Abstract

  Nowadays, the American TV series are flooding into China through the Internet and become populous. Because most of the Chinese viewers enjoy the series with the original sound and Chinese subtitle, numerous subtitle groups with all kinds of scales emerge. However, without enough attention from academia and the guidance of a unified translation standard, the level of translation differs from each translation group. Situations such as over-translation and mistranslation happen all the time in the American TV series. Through analyzing the colloquial characteristics of American TV series and the features of subtitle translation while studying Nida’s Functional Equivalence theory with the cases chosen from the American TV plays Modern Family, the translation skills can be concluded in three aspects: word equivalence, syntax equivalence, stylistic equivalence. The purpose of this thesis is to arouse the concern of domestic scholars’in subtitle translation and to find out the most appropriate ways of translation, so that to guide and regulate the subtitle translation and reduce cross-cultural misunderstandings, and makes the TV theories play a greater role in cross-cultural communication.

Key words: American TV series Functional Equivalence theory Modern Family

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction-1

  1.1 Background and Significance of the Study-1

  1.2 Objective of the Study-1

 1.2.1 Nida and Functional Equivalence Theory-1

 1.2.2 About Modern Family-2

2 Linguistic Features of American TV Series-2

  2.1 Overview of American TV Series-2

  2.2 Linguistic Features of American TV Show.3

 2.2.1 Humor-3

 2.2.2 Characterization-4

  2.3 Intercultural Communication-5

3 Characteristics of Subtitle Translation-5

  3.1 Simpilicity-6

  3.2 Colloquialism-7

  3.3 Using of Slangs, Idioms and the Internet Phrases-8

4 Translation Skills of American Series under the Guidance of Functional Equivalence Theory-9

  4.1 Word Equivalence-10

  4.2 Syntax Equivalence-11

 4.2.1 Division-11

 4.2.2 Converting-12

  4.3 Stylistic Equivalence-12

5 Conclusion-14

Bibliography-16

Acknowledgements..17