从功能对等理论看《老友记》字幕翻译_英语论文

Subtitles Translation of Friends from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory

摘要

现代生活中，无论是信息的传播还是文化的交流，电视都起到了不可忽视的作用。随着全球化进程，国外的影视作品传入中国并大受欢迎。如此一来，观众借以了解剧情体味外国文化的字幕翻译，就显得尤为重要。近几年来，各色各样的字幕组如雨后春笋般兴起。其中大多数都是由英语爱好者自发组成，因此，字幕翻译的质量得不到保证也在情理之中。

与此同时，相对于西方学者来说，国内学者对字幕翻译的关注还远远不足。除了一些学术文章和零散的概念，国内尚未就字幕翻译形成成熟的理论。

《老友记》一直被视为美国最受欢迎的影视作品，引进中国之后也成为了学习英语和美国风土人情的经典。本文将选取“老友记”前两季的部分字幕翻译，利用案例分析，对比研究以及文献查阅等方法对其中的幽默翻译进行详细探讨。通过本文的分析，作者旨在验证奈达的功能对等理论能够为字幕翻译提供一个新的思路。同时，通过对老友记中幽默和文化词的字幕翻译分析，作者指出：在字幕翻译时，最重要的不是语句的通顺，而是能激起目标语的受众产生与源语言受众相似的心理反应，从而较好地传达原剧效果。

关键词：字幕翻译; 功能对等理论; 老友记; 幽默

Abstract 

In modern life, TV is playing an important role in the information acquisition and cultural communication. With the process of globalization, foreign movies and TV shows enter into China’s market and now are gaining popularity in China. Consequently, subtitles translation which helps the audience better understand the plots of foreign TV shows and appreciate foreign cultures, is of great importance. Recent years have witnessed the booming of various subtitles translation groups, most of which are made up of English lovers. Thus, it is not unusual that the quality of the translated versions is not guaranteed.

At the same time, the attention paid to subtitles translation by scholars is far from enough compared with that of the west. And there are no mature theories formed on the issue of subtitles translation in China except some scattered papers and some fragmented idea.

Friends, which is regarded as the most popular TV series in America, becomes the classic material    for English learning and cultural experience after entering China’s market. This thesis will discuss about several specific aspects in subtitles translation of humor with the material of the first two seasons of Friends. Meanwhile, case study research method, comparative method and searching literatures method will be adopted to study the examples of the subtitles translation of humors in Friends. With the analysis of the functional equivalence theory and subtitle translation in this paper, the author comes to a conclusion that Nida’s Functional Equivalence could offer a new approach in subtitle translation. Also, the author points out that the most important task in subtitles translation is not the fluency of sentences but the similar responses between the target audience and the audience of the source language. In this way, the humor effects will be best expressed.

Key words: subtitle translation; functional equivalence theory; Friends; humor

Contents

1. Introduction 1

   1.1 Present Study of Subtitles Translation at Home 1

   1.2 Present Study of Subtitles Translation Abroad 2

2. Brief Introduction of Subtitles Translation 4

   2.1 Definition of Subtitles 4

2.2 Classification of Subtitles 4

     2.2.1 Same-Language Subtitling 4

2.2.2 Pre-prepared Subtitles 4

2.2.3 Real Time Subtitles 5

2.2.4 Hybrid Subtitles 5

2.3 Features of Subtitles 6

3. Functional Equivalence Theory and Subtitles Translation 7

3.1 Studies of Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory 7

3.1.1 The Development of Functional Equivalence 7

3.1.2 The principles of the functional equivalence 8

3.2 Applicability of Functional Equivalence Theory to Subtitles Translation 8

4. Subtitles Translation of Friends from the perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory 9

4.1 A General Introduction of Friends 9

4.2 Classifications of Humor 9

4.3 Translation of Humor in Friends from the perspective of Functional Equivalence 10

4.3.1Universal Humor 10

4.3.2 Cultural Humor 12

4.3.3 Wordplay 14

Conclusion 17

References 18