Translation Of Humor In The Subtitle Of The Big Bang Theory As A Sitcom

What is believed to be the most important thing in translating sitcom subtitle is thetransmission of humorous effects. As we all know, humor is among the most difficultlinguistic phenomena as far as translation are concerned. As some scholars believe,translation of humor is nearly as challenging as that of poetry. What accounts for this isthat subtitling, as a kind of audiovisual text, has various parameters that constraintranslators. In this light, the author of the present thesis attempts to analyze the fiveconstraints concerning the translation of The Big Bag Theory (hereafter referred to asTBBT), including spatiality and temporality, visual and acoustic synchrony, marketparameters, mode shifts and linguistic differences. On the basis of the above analysis, theauthor has divided humor in TBBT into different types and proposed translation strategiesin light of humor theory and relevance theory.According to relevance theory, translation of humor is an inter-lingual andinter-cultural communication. The criterion or yardstick for humor translation, therefore, isto reserve the most relevant humorous effects for target audiences. That is to say, the targetaudiences should have the same or at least similar effects as that received by the audiencesof the source texts. As this is the case, translators will have to consider both the targetaudiences’ cognitive environment and their expectations to seek for the optimal relevancefrom the source language. To put it another way, the translated humor should interpretivelyresemble the original humor and evoke similar humorous effects without unnecessaryprocessing effort for target audiences. In such consideration, the author has classifiedhumor in TBBT into universal humor, humor concerning culture, wordplay humor andhumor related to science and taken relevant translation strategies including reductiveparaphrase, replacement, adaptation and proper supplement. It is expected that the findingsof this thesis will be helpful for subtitle translators and scholars of translation studies.