Functionalist Translation Brief In English-Chinese Documentary Film Translation

In audiovisual translation, Functionalism has long been extensively applied intheoretical research and text analysis, but has never offered any practical tool fordocumentary translators. Seeing the thriving of foreign documentaries on screens inChina, it is time to integrate the Functionalist translation theory and the practice ofdocumentary translation.This thesis is to briefly review the previous studies on subtitling and dubbing inaudiovisual translation and introduce the five elements of a typical Functionalisttranslation brief along with the four Functionalist text functions (referential,expressive, appellative, and phatic); to analyze how practical problems can affect theapplication of the translation brief; to identify the five types of documentaries properfor import (conclusive, descriptive, cognitive, poetic, and entertaining) with the helpof documentary filming theories, and to pinpoint their respective dominant textfunctions through Functionalist analysis; hence to remedy the inadequacy of thetranslation brief in practice, to conduct a self-briefing for English-Chinesedocumentary translation, featuring a model for quick identification of text functionand selection of general strategies, suggestions on addressing terminologicalproblems, and tips on how to deal with subtitling, dubbing and voice-over.