Audio-visual Subtitle Translation From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

As a kind of mass media, movies and TV dramas play a more and more important role inculture exchange in almost all the countries in the world. These movies and TV dramas spreadquickly and were loved by audiences on the global scale. The study of audio-visual translationis expressing its importance to this time, and highly promotes culture exchanges betweenChina and foreign counties, conform to globalization. Thanks to the audio-visual translation,we can enjoy the original English movies. Meanwhile, it is a good way to push Chineseculture to the world under global circumstance. subtitle translation whose main purpose is togive specific cultural background to audiences in the most effective way under the restrictionof time and space so that audiences can understand the movies better. However, the traditionalequivalent translation theory can no longer accommodate the special demand of subtitletranslation. Presented by Vermeer and other scholars from German, the Skopos theory whichraise a new view for subtitle translation research.Subtitle translation is a special translation pattern effected by the influence of translationtheory, the restrain of subtitle and the limitation of cultural factors. Translators should decidethe appropriate translation strategies by considering all relevant factors under the guidance ofSkopos theory. This research is carried out on an approach with German functionalistessential views as the theoretical foundation. The author will put forward a Skopos analyticalmode as pre-translation necessity for it will influence the choice of subtitling strategies. Basedon the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, the strategies the author proposeswill be illustrated by real examples from the movies.There are five chapters in this thesis. Chapter1provides a bird’s view of the whole thesis,clarifying the research background, objective, significance, and research methodology as wellas thesis organization. Chapter2is a literature review, focusing on the research developmentboth at home and abroad, with a suggestion of applying Skopos theory to subtitling. Chapter3is dedicated to the theoretical foundation，explaining German Skopos theory with ananalytical mode. Chapter4puts the practice to deduce the subtitling Skopos in. It is the coreof this thesis, focusing on the exploration of subtitling strategies under the guide of Skopos.Chapter5moves to the conclusion of this thesis with brief discussion on main findings,limitations and directions for further studies.