On Translator’s Subjectivity In Subtitle Translation

With the advent of I.T. era and popularity of online media, foreign film & television works have become more popular than ever, and the impact and influence of electronic texts are much bigger than that of paper texts. As one of the media of cultural transmission, films and television programmes have taken up an increasingly important place in exporting cultures. Audiovisual translation, especially subtitle translation, has gradually become a focus of translation studies. However, currently less attention is paid to subtitle translation compared to literary translation in translation circle, with the subtitle translation still lacking its own theory to guide the practice. In fact, the quality of subtitle translation determines, to a large extent, the audience’s understanding of the original meaning of the works. And it’s the subtitle translator that determines the quality of the subtitle translation. Therefore, it’s of great significance to conduct a research on the subjectivity of the translator in the subtitle translation.Within the framework of Nida’s functional equivalence theory, this thesis attempts to study the exertion and embodiment of translator’s subjectivity in subtitle translation through the analysis of the features of subtitle language, the nature and special requirements of subtitle translation with the case study of the most popular British TV drama Downton Abbey(Season One). The thesis will also conclude the translating strategies adopted by the translator under the constraints of subtitle translation at the three levels of syntactic equivalence, pragmatical equivalence and cultural equivalence.Through the analysis, the following conclusions can be drawn from this thesis:(1) Nida’s functional equivalence theory can be regarded as the authoritative guidance and criterion for the translator in the subtitle translating process; during the translating process of the subtitle translation, the purpose of the translator is to pursue the functional equivalence between the source text and the target text. Only by achieving the most natural and closest equivalence can the target audience better appreciate the artistic value of the film and television works. In other words, the closer the equivalence between the source text and the target text is, the greater the subjectivity of the translator is. Thus Nida’s functional equivalence theory can better guide and regulate the exertion of the translator’s subjectivity.(2) The translator’s choice of the translating object- Downton Abbey(Season One) is the result of the adaptation to his own competence and the internal and external needs;(3) With the combination of the characteristics and constraints of subtitling, the subjectivity of the translator can be explored at the syntactic level, the pragmatic level and the cultural level. At the syntactic level, the strategies of conversion and reduction are used by the translator in the translating process. Phrases are used to replace the long sentences and passive constructions are employed to replace the active construction in Chinese. At the pragmatic level, strategies of addition and substitution are used by the translator. At the cultural level, different strategies are adopted by the translator to create a good translation for the target audiences, like reduction, addition and domestication, etc. Meanwhile, the subjectivity of the translator is also restricted by some major factors: social background, cultural misinterpretation, ideology and his own competence.