A Relevance Theoretical Approach To The Translation Of Chinese Film Subtitles

As a relatively new and special translation, film subtitle translation has become an increasingly important and inseparable branch of translation. Therefore, it is necessary to have a more profbund understanding of subtitle translation. This paper analyzes subtitle translation of Chinese films with relevance theory as the theoretical basis.A tentative attempt has been made to figure out whether subtitle transiation of Chinese films is consistent with relevance theory. Many translation theories of different schools can be adapted to the analysis of the translation practice, nevertheless, relevance theory stands out to be the most appropriate one to explain the movie subtitle translation with its central claim that film subtitles should be made relevant enough to produce the optimal relevance so as to achieve the best communicative effects.Film subtitle translation is restricted by various constraints, thus high-quality subtitles translation poses a great challenge to the subtitlers. Through the analysis of the translated Chinese films, the author categorized some feasible strategies that account for the successful relay of the ideas from the original films. These strategies are summarized from the perspective of relevance theory and concrete examples are given to explain how to achieve the best communicative effects.It is hoped that the rising attention and interest of translators and other researchers concerned will bring about more fruitful research in the film subtitle'translation. A more detailed and all-around analysis of the subtitle translation is expected to be developed to facilitate the cross-cultural communication in film industry.