ABSTRACT

English films have gained increasing popularity in China recently, especially among young people, so the subtitle translation thrives in the area of translation. Subtitle translation serves as a bridge linking the two different cultures. The target audiences need help from the subtitle translation when they appreciate English films. Due to the entertaining function of films, the target audience hopes that they can obtain the same joy and recreation experienced by the source audience while watching the films. This means that they expect much of the translation of films. 

Nida’s Functional Equivalence theory puts emphasis on the same effect achieved by the original text and the source text. It is suitable for guiding the subtitle translation and measuring its quality. If the translator is guided by functional equivalence in the process of translation, the response of the source audiences is supposed to be equal to that of target audiences. This paper is intended to study the subtitle translation based on Nida’s functional equivalence translation theory and then give some practical suggestions on the subtitle translation by using Twilight as a case study. By analyzing the given subtitle translation from three aspects of the functionalist translation theory, it is found that functional equivalence can be achieved at vocabulary, syntactic and cultural level by adopting various translation methods flexibly. This paper is intended to give some useful advice on the subtitle translation from the aspect of functional equivalence. 

Key words：subtitle translation; Functional equivalence; Twilight; translation strategy

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter One INTRODUCTION-

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW-

2.1 Previous Studies of Functional Equivalence-

2.2 Previous Studies on the Subtitle Translation of Twilight-

Chapter Three FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENCE OF SUBTITLE TRANSLATION-

3.1 Introduction to Functional Equivalence-

3.2 Functional Equivalence in Subtitle Translation-

Chapter Four  ANALYSIS OF SUBTITLE OF FILM TWILIGHT-

4.1 The Characteristics of Subtitle of Film Twilight-

4.2 The Difficulties in Subtitle Translation of Twilight-

Chapter Five SUBTITLE TRANSLATION OF FILM TWILIGHT BASED ON FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENCE-

5.1 Vocabulary Equivalence in Subtitle Translation-

5.1.1 Case analysis of vocabulary equivalence-

5.1.2 Summary-

5.2 Syntactic Equivalence in Subtitle Translation-

5.2.1 Case analysis of syntactic equivalence-

5.2.2 Summary-

5.3 Cultural Equivalence in Subtitle Translation-

5.3.1 Case analysis of cultural equivalence-

5.3.2 Summary 17

Chapter Six Conclusion-

WORKS CITED-