A Study Of Subtitle Translation From The Perspective Of Translation Variation Theory

The concept of translation variation was firstly proposed by Chinese scholar Huang Zhonglian in 1999.Translation variation theory holds that translators should adopt variation approaches to take in the original content according to particular readers' particular demand.American TV play Lie to Me has received much attention from Chinese audience because of the fascinating process of detection with rigorous and humorous lines,and translation variation approaches are used in the subtitle translation of Lie to Me.Subtitle translation has not attracted enough attention in translation research,and only a few researchers have made studies on subtitle translation from the perspective of translation variation,which is also the motivation for conducting this study.This thesis reviews the research status of translation variation theory and subtitle translation firstly and introduces the development of translation variation combining with Yan Fu's translation thought of “Art of Reaching the Purport” and “faithfulness,expressiveness and elegance”,which are followed by the analysis of the essence,system,specific variation approaches and methods of translation variation theory.The thesis takes Lie to Me as a case and analyzes the subtitle translation from three perspectives: subject,object,and medium of translation variation.Five approaches of translation variation can be concluded from the subtitle translation: addition,deletion,condensation,adaptation and paraphrasis,and some specific examples are selected to be analyzed in detail to illustrate the application of variation approaches.On the basis of the data analysis,the approach that is frequently used and the approach that is less used are found out,and the possible and potential reasons are inferred.The result of the study can be concluded as the following points after the whole analysis.Firstly,translation variation theory plays a certain guiding role for subtitle translation.Translators need to adjust and translate the original subtitle according to the original style,the original content,and the target audience's demand and ingestion mindset.Secondly,in subtitle translation,various variation approaches are suitable for different text types,and translators may choose adaptable approaches in particular circumstances.Thirdly,the approach of adaptation is frequently used while the approach of deletion and the approach of paraphrasis are less often used in subtitle translation.This thesis is aimed at improving translators' understanding of the subject-object relationship and their ability of using variation approach through studying the application of subject-object relationship and variation approach in subtitle translation.And it is also hoped to provide a reference for future research on subtitle translation,film translation and the application of translation variation theory.