Subtitling Humor In English Sitcoms: A Skopos Perspective

The present study is designed to probe into the current situation of subtitling humor in English sitcoms into Chinese, to make clear its barriers and problems, and to seek out operable solutions to them under the guidance of skopos theory. It attempts to answer the following two main research questions: 1) Do Chinese subtitlers employ a particular translation theory to guide their subtitling practices? If not, what theory is suitable for guiding the subtitling practices of humor? 2) Is the translated humor able to possess the same or a similar humorous effect as or to the original? If so, what translation strategies can be utilized to achieve this?In order to address these questions, this study has included the following three parts: the subtitler-oriented questionnaire to obtain Chinese subtitlers’ real working experience, the case studies to find out the problems and solutions of subtitling humor in English sitcoms, and the audience-oriented questionnaire to elicit information on the audience’s likes and dislikes. Through conducting questionnaires and carrying out case studies, this thesis finds out that skopos theory proposed by Hans. J. Vermeer is indeed suitable for guiding Chinese subtitlers in their practices of subtitling humor in English sitcoms. Under the guidance of skopos theory, different translation strategies are provided to subtitle different kinds of humor in English sitcoms. Since a similar methodology has never been adopted in subtitling studies in China, i.e., to take into consideration the subtitlers’ experience and the audience’s response at the same time, this study positions itself as an exploratory research. Its completion has ensured the feasibility of carrying out a similar but more extensive research of this kind. It is hoped that this thesis could provide valuable information for future studies.