A Relevance Theoretical Approach To Humor Translation In Sitcom Subtitling

Since1990s, globalization and rapid developing information technologies have promoted cultural exchanges between China and other countries. Western movies and TV series enter China through Internet and other channels. They are appreciated by Chinese audience, especially the young generation. Situational comedies, such as Friends, The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family, have won a huge group of fans with their well-designed humor, true-to-life stories and rich cultures. However, the barrier of language leads to the need of subtitle translation which has also become a new field of translation studies.Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson put forward Relevance Theory, and Ernst-August Gutt applied it to translation. He regards translation as a special form of communication between two languages which is also an inferential process. The translator should deduce information from the context, and pursue optimal relevance between source language and target language. To pursue optimal relevance is to let readers gain enough contextual effects with the least processing efforts.This thesis discusses humor translation in American situational comedy Modern Family on the basis of Relevance Theory and its major principles. By comparing different translations provided by Sohu and Fengruan subtitle group, the author discusses how to achieve optimal relevance and how to deliver humorous information is in the process of translation. The author also provides specific strategies and techniques of humor translating in situational comedies in order to introduce a new vision to translators in subtitling translating.