On the Cultural Differences of Film Subtitles:A Case Study of E-C Subtitling of Zootopia_英语论文

摘要

近几年，一大批优秀国外电影的引进促进了我国与其他国家之间的语言文化交流。优秀的电影不仅为大众带来休闲娱乐，还为国际商业文化交融做出重大贡献。国内外关于电影字幕翻译理论的研究已有了很多成果，其中，由著名语言学家尤金•奈达提出的功能对等翻译理论极具先进性与实用性，值得推广与深入学习。但如何运用翻译策略尽可能地实现字幕译文与原文的对等，是个值得探究的问题。

为此，本文将立足于尤金·奈达的研究成果，尝试运用功能对等翻译理论对优秀美国商业喜剧电影《疯狂动物城》（Zootopia）字幕译文与原文的对等性进行深入分析，分析将按照功能对等内容的四个层面，包括词汇对等、句法对等、篇章对等和文体对等进行，通过分析总结得出相关翻译策略，尽可能实现字幕翻译的功能对等。

关键词：尤金·奈达 功能对等 字幕翻译 疯狂动物城

Abstract

In recent years, the large-scale introductions of excellent foreign films promote the cultural communications of language between China and other countries. High-quality movies not only bring entertainment to people but also bring great contributions to international commercial and cultural integration. We have seen great achievements in film subtitle researches at home and abroad, among which the functional equivalence theory of the famous linguist Eugene A Nida stands high and still, both in advancement and in practice, which is worthy of spreading and further studying. Meanwhile, the choice of strategies to realize the functional equivalence in film subtitles translation in accordance with Nida’s functional equivalence theory comes into question.

Thus this article is trying to analyze in depth of the equivalence between the translation version and original version of the subtitle in the successful American commercial comedy Zootopia based on the research achievements of Nida’s functional equivalence theory. The analysis is carried out according to the four aspects of the content of functional equivalence theory, including lexical equivalence, syntactic equivalence, textual equivalence and stylistic equivalence. The strategies concluded from the case study of the movie Zootopia could be used as guidance while trying to realize functional equivalence between original text and translation version in the process of translating film subtitles as much as possible.

Key words: Eugene A Nida； Functional Equivalence Theory； Film Subtitle Translation； Zootopia

Contents

1  Introduction 1

1.1 Background of Film Subtitle Translation 1

1.2 Significance of Film Subtitle Translation 1

1.3 Objective of Film Subtitle Translation 2

2  Literature Review on Film Subtitle Translation 3

2.1 Chinese Researches on Film Subtitle Translation 3

2.2 Foreign Researches on Film Subtitle Translation 3

2.3 An Introduction to Functional Equivalence Theory 4

2.3.1 A Brief Introduction to Nida 4

2.3.2 The Main Content of Functional Equivalence Theory 4

2.3.3 Strategies of E—C Subtitling Based on Functional Equivalence Theory 7

3  Strategies of Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory of Translation 9

3.1 Lexical Equivalence 9

3.2 Syntactic Equivalence 9

3.3 Textual Equivalence 9

3.4 Stylistic Equivalence 9 

4  Case Study of Film Subtitle Translation in Zootopia 10

4.1 Brief introduction of the Film Zootopia 10

4.2 Analysis of Examples in the Film Zootopia and Strategies of E—C Subtitling According to Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory 10

4.2.1 Examples in the film Zootopia and Strategies of E—C Subtitling          According to lexical equivalence 11

4.2.2 Examples in the film Zootopia and strategies of E—C subtitling according to syntactic equivalence 14

4.2.3 Examples in the film Zootopia and strategies of E—C subtitling according to textual equivalence 17

5  Conclusion 20

Bibliography 21

Acknowledgments 22