On Subtitling Of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES From The Perspective Of German Functionalist Theory

Being fast, flexible, and economical, subtitling is rapidly becoming the preferred audiovisualtranslation mode on the Internet. However, compared with the western, the study of subtitling in Chinabegan much later and the system of translation theory is still to be improved. Besides, the exponentialgrowth of digital technology and spread of internet lead to the prosperity of fansubs. This thesis mainlyfocuses not on the professional but on the amateur subtitling from the perspective of German functionalistwith a case study of American TV series Desperate Housewives, hoping to gain some enlightenment for thetranslator in multimedia translation.Subtitling is a kind of target audience-centered activity that involves multiple relationships betweenthe producer, translator, target audience, time, and space and so on. The function of subtitling is tomaximally transmit the original information on screen to the audience under the constraints of time andspace, so the assessment of subtitling requires a more dynamic perspective. Born out of practice inprofessional translation, German functionalist theory can provide a feasible theoretical instruction forsubtitling.Through the analysis of subtitling of Desperate Housewives, it turns out that the frequent use ofidiomatic Chinese expressions; four-character phrases and adequate quotes can promote the translationeffect, while redundant information, incoherence and mistranslation would hinder the informationacquisition and finally impact on the audience’s expectation. Accordingly, subtitling should center aroundthe target-audience under the guidance of translation brief and the principles of acceptability and adequacy.Besides, some tentative translation methods such as reduction, clarification and paraphrasing are proposedin order to improve the quality of subtitling. The significance of this paper mainly lies in the enlightenmentof evaluating the quality of subtitling in the perspective of German functionalist as well as selectingappropriate rendering methods for the translator.