On Subtitle Translation of Wild China from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence_英语论文

摘要

近些年，全球化发展的趋势以及影视业的快速发展推动了字幕翻译的研究。优秀的字幕翻译不仅清晰传递原文信息，保留原作品风格，同时促进文化的交流。

纪录片是一种以拍摄真实生活为创作材料的特殊影视作品,它也具有普通字幕的特征和翻译限制。然而，至今纪录片的字幕翻译仍不完善，有待进一步发展。

本文是关于英语纪录片《美丽中国》的典型字幕案例分析研究。《美丽中国》系列纪录片生动客观展示了中国的动植物和人们生活习俗。本文从词汇、句法、语篇和文化四个翻译层面分析该纪录片的字幕案例，发现了适用于纪录片字幕翻译的拆译、缩译、倒置法等翻译策略，证明功能对等理论运用于纪录片字幕翻译的可行性。在功能对等理论的指导下，中国观众对此纪录片翻译字幕的理解取得了与原文英国观众相似的理解效果。

关键词:  功能对等  纪录片字幕翻译  《美丽中国》

Abstract

The trend of globalization and the fast development of audiovisual industry have promoted the studies of subtitle translation over recent years. Well-translated subtitles can not only convey clear messages and keep the style of the original text, but also facilitate cultural communication.

Documentaries, a special kind of audiovisual works, are filmed from real life material. It also retains the common constraints and features of general subtitle. However, recently the studies of the documentary subtitle translation are inadequate and needed to be further developed. 

This thesis is a case study of an English documentary Wild China. Wild China vividly records animals, plants and human activities in China. The thesis analyzes some specific examples in Wild China at four translating levels: lexical, syntactical, textual and cultural level. It is found that some translation strategies, like division, omission, inversion and so on, can be effectively applied to the documentary subtitle translation. The thesis reveals the possibility of translating the documentary subtitle based on Functional Equivalence and demonstrates that the Chinese viewers can respond effectively to the translated subtitle as the original English audiences do.

Key words: Functional Equivalence  documentary subtitle translation  Wild China

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction 1

1.1  Purpose of This Thesis 1

1.2  Significance of This Thesis 1

1.3  Research Methods of This Thesis 2

1.4  Struture of This Thesis 3

Chapter Two  Literature Review 4

2.1  Introduction 4

2.2  The Definition and Function of Subtitle Translation 4

2.3  The Features and Constraints of Subtitle Translation 5

2.4  Previous Studies on Subtitle Translation at Home 6

2.5  Previous Studies on Subtitle Translation Abroad 7

2.6  Comment 9

Chapter Three  Theoretical Framework 10

3.1  Introduction 10

3.2  The Definition and Development of Functional Equivalence 10

3.3  Principles for Achieving Functional Equivalence 11

3.4  Comment 12

Chapter Four  An Analysis of Subtitle Translation of Wild China Based on Functional Equivalence 13

4.1  Introduction 13

4.2  General introduction of Wild China 13

4.3  Analyzing the Subtitle Translation of Wild China at Four Translating 

Levels 14

4.3.1 Lexical Level 14

4.3.2 Syntactical Level 18

4.3.3 Textual Level 22

4.3.3 Cultural Level 24

Chapter Five  Conclusion 27

Bibliography

Acknowledgements