ABSTRACT：Along with the development of the high technology, the spread of the Internet, and the enhancement of people’s aesthetic interest in beauty, American TV plays are becoming more and more popular among Chinese audience. The subtitle translation of American TV plays has gradually been in a hot research. Even the specialized subtitle translation team has been established in our country. However, in this knowledge era, new things are constantly emerging and the velocity of language change is very quick. Therefore, the traditional translation theory has not been able to accommodate the complexity and special requirements of subtitle translation. Besides, in China, most of the researches are based on the summaries of translators’ personal experience. As a result, more attention needs to be paid to this research.

The whole thesis can be broadly separated into five parts: the first part includes the introduction of research background and significance. Part two is the literature review of studies on subtitle translation. Part three is composed of the theoretical framework of the study. The fourth part is very important because it is the main part of this thesis. It narrates specific translation strategies and methods in subtitle translation. And under the guidance of Skopos theory, the study found that reduction, amplification and domestication are the most common strategies through the case of Friends. In the last part, the author summarized the whole thesis.

In the case study of Friends, subtitle translation strategies will be discussed in the fourth chapter and illustrated with some examples. In this paper, in order to make the thesis more reasonable and theoretical, the well-known American sitcom Friends is selected as the object of the case study. Through this study, the author hopes to find out a series of principles that could be best applied to guide the subtitle translation.

Keywords: Skopos theory; subtitle translation; translation strategies; Friends

摘  要：随着高科技的发展和网络的普及以及人们审美情趣的提高，美国电视剧受到越来越多中国观众的青睐。美剧字幕翻译逐渐成为翻译界的一个热点。为了让观众更好地欣赏美剧，翻译爱好者们成立了众多的字幕翻译组进行翻译。然而在这个知识爆炸的时代，新事物不断涌出，以及语言变化快速，传统的字幕翻译理论已经不能满足字幕翻译的复杂性和特殊性要求。另外，在中国，大部分的研究都是以译者翻译经验为主，研究缺乏系统性，因此，字幕翻译应投入更多的关注。

本文总共包括五个部分：第一部分是简介，包括研究背景和研究意义。第二章是关于字幕翻译研究的文献综述，包括字幕翻译的简单介绍以及国内外研究。第三章是本文的理论框架。第四章是是本文的主体部分。本文以《老友记》为研究对象，在目的论的指导下，对字幕翻译策略进行分析。最后一章是结束语，总结了该研究的主要发现和启发，同时也指出了论文的的缺点与不足之处。

为使论文更加合理并有理论性，本文选取经典美剧《老友记》为例进行个案分析，并且以汉斯·威密尔提出的目的论为理论框架。通过研究，作者发现目的论可以更好地帮助字幕翻译，最终实现翻译的目的。

关键词：目的论；字幕翻译；翻译策略；老友记

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Research Background 1

1.2 Significance of the Research 2

1.3 An Introduction to Friends 2

2 Literature Review 3

2.1 A brief Introduction to Subtitle Translation 3

2.1.1 Definition and Type of Subtitle 3

2.1.2 Features of Subtitle Translation 4

2.1.3 Constraints of Subtitle Translation 6

2.2 Studies on Subtitle Translation 6

2.2.1 Studies of Subtitle Translation Abroad 6

2.2.2 Studies of Subtitle Translation at Home 7

3 Theoretical Framework 8