A Study Of Deficiencies In The Subtitle Translation Of The Big Bang Theory

At the beginning of twenty-first Century,American TV series set off a boom on the Internet in China,which not only bring foreign entertainment,but also deepen the exchange and dissemination of Chinese and foreign cultures.And accordingly there appear a large number of American TV series forums and American TV series subtitles groups.It is certain that subtitle translation plays an increasingly important role in cross-cultural communication.The Big Bang Theory is one of the most popular American TV series,which is a sitcom that depicts daily life of Americans,loved and sought after by Chinese audience.Thereafter its subtitle translation has also become the focus of researchers.It is admitted that the majority of the subtitle translation is acceptable,but there is no denying that does exist some deficiencies in it,five types of which are summed up in this thesis,that is,abusing dialect and network language;misusing classical words and sayings;replacing and ignoring concepts;violating the scene setting and lacking proper annotations.For the first type of deficiency,subtitle translator breaks the rule of register,which requires proper language in a certain context;the second one misuses idioms to translate subtitles.Their supporting theoretical basis can be found in Mona Baker's translation strategy about “register” and “idioms and collocations”.The last three types of deficiencies ignore translation's role of transmitting foreign culture and showing exotic flavor,and they reflect the translation problems of over naturalization and omission,the former causes the loss of foreign flavor,whereas the latter causes the loss of cultural renewal,for which Venuti's foreignizational translation theory provides theoretical support.The deficiencies of subtitle translation have the characteristics of multilevel and cross regions,then we need more than one theory to explain the phenomena.Therefore,we take Venuti's foreignizational translation theory and Mona Baker's strategy about register and idioms as references to analyze every type of cases in detail from four perspectives,that is,translator's attitude and tendency,the audience's needs and expectations,the requirement of the context,the accuracy of words and concepts.After that,the thesis provides a fluent translation which can promote cultural renewal and remain foreign flavor.From the case analysis,we can see the main reasons for the defects mainly lie in that the subtitle translator pays more attention to the translation's assisted function of entertainment and ignores its cultural transmission function;besides,he doesn't treat his identity or original text seriously,and he occasionally changes the original dialogues;furthermore,he can't apply the translation strategy and concrete method properly.In addition to that,the thesis sums up the general strategies to deal with these problems,including: 1.using standard language;2.evaluating the role of particular cultural concepts in the play appropriately;3.grasping the person's character and context;4.annotating in the place where the plot is difficult to understand or where there is cultural default;etc.At the same time,it is considered that there is no one-to-one relation between these strategies and problems,there is a necessity to make a comprehensive consideration of the strategies in translation.Through studying deficiencies in The Big Bang Theory,this thesis aims to provide reference for improving American TV series' quality and better reflecting American social and cultural life.