Functionalist Approaches To Film Subtitle Translation

Appreciation of foreign films has become an essential part of modern life in China. Meanwhile, it's an important channel to further understanding and communication between different cultures. In recent years, the audiovisual translation (AVT) has showed its mounting significance. Researches on AVT have been carried out more extensively and intensively in the West, thus common ground has been reached and conventions have been established in terms of translation strategies and quality control. In comparison, researches in this field are relatively backward in China. At present, audiovisual products sprang up in great amount at the market, but their qualities are at quite different levels due to the lack of theoretical instructions and normalization. This paper attempts to analyze translation of film subtitle from the prospective of Functionalist Approach in the hope of providing a criterion for evaluating the quality of film subtitles, some feasible principles and strategies in promoting the quality of film subtitles.The translation of subtitles belongs to literal translation, but has its own distinctive characters, compared with the other forms of literal translation. The function of subtitle is to maximally convey, under the constraints of time and space, the information of the oral speeches to the audience and achieve conversion of cultures at the same time. German functionalist theory holds that translation should center on translation purpose, the translation standards should be many-faceted and the multi-lateral relationships between the original author, translation initiator, translator and target readers should all be taken into consideration in the translation process. Meanwhile, the function of cross-cultural communication should be stressed. Obviously, Functionalism can provide feasible theoretical instruction for subtitling.The translation strategies under the supervision of Functionalism go beyond the limit of any single translation criterion. Within the framework of Functionalism, literal translation and free translation, domestication and foreignizaton are just approaches to achieve the goal of translation, thus can be adopted freely at appropriate time as long as"the end can justify the means". In this thesis, the author takes some examples from subtitles selected from films directed by Ang Lee (including 2 Oscar Winners) to testify the instructive significance of Functionalist Approaches. Finally, the conclusion is drawn that Functionalism broadens the horizon of film translation by putting translation into a scope of dynamic actions that integrate the multi-lateral relationships between the film producer, translator, target audience, translation brief, time, space and medium. The products of translation should be evaluated by the purpose or Skopos achieved, not by the approaches employed. Therefore, Functional Approach can be considered as a feasible and scientific guideline to the translation of subtitles.