Abstract:The sitcom, a main form of comedy in the media era, has been attracting people’s attention with its frequent comedy conflicts, facetious dialogues and vivid characterization. American sitcoms originated in the 1940s have incurred great effects in China. Chinese young audiences consider watching American sitcoms as a trend of times. The increase of audience of American sitcoms in China could mainly be attributed to the following factors. The first factor is the charming characteristics of the works themselves. The second one is peoples’ universal interests in humor. In addition, the translators’ creative capability also contributes to the sitcoms’ success. People throughout the world share the same desire to understand and enjoy humor in different languages. However, the diverse languages and cultures of China and America make it difficult to achieve this common desire. Thus there is a long way to go in translating humor subtitle of American sitcom. 

     Two and a Half Men is an English sitcom made by Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).  The rhetorical devices and wordplays scattered in this play make cross-cultural communication tougher. That is to say, it is hard for people in different cultures to understand the English humor achieved by these rhetorical devices. Therefore, the translators have to convey humor effects as well as the precise meanings in translating American sitcoms into Chinese. However, there are no set rules or principles concluded for subtitle translation. In actual translation practice the translator not only needs to convey what is meant by the source language but ought to pay attention to the effects the translated versions incurred in the target readers, that is, to achieve Functional Equivalence. In this thesis, a detailed analysis of humor translation in Two and a Half Men is made in an effort to find out some practical and flexible methods as guidance for subtitle translation based on the theory of functional equivalence.

Key words: humor translation; functional equivalence; Two and a Half Men strategies

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature Review-2

2.1 A Brief Introduction of Functional Equivalence-2

2.2 The Definition, Classification and Features of Subtitle-3

2.3 The Definition, Classification and Features of Humor-4

2.4 A Historical Review of Translation of Humor in Subtitles-5

3. Two and a Half Men and Its Humor-6

3.1 A Brief Introduction of Two and a Half Men-6

3.2 Classification of Humor in Two and a Half Men-7

4. Translation of Humor in Subtitle in Two and a Half Men from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence-8

4.1 Translation of General Berbal Humor-9

4.2 Translation of Culture-related Humor-10

4.3 Translation of Humor in Wordplay-13

5. Conclusion-15

Works Cited-17