ABSTRACT：Since the reform and opening-up of our country, more and more young people enjoy watching foreign films and TV plays. Along with the rising demand of overseas TV products, the audiovisual translation (AVT) is gaining more and more importance. Western scholars have carried out many extensive and intensive researches on AVT. Unfortunately, there is much less studied on the subtitle translation than the researches on AVT. It is hard for me to find a standard how to translate the subtitle strictly. In my opinion, subtitle translation deserves more attentions than audiovisual translation.

This thesis presents a case study of the Chinese subtitle translation of the famous American documentary The Adventure of English, and the focus is on the subtitle translation. By discussing the influence and constraint factors on translator’s decision-making in The Adventure of English subtitle translation, the author attempts to analyze the specific and feasible strategies for the subtitles.

The theoretical framework is Skopos theory in functionalist translation theory. Skopos theory is of the vital importance in functionalist theory of translation. It prefers the Skopos rule as the top ranking one. The purpose of the target text is mainly fulfilled by the intended target audience’s demand with their cultural-specific knowledge and their expectations; while the purpose determines the translation strategy. In the thesis, the Skopos is to make the Chinese audience have an equal response as the source text audience towards the subtitle in The Adventure of English, whose most prominent characteristic is subtitle translation, the delivery of which is the Skopos of the translation action. Therefore, different kinds of specific translation strategies on subtitle translation will be examined.

Keywords: subtitle translation; Skopos theory; translation strategy

摘  要：随着改革开放的发展和加深，国外的影视剧备受年轻人青睐。人们对海外影视作品的需求也逐渐加大，影视翻译的重要性则是日益凸显。近些年来，西方学者对影视翻译的理论已经开展了广泛和深入的研究，然而在国内，对于影视翻译的研究相对较少。

本文以美国纪录片《英语成长记》为个例，对其英汉字幕翻译进行研究，重点强调其字幕表达的翻译。通过探究影响和制约字幕翻译者在抉择翻译策略中的各种因素，本文分析研究了《英语成长记》这个个例当中译者的具体翻译策略及得失。

本文的理论框架是德国功能派翻译理论当中的目的论。目的论以译文目的为首要原则，提出译文的交际功能决定翻译策略，而译文功能的实现是由译文的接受者决定的。在本文中，让中文观众对该纪录片的字幕理解能和英文观众对本片的理解尽可能的接近是该字幕翻译的主要目的。文章从翻译目的论出发，通过对其中不同类型的幽默分析，对纪录片中多个片段的字幕翻译进行分析，考虑字幕翻译的特点，以读者理解能力为最终目的，分析译者在翻译过程当中如何运用翻译策略，在汉语中呈现出最佳的效果。

关键词：字幕翻译；目的论；翻译策略

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Literature Review 2

2.1 Brief Introduction of Skopos Theory 3

2.2 The Previous Studies on Subtitle Translation 4

3 Subtitle Translation of The Adventure of English from Skopos Theory Perspective 6

3.1 Introduction of Documentary 6

3.1.1 Different Classifications of Documentary 7

3.1.2 Features of Different Kinds of Documentaries 7

3.2 Skopos Theory Applied in The Adventure of English 8

3.2.1 A Brief Account of The Adventure of English 9

3.2.2 Classification, Features and Constraints of the Subtitle Translation 10

3.2.3 The Aim of The Adventure of English Under the Skopos Theory 11

3.3 Important Factors in the Translation of The Adventure of English 11