A Study Of The Translation Of Culturally-loaded Words In The Subtitles Of Two Broken Girls From The Perspective Of Science Of Communication

Culture is increasingly exchanged among countries throughout the world with the intensive development of globalization. As an indispensable part of cultural industry, the import and export of movies and TV series get more frequent. On this occasion, translation of subtitles in movies and TV series has become an important way to guarantee their success in the overseas market. Excellent subtitle translation enables target audience to appreciate the movie plot and information better. As a part of subtitles, the culturally-loaded words are an important vehicle of cultural information, so the translation quality of culturally-loaded words directly influences the cross-lingual expression of cultural information. In the meantime, the translation of the culturally-loaded words is absolutely the key and difficulty in subtitle translation due to the cultural gaps across different countries.However, when watching TV series, you will easily find that the translation of culturally-loaded words in subtitles is not satisfactory. The translation problems include information redundancy, less expressive words, linguistic deviation, ambiguity and so on. These problems stem from the differences between Western and Chinese cultures, which result in the translator’s misunderstanding of source language in terms of manners and customs, religious faith as well as moral values. In addition, it can be found that the previous studies on translation of culturally-loaded words in subtitles are conducted from the perspective of Skopos of the functionalist theory, text typology and relevancy theory. However, the main aim of movie is to exchange culture and information. As a special text type, the culturally-loaded words in subtitles are different from other literary forms in the light of translation. Therefore, the translation strategies proposed only from the linguistic perspective have certain limitations. In this case, a new theory should be applied to guide the translation studies of culturally-loaded words in subtitles so that the communication function of films and TV series can be fully explored.This thesis applies the Science of Communication to the translation of culturally-loaded words in subtitles. By combining Science of Communication with Translation Studies, this thesis analyzes the nature of culturally-loaded words in subtitles and offers the theoretical support and practical guidance for translation strategies. Translation is to exchange cross-cultural information, and its essence is to communicate. Translation has the general nature of Science of Communication, which can find its expression in the relations among communication entity, communication media and communication target. As a result, translation of culturally-loaded words in subtitles from the perspective of Science of Communication has to some extent the theoretical value and practical implication. As a consequence, this thesis focuses on Lasswell’s 5W communication model, explores the relationships between different factors during translation and communication based on the linguistic data of culturally-loaded words in subtitles in Two Broken Girls under the guidance of Science of Communication. This thesis puts an emphasis on the communication entity, communication media and communication target, and analyzes the translation problems of culturally-loaded words in subtitles in Two Broken Girls and puts forward some translation strategies with the aim of achieving a successful communication effect.This thesis consists of five parts. The first chapter introduces the research background, aims and its significance, research methodology and the structure of the thesis. The second chapter is literature review. It presents two relevant terms, summarizes the classification and characteristics of culturally-loaded words in subtitles as well as the difference between culturally-loaded words in subtitles and those in traditional literary works, introduces main plot and characters in Two Broken Girls and finally illustrates some previous researches concerned. The third chapter mainly introduces the Science of Communication and three communication models, which are 5W models of Lasswell, Shannon and Weaver’s Mathematical Communication Model and Osgood and Wilbur Schramm as well as three points on "influence of Science of Communication on translation". As the central part of this thesis, the fourth chapter analyzes five communication features of culturally-loaded words which are communication entity, content, media, target and effect. Then it analyzes the current translation problems in terms of communication entity, media and target, and then puts forward the corresponding translation strategies based on the Science of Communication. The fifth chapter is the conclusion, summarizing the findings and limitations of this thesis and offering some suggestions.