Application Of Functionalist Translation Theory On Subtitle Translation--A Case Study Of "Prison Breaking I"

With the sky-rocketing development of audiovisual technology, films and other audiovisual products are enjoying more preferences in the cross-cultural communication and exchanges. Subtitling, as an indispensable part of films being distributed in foreign cultures, has been arousing more and more attentions among those theoretical translators, practitioners, and scholars who are committed to translation. Being also very interested, the thesis attempts to analyze and discuss the subtitle translation within the framework of functionalist translation theory, in a purpose to further improve the quality of English to Chinese subtitling.In terms of functionalist translation theory, subtitle translation is above all a skopos-constrained activity, which defines the skopos of a translation work as the primary rule governing all the translation activities relevant, thus it is necessary to define the skopos through"translation brief"before any translation action begins; subtitle translation is then defined as an interpersonal interaction, in which many people or agents will get involved and affect the realization of the skopos defined to certain extents; subtitle translation is thirdly defined as a text-processing action, in which ST is regarded as merely an information offer, detailed ST analysis and comparison between ST and TT profiles should be carried out by translators, and translation problems should be foretold so as to better achieve the skopos defined.The case of"Prison Breaking I"is then brought in for study within the framework of functionalist translation theory. Comparison between ST and TT profiles was carried out to foretell the possible translation problems that might hinder translators from fulfilling the skopos thereof during translation; and typical examples extracted from the drama"Prison Breaking I"was analyzed in detail to find out what translation strategies were applied, and why the translator chose those strategies instead of others, so as to testify the effectiveness and validity of Skopostheorie in dealing with translation problems during subtitle translation. The crucial role of subtitle translator was also brought into detailed study.By applying functionalist translation theory, mainly the skopos rule, into the case study, we can easily draw the conclusion that, within the temporal and spatial conventions of subtitling, although translation strategies like omission, condensation, supplement, paraphrase or substitution etc. adopted by the translator may inevitably lead to some losses of source text, e.g. loss of pragmatic effect, loss of expressive function and loss of cultural variations, the target text is still deemed as adequate in that it fulfills the skopos"Prison Breaking I"defined at the very beginning, which further proves the applicability and effectiveness of the functionalist translation theories in guiding subtitle translation practice.