

ItiSdi伍culttodefinetheboundariesof‘'multimediaGottliebhavein

translation”asGambierand

betweenmedia

and

visual

suggested.They

claimedthat‘'thereiscertainconfusion

strict

sense

meaning(TV,cinema,computer)and

translation(film,domesticand

on

codessuchasverbal

video,TV

codes,screen

corporate

programs),

under

translationforand

theNet,translationofoffiineproductsandservices’’(Gambier

the

&Gottlieb2001:xi).InthisSenSe,subtitlestranslationshouldcome

MA111esis

categoryofmultimediatranslation(MM).

alsopointedthatmultimediatranslationneedsmore

GambierandGottlieb

teamworkbecauseofitscomplexity.Besides,multimediatranslatorsoftenworkwith

intermedia‘'texts’’,such勰scenarios,scriptsanddraRsandSO

Inthepreface

on.

of“(Multi)MediaTranslation,Concepts,Practices,andResearch”.

raisedsome

general

YvesGambierandHenrikGottlieb

considerations

ofmultimedia

㈣translations.They

ignoredin

claimedthattextswithpictureshaveforlongtime

been

translation

studies.Therapiddevelopment

ofmultimediagivesgreat

challengesforlinguistic,culturalandtranslationespecially

studies.Thus

theyputlanguage,

languagetransfer,to

thecenteroftheirstudiesofmultimediaafter

studies.Thestudiesof

giving

reviewofthehaveof

historyofmultimedia

language

been

inmultimediagreatdiversity

increased

since1990s.Speakingof

the

translation,therehas

representationsconceming

concept.Thedifferent

labelsexisttodayinsome

professional

fields:localization,languagetransfer,adaptation,editing,revision,

co-authoring,technical

writing,

documentationmanagement,

creation

multilingual

text

anddesign,versioning,languagemediation,language—service

provision,

languagemanagement,proofreading,copywriting,languageconsultancy,etc.Theydemonstratedthat‘'the

conceptof‘text’is

no

longerseen勰acombinationof

sentences,partlybecauselanguageisseen勰beingintegrated

with

images,sounds,

graphics,etc.”(Gambier&Gottlieb2001:xi).nlisunderstandingis

forfurtherstudiesshould

on

veryfundamental

MMtranslation.They

claimedthestudiesof

MM

translation

emphasizeinterdisciplinarity.

our

Thetwoscholarsalsodrew

attention

totherelationship

out

betweenMM

translationtranslation

and

translation

studiesingeneral

translation

andpointedtheimportanceofMM

forthe

latter.MM

distinguishes

itself,toSOmeextent,from

on

othergenresof

translation.Thestudies

andto

ofitforceinsidersto也i11l【moreclassical

translationstudiesredefinesome

concepts,reformulate

certain

questions,

listed

whichhavebeentakenforthefollowingsixofMM

granted

for

long

time.ThenGambierand

Gottlieb

the

items

attheendoftheprefacetoillustratetowhat

totranslation

extent

concept

translationisrelevant

studies.Thatis:

lO

(1)MMtranslationrevealsthecomplexitiesandchallengesofalltypesofcommunicationandhighlightsthenecessaryfunctionsofanytranslation.(2)Itestablishescertainwaysofviewinglanguage,ofdealing

andwithverbalcode,ofconsideringtherelationshipbetweenverbalothersemiotic

systemsinorder

ratherthansolelytofocusmoreonculturalandcommunicativeaspectsonlanguageandtext.

rethink(3)ItforcesUStosomeconceptslike“original”‘'meaning”,

“faithfulness'’thatformallyaretakenforgranted.(4)Itsharerstheverynotionoftranslation.Translationhasnowcomeintocontactwithotheractivitiessuchastechnicalwriting,editingand

aSOon.(5)itchangestheworkoftranslatingandrevising,forlongtime

submittedtowrittenlanguagestandards,‘'textual”conventions.(6)ItleadsUStotakefleshlookatthetranslator’Scompetenciesand

attrainingpractices,atthewaysofrecruitingandtesting,andhence

methodology.(Gambier&Gottlieb2001:xix).

AnotherscholarCattryssestatedthatinordertoappealtoanintemational

andaudience,amessagemustfunctioninanefficientwayinaninternationalcontext

thatinternationalappealisnotdirectlylinkedwiththeuseofwidelyknownlanguages

then,he

ofthe

ofaasopposedtolanguageofalimitedgeographicalspace.Thecrucialquestionproposed,is‘'howdoesthecormnunicator/narratorinfluencetheempathyonlyoneintemationalaudience?’’and‘‘languageisclearlyaspect

communicationalwhole”.(Cattrysse2001:10)

Studieson(Multi)Mediatranslationredefinetranslationinthemultimediaandcontextoftechnologyand

aunraveltheconfusioninthisfieldandpushthecorrespondingstudiestobetterposition.The

llrelationsbetweenMMtranslationand

MAThesis

thetraditionaltranslationarei11us仃ated.

AlthoughthestudiesonlVIMtranslationhaveunraveledmuchconfusioninthefield,therearestillmanytermsleftunclear.Therefore,morefurtherdetailedstudiesshouldbedonetOmakeathoroughcoverageofthediversifiedsituation.1.2.2QualityControl

subtitles?WhatisthecriterionofaHowtomakegoodquality

HowtOgoodsubtitle?makejudgmentsonsubtitles?Thesekindsofquestionsalwayspuzzlesubtitlestranslatorsbecausethequestionsarenoteasyforthemtoanswer.Thefactis,studiesonqualitycontrolarecarriedoutbyscholars,subtitleseditorsinTVstationorsubtitlescompany.

asSubtitlesshouldtrytomakethelinguisticsigns

subtitlesarenaturalaspossible,whilebestsupposedtObethoroughlytotheirenvironmentthattlleyappearinvisibletOthetotalprogram.Iftheaudiencestopsbeingawareofreadingsubtitles,wecansaythatthesubtitlestranslatorhaveachievedhismajorgoal.

Inhis“Subtitlingforchannel4

4TelevisioninUK,firsttalkedtelevision’’'Morgan,asubtitleseditorofChannelaboutsometechnologicalconstraintssubtitlestranslatorswouldmeet:spotting,thenumberofcharactersperlineavailableinthefontusedforsubtitles,readingspeed.

Morganbelievedthatalthough

subtitlesgoodsubtitlescannotsaveabadfilm,badonesoneCanspoilagoodone.Morganthoughtthat‘'thebestsubtitlesarethehardlynoticesbecausetheymakeyoufeelyouunderstandtheoriginalasyouhearit.’’(Morgan2001:161)

Heclaimedthat‘‘goodsubtitlesareaccuratelytimed,andconveyconciselythe

aauthor’SintentionsinstyleaspossibletOtheoriginal.’’(Morgan2001:162)Healso

pointed

togetheroutthat“a900dsubtitlesprogramisalwaystheresultofeverybodyworkingasateam.”(Morgan

might2001:162)Atlast,heshowedhisgreatregretthattheliteracystandardsriseandthenpeoplemayultimatelyenjoyreadingsubtitles.

(Morgan2001:164)12

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

EivorGummerrusandCatrineParobothhaveaten-yearexperienceworkingfortheSwedishsectionoftheFinishBroadcastingCompanyastranslators,eAitorsandeducatorsresponsibleforrecruitingandtrainingfree—lancetranslators.Theystatedthattoensuregoodqualityofsubtitles,thefollowingmattersshouldbetakenintoaccount:criteriafortherecruitmentoftranslators(qualification,selection,testing),on-jobtraining,continuingtraining,andrevisingandeditingtranslation.Asfortranslationquality,GummerrusandParotendedtotaketheviewthat‘‘qualityreferstothetotalviewerexperienceandthetranslation’Sroleiscontributingtoit.’’(GummerrusEivor&ParoCatrine2001:138).Theybelievedthat‘'everystepinthetranslationprocessisimportant”.(GummerrusEivor&ParoCatrine2001:138)Asaresult,translationqualityisnotonlyamatterofthecompetenceofallindividualtranslator,butalsoaresultofjointeffortbyallthepeopleinvolvedintheproduction.Throughallparties’efforts,aqualitativeendresultCanbeachieved.

Subtitleseditorsandscholarshavesummedupsomecommollfeaturesofgood-qualitysubtitles.Theyalsopresentdifferentmethodsfromtheirownworkingexperiencestoachievethesehi【曲standards.Forinstance,GummemsandParoemphasizetheimpactoforganizationaldesignandmanagementonscreentranslationquality,andsummarizespecificmethods.Theyareofgreatsignificancetobothsubtitlestranslatorsandproducers.

Scholarshavesummedupsomecriterionofgoodsubtitles,butitisalmostimpossibletodefinequalityinsubtitlestranslation,whichmakesqualitycontrolaratherdifficultproblem.Besides,thequalityofmediaproductsCanonlybeguaranteedwiththecooperationoftheproductionteam.Thefinalproductsshouldmeetandsatisfyclients’needs.Butwhohadthefinalsaytodecidethequality?Audience,clients,agenciesorsomeorganizations?HowCansubtitlestranslatorsdefendtheirproductsagainstunjustifiedcriticism?Morestudiesshouldbedoneonthesekindsofproblemsinthefuture.13

MAThesis

1.2.3

StrategiesforSubtitlesTranslation

In‘'TheSubtitlesofLaHaine:AcaseStudy'’,AnnJackelconductedinvestigationinthesubtitlesof

systematic

French

movie屯口Haine.La

Haineis

popular

movieandhaswonseveralprizesinthefamousEuropeanfilmfestivalsandseemstohavestrong

potential

appealtoAmericanyouth.However,itisnot

as

successful

as

expectedintheUnitedStates,its

This

an

majorforeigntarget.

film

clearlyrevealsFranceas

multicultural

anddividedsociety.Itoffers

almost

perfect

example

ofeverypossibledeviationfromstandardFrench:sloppy

isdefinitelyhardwork

forsubtitles

language,bad

grammar,slang,ete,which

to

translators.According

thedirector’Sinstructions,thesubtitlestranslatorsadopt

domesticationmethod,namely‘'choiceofAmericanslang'’.Thischoiceobviouslyhas

implicationinboxofficeresults.Therefore,certainpoliticalandculturalreferences

to

Frenchsocietydisappearwhileotherreferencesweretransposed

and

replacedby

Americanequivalents.ItWas“franklygearedtowardstheAmericanmarket'’.(Jaekel

2001:232)TheoutcomeisbetterintheUK

out

and

Francebecausemostpeoplegothere

ofcuriosit),ofthe

ale

languageFrenchyouthuse.However,to

Americans,the

subtitlestoo

American,whichhinderratherthanhelptheunderstandingofthefilm,

can

andthecharacteristicsofprotagonist

be

lostinthedomesticatedsubtitles.

Culturaldifferencesdoaccountforthereceptionofthemoviein

At

last,theauthor

America.

ispartly

claimedthatitis

truetllat

languagetransfer

is

responsibleforthelossinthework

on

characters’differentiations.It

unlikely

thatadditional

theverbalexchangeswouldhaveresultedin

audience.Shealso

greateracceptancebythe

American

suggestedthat

to

ifthesubtitlestranslatorshad

taken

moredecisiveroleinadaptingthefilmthetargetculture,the

film

mighthavemore

easilyovercomedifferencesbetweenoriginalandtargetcultures.(Jackel2001:235)

Gottlieb

analysed

AnglicismsintheDanishsubtitlesofEnglishLanguageTV

an

Programsinhis‘'AnglicismsandTVSubtitlingin

everytime

AnglifiedWorld'’.Hestated

or

that

not

subtitlesiscreated,thesubtitlestranslatormay,consciously

choose,oneofthefollowingstrategies:

14

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

(a)totalsurrender(non-translationofforinstancecursingandpunsinEnglish),thusgeneratingovertAnglicisms.

(b)theuseofunnatural-soundingEnglish?flavoredDanishconstructions-displayingwhatcouldbelabeledcovertAnglicisms.

(c)theuseofcommonlyacceptedEnglishbans,adoptions.

(d)orfullytranslateddialogueinidiomaticDanish.(Gottlieb2001:249)

GottliebalsostatedthatinsubtitlingfromEnglishincountrieswherelargesegmentsoftheviewersunderstandEnglish,subtitlestranslatorssometimescensorthemselves,sacrificingidiomatictranslationfor“closecorrelation”withthedialogue.Subtitlestranslators’fearsofdepartingfromthewordorderoftheoriginaldialogueoftenleadtounnatural-soundingclonesofEnglishphrasesandconstructions.(Gottlieb2001:253).Atlast,healsopointedouttheubiquityofAnglicismsleadstoovertAnglicismornon—idiomaticelementsintranslations.

SchroterconductedanalysesofsevenEnglish-languagemoviesandavarietyoftranslations(coveringdubbing,subtitlingandfivedifferenttargetlanguages)in‘‘Astudyoflanguage-basedscreenhumorintranslation”.

Heclaimedthatalargearrayofstrategies,rangingfromsimplealliterationandrhymetopunsandelaboratemanipulationsofthegrammar,cailcontributetothehumorouscharacterofatext.Language-playbasedonsuchstrategiesisthusaheterogeneousyetimportantelementinmanyfilmcomedies.Duetoitsfunctioninthatgenre,almostalllanguage—playoccurringtherewouldnormallybeexpectedtohavecounterpartsinatranslation,buttheusuallylanguage—specificwaysinwhichthestrategieshavebeenused,inadditiontothewell?knownconstraintsofdubbingandsubtitling,canbesuspectedtoworkintheoppositedirection.Itissuggestedthatonaverage,roughlyonethirdofthestrategiesemployedinoriginallanguage?playareneithercopiednorreplacedbyotherstrategiesinsubtitlestranslation。Themodeandlanguageofthetargettextdonotappeartoinfluencethatresult.

Schroteralsopointedoutthatthemorecomplexorlanguagespecificawordplay

MAT11esis

is,themorelikelyitistobesimplified,replacedofattempting

or

omittedinthetranslation.Instead

difficulttransfer,theresultofwhichwouldbcliabletocriticism,the

an

subtitlestranslatormightthenconsidermeaningofthetroublesome

StudiesperspectivesAnglicism

on

unpretentioustranslationofthehard-core

sequence

tobe

thebestsolution.(Schroter2001:161)

featuresofsubtitlesfrom

focus

011

subtitlesstrategiesviewthe

various

different

as

andputforwardscreen

strategies.Some

are

specificaspectsuch

concretecase

Oil

byGottlieb.Someanalyzed

by

study.

Therefore,thestrategiesproposedhere

iftheymeet

callserve

asguidelinesforsubtitlestranslators

similar

situationinsubtitlingandthe

present

translation

strategies

and

methodologiesCanalsobeadoptedin

Differentstrategieshavetranslating

wider

rangeofmultimedia

theyare

context.

been

put

forward,butnotalwayssuitablein

ale

subtitles.What’Smore,how

studies.

todealwithsomespecialproblems

not

mentionedclearlyinthose

1.3SubtitlesStudiesinChina

Comparedwiththeresearchesinthewest,therelated边vestigationinChinais

farfromsatisfaction.Onlysomelimitedpapersarepublishedinsomejournals.

Inhis“StrategiesforSubtitlesTranslation'’,LiYtmxing,professorinTianJin

Normal

University,statedthattheprimaryrequirementofsubtitlesistoprovide,

withintheconstraintsoftimeandspace,themostrelevanteffective

information

inthemost

way.(李运兴2001:38)Onlyin

this

way,Canthetargetaudiencegetthe

mostdistinct

information

wimthepossiblelowestefforts.Hethenanalyzed

function

the

featuresofsubtitlesintermsoftime-spaceculturalfactors.Inordertoget

constraints,informative

presentedCanbe

some

and

forinto

an

effectiveresult,hestrategiesclassified

subtitlestranslationsuchasdeductionstrategy,which

further

condensation,reductive

subtitles,healsoput

paraphrasing

and

deletion.As

fortheculturalwordsin

or

forward

fivemodes,namely,literaltranslationtransliteration,

these

omitting,paraphrasing,integrating,anddomestication.Atlast,hecombined

strategies

into‘'deduction,simplicity,and

directness”witlltheprincipleofrelevance.

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

(李运兴2001:39)

Qian

calledonShaochang,averyexperiencedsubtitlestranslatorandprofessorinChina,thatmoreattentionshouldbepaidinaudiovisualtranslationinhis‘'FilmTranslation--aFieldofGrowingImportanceinTranslation'’.(钱绍昌2001:61)Qian

andwrittenlanguageanddescribesanalyzedthedifferencesbetweenfilm

the5characteristicsoflanguagefilmlanguagewhichaleaudio,integrated,instantaneous,

intranslationintwo

authorinformal,withoutcommentary.Hethenpointedcases:thehugecultureoutthedifficultydifference,andpunsandwordplay.Finally,the

presentedhis

whicharepersonalexperiencesinfilmtranslationinChinesecircumstance,amongforthedubbingtranslation.(钱绍昌2001:65)

Inherpaper‘'TranslationintoChineseofFilmScriptsandScriptsofTVDrama

translationofSeries—Four

scriptsofMainConflictingDemands’’,ZhaoChunmeistatedthattheorfilmTVshowshasthenatureofliterarytranslation,butitalsohaveto

authormeetsomespecial

analyzedfourrequirements.Basedonmainconflictingdemandsa

VS.semanticthesespecialrequirements,thetranslatormaymeetintheprocessofVS.translation:lengthVS.content,wordorderVS.pictureorder,naturalizationalienationandtransliterationtranslationandsuggestedwaysofdealing

withtheconflicts.(赵春梅2002:50)

The

givesUSgeneralizationofoverseasstudiesandhomestudiesofsubtitlesatranslationsomeideasofsubtitlestranslation.Asmatteroffact,nomatterfromwhataspect,thefocusandmainaimofsubtitlesistomakeitconvenientfor

appreciatetheaudiencetounderstandand

functionalfilmorTVprogramfully,whichisinaccordwitlltheequivalence.Inthefollowingchapter,thetheoryfunctionalequivalenceis

ongoingtobeintroduced

translation.andanalyzed,thusdrawsomeenlightenmentsubtitles

17

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

ChapterTwo

FunctionalEquivalenceandSubtitlesTranslationItisgenerallybelievedthatanequivalent

sanleisawordorphrasethat,inaspecificcontext,exactlycorrespondstothe

rathervagueunitintheoriginal.Butthisdefinitionisaandambiguous.Linguistic

betweentwolanguagesfactsprovethatforfullequivalenceCanneverabeestablishedlanguageisnotmathematics.Iffull

equivalence

translationisnotpossibletoachieve,thenitisnaturaltoasktowhatextentequivalencecanbeobtained.Inthischapter,Nida’Sfunctionalequivalencetheoryistobediscussed.

2.1AnOverviewofNida’sFunctionalEquivalence

Theequivalencetheoryhasbeenintroducedintoourcountryforyears.AndNidaisoneofthemostinfluentialtranslationtheorists

andsupportingthetheory.Ashestated:Thereisalwayssomelossdistortioninverbalcommunicationsinceno

twointerlocutorseverhaveexactlythesamedesignativeandassociativemeaningforthesame

gridsphonological,lexical,grammatical,anddiscourseforcomprehensionfeatures.Theirandevaluationarealways

somewhatdifferent,buttheirexperienceintheuseoflanguageandtheircapacityforforeign-languageempathymakeitpossibleforthemtocommunicateeffectively.(Nida2001:87)andhebelievedanythingthatbesaidinoneCalllanguageCanbe

andsaidinanother.(Nida1969:4)peoplesThehistoryofcommunicationculturalexchangesbetweendifferent

hasshownthevalidityofNida’Stheory,andthesecommunicationsandexchangesCan19

MAnesis

only

occur

whereequivalenceisestablished.Followingisthe

majorpoints

andtwo

differentlevelsofNida’Sfunctionalequivalence.

2.1.1The

Major

PointsofFunctionalEquivalence

equivalence'’in

1969.Dynamic

themessage

Nida

gave

cleardefinitionof‘'dynamic

as

equivalenceis

defined

intermsofthedegreetowhichthe

receptorsof

inthereceptorlanguagerespondtoitinsubstantiallythesamemanner笛the

receptors

inthe

source

language.(Nida1969:24)In

equivalenceisbased

on

terms

of“dynamic

equivalence”,

Nidastatedthat

dynamictheprincipleofequivalenteffect,

wheretherelationshipbetweenthereceptorandthemessageshouldbesubstantiallythe

sanle

asthatwhichexistedbetweenthe

original

receptors

andthemessage.Nida

heldthatthetranslatedtextshouldproduce

responsein

readerintoday’Sculture

thatisessentiallyliketheresponseoftheoriginalreceptors,ifnot,hesuggestedthat

changesbe

made

tomatchtheinitialresponse,

Later,the

expression‘'dynamicequivalence’’Wasreplaced

hisbookLanguage,Culture

andTranslating

no

by‘‘functional

1993.

equivalence'’in

publishedin

However,accordingtoNidahimself,thereis

essential

discrepancy

betweenthe

two.Nida

terms

of

claimedthat‘‘ingeneralitisbest

tospeakof‘functional

no

equivalence’in

completely

range

of

adequacy,since

translation

isever

equivalent."(Nida2001:91)Hearguedthat‘‘‘equivalence’cannot

mathematicalmeaningof

beunderstoodinits

identity,butonlyin

terms

ofproximity,i.e.onthebasisof

thatfunctional

degreesofclosenesstofimctional

identity.’’('Nida2001:87)Hebelievedand

flexibleterm

equivalence

is

more

scientific

thandynamicequivalence.

Functionalequivalenceplays

crucialroleinpointingtheroadawayfromstrict

word—for-wordequivalence.Theintroductionofthe

concepts

of

formal

and

dynamic

equivalenceisimportant

Inessence,toarrive

one

inintroducing

receptor-oriented

viewtotranslationstudies.

atasatisfactoryeffectoffuncfionalequivalentintranslation,

can

not

merelysimplifythegrammarandrestrictthenumberofwordsin

vocabulary.Onemust,firstofall,weighallthefactorsinvolved

inthe

communication,

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionaiEquivalence

andproducevariousalternativerenderings,especiallyofcomplexpassages,andtesttheacceptabilityandintelligibilityofsuchrenderingswithreceptors.

Firstly,afunctionalequivalenttranslationcannotbeeffectivelyproducedunlessthetranslatorhasaprofoundunderstandingofallthefactors,whichenterintothemeaningofthesourceandtargetlanguagetext.Forexample,itisnotenoughforatranslatortorecognizethevariousculturalorlinguisticfeaturesofatext,hemustatthesametimeunderstandthecapacityandmotivationoftargetreceptors.Thatistosay,toachieveafunctionalequivalenceintranslationonemustbeconstantlyawareofallthefactorsandtrytoreflecttheminthetargettextwording.

Secondly,itisimportanttorecognizethefactthattheremaybemorethanonenaturalwaytoreproduceasourcelanguagesentence,especiallyacomplexpassage,andthetranslatormustselecttheclosestandmostnaturalonefromsuchways.Inotherwords,theprocessoftranslatingisalwaysamatterofchoosingthebestrenderingfromvariousalternatives.Somemayberelativelyliteral,othersquitefree,andsomemaybesomewhatinbetween.Andthebasisforthechoiceofoneoranotheralternativemustdependon(1)faithfulnesstothecontentofthesourcelanguagetext,(2)thefunctionoftheliterarygenreinthesourcelanguage,(3)thedecodingcapacityoftargetreceptors(whethertheyarespecialistsorlaymeninthesubjectmatter,orwhethertheyareeducatedadultsorchildren),and(4)howandinwhatcircumstancesthetargetlanguageistobeemployed.

Thirdly,examinetheacceptabilityandintelligibilityofsuchrenderingswithtargetreaders.Someofthemostexcellenttranslatorstrytoimaginethatanintendedaudienceislisteningtoandreadingitontheothersideofthedeskwhiletranslatingandmakegreatefforttopreparetheirtextsofthetranslationnotonlyforthematchofwordsandsyntaxbutalsoinkeepingwiththeacceptabilityandintelligibilityoftargetreaders。Thenthetranslatorprobablybecomemoreconsciousoftranslatingmeanstranslatingmeaningandmakeshisorhertranslationmorenaturalforthetarget

AccordingtoNida,translatingisanactivitytoconveymessagesbetweendifferentculturesandlanguagesSOthetransferenceofmeaningplaysamajorrolein

MAThesis

evaluatingatranslationwork.ThatiswhyNidabelievedintheimportanceofendeavortotranslatethemeaningoftheoriginaltextinsuchawaythatthetargetlanguagetextwouldproducethesameimpactonitsreadershipthattheoriginalversionhasonitsaudience.Meaningheremeansatotality,includingmeaningsofmorphemes,words,howwordsalelinkedwitheachother(syntax),wordsindifferentcontextsandsituations(pragmatics),ere.Nidaattachedgreatimportancetothemessageofthetargetlanguagetext,thatis,thesemanticdimensionofthetranslatedversion.Hecalledforlaborwithpainstakingeffortsinthetargettext.HenceafunctionalequivalenceCanbedescribedas‘'theclosetnaturalequivalencetothesourcelanguagemessage”(Nida1964:166).

2.1.2TwoDifferentLevelsofFunctionalEquivalence

AsforNida,sincenotranslationisabsolutelyequivalentandthereisnoidenticalresponsebetweenTLreadersandSLreaders,functionalequivalenceisdiscussedintermsofarangeofadequacy.Quiteafewoftranslationsofdifferentversionscanrepresentvaryingdegreesofequivalence.Soequivalencecannotbeunderstoodinitsmathematicalmeaningofidentity,butonlyintermsofproximity,namelyonthebasisofthedegreesofclosenesstofunctionalidentity.

Nidadefinedfunctionalequivalencefromtheperspectiveofdifferentagreesofadequacyfromminimaltomaximaleffectivenessbasedonbothcognitiveandexperientialfactors.

Theminimaldefinitionoffunctionalequivalenceisstatedas‘q'hereadersofatranslatedtextshouldbeabletocomprehendittothepointthattheyCanconceiveofhowtheoriginalreadersofthetextmusthaveunderstoodandappreciatedit.’'(Nida2001:87)

Themaximaldefinitionoffunctionalequivalenceisstatedas‘'Thereadersofatranslatedtextshouldbeabletounderstandandappreciateitinessentiallythesamemannerastheoriginalreadersdid.“(Nida2001:87)

Thedivisionofthetwolevelsoffunctionalequivalenceshowstheflexibifityof

functionalequivalence.AccordingtoNida,anythinglessthanthisminimaldegreeofequivalenceisunacceptable,whiletheabsoluteequivalenceisonlybeapproachedratherjustallidealwhichancanthanachieved.Themaximaldefinitionisonly

aidealsetfortranslators.Ofcourse,theclosertothemaximallevel

is.Histwolevelsoffunctionalequivalencearetranslationis,thebetteritlikeanidealfunctionalequivalence

aandapracticalequivalence.ThetwodifferentlevelsNidaputforwardgiveusclear

ideathatthegoalthatweyeamtogetbuthardtoattainintheprocessoftranslation.Ithaspracticalsignificancetotranslationpractice.2.2

rnApplication■』●ofFunctionalEquivalenceinSubtitles

lranSlatlon

Fromthepreviousstudies,wehavegottoknowthatsubtitlestranslationisabranchoftranslationstudies.Indeed,therearesomeconstraintsinsubtitlestranslation.However,itCannotberuledoutofthecategoryofgeneraltranslation.Ithasthesamemaintranslationprocess,anditWasborninthesamedrivethatguidedthetranslation.Inliterarytranslation,thesourcetextisthenovels,poetryere.andthetargetacceptoristhetargetreader,whileinsubtitlestranslationthesourcetextistheoriginalfilmorTVprogramsandthetargetacceptoristhetargetaudience.Inliterary

atranslationthepurposeofthetranslatorsistomakethereaderof

abletotranslatedtextbeunderstandittothepointthattheycancomprehendofhowtheoriginalreadersofthetextunderstoodandappreciatedit.Insubtitlestranslation,the

ofthegoalofsubtitlestranslatorsistomaketheaudiencesubtitledtextbeabletounderstandittothe

pointthattheyCanunderstandofhowtheoriginalviewersofthefilmcomprehendedandappreciatedit.

2.2.1TheLanguagePerspective

trueItisthatlanguagesdiffergreatlyonefromanother

thatonlevelsofnotpronunciation,vocabularyandgrammar.Some

oneevenargueoneCancommunicateadequatelyinlanguagewhathasbeensaidinanotherlanguage.

MAnesis

However,thesedifferenceslanguagesbecausethere

cannot

preventeffectivecommunication

or

betweendifferent

area

lotofcommonfeatures

lawsamongdifferent

languages.‘'Butatleastninetypercentofthefundamentalstructuresofall

ale

languages

1993:

quitesimilar,andlanguageuniversalsfaroutweighthedivergences’’(Nida

106)。Itisthesecommonlaws

or

featuresthatmakefunctional—equivalencetranslation

possibleinsubtitlestranslation.Forinstance,thereexistcorresponding

structures

language

betweendifferentlanguages:phoneme,rnorphelne,word,phrase,clause,

employssomefigurative

to

sentenceandparagraph,eachlanguage

expressions,and

has

greatnumberofliterary

forms--fromnarratives

prayers.(谭载喜1999:63)

maydiffervery

content

AccordingtoJinDi,hebelievedradicallyinform,thereale

rio

that‘‘_舶oughlanguages

tOrepresenting

insuperablebarriersequivalent

for

atleastmostpracticalpurposes.In

otherwords,themaindifferencesbetween

languages

donotlieinwhatthey

call

say,butinthewaysinwhichtheysayit”.(金堤

1984:53)Therefore,whatfunctional—equivalencetranslmionseeksforis‘‘thewaysinwhichtheysaysubtitles

it”and‘'what

theysay'’,andfunctionalequivalence

isapplicablein

translation.

languages,Englishand

originalmovie

or

Astwototallydifferent

Chineseeachhavetheirown

istackledinsubtitlessometechniquesinthe

languagefeatures,Whenan

TVshowand

translation,itisnecessarytomakeadjustment

use

translation。Of

course

thatisnottosaytranslators

can

make

adjustments

obstacles

atwill,tO

Adjustmentsaleaudience’S

necessaryonly

whenthetranslation

brings

the

fullunderstanding.Beforethetranslatordecideswhatshouldbe

or

adjusted

inthesubtitles,he

shemust

analyze

the

original

show

andsum

across

upthelinguistic

andculturaldifferences

textor

betweenthem.Sometimes

wecome

unnaturalo^ginal

grammatical

ale

gi'rors

whiletranslatingsubtitles.In

TVshow,ablackwoman

theonlyform

said,‘"Jesus,he

polite.’’Poorly

educated,thiswomanuses‘‘ale'’as

is

no

oftheverb‘'be”.IntheChinesethe

language,theresuchdistinction.Accordingto

requirement

offunctional

equivalence,this

sentence

Wastranslated丛“噢上帝,他

真是衫衫有礼.…'Polite”has

Chinese

equivalence“彬彬有礼”and“彬彬”is

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

sometimespronouncedas“衫衫”bysomepoorly-educatedChinese.Thesubtitlestranslationachievesfunctionalequivalencewell.

2.2.2TheCulturePerspective

Newmarkbelievedthatcultureis‘‘thewayoflifeanditsmanifestationsthatarepeculiartoacommunitythatUSeSaparticularlanguageasitsmeansofexpression.’’(1988:94)Regionalandinternationallanguagesbothhavecloserelationstotheirowncultures.Sincelanguageandculturearesocloselyconnectedandinterdependenttoeachother,translation,asanimportantwayofinterculturalcommunication,issuretohavecloserelationtoculture.Themostdifficultproblemintranslation,toacertainextent,isnotlinguisticdifferencebutculturaldiscrepancy.Everynation’Sculturehasitsowndistinctivefeaturesbecameofdistinctivedevelopmentinhistoryandtradition.ButthisdoesnotdenythefactthattheyCansharesomecommoncoresincultures.Linguistshavediscoveredthatwhatunitesmankindismuchgreaterthanwhatdivides,andthereisabasisforcommunicationinverydisparatelanguagesandcultures.Thesesimilaritiesorcom/lloncoresprovidethepossibilityfortranslatorstofindfunctionalequivalentsbetweendifferentcultures.Sincetherealefunctionalequivalentsindifferentlanguagesandcultures,itisquitepossibletoproducefunctional?equivalencetranslation.

Aslanguageisthecarrierofculture,therenderingofmeaningCannotavoidtheinfluenceoftheunderlyingculturalfactors.CulturephenomenonisveryobviousinTVshows.InCaseofsubtitlestranslation,culturalfactorsinboththetargetandthesourcelanguageplayakeyrole.SomeforeigntranceretainedinthetranslationwillrenderdifficultyfortargetlanguagereceptorstograsPitsappropriatemeaning.Ifwetranslatethephrase“goDutch”into“按荷兰人的规矩来办”,Chineseaudiencewillbepuzzled.Ifwemakesomeadjustmentsandtranslateitinto“AA制”,functionalequivalencewillbeachievedbecauseChineseaudiencerespondandactinthesamewayastheoriginalaudiencedo.Thatistosay,anaturaltranslationisinlinewiththeculturalfactorsinvolvedinthesourcetext.InanAmericanmovie,“drugstore’’

MAnesis

frequently

Occurs

andthe

translation“药店”is

Chinese

actuallymistaken.InAmerican

people

Call

English,“drug'’isthe

equivalenceofthe

character“药”and

call

goto

drugstoretogetsomemedicine.However,actuallypeople

getfarmorethan

medicinein

drugstoreandin

drugstorein

commumtyCanfunctionas“小卖部”or

butitismisleading.

“杂货店”does

The

China.Here“药店”istheformalequivalence

translation“小卖部”or“杂货店”callprovide

theexactsameinformationasthe

originalfilmdoesforthetargetaudience.

Therefore,in

ordertoachievefunctional

equivalence,itisnecessaryforsubtitles

translatorstounderstandbothculturesand

findthemosteffectiveexpressionduring

theprocessofsubtitling.Translatorsneedfactors

comprehensiveunderstandingofallthe

involved

inthe

source

material.Subtitles

source

translators

shouldalsomakeeffortto

payattentiontotheimpactofthe

textuponthesourcereceptors

on

and

tryto

render

should

subtitlethatwillproducesimilarimpact

thetargetaudience.Sotranslators

ones。

takeall

thefactorsintoaccount,especiallycultural

2.2.3

TheReceptors’Perspective

as

Peopleusuallyregardtranslationtranslationisusuallytheresultofonlythetranslator

or

more

or

less

sin舀eact.Actually,‘‘a

numberofyears’work,duringwhichtimenot

translators,butalsothepeopleforwhomthe

translation

isbeingresultof

prepared,havecontributedtheirown

extensively

tothe

form

ofthe

translationasthe

experiences'’.(Nida1964:239)In

attached

Nida’S

functionalequivalence,all

textanditsreaders.In

unprecedentedimportanceWasorderto

tothetarget

language

accompliSh

itsfunctionofcommunication,translatedtextmustbe“closeand

natural”.Asfarassubtitlestranslationisconcerned,exceptthattheoriginalisnotsmoothsmooth

or

language

as

naturalforparticularpurposestoachieve,subtitlesshouldbc

and

naturalasthe

original

text.

For

longperiodoftimeithasbeenexistinginthereadersin

consideredasreasonabletoeducation,Soeiallabeled

as

ignorethe

differences

terms

of

status,valuesystems

etc.Toomuchattentionpaidtothe

readers

is

superfluous

and

criticized

severelybymanytheorists.Nida,however,tookthetargettextreceptorsasanimportantpartintheprocessoftranslating.Hearguedthatdifferentreaderswouldrespondtothesamematerialindifferentwaysduetothedifferencesintheircapabilityandwayofcomprehension.Assomeoneoncesaid,thereareonethousandHamletsinonethousandreaders’minds.Differencesineducationbackground,career,personality,etc.Callaccountforpeople’Scomprehensiondifferences.SincethedifferencesexistinnearlyeverycultureinanyhistoricalperiodSOtheycouldn’tbeleftuntouchedinthetranslationstudies.Forexample,thenameofthefilm‘'Hamlet’’wastranslatedas“哈姆雷特”and“王子复仇记”.Thefilmwiththename??哈姆雷特”willbenotattractivetothosewhoarenotfamiliarwithwesternliterature.舢S0thistranslationappearstoaveragepeoplewhoarenotfamiliarwithwesternliteraturelikesomethingaboutscience.Thetranslationisnotattractivetothem.However,“王子复仇记”isabetterchoicebecauseitisexcitingtheaveragepeoplegettoknowwhatthemovieisaboutfromthetitle.Ofcoursetheotherversion“哈姆雷特”willbeagoodchoicewhenthismovieisforcollegestudentsandprofessors,foreignliteratureenthusiasts,etc.

Audiencesindifferentculturesarehumanbeingsandhaveverysimilarexperiences.Theyallhavetoeat,sleepandwork;theysharethesamefeelingsofsadness,happiness,loveandhate.Peopleallovertheworldhavetheirownspecialwaystodescribethesesimilarexperiencesandfeelings.Fromthispoint,thesespecialwaysofexpressionsarefunctionallyequivalenttoeachOther.Throughpersonalfeelingsandexperiences,translatorsaresuretoworkoutsatisfactoryexpressionstoconveycorrespondinginformation.Asaresult,audiences’similarlifeexperiencesofferanotherpossibilityforfunctional—equivalencetranslationinsubtitlestranslation.Therefore,toachieveequivalenceintranslatingsubtitles,translatorsneedtobeequippedwithacomprehensiveknowledgeofculturalbackgroundofthereceptorlanguage.Inevaluatingsubtitles,theaudience’Sresponsetothetranslationshouldoccupyamoreimportantplacethanotherfactors,includingtheformofthesourcelanguagesorthatofthetargetlanguage.Tosomeextent,subtitlestranslatorsneedtocatertothetargetaudienceSOheorshecouldconsidertheculturaldifferences27

MAnesis

be觚eenthesourceandtargettexts,especiallytheculturalawarenessofthetargetaudience.

Accordingtotheaboveanalyses,webelievethatfunctionalequivalenceisapplicabletosubtitlestranslation.Becauseofthedissimilarityofphonetics,pragrnatics,morphemeandrhetoricindifferentlanguages,therearealwayscertainlossanddeviationinlanguagecommunication.SometimesthetranslationishardtoarOtlSethesenseofcultureawarenessliketheoriginalwordtotheoriginalaudience.Therefore,asfarassubtitlestranslationisconcemed,thetranslatorshouldtakefullconsiderationofthepurposeandeffectoftheoriginalshow,togetherwiththespecificsituationofthetargetaudience,makingarecreationbasedontheoriginalscriptSOthatthesubtitlesCallbetheclosetnaturalequivalentasmuchaspossible.Thatistosay,theeffectofthesubtitledTVshowtothetargetaudienceissimilartothatoftheaudienceinthesourcelanguage.

Tosumup,inordertoachievethefunctionalequivalenceinsubtitlestranslation,itisnecessarytotakeeffectivestrategiesinthetranslation.Inthefollowingchapter,translationstrategiestogetherwithexampleswillbediscussedintranslatingsubtitles.

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

ChapterThree

TranslationStrategiesofSubtitlesoftheSitcom

FriendsunderthePrincipleofFunctional

Equivalence

Inthischapter,wewillprobeintotranslationstrategiesofthesubtitlesofFriends

bytheprincipleoffunctionalequivalence.Afterabriefintroductionof

strategiesofsubtitlestranslationareproposed.Then,wewillgotoan

discussionofcorrespondingspecificstrategiesofsubtitlestranslationunder

principleoffunctionalequivalence.

Nowadayssitcomisverypopularintheworld.ItinitiallycomesfromtheWest.Sitcomisactuallythecompoundwordforsituationcomedy.Itisalwaysfunnyand

watchsitcomforfunandentertainment.Subtitlestranslation,

amajorkindofcommunicationforthetargetaudiencewhowatchforeign

FriendshasbeenoneofthetopAmericanTVsitcomssinceitdebutedin1995.Itbeennominatedfor‘‘AmericanComedyReward'’manytimesandwononeinbecauseofitsextremepopularity.ItisregardedasanoutstandingachievementcomedyinAmerica.Itisthemostpopularshowinthehistoryoftelevision,

elsecomesclose.Friendsisawonderfulshowwithcreativewriting,humor,

900dacting,andsometimesmorals,Itlastedfortenyears,whichisundoubtedlythe

ofitspopularity.Theseriesfocusesonthefriendshipofsixyoungpeoplewho

gatheratMonica'sapartmentor0nthesofaofacoffeehouse.Theyareon

ownandstruggletosurviveintherealworld.Theyfindthecompanionship,

andsupportfromeachothertobethebestsolutionstothepressureoflife.GellerisachefwholivesinallapartmentinGreenwichVillagewithherguidedFriends,theelaboratethehumorous.Peopletherefore,issitcoms.has2000fornotingprooffrequentlytheircomfortMonica

MAThesis

friendfromhi曲school,RachelGreen,aspoiled舀rlstartingherlifeOVerindependently.ChandlerBing,acomputerprogrammerwithadrywit,livesacrossthehallwith】0唧Tribbiani,anot-so—intelligentactor.PhobeBuffayisamasseuseandwasMonica’Sformerroommate.Ross,Monica’Sbrother,isapaleontologistwhosewifeleRhimforanotherwoman.Thegroupalwayshangsouttogether,andgetsentangledinhumorouseverydayscenarios.Thejokesareverysmartandfunny,andeachofthecharactershashisorherownspecialfeatures.

TheTVsitcomthisthesisdiscussesisthelasttwoseasons,namelyseason9andseason10.Sinceitisasituationcomedy,itisnodoubtveryfunnyandhumorous.Besidessheeramusement,thesitcomprovidesfoodforthoughtonlove,friendshipandlife.Thedialoguesaresarcastic,ironicalandsometimesphilosophical,andofcoursemostlyhumorous.

Fromthepreviousstudy,wehaveknownthatsubtitlestranslationisdifferentfromthatofessays,novels,poems,etc.duetothefeatureofirreversibilityandtheconstraintsoftimeandspace.Theserequiresubtitlestobelucidandbrief.Thus,manypunditsinsubtitlestranslationhaveproposedthatthemaintranslationstrategyshouldbereduction.

Subtitlestranslatorsarealwaysconfrontedwiththeneedofaubiquitousreductionoforiginalinformation.Thereductioncallbepartial(condensation)ortotal(elimination)andshouldalwaysabidebytheprincipleoffunctionalequivalence,thatis,makingsurethattheessentialandmajormeaningisnotalteredordeletedandthereceptorsCanalwaysgetthesensewhichissimilartotheoriginalaudience.

Asfarassubtitlestranslationisconcerned,MrLiYunxingoncestatedinhisthesisthatsubtitlestranslatorsoftenneedtoadoptreductionstrategy雒subtitlestranslationhastimeandspatialconstraints.Hethensubcategoriesitintocondensation,reductiveparaphrasinganddeletion(李运兴2001,39),,Itisforsurethatreductionisbynomeanstheonlyoptionofasubtitlestranslator.

Itistobebasedontheprincipleoffunctionalequivalenceintheaspectofcontextualeffectsandalsotheprocessingeffortontheaudience’Spart.Inordertomakethesubtitleseasierforhisorheraudiencetounderstand,thetranslatorshouldcondenseor

even

deletetheinformationthatininessentialandchoose

closeandnaturalword

or

sentenceintargetlanguagetoachievetheclosestfunction.

3.1Reduction

as

the

MajorStrategy

Theinstantaneousnessofsubtitlesrequiresthatthetranslatedsubtitlescouldbeunderstoodbytheaudience’S

audience

for

just

one

time.Itisnotacceptabletoignorethe

receptionwhiletranslating

subtitles.The

functionalequivalenceputthe

to

audience

to

thecenterthatallsubtitlestranslators’focusis

as

make

natural

and

close

counterpart

much弱possible.

one

Subtitlestranslationhasitsduality.Onthe

hand

itisconstrainedbythespace

andtimeofmultimedia;ontheotherhand,itis

compensatedbythe

company

of

motionpicturesandwithpictures,music

sound.The

or

audience

Can

appreciatesubtitlesincombination

togain

characters’intonationatthesametime

some

extra

informationwhichmaynotbeshownfromthesubtitles.SotheyCancomplement

one

anotherand

cases

be

interdependent.Itis,sometimeseasiertoovercomesomedifficult

not

which

Can

be

translated

intime.Therefore,inthe

and

case

ofsubtitles

translationofsitcom,reductionis

Reduction

frequentnecessarymethod.

makes

atext

shorter,whichmeansthesubtitlestranslatorselectsthe

morecondensedtranslationaloption.Inthefirstchapter,wehavediscussedthat

reductionmaybe

asa

resultoftheselectivecriteriafeatureof

use

subtitles.such

aS

the

needfortextcompressionduetothe

all

of2linesof30characters

each,exposedfor

supposedtohelp

averageof4-6seconds.Anotherfactoristhatsubtitlesare

understandimages

instantly,andreductionmaybehelpfulfortheaudiencetoread

notfocus

fluently.This虹ndofsubtitlesdoestheattentionoftheaudience

whicharenot

Oil

them

andare

expectedtoruleout

informativeelements

intentionalofthe

discourseofthecharacters.

3.1.1

Condensation

keepbothmeaningandmost

ofthestylisticfeatureof

Condensationrefersto

MAThesis

subtitles.(李运兴2001:39)Thetransferfromspokentowrittenlanguageleaveoutsomeoftheredundanciesautomaticallyandtherebyenhancescoherencefortheaudience.Whenthedialogueisfastandfullofcomplicatedinformation,orsometimeswithoutorder,condensationshouldbeadopted.

(1)Monica:Wow,isn’titironicthatDavidwouldshowuponthesamedaythatyouandMikeexchangekeys?

Phoebe:Yeall…youknow.Andgivenmylifelongsearchforirony,you一..canimaginehowhappyIam..

(episode9木06)

莫尼卡:大卫出现在你跟麦克交换钥匙的同一天…这真是很讽刺啊!Phoebeusedtolike

Nowshe’sdatingMikeascientistDavid,buthewenttoRussiaforhisresearch.andreallylikeshim.Heevengiveshiskeytohisapartmentto

ofDavidstirsPhoebePhoebe,SOdoesshe.However,the

liesthatshehasnosuddenappearanceandsheboyfriend.Monicaisexpressingtheveryironyandcoincidenceofthesituation.TheaudienceCangetwhatPhoebefeelsfromthesimplebutsarcastictranslation.Hence,thestrategyofcondensationissupposedtobeused.

a(2)Joey:Rossbruiseslikepeach.Hebruiseslikeapeach.

(episode9*02)

乔伊:打成烂桃,打成烂桃。

WeallknowthatoneofJoey’sthingsistoeat.HereJoeyisabouttoorderwhenRosscomes.Heisveryupsetandmurmursthisreallyloud.Itisunnecessarytotranslatethewordsliterallyas“罗斯像桃子一样容易受伤,他像桃子一样容易受

andalsovery

a伤”.ThecondensedaudienceCan’tevenversioniseasiertoreadaunderstandable.Theandatfeellikereadingline,whichisinfactgoodtranslation

thesametimethefunctionalequivalenceisachieved.

isPrecious?I.sshea(3)Phoebe:Hernamepurebredordidyoupickherup32

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFuncfionMEquivalence

.atthepound7.

(episode10宰01)

菲比:她叫珍贵?缠弛数还是狍拦基笪?

HerePhoebeisjustmakingfunofthenameofMike’Snewgirlfriend.Thecondensationalsoindicateshertoneofindifference.ThecondensedtranslationiSsimpleandthetargetaudiencehavenoproblemtogetasimilarresponse.TheyknowPhoebeismakingfunofthegirl’Snameandwilllaugh.WeCallsaythatbycondensation,thefunctionalequivalenceisrealizedwellhere.

3.1.2ReductiveParaphrasing

LiYunxingbelievedthatreductiveparaphrasingreferstothetranslationofthemeaningoftheoriginalscriptbyparaphrasingwiththesubtitlestranslator’Sownwords.(李运兴2001:39)Itisusedwhenthere’Salargespeechvolumebecauseoffastspeechpaceandtoomuchinformationcannotbetranslatedatthebottomofthescreen.Thisstrategyischaracterizedbyusingabridgedexpressionsandareductionincontent.ThemessageisconveyedwiththeheIpofsoundandvision.

(4)Phoebe:OhIdunno,Idunno,youknowImean,IlikehimbutanlIreadytotakemygrade-Aloinsoffthemeat?

(episode9?12)

菲比:我不知道,但是我现在还没有准备好逞出选塑。

HereRossisaskingifPhoebeisseriousabouthernewboyfriendandifshe’Sreadytosettle.Phoebesaysthesentencetoshowheruncertainty.Ifitistranslatedas“莫非现在就要我对外宣布此甲级小腰肉撤市禁售?”,thetargetaudiencewillfeelconfusedandmcirresponsewillnotbethesametotheoriginalaudience.Herethereductiveparaphraseisagoodadoptionandmakesitafunctionalequivalent.

(5)Rachel:1wasjustgoingtosaythatIleftmykeys.

Ross:Oh,holymoly,堡垒竖星i卫垒卫i曼k!曼娶Q盟.

(episode9*05)33

MAThesis

瑞秋:我正要说我把钥匙放在房里了。

HereRossshowshisexclamationandregret.Thetranslationisshorterandeasier

tounderstand

than“我们现在在腌菜坛里了”.The

as

targetaudience

call

easilygetthe

pointandfeelbothsorryandfunny

theoriginalaudiencedo.

3.1.3

Deletion

or

Deletionreferstotheomissionofsomewords

sentences.Itismainlyusedto

Carl

dealwithlion—verbalcontent.Repetitionsandtagquestionslossofinformationtotheaudience.Sometimes

even

beomittedwithout

sentencesale

omittedtosavethe

spaceandtimebecauseitisobviouslyeasytounderstandthesituationbythepictures

Or

backgroundinformation.However,itmaysometimesaffectthesemantic

Or

stylisticcontent.

Somefillerwordswith

‘'well”,‘‘Imean"’,“you

110

substantialmeaning

call

beleftoutsuchas“look'’,

tothesituation.

know”‘、m”,“ah”,“oh'’,‘‘ugh’’,according

ale

Theydon’taddanymeaningtowhatpeoplehappenwhenpeople

are

saying,they

just

fillthepausesthat

talking

Call

Or

giving

speech.Soit’soktodeletethetranslation

ofthemandtheaudience

stillunderstandthesubtitleswellenough.

Or

Sometimesthespeakerwantstoemphasizerepeatingwords

Or

hesitateinhis

Or

herspeechby

word

Or

phase.Ifthishappens,itisnotnecessarytotranslatetherepeated

phrases.

(6)Ross:This…thisisexactlywhatI'mtalking

about.What

kindof

guy

makes…—mak—es…delicate

manlycookies

Frenchcookies,huh?They’renoteven…butch,

wi廿l…with…YQ坠蛔Q鲨型i尘。型i尘chunks.

don’tknowwhatto

Rachel:巡,I…youknow,.!二M

thoughtofyou

asa

say…I堡星堑,Inever

guywhoneededhismentobemen.Youknow,,‘cause

IgottatellyouRoss,itnotlikejustcameinfrombrandingcattle.

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

(episode9?06)

罗斯:这就正是我在说的。什么样的男人会做精致的法式饼干呢?看

起来根本不像是男性化,雄赳赳的饼干,有那种…大块咬的快感!

瑞秋:我不知道能说什么。我从没想过你是那种需要男人是真正男人

的人。我必须告诉你罗斯,你也不像是会烙印牛只的西部牛仔。

Hereinthisexample,thereareafewrepetitionsofwordssuchas‘'makes”,‘'with'’,‘T’andfillerwordssuchas‘'huh'’,‘'well’'’‘'youknow'’,‘‘Imean'’.Theyarejustpauseswhichindicatethecharactersarethinkingaboutwhattheyaregoingtosay.Soeventheyarenottranslated,theaudiencecanstillmastertheessenceofthedialogue.

SomeshortsentencesCanalsobedeletedwhenmcydon’tapplyadditionalmeaning.AslongastheaudienceCallgetwhattheshortresponseslike‘'Yes'’,“Yeah’’,‘'No”“Ok”mean,theycanbeeliminatedinthetranslation.Inmostcases,theaudienceCanunderstandthemfromthescreenactionofthecharacters.

(7)Ross:巡,wegottadosomething,ok?

Nannieslikeherdon’tgrowontrees.(pause)

Chandler:Picturingthattree?

Ross:地,yes.

(episode9幸12)

罗斯:我们得要做点什么。

像她那样的保姆是不会凭空长在树上的。

钱德勒:在想象那棵树吗?

罗斯:没错。

Rosshasfoundabeautifulnannyforhisbabygirl.Sheisveryhotandpopular.ButRossisworriedthathisgoodfriendJoe弘theplayboy,maychaseherandthen35

MAThesis

dumpherasusual,whichmeanshewilllosethenanny.Sohe’StalkingaboutsomewaystokeepJoeyawayfromthenanny.Heretheword‘%veil’’isusedtodrawChandler’Sattention.AsfortheddetedresponseofRoss’S‘‘Iam’'’thesubtitles

cantranslatoromitsitandmakestheflowoftalkingsmoother.Thetargetaudience

definitelygetthemeaningbyRoss’Sfacialexpression.ThevolumeoftheUReranCeisreduced,yetthemeaningisstillpreservedandthusachievesthesamefunction嬲well.

(8)Gavin:Man,Ireallybugyou,—don—'tI?

(episode9木12)

盖文:天啊,我真的惹你厌吧?

Herethetranslatordeletethetagquestion,however,thetranslationisbriefandproper,whichconveystheideaofthedialogue.Itdoesn’thampertheaudience’Sunderstandingintheslightest.WeCansayit

translatorsmayisafunctional?equivalencetranslation.Inaddition,subtitles

itleavesomeinformationoutiftheyconsiderirrelevanttotheaudienceduetotheconstraintsofspace

kindlargelyandtimeofsubtitles.Thedeletionofthis

expectancyofthedependsonthecontextandtheassumptionandtranslatortotheaudience.

3.2AdditionastheSecondStrategy

translation,thestrategyofreductionisquiteAlthoughinsubtitles

doesnotexcludetheuseimportant,itofothertranslationstrategiesWeshouldapply.Allthereductions

totakethearemadebecauseoftheconstraintsofTVshowsbuttranslatorsalsohaveofthesitcomintoconsiderationratherconsistency

usethanspoilit.Insomemakeupsomecases,translators

information.othertranslationstrategies,suchasaddition,to

(9)Erica:Reverend,Can

adoption?

Monica:ItIask?Doesthebiblesayanythingaboutsays::旦Q贮!Andbeholdshedidadoptuntothemababy.

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

Anditwasgood.

爱瑞卡:牧师,圣经上有写什么关于领养的吗?

。她让他们领养了一个婴孩,此乃善举。

(episode10木09)

HereMonica

aishavingameetingaboutadoptionwiththemotherwhomistakesborrowstheMonicaasreverend.MonicasentencestructureintheBible,attempting

toconvinceEricaandevokehersympathy.Thetranslatorherewonderfullyfulfillshis

aretaskbyadoptingtheadditionstrategy,SOtheformandtheeffectofthisparody

wellpreserved.Whatisbeingsoughtwiththiswittytranslationisthecognitionoftheaudience,whowillprobablyrecognizethesimilaritybetweenthesentenceandtheBiblescripture,andwillhavefunwiththisrendering.Thetranslatedversionthusfunctionsinthesimilarwayasintheoriginaltext.

(10)Joey:Man,thatkidisgoingtotown。

(episode9"01)

乔伊:嘿!这孩子亟得真起劲啊!

HereJoeyaccidentallyseesRachel’snewbabysuckingherbreastreallyhard.Heblursoutthesentencewithoutrealizingit’simpropertostare

feeding.“Goingtowhenawomanisbreastortown'’isallidiomwhichmeansdoingsomethingwellperformingwell.Inthetranslation,theadditionof“吸”makeitclearthatJoeyisstaringatthebabyhavingitsmealeventhoughtheepisodedoesnotactuallyshowthescenetotheaudience.

(11)Chandler:Imessed

Monica:Sowhat?Don’t

Chandler:Willup,itwasameeting.EverybodyWassmoking.youhaveanywillpower.'?power?I'vewatchedhomemoviesofyoueating

(episode9*05)

37

MAThesis

钱德勒:意志力?我看过你家的录像。你吃叮咚糖鱼盈连锡纸都吞了。

WhenMonica

havefindsoutChandlercavesinsmokingagain,shescoldshimnottoanywillpower.ButChandlerfightsbackbysaying

aMonicausedtobeweak-eagernesswilledtoo.Theadditionof“急得”isveryvividdescriptionofMonica’S

toeatastheaudienceallknowthatMonicausedtobeoverweightandhavesweet

haveateeth.Therefore,theaudienceCan

theoriginal

Inverysimilarresponsecomparedtothatofaudience.chapter,wehavediscussedonethismajorstrategyinsubtitlestranslation—reduction.Because

isaofthelimitoftimeandspaceinTVshows,reductionpracticalwayinsubtitlestranslation.Withregardtoreduction,wehavetalkedaboutthreekinds:condensation,reductiveparaphrasing

resorttoanddeletion.Andwecanalsoanotherstrategy‘‘addition'’whentheinformationchannelisbiggerforthe

examplesfromtheninthandtenthtargetreceptorsthantheoriginal

seasonreceptors.WithseeofFriends,wecanclearlytheyareadoptableundertheguidanceoffunctionalequivalence.Nomatterwhichstrategiessubtitlestranslatorsemploy,theirgoalistohelpthetargetaudienceunderstandtheshow

strategies

anditsinthefullofsubtitlesextentandachieveatranslation,westillwilldiscussfunctionalequivalence.Inadditiontosheerhavetodealwithsomecultural

inthefollowingchapter.informationtranslationwhichwe

38

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

ChapterFour

SubtitlesTranslationofCulturalInformationofFunctionalequivalenceofsubtitlestranslationputsthetargetaudience’Sresponseinthefirstplacethustheycangetwhattheprogramreallyshows,notonlyinthe

ameaningbutalsointheculturalsense.TVsitcomsact弱areflectorofthecultureof

societyorcountry.Thuswhentheycometothepointofsubtitles,translatorshaveto

languageemployproperthatculturalinformationissufficientlytransmitted.

Translatorsneedtobearinmindthatwhatdifferentpeoplesintheworldhaveincommonismuchgreaterthanwhatseparates

culturesarethemfromeachother.Languagesbecomesandnottoodivergent.Itisbecauseofthesethattranslation

acrosspossible.InFriends,translatorsmayfrequentlycome

sourcecommonthingswhichboththelanguageandthetargetlanguageshareorwhicharerelativelyeasyforthe

cantargetlanguageaudiencetounderstand.Insuchcases,translators

ausuallyretaintheculturalflavorbyrenderingtheminmoreorlessliteralway.

Theprincipleoffunctionalequivalencerequiressubtitlestobefaithfulandfunctionaltotheoverallculturalatmosphereandimageoftheoriginal,thatistosay,translatorshave

renderthetotrytoretaintheoriginalimagesandtheirforeignfeatures,andtopreventtheculturalcolorfrom

notculturalmessagetothemaximumtodimming.However,functionalequivalencemustgobeyondthelimitofthe

audience’Sacceptance.Translatorsshouldavoidover-subtitlingandunder-subtitlingofculturalphenomena.111ey

ofthehavetofocusthisonthefunctionalequivalenceandtheacceptabilityaudience.Onlyin

appreciationbewaywillthebesteffectofculturalexchangeandliteraryachieved.

translatorhastobenotonlyTosuccessfullydealwithculturalinformation,a

bilingualbutalsobicultural.Therearetwomainmethodswhilecopingwithcultural

theyaleinformationandknown勰“domestication’’and“foreignization”.(Munday39

MAlllesis

2001:146)Bydomestication,thetranslationisinitiatedinthedomesticculture.Byforeignization,thetranslationtakesthereaderovertotheforeignculture,makinghimorherseetheculturaldifferences.0Vlunday2001:147)

before,subtitlestranslationof"IVshowsisAsmentionedmore

intoaudience.oriented.Itisnecessarythattranslatorsalwaystakethetargetaudience

theirconsideration.Subtitlesshouldbehigmycommunicable.Inliterarytranslation,whenonecomesacrosswordsorexpressionsthatheisnotfamiliarwith,hecarlgobackandstudyitcarefullytofigureouttheexactmeaning.However,insubtitlesof"IVshows,itisnotthecase.Sometimesthereisnocultureoverlapbetweentwolanguagesorthediversityofthetwoculturesappearsinsurmountablethatitismissionimpossibleforsubtitlestranslators

shouldemploydomesticationtotoaccomplishthetask.Ifso,thetranslatorrendertheculturalinformation.Thenitisunnecessaryfortheaudiencetoputtoomuchprocessingefforttounderstandthe

InFriends,theaudienceisalsooftenimmersedintheforeignculturebyconstanthumors,culture—specificwords,swearwords,taboowordsandwordplay.Wearegoingtodiscussthetranslationofthemasfollows.

4.1TranslationofHumors

hlTVsitcom,humorisacrucialfactor,a

another.Naturally,thetranslation

onmotorthatpropelsofaudiencefromoneepisodetohumorplaysasignificantisaroleinspecificcreatingtheoveralleffect

genre.Thusthethetargetaudience.Sitcomasentertainmenttowarditasaudiencehascertainexpectations

orwellasthetranslation.Whenaviewerchoosestowatchit,hesheexpectstoseeaprogramwithfunny

situation,wherehumorissignedfortheviewerwithcannedlaughter.Theobjectiveof

functionoftranslatingTVcomediesistofulfillthehumor

amaximallyinthetargetlanguage.Onlywhenthetranslationfunctions

asawellasclosesthumorousaelementtocriteriontothetargetaudiencedoesitsucceedgoodtranslation.Thisisalso

ormeasurewhetherthetranslationiSeffectivenot.AsforthehumorsinFriends,

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

sometimesevensomenativeviewersfindithard

atofigureoutthemeaning.Inthiscase,itisundoubtedlygoodwaytostudytheculturalinformationbystudyingthe

translationofitshumors.

(1)Rachel:Hey,Ineed

Monica:Well,now’satotellyousomething.ongoodtime..I'mmywaytohavemyearscutoff..

(Episode9"01)

莫尼卡:有话快说!

ThedialoguehappenswhenMonicaisjustcomingbackfromthetalkshehadwithherdadaboutconceivingababy.Sheisallgrossedoutanddoesn’twanttohearanythingelse.SowhenRacheltellshersheneedstotellhersomething,itislike‘'Alright,hurryupandtellmebeforeIgoandcutmyearsoff.I'veheardenough.’’Withthe

thetalkbetweenMonicaandherfather,itisnotdifficulttoguessthemeaningofanddialogue.Theforeignizingtranslation“我正要去把耳朵切掉”isvividaccurate,thusachievesthesamefunctionoffun.

(2)Ross:NoI'm

careserious.Imeanshewantstodatepeople?Fine!Idon’tbut...atleastshecouldhavetoldme.YouknowI...I'vebeenputting

holdmylife

outonandjustconcentratingonEmmabutifshewantstogotherekissingguysshebarelyknows,then墨Q型i!!!!(Chandlersmiles.)Veryfunny!Rossisgay!Ah!Ah!.

(Episode9}13)

罗斯:我是认真的。我是说她想跟别人约会?好呀!我不在乎…但至少应该先告诉我。你知道的,我一直搁置我的生活而把所有的精力放在艾玛身上。但如果她想和根本不熟的男人在阳台上亲热,

Inthisdialogue,RossisverymadatRachelbecausehesawRachelkissingsomeguYinMonica’Sbalcony.HeisexpressinghisangertoChandler.AlthoughRachelis41

MAThesis

110longerRoss’Sgirlfriend,ashisbaby’SmotherhethinksRachelshouldhavethecourtesytotellhimifshewantstomoveon.Herethefunnylineisthatheblursout“SOwillr’,whichseemsthathewillalsokisssomerandomguytogetbackatRachel.Butfromthecontext,theaudienceissaletoknowhedoesn’tmeanthatthusinduces

effectthehumor.Thetranslatorhereadoptsfomignizationand

well.rendersthehumorous

(3)Chandler:Oh,because

actuallytodeath,that’Swelovekids.Love‘锄todeath.Well,notjustafigureofspeech---welovekidstheappropriateamount...asallowedbylaw.

(Episode10木07)

钱德勒:我们爱小孩,爱得要死。不是要孩子“死”,只是修辞手法。我们爱孩子,不多不少,符合法律法规。

HereChandlerisnervousaboutthehomestudybythesocialworkeroftheadoptioncenter.HetriestoshowwhatgoodparemsheandMonica

hewillbe,butheisalsoafraidthatwhathesaysmightbemisleading.So

makesitkeepstalking,whichonlywore.TheforeignizingtranslationisjustlikewhatChandler’Stoneandhisridiculousdictation.Togetherwithhisfacialexpressionandfunnygesture,thesubtitleissureaverycloseequivalentandthehumorous

aleeffectisalsoachieved.(4)Ross:…andwhiletherecertainlyvastdifferencesbetweenthese

MesozoicfossilsandexampleofHomoerectus...

(Rachellaughs)

Joey:—Erec—tus?

Rachel:—H——o—m——一o.

(Episode9木23—24)

罗斯:中生代的化石同直立猿人的标本之间有很多明显的不同…42

乔伊:直童?瑞秋:担匝。

Theaboveexamplerepresents

veryclassicalformof

humor--pun.The

humor

arisesfromthephoneticandformalresemblance

of‘‘electus'’and‘‘elect'’.And

same(asand

in

‘'homo”as

prefix

Call

refertobothhumanbeingsandthe

on

homosexual).

Rosshereisaboutit,and

giving

speechpaleontology,whileJoey

Rachelknownothing

sexual

associate‘'homo’’,‘‘electus’’with‘'homosexual’’and‘‘erect’’.The

overtoneissuppressedhereand

thetranslationmaypuzzlemostaudience.However,

theoriginalmeaningissomewhatlostbecausewhatJoeyandRachelfigureis

total

differentword.Wemightchange

it

into“勃起”,“同性恋”,thus

wetransferthe

originalmeaning.Still,theChineseaudiencewillfindithardtoconnectthemwiththe

precedentsentence.Maybe

we

call

addsomeexplanationbehind

it“勃起(音近直

立)’'’“同性恋(音近相同)”,however,even

thetargetaudiencegetthepoint,the

humorous

When

effectisnotthesameduetothedifferencesbetween

thetwolanguages.It

istrulydifficulttotranslate

the

sentence

well.Thehumoris

in

somewhatlost.

toconsider

subtitles

translatorstranslatehumors

sitcom,theyhave

the

targetaudience’S

understanding

capabilities.Tomaintaintheculturecolorof

humors,

may

f.0rei鲥zation

cause

withparaphraseispreferable.Ifthemethodis

notapplicableand

misunderstandingoftheaudience,thendomesticationshouldbeemployed.

However,itisalwayspitythatsometimes

humors

areimpossibletotranslate.

somewhatlost

TranslatorsCan

only

translatethemeaning

andthe

humoris

andeven

minimalequivalenceishardtoachieveatthispoint.

4.2

TranslationofCulture-?specific

TVseries

or

Words

receptorsof

script

other

sitcomis

one

kindofcultureexchangeto

countries

or

cultures.Therearevariances

on

between

oftwo

the

original

andtheculture's.script.

translated

subtitles

account

ofthedifferences

or

languagesandtwo

Thedifferences

willleadtosome

changelossofthemeaningofthe

original

However,aslongasthesubtitlesconveythe

43

attempt

andfunctionofthe

original

MAThesis

scriptonthewhole,itcanbesaidtobeasuccessfultranslation.Thatistosay,translatorsshouldtrytheirbesttofindamostnaturalandclosestcounterpartoftheoriginalscripttorealizethefunctionalequivalence.

Althoughmoreandmoreconceptsaresharedandunderstoodbetweendifferentcultures,therealestillmanytermsandexpressionsthatreflectthemoralsandvaluesofaparticularcultureandthereisnotrueequivalentinthetargetlanguage.Todealwiththeseculturaltermssuccessfully,asubtitlestranslatorhastobenotonlybilingualbutalsobicultural.Translatorsarerequiredtohaveaverygoodcommandofbothlanguagesaswellasthecultures.Theyhavetounderstandtheoriginalscriptwellenoughthattheycouldthoroughlyrenderthemeaningandconveythespiritoftheoriginal.Meanwhile,theyshouldalsotaketheculture,customsandhabitsofthetargetaudienceintoconsiderationandadoptrespectivestrategiestotranslatethoselines.

TheclassicalsitcomFriendsisheavilyloadedwithculturespecifictermsandtheyareallofgreatimportanceinunderstandingtheshow.

(5)Ross:Unbelievable,myclassmatesaregonnathinkI'mdead,myprofessor,my…myparentsaregoonagetphonecalls.You’remessingwimpeople’Sfeelinghere.

Chandler:Youwannatalkaboutpeople’Sfeeling?YoushouldhaveheardhowhurtprofessorStemwasyesterdaywhenItoldhim1wouldn’tbeabletogowithhimtoKeyWest!

(episode9?17)

A:钱德勒:还跟我谈感受?你该去听听昨天斯特恩教授有多伤心,只因为我拒绝陪他去::酉礁::(回丝变云堂2。

B:钱德勒:你要谈大家的情感是吗?你应该要知道当我告诉斯特思教授不能跟他一起去度假时,他直垒鬓笾!

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalenceHerethetworenditions

translationsarewellshowthetranslators’translationmethod.Bothacceptable.VersionAtranslatestheplace“西礁”withsomeadditionalparaphraseinthebracket,whichisforeignizationandconveystheoriginalculturalcolor.ItshowsthegaycultureinAmerica.VersionBisdomesticationwherethetranslatoromitsthenameofthevacationplace.Of

thecourseitwon’tobstructtheaudience’Sunderstandingofsubtitle.However,theculturalinformationis

exactmeaningofKeysomewhatlostandtheaudiencedoesn’tknowthe

maywonder.WecallWestandsaytheaudiencecanunderstandbothtranslationsandbothtranslationsachievefunctionalequivalenceofthetargetaudience.

(6)Rachel:That’S

Gavin:I'mnotaright.You’reverycheekyforatemp.temp.IWastransferredherefromanotherdepartment.Rachel:Ohyeall,whatdepartmentWasthat7.Thejerkdepartment7.Gavin:Oh,theydidn’ttellmeaboutyourquickwit.

Rachel:Didtheymentionthat.I'mrubberandyou'reglue?

(episode9掌11)

瑞秋:好了,你不过是个不要脸的临时工。

盖文:我不是临时工。我从其他部门调来的。

瑞秋:什Agf-J?逭帐部[]堕!

盖文:他们没告诉我你有如此急智。

瑞秋:他们没有说,瑟燕扛堡倒委堕?

It’S

isveryagoodexampleofcombinationofforeignizationanddomestication.RachelangryaboutthisGavinguytakingherjobwhilesheishavinghermaternityleave.Sheactsaggressivelyhere.Sotheliteraltranslation“混帐部门”for‘'jerk

sentence“I'mrubberdepartment'’unveilsheranger

glue”isactuallyawell.Asforthelastandyou’resentenceusedwhenkidsare丘曲ting,whichmeans

youtoo.Theifyoudosomethingbadtoanother,allthebadthingscomebackatdomestication45

MAT11esis

ismuchbetterthantheliteral

Callone“我是橡皮擦,你是胶水.”Andthetargetaudiencegetabetterpictureandsmile.

didyougetthem?(7)Rachel:Oh,oh!Wow,Ilovethose!When

Phoebe:IboughtthemoffEbay!Theyusedtobelongtothe...1..a..t..e.....S...h....a..n...i.—a.Rachel:Phoebe,ShaniaTwainiSstillalive!

Phoebe:Oh...thenIoverpaid.

(episode9"21)

瑞秋:哇!我喜欢这双鞋!你去哪买的?

菲比:我从拍卖网站上买的,这本来属于垦过世鳆题王的。瑞秋:菲比,顺子还活着。

菲比:喔,那我被坑了。

Inanotherversionofthedialogue,thetranslatorjusttransliteratesthenameoftheperson.Thetargetaudiencemaygetconfusedwhatthepemonis.Herethe

translatorobviouslyadoptsdomesticationwhichisclosetotheaudience’Sculture.It’Struethatthetranslationhelpstheaudienceunderstandthatthispersonhereislikethemiddle—agedsinger顺子fromTaiwanthattheyoungChinese

aalefamiliarwithandshe’Sstillalive.Inthiskindofsituation,domesticationis

someaudiencemaywonderhowPhoebebetterchoice.It’SjustgetstoknowtheChinesepopsingerHowever,it’Salmostimpossibletomatchthekindofculturallosshere.

(8)Mike:ThatisSOwrongandontopofthathe’Sa.gluesniffer..…Mike:Andyoudon’thavetoworryabout.gluesniffingwithme.AlthoughIdosmelltheoccasionalmagicmarker,yeah,ahanyway,Ijustthink,ICanmakeyouhappy.

(episode9,04)46

A:麦克:这实在太糟了,而且他还

……你不必担心我会吸强力胶,虽然有时我会

B:麦克:那也太离谱了,而且他还是个

……你至少不用担心我会吸毒,虽然我偶尔

When

peoplewatchthispart,the

audience

who

sees

versionAmaygetconfused

andthinksit’S

terribleliteraltranslation.Soisthewriterofthethesiswhilefirst

studyingthesubtitle.However,whenthewriterconsultsitwithrealizesthatVersionAisnot

NewYorker,she

completeincorrecttranslationAs

matteroffact,most

peopleinChinadon’thavethesameculturalbackground.InAmerica,somepeople

Call’taffordtobuy

drugs

or

or

don’t

wantto

use

drugs,insteadtheysniffstuffwith

VersionA

strongsmelllikeglue

magicmarkertoget

hi曲.Ifwechange

littlebit:

“而且他还通过吸强力胶来变兴奋’’,then

original

itisdomesticationwithlittlelossofme

not

message.But

Chinese

audiencesare

familiarwiththecultural

phenomenonand

mayfeel

to

strange.Theunderstand

completedomesticationofversionBismuch

easierfortheaudience

English

thecontext.Peoplewithsomeknowledgeof

may

tmlll【glueandmarkerherearemetaphors

representingsome

kindof

drugs.VersionBisthereforemore

acceptableand

functionallyequivalent.

(9)Rachel:ICan’t

watch.It’Slike

firing—Elm—o.

(episode9搴06)

A:瑞秋:我没办法看,这就像开除墨麈一样。B:瑞秋:我看不下去,态毯圣工。

Here

is

typical

example

withtwo

translationmethods.Version

may

Ais

foreignizationwhileversionBisdomestication.TheaudienceunderstandversionAbecausemost

Chinese

findithardto

audienceare

not

familiar

withthe

AmericanhouseholdcartooncharacterElmo

versionBdoesn’thavetheculturalcolor

whois

verycutelittlepuppet.However,

and

lossthecomparison

between

firingthe

malenannySandyandfuSngtheintothe

cutelittle

puppet.We

couldeither

change“爱摩”

cuteChinesehouseholdcartoon

character“蓝猫”,oraddsomeexplanatory

47

MAlrhesis

wordsas“小可爱爱摩”.In

asthisway,thelossofculturalinformational'ecanbetheaminimalamount.Asfarthetargetaudienceconcerned,VersionBisofcourse

abetterchoiceforthemtOunderstandtheshowandis

achieved.similarequivalencecallbe

(1O)Amy:Itookyouradvice.IleftMyron.Rachel:Oh,goodforyou!

Rachel:Yes,youare!Iamsoproudofyou!Amy:Thankyou!So,CarlIstaywithyou?Rachel:—Bu—tEri—n—B——rockovichhadherownhouse.

(episode10幸05)

A:艾米:我听了你的建议,离开了迈伦。

瑞秋:太好了。

艾米:恩,堡厶当自强。

B:艾米:我听了你的话,我跟迈伦分手了。

瑞秋:太好了。

Herethetwo

translatethesubtitlesarebothacceptable.Bothtranslatorsdon’tliteratelyname.Therealewoman’sstillsubtledifferencesbetweenthetwo

guesssubtitles.FromthedomesticatingtranslationVerSion八thetargetaudienceCall

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

AmythinksherselfbeingstrongandtoughbytheChinesetranslation“伊人当自强”.However,fromVersionB,thetargetaudiencemayeithergetthisimpressionorthatAmyhasgotadramaticlifelikeallactressinamovie.Inthisway,VersionAisclosertotheoriginalmeaningwithlittlelossofculturalinformation.ActuallyErinBrockovichis

veryanAmericanmoviethattheprotagonisthasthesamename.Sheisastrong,independentand

atoughsinglemotherwhosuccessfullywonthecaseagainstbigfactoryaboutpollutionaftermuchhardwork.Even

aleifweliterallywithittranslatethenameofthewoman,theChineseaudiencenotfamiliarand

mayfeelstrange.Sowemayadoptthedomesticationandtheadditionstrategytomakeitclear:我是自强的电影女主角.Thentheculturalinformationisbetterpreserved.

(11)Chandler:Wow!Aren’t

Phoebe:Idon’tyougonnabecold?care.一I'lbemyselfblue.

(episode10木12)

A:钱德勒:哇!你不会冷吗?

B:钱德勒:哇,你不觉得冷吗?

WhentheaudiencecomeacrossVersion八theywillfeel

OllpuzzlediftheyalenotfamiliarwiththeAmericanweddingculture.Usuallytheweddingdaythebride

wears“somethingold,somethingnew,somethingborrowedandsomethingblue”.“Somethingblue”representspurity,loyaltyandlove.Phoebedoesn’twantfancywedding

gettingmarriedabigandandthesuddenonheavysnowhelpsherrealizeherdream.Andjustwearssheisatheopenstreet.Inthefreezingweather,shethinwedding

thecoldgownsoactuallywhatshemeansisthatherskinwillturnbluebecauseofanditcanjustbesomethingblue.TheliteraltranslationofVersionAsoundsawkward.However,eveniftheaudiencedon’thavetheculturalbackground,theyCan49

MAllhesis

understandVersionBaccordingtothesituation.TheblueisdomesticatedastheChineseequivalent“冷得发紫”becausethereisnosuchexpressionof“冷得发蓝”.Theadditionof“成为新娘的蓝色吉祥物”canfillupthegapofculturelossof“somethingblue'’.Additionistheexplanationrequiredbythecultural—specificreferenceoflanguage.HereVersionBconveystheoriginalmeaningwellandtheaudiencecanfullyunderstandthesentencewimthehelpofmultimediainformation.

Fromtheaboveexamples,weCallknowthatwhencultural—specificwordisdiscussedinsubtitlestranslation,thegeneralruleisthatwe’dbetterkeepthecultureflavoraSmuchaspossibleandofferthetargetaudienceaclearandclosetranslation.Theuseofforeignizationwithsomeadditionalexplanationtoremaintheculturalflavorofthemessagecallbeadopted.However,ifforeignizationinterruptstheunderstandingofthetargetaudiencetothesitcom,translatorsthenhavetomakeadjustments.Intranslatingaculture—loadedtermwhichishardtobeunderstoodbythetargetaudience,additionanddomesticationisbetterused.Inthisway,thetargetaudiencemayhaveasimilarresponseandagoodunderstandingoftheshow,andthusfunctionalequivalenceCanbeachieved.

4.3TranslationofSwearwordsandTabooWords

SwearwordsaredefinedbytheOxfordAdvancedLearner'sDictionaryofCurrentEnglishwithChineseTranslation(1988:1169)asobscenewordsusedtoinsult,orforemphasis.Taboowordsal'edefinedasthosewhichconventionavoidsorprohibit.(1988:1176)Swearwordsandtaboowordsareusuallyregardedasrudeandimpolite.However,inreallifeitisverycommonespeciallyinmoviesand"IVshowstoshowpeople’Sdifferentfeelingsandemotions.Theyhavealwaysposedaproblemfortranslation.Sometimesitisjusthardtoshowthespecificemotioninthesituation.Butitisinevitabletotranslatecertainswearwordsortaboowordswhiletranslatingsubtitles.ItiStrue廿1atinAmericanmoviesorTVshows。therearealotofsuchwords.SoiSthecaseinFriends.Asamatteroffact,thesewordspreventtheCCTVfromdubbingFriendsintoChinese.Theproperwaytotranslatethesewordsisquiteimportant.

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

Therefore,itisofsomesignificancetostudysometypicalexamples.

To

some

extent,swearwords

andtaboowords

are

thedirect

products

of

unconcealedemotion.Englishperson.Andmostswearwords

swearwordsare

oftendirectlypointedto

as

thecursed

tohell,etc.

are

relatedwiththereligion

or

goddamnit,go

Thetranslationofsuchswearwordseffectwhichtheshowaudience’Smind.

dirtywordsiscloselyrelatedwiththecontextual

intends

to

makeandthedegreeofequivalenceproducedinthe

Figure4.1

Swearwords

swearwords

andvulgarwords(fromSeason9)

Translated

Translation

methods

and

words

vulgarFrequen-cy82

Source

language

subtitles

God(Gees,gosh)

Damnit(damn)

Oh,myGodlHedidit?天啊,他做Domestication了?

139

Danlnit!

Onereallydoeshavetostick

up

one’S

ass,

妈的。需要这样唧唧歪歪的吗?

请看我的屁股吧!

Domestication

Ass(jackass)

doesn’tone?

PleaselookatmyasS.

Domestication

BitchBastard

53

Sonofabitch!狗娘养的!

over

Domestication

That

me!

bastardtaped那混蛋录了别人在我带子上。

Domestication

Holy

Holymoly,areWeinpicklenow.

老天,这下我们可惨

了!

Domestication

Crap

Man,thosehorses

crap.

can

那些马还真

会便便!

Foreignization

MAT1lesis

Suck.3Breakingupsucks.Oh,

Ireallymiss去他妈的分手!我很想DomesticationMike.

麦克!

PooplYouknow,kindalike

Santa,except

doesn’tpoopSantaon有点像圣诞老人,不过圣诞老人不

会在饼盘里

大号。Domesticationtheplateofcookies.

Pee3Naaa…Hestillkills没有,他还

mee.Lastnighthehad

melaughing.SOhard.I

swear...a

.c...a...m......e....o....u...t...littleDee是让我蕉堕太篡。我发誓,昨晚他Domestication让我笑到真

的有点尿跑Foreignization

出塞!

FriendstellsstoriesofsixfriendsandtheirlifeinNewY.0rkCity,SOⅡleirlanguageisclosetothelifeofAmericaninreality.Aswecallseefromtheaboveexampleswhicharepickedupfromtheninth

aseasonoftheshow,swearwordshavebecomemostlypartoftheirexpressionsinlife.The

one’Smajorityoftheswearwordsnofunctionforemphasizingopinionandasexclamation.InFriends,there’S

‘‘fuck'’or‘‘shit'’wordappearingintheirtalking.Instead,suchwordslike‘‘crap’’,‘'poop’’,‘'damn'’andthelikeareusedmorefi-equently.Themostfrequentlyusedwordsare“god’''whichshowsthedeeprootedChristianbeliefintheUnitedStates.SincethecultureexchangesofChina

inmostcasesweandAmericahavebecomemoreandmoreopen,canfindasimilarequivalentinChinesetoshowthesameemotion.Fromtheexamplesinthefigureabove,itmaybeclearthatpeopleusuallytakethoseswearwordsforfunorexclamation,withnocursingimplicationata11.Andbecause52

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

suchswearwordshavebecomecommonexpressionsinlife,theycarrynospecialcontextualeffectsinmostcases.ItissuitabletomainlyadoptdomesticationasitiseasytofindasimilarwordorsentencewhichfunctionthesameinChinese.

Besidesswearwords,therearealsoeroticdescriptionsinFriends.Weallknowthatwesternersaremoreopen—mindedaboutSeX.Sotheymaytalkaboutsexcandidly,orevendescribeitindetailwithoutablush.111eyfeelcomfortabletalkingaboutit.

Figure4.2Sexrelatedandtaboowords(fromSeason9)

SexrelatedFrequenSourcelanguageTranslatedTranslationandtabooeysubtitlesmethodswords

Beforetoday,Inever在今天之前我

Havesex20thoughtofyoutwo从未想过你们Foreignization

havingsexata11.会做爱。

Orgasm1Butpleasureis但是快感是很

important,andit重要的,而且如

helpsifthewoman果女人有高潮Foreignizationhasallorgasm.是会很有帮助

的。

Makelove1wantyou.Ineed我想要你,我需Foreignization

you.Letmemake要你,让我跟你

lovetoyou.做爱。

Screw3Screwyou,the去你们的,票是Domestication

ticketsareours.我们的!

Well,Ican’tsay我总不能在一

‘'hump’’or‘‘screw’’in个娃娃面前说

frontoftheB.A.B.Y做爱或上床吧。

Havealloff1Maybeyouwere也许当时正是Domesticationnight.havinganoffnight.你不灵的一晚。53

MAThesis

Turnon3

Reallysexy,couldIbemoreturneAon?

真性感,我还能比现在更兴奋吗?

Domestication

Penis(wiener,jollies,willi,dangleO

7Notifhe

gets

his

不代表他对鲨鱼感‘‘性’’趣!当那玩意的模

Domestication

jolliestojaws.

Apenismodel.

特!

祝你们玩得愉快!

Domestication

Hump

Happyhumping!

Erection

just

lost

my

我没性趣了。

Foreignization

erection!

Sleep、加tll。

He

sleptwith

never

youandcalled

他和你上床,之后再也没打过你电话。

Domestication

thenyou.

Make

ababy.

ShouldWegomakebabybefore

rightyou

该不该在你改变主意之前赶快去造人?

Foreignization

nOWchange

yourmind?

Sperm

Apparentlyyouonlyget

很明显地,他们只有在采精子

样本时才给你看色情书刊。

Foreignization

pore

if

you’re

sperm

givingsample.

Vagina

Well

pushed

unless

you

除非你把桌子

从私处挤出去,否则那可是不同的事。

Domestication

deskoutof

yourvagina,notthe

samething,

examples

The

presentedaboveallinvolve

sexor

wordsindicating

to

men

or

women’sprivateparts.‘'Penis’’,‘‘dangler'’,‘'boob’’,‘'vagina'’refer

men’s

or

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFriendsfromthePerspectiveofFunctionalEquivalence

women’Sgenitalo玛ansorbodypartsrespectively.‘'Turnon'’,‘'makeababy'’,‘'orgasm’’,‘‘screw’’,‘'hump’’,‘‘erection'’areallwordsabouthavingtranslationsheredependonSeX.Thethesituation,ifitissuitableandnecessary,wordslike‘'makeababy'’canbeforeignizationas“造人”astheyarequiteacceptableforChinesenow.However,mostChineseviewersaremoreconservativethanwesterners.

easeMaybe

manynowadaysChinesetendtobemoreopenbutstillmeyarenotattoseesex-relatedwordsinthewrittenformsespeciallythosewordsrelatedtothesex

Thesex?related

segnlwordsandexpressionsmaysoundrudeandnastyinoralspeeches.Theymorevulgar,offensiveandunacceptablewhenshowninthe

wordsseemmorewrittenformthanthe

concreteand

tonespokenform.Chapmenoralstatedthatwrittenhardtodenythanutterances.(2004:137)Insomecases,translatorstodownorsometimesomitthesewordsmakethetranslationeuphemistical.Fromtheaboveexamples,wordsas‘'hump’’,‘‘erection’''‘'penis’''‘'jollies’’areunderstatementsas“玩”,“性趣”,“那玩意”“感性趣”and

Actually,domesticationwith

forChineseandtheyaredomesticated.properunderstatementinoursomecallsexrelatedwordsseemsaccordswithcustom.Weseefromtheabovestatisticfigure

sexthatthereismoredomesticationthanforeignizationasrelatedwordsareusedin

Friends.Asthefunctionalequivalentistoputthe

insubtitlesreceptor’Sresponseinthefirstplace,translation,translatorshavetopresumethetargetaudience’Sresponseto

SOsuchwords.Ifforeignizationisnotoffensiveandvulgar,theyCanadoptthis

notmethod.IfthetranslatorthinkthetranslationoffensiveandtheaudienceCan

acceptforeignizationandmayfindthetranslationawkwardandimproper,heorshe

useshouldtonedown

tothewordsandfindsomeothersimilarthetargetunderstatementordomesticationmakeaudiencefeeleasytounderstandtheshowandnotat

thesametimefeeloffended.Theaimandfunctionofthesubtitlesistoarousethesimilarresponseintheaudience’Smindandbetter

we’vcunderstandtheshowpromptly.AsmentionedbeforethatmostaudiencesofFriendsrangefromteenagersto40something,they’requiteopen—mindedandeducated,SOit’Spossiblethattheycallacceptsomeforeignizationtogetclosertothe

55AmericancultureandwhatAmerican’S

MAThesis

dailylanguageis

like.When

itmay

arouse

offensiveand

negative

reSponse,

domesticationiSthemainmethod.

4.4

TranslationofWordplay

Itisalwayswithgreatdifficultyfor

translators

todeal

withwordplay

or

punfor

thefundamentalofthetwoneedtobecreativeandfind

languages

isdifferentinforms.Sosubtitlestranslators

thesimilar

closewordinthetargetlanguage

toevoke

imageandresponseinthetargetaudience.

(12)Monica:I

supposethat

Chandlerwill

have—thesmok—ed

duck.

Chandler:IsupposethatMonicawillhave,the...manipulated

shrew..

(episode9掌05)

莫尼卡:我想钱德勒应该想要点“钱德勒:而我想莫尼卡想点

Thecreative

translation

successfullyrevealsboⅡ1Monica

ismadat

and

Chandler’S

anger

andtheirblametoeach

other.Monica

Chandler’Ssmoking

Chandler

againbutshe

sex

wantsto

have

baby

SO

shehidesherfeelingsandtalksintohaving

with

her.Afterthatshestartstoscold

Chandler

and

Chandler

feelsusedandgetsallupset.

Sowhentheygettothe

restaurantand

orderthedish,theysmartlyexpresstheiranger

expressive.Here

toeachother.TheChinesetranslationof“烟”and“诈”iswittyand

dishesisveryvivid

thedomesticationofthe

two

andadequate

SO

theChinesetarget

audiencereceivethewholemessage

andfunctional

equivalenceisthusgained.

(13)Chandler:What’S

withthe

word巡You

know,just…twothat,beCanseif

words,

just...pushedtogether…Are

whystop

weallallowedtodo

SO,Isay

there?You

know,yournewpoodlecouldbefli——c—ke—n.

you

noodle.And

—frie—dchick—en—?Couldbe

(episode9宰06)

56

钱德勒:‘4箜垒’到底是什么字呢?只不过是“你们”跟“全部”加

在一起。我们可以那样做吗?因为如果可以,还有很多字可以这样玩。你的“新狮子狗”可以变成你的‘理蕴塑J巫’’,“油炸鸡块”可以变成‘乙lj三迭”。ThisdialogueisatypicalChandler’Sstyle,heistheonewholikestomakefunwiththewordandmakeupsomenewphrases.ItshowsexactlywhatChandlerisdoinganditiswithnodifficultyfortheaudiencetogetthepointofthewordplayTheforeignizationof‘'noodle”and“fi-icken”into“新狮”and“炸块”helpsthe

audience.audienceachievethesimilarresponsecomparedtothatofthenative

(14)Mike:Youreadytogo?

Monica:Don’tyoumean旦xoomy?

(episode9宰16)

麦克:准备走了吗?

菲比:当然了,室友!

莫尼卡:你是说…堑皇暄hE?

Hereintheoriginalscript,thewordplayliesintherhymeofbothwords‘'roomy'’and“groomy'’.Monica

mayleadthem

usesaysgroomytoindicatePhoebeandMike’Smovingtogethertotheredcarpet.Asforthenativeaudience,theyfeelfunnyabouttheofwordplayinEnglish.ThetargetaudienceCanhearthesimilarsoundinthetwo

aswords,butitisimpossibleforChinesewordworkinthesame

counterpartdoes.ThentheChinesetranslation

theforeignizationcanwayitsEnglishCannothavethesamefunction.Heretranslateandonlytellsthemeaning,therhymepartishardtothiskindoflossissomewhatinevitable.

(15)Chandler:No,no!Ijustlovethewayyoulook…Iamwarmfor—your

(episode9宰16)

57

MA111esis

钱德勒:不,我只是喜欢你现在的样子,

Aswediscussedintheformerexample,hereisanothertranslatetheofthe

case

thatwe

Callnot

rhyme.Wecall

onlyadoptdomesticationtorenderthemeaninginstead

Call

form.Thus,theminimumfunctionalequivalence

stillbe

achieved.

However,the

rhymepartis

lost.Ifthesubtitlestranslatoriscreativeenough,wemay

trytorenderitthisway:你的身材实在精彩。Here

in

Chinese,材and彩has

targetaudiencethen

the

carl

samerhymeanditisgoodrhetoricChinese

sentence.Theenjoy

fullyunderstandtheshowverygoodtranslation

andatthesametime

thegoodtranslation.Thisis

andfunctional

equivalenceiswellachieved.

toassociate

Sometimesthetargetaudience’slanguagecompetenceisn’tperfect

wordplay.Wordplay

thewittywords

subtitles

are

isalwaystoplaywiththeformandsoundoftheword.Someof

not

smoothifliterallytranslated.Whenwearedealingwith

translation

inwordplay,mostlythemethodofdomesticationis

adopted.

ImaginationandcreativityisHowever,sometimeswe

Call

necessityof

translatorintranslatingwordplay.

thewitislosttosome

oreven

only

translate

the

meaning,and

extent.WeCan

onlyachievetheminimalfunctional

equivalence

sometimes

failtodoSO.TodealwitIl

wordplay,translators

aresometimesindilemma.

ThetargetaudienceofFriendsinChinausuallyhasbomgoodEnglish

command

of

and

Chinese.Forthisreason,whattheyaremoredesperateforistheoriginal

styleoftheshow,which

meansthatretainingtheculturalflavoriswhatmeydemand.

Withregard

tothe

translation

ofculture

information

inFriends,in

some

cases

foreignizationis

consideredas

feasiblemethod.Ifforeignizationisused,notonly

show

call

theoriginalflavoroftheoriginal

bebeRer

retained,butalsothetarget

since

audienceCanunderstandandacceptthem.ComprehensibilityCanbeguaranteed

thetargetaudiencemay

understandthetranslationwellwiththeir

language

abilityand

reliance

on

thecontextinthemultimediaculture,ithas

environment.Howeverforthetextwithless

recognized

been

seen

that

instead

oftranslatingthoselinesliterally,the

translatoradoptsdomesticationtoavoidtoomuchconfusionand

alienation.Tobetter

tohelpthe

achievethefunctionalequivalence,wecansaythatifforeignizationfails

target

audience

understandthe

subtitledshow

58

andretainthe

original

semantic

meaningandstyle,andthendomesticationmaybebetterusedconflictsSOastoavoidculturalandcomprehensibledifficulties.Tosumup,whatevermethodisadopted,the

atranslator’Smainpurposeistomaketheaudiencehavethroughunderstandingofthe

messageandaboveall,toachievefunctionalequivalence.59

OnSubtitlesTranslationoftheSitcomFrien出fromthePerspectiveofFunctionaIEauivalenee

Conclusion

TVprogramsaleanindispensablepartofmodempeople’Sdailylife.Asakindofmassmedia,Tvsitcomsfunction弱atransmitterofcultureandinformationtothemassessinceitsfirstappearance.InsubtitlestranslationofaTVsitcom,translatorshavetoconveytheoriginalcontentsandmakethetargetaudiencerealizetheessenceoftheoriginalshow.Itdependsontheproperreproductionoftheoriginallinesintheshow.

Thethesisadoptsthetheoryoffunctionalequivalence嬲thetheoreticalbasisinsubtitlestranslationof"IVshows.DuetothespecialfeaturesofTVshowsanddifferencesinlanguagesandcultures,sometimestheformoflanguagemustbesacrificedinordertoconveytheactualmeaningoftheoriginalTVshow嬲muchaspossible.Itisanidealsituationtoreproduceacompletelyequivalenttranslationoftheon#hal,butagoodandsuccessfultranslationwhichfunctionssimilarlywiththeoriginalshowandstirsanalmostequivalentresponseofthetargetreceptorsispossible.

Becauseofthetimeandspaceconstraints,averypracticalwayofsubtitlestranslationisreduction.Itisseenthatbycondensation,reductiveparaphraseanddeletion,reductioniswellapplicableinsubtitlestranslation.Thereductionfreestheaudiencefromtoomuchreadingandprocessingwork.However,ifthemessagechannelismorethanwhatthereceptorCanreceive,additionisanecessaryandimportantstrategyfortheaudiencetogainenoughmessagetoachievethefunctionalequivalence.

Functionalequivalencepaysmoreattentiontoreceptors’responseindifferentculturesratherthanlanguageforms.Thegoalofitistomakethetargetaudience’Sresponsetothetargettextbeessentiallythesamecomparedtotheoriginalaudience’Sresponsetotheoriginaltext.AfterthediscussionofspecificsubtitlestranslationofcultureinformationinFriends,wecanconcludethatifthemeaningandformCancoexist,thenthebestwaytorenderthesubtitlesisforeignizationSO嬲toretainthe

MAlrhesis

originalcultureflavor.However,ifforeignization

causes

confusionandpuzzlement,

domesticationisbetterusedtoachievefunctionalequivalence.Subtitlesshouldnotbeobstructivetotheunderstandingofthetargetaudience.Instead,ifthetargetdon’tpaytoomuchattentionand

audience

even

sometimesignorethesubtitles,itis

good

translation.We

shouldfirstbearinmindtoreproducetheoriginalmeaningand

notrenderitliterally,wehaveto

messageofthescript,ifwecanmakeadjustments

andCan

translateitintobe

anaudience-acceptableversion.In

word,functionalequivalence

used

asa

theoreticalguidanceinthepracticeofsubtitlestransition.Everyshouldmakeeffortstogettheclosestnatural

subtitles

translator

equivalent.

source

Asfunctional

equivalencetheory

is

on

thebasisofreaders’responsefrom

on

andtargetcultures,alotoftheoristshaveputforwardquestionsofthetwokindsof

thecomparability

source

responses(targetreceptors’responseanddifficult

todistinguishthe

receptors’

regard

to

response)because

itis

tworesponses.With

subtitlestranslmion,itisofmorewatching

difficulty

to

makethecomparison.Asthefashionof

call

American

showsis

on

therise,Chineseaudience

almostwatchthem

simultaneouslythroughthe

intemet.Therefore,translators

havelittletimeandfew

channelstoknoworiginal

Infact,there

are

receptors’response.

manyfactorsaffectreceptors’appreciationandunderstandingof

TVshow,whichincludestheplot,pictures,soundeffects,actingskills

andcostumes.

Allthesewillinevitablyimposesubtitles

different

responsetothe

sameshow.Asfaras

translationofsitcomis

concerned,there

aremorefactors

influencing

the

audience’S

responsethantraditionalwrittenones.Becauseofthepeculiarityof

audiovisualshows,itisfor

sure

thatreceptors’responsevariesgreatlyThereforewe

mayaskwhichresponseshouldbe

chosen

to

make

thecomparison.Sometimes,itis

almostdifficult

receptors

or

impossible

to

make

comparisonofthewayinwhichtheoriginal

understoodandappreciated

showunderstandthe

theshowandthewayinwhichreceptorsofthe

subtitledsubtitled

show.Therefore,it

isnoteasy

or

always

applicabletoproduce

functional

equivalencewhiletranslatingsubtitles.

Allinall,ifitishardtocomparetheresponsesof

two

groupsofreceptors,it

is

thetranslator’Sjobtomastertheaudiences’customandcultureandwhatthesocial

62

impactcanbeontheaudience.AnditisessentialforthemtounderstandandpredictthepossibleemotionsandresponsesofthetargetaudienceSOastogetacloseandnaturalrenditionoftheshow.Thatistosay,translatorsplayaveryimportantroleinmakinggoodsubtitlestranslationandhelptheaudienceachievefunctionalequivalence.

Therefore,Nida’Sfunctional—equivalencetheorycanprovideadifferentsightinthepracticeofsubtitlestranslation.However,itdoesnotmeanthatfunctionalequivalenceisomnipotentinsubtitlestranslation.Insomecases,thelossbetweenthetwolanguagesandculturesisjustinevitable.Besidestheeffortsoftranslators,itisalsoofgreatimportancefortheaudiencetoendeavortogetasmuchinformation鹤possiblefromothermultimediachannelsof"IVsuch勰intonation,music,gesturesandacting.

Forfuturestudies,westillneedgreateffortsinfurtheranddeeperresearchtoestablishmatureandsystematictheoriesonsubtitlestranslation.Thisthesistentativelyanalysesthefunctional—equivalencetheoryinthestrategiesandmethodsemployedinthesubtitlestranslationofFriends.Itiscertainthatothertranslationtheoriesareapplicableandworthexploring.Ontheotherhand,舔thisresearchisrestrictedtoonlytwoseasonsofFriends,itsgeneralizationisfarfrombeingadequate.Iftimeandspacepermitted,moreseasonsaretobestudied.AndsomesubtitleSmistakescouldbediscussed.Moreworkconcerningthisfield,especiallyempiricalstudiesforthesubtitlestranslationcouldbedone.What’Smore,somethoughtsarejustthewriter’Sownideas,SOanyfurtherdiscussioniswelcome.AssubtitledTVshowsalsoplayamajorroleinstrengtheninglanguagecompetence,itishopedthatmoreexchangeswillbemadeamongpeoplefromdifferentdisciplinesofstudy.Itisalsohopedthatmoreattentioncallbepaidtosubtitlestranslationinthefuture.

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Appendix

潘琛.《夜宴》的英文字幕翻译.外语教学与翻译,5—6(2007):80—81.一从功能对等理论看英语电影片名的翻译.当代学术研究,4(2007):80—81

Acknowledgements

1wouldliketotakethisopportunitytoexpressmygratitudetoa11whohaveofferedmehelpandencouragementduringmypreparationandwritingprocessofthethesis.

IamgratefultomysupervisorProfessorHuangZhendingforhisinvaluableinstruction,preciousadvice,consistentencouragementandcarefulrevisionofthisthesis.

1wouldliketothankallmyclassmatesfortheirhelpwiththematerialwhichI

myspecialthankstomygoodfriendMabelforherinformationandhelp.Finally,myveryspecialthanksgotomybelovedfamily.Theirencouragernentandlovearewhatkeepmegoingforward.71need.And

从功能对等看情景喜剧老友记的字幕翻译

从功能对等看情景喜剧《老友记》的字幕翻译作者:

学位授予单位:潘琛湖南师范大学

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