Analysis On English To Chinese Subtitle Translation Of Harvard Open Class From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

Along with the era of network multimedia, various multimedia resources ofworldwidesuch as movies, TV series, computer games, especially open class from those famous universities are popular in China nowadays.Aiming at providing information, spreading knowledge, exchanging thoughts and culture via the network,theyhave been infiltrated into our daily life through various channels. With the help of Internet, the audiences can make full use of them so as to satisfy their different needs such as exposing them to different cultures, deepening their understanding to the world, and meeting their desires for knowledge and entertainment. Since these resources are introduced into China, the subtitle translation hasaroused intellectual attention, due to the fact that most of the Chinese viewers are with limited foreign language proficiency. Now another kind of subtitle translation gradually enters the researchers’ scope:Open Class Subtitle Translation, which brings a heated debate on the subtitle translation studies, compared with the film subtitle translation. According to the survey, only in the inland area of China, the hit on some famous universities’open class reaches100million times more online, which means people’s desire for knowledge? On the other hand, due to the limited knowledge of English, they have no choice but to step back, because most of the open classes are taught in their own language, English at most. Therefore it is urgent for translators to provide them with subtitle translation so that Chinese viewers can better understand the open class.At present, the open class subtitle translation is only in its infancy. There exists a gap between the need and demand. With no effective theory to guide and monitor the translation, the translators may do the open class subtitle translation based on their own experience and their comprehension to original text. Therefore, misunderstanding and mistranslation inevitably occurs.Based on Jef.Verschueren’s Adaptation Theory, this thesis attempts to explore the characteristics of subtitle translation, especially target at the online open class from the perspective of linguistic adaptation. The research subject derives from "Positive Psychology at Harvard " for the following reasons:First of all, as one of the public courses first introduced to China, the full translated version of the whole series of courses are available to the viewers. The courses areso famous among the wide range of audiences that their subtitle translation opens a new window to the medium work to some extent, in the way the open classes have found their way to the public; Secondly, this open class has a wide range of audiences based on his popularity. The cover of audiences at different levels lays a good foundation for the survey, which guarantees the reliability of the study. Thirdly, it is of special significance to analyze the characteristics and translating strategies used in the open class subtitle translation. As the translators, it is the first time for them to deal with a new multimedia subtitles translation other than films and television works. There are some strategies applied in the translation. Combined with qualitative and quantitative research methods, the thesis studies the strategies applied in the subtitle translation of The Harvard Open Class. Two versions of the open class, which hit the highest in the network, are compared and analyzed from the aspects of linguistic structure, linear time and dynamic context adaptation. Questionnaire is delivered among30viewers of different levels, and data from the questionnaire are collected, and analyzed. Based on the results of the questionnaire analysis and the comparison of the two versions, we find that the one adopted more strategies and applied more principles receives a high degree of identity. It draws the conclusion that the translation version will be more acceptable among the Chinese viewers only under the guidance of the adaptation theory; On the other hand, the translators can apply the theory to guide their translation practice so as to avoid the misunderstanding or mistranslation due to the cultural difference. Only in that way can the translators achieve the purpose of successful communication. The analysis sheds light on more and better subtitle translation of the open class so that more viewers can benefit from them.