An Analysis Of C-E Translation Of Chinese TV Entertainment Program Titles In Light Of Skopos Theory

Along with the decades of rapid development in China and the frequent interaction between China and other countries, the world is paying more and more attention to China. Chinese entertainment program as one of the vital structural parts has been playing an increasingly important role on reflecting Chinese people’s social and cultural life and has become an essential window to publicize China and make the world get a better understanding of China. It has a nearly thirty-year history and gains high audience, for people regularly prefer to watch their most beloved TV entertainment program after work for relaxing and learning. And it has become one of the three mainstream programs since1980s. Therefore, the accuracy and vividness of the translation of entertainment program titles not only represents the TV language level but also reflects the cultural development of the whole nation. After years of learning the translation theories and accumulating the practical experience, the author adopts the "Skopos Theory" as the theoretical guideline of the translation of Chinese entertainment program titles. Skopoetheorie, a theory of purposeful action, claims that the prime principle determining any translation process is the purpose of the overall translation action. It directs the translator to lay more emphasis on the translation function instead of equivalence. The translation purpose is defined by the translation brief, which is a part of the translation commission given by the initiators. The translation brief specifies what kind of translation is needed for the translator and does not limit translation at linguistic level; it can be summed up as "The end justifies the means." So it entitles the translators much freedom to adopt the flexible translation.The thesis collects more than300Chinese entertainment program titles with high popularity as the objects of being analyzed and researched. Firstly, the thesis introduces the definition and the genres of the TV entertainment programs, and then analyzes the functions and linguistic characteristics of the entertainment program titles’translation. Secondly, the thesis introduces the definition of the "Skopos Theory" and its three guiding functions and effectiveness of the entertainment program titles’ translation. Lastly, guided by the principles of the "Skopos Theory", the thesis points out the shortcomings and misunderstandings of the current entertainment program titles’translation and analyzes C-E translation errors in entertainment program titles on main principles of Skopostherories, so that the article cites some examples needed to be corrected, such as the misuse of words, the grammatical errors, the tautological use of words, the collocation problems, the word order problems and so on. And it summarizes methods in translating entertainment program titles, namely literal translation, free translation and the combination of literal and free translation. Besides, translation techniques such as omission, adaptive and addition are suggested.The thesis introduces the Skopos theory comprehensively, as a theoretical basis and guidance for translators to do the programmatic translation,which the traditional translation theory fails to account for. Thus, this paper is a study on C-E translation of Chinese TV entertainment program titles in the light of skopos theory, which is the creation and significance of the paper. The author comes to the conclusion that Skopos theory plays an effective role on guiding Chinese entertainment program titles’ translation, for it can not only expand and deepen the field of translation theory system of the program titles and give more creative freedom to translators, but also improve the accuracy of the translation of the entertainment program titles so as to win wider popularity and higher ratings, and also make the world understand Chinese media and culture more effectively and comprehensively.