A Functionalist Perspective To Subtitle Translation: A Case Study Of Kyle Xy

Nowadays, the cultural communication and exchanges between China and other nations have become very important against the backdrop of accelerated and deepening globalization. And the exchange of films and TV plays between different countries plays an important role in promoting them. Because films and TV plays are important carriers of human culture and cross-cultural communication. The fast-developing information technology is quickening the spread of films and TV plays among different countries. Therefore, subtitle translation as a new type of translation has become increasingly important and more attention should be paid to it. However, compared with literary translation, the study of subtitle translation started rather late and the competence in language and translation skills on the part of the subtitle translators diverge greatly. There is an obvious lack of guiding theory which can guide the subtitle translation and its assessment.This paper is a study on the subtitle translation of KYLE XY in the light of functionalist translation theory. Using mainly skopos rule, coherence and loyalty rule in the analysis, the author endeavors to show that functionalism can provide more specific perspectives for the assessment of subtitle translation, and therefore can also help in the production of high quality translation.In this thesis, the first chapter gives a brief introduction to screen subtitle and the research background for subtitle translation study. Chapter two reviews the functional translation theory, introducing and explaining the basic concepts, theories. In chapter 3, through the analysis of the target audience and the source text, the intended target text functions are clarified, which are the informative function, and the expressive and appellative function, with the informative function being the main function. In chapter 4, the functional translation theory, mainly the skopos rule, coherence and fidelity rule are applied to analyze the translation of the subtitle of Kyle Xy. And in each part the author not only analyzes the translations that are well done, but also points out some translation errors. Through the analysis, we can see that the target text has done a good job in realizing the informative function. Besides a few errors, most parts of the translated version of the subtitle are concise, correct and natural. And as for the coherence of the characters'dispositions which are shown by their wordings and language features, there are some places that are not translated very appropriately. The fifth chapter is conclusion.