Abstract

 In modern life, TV is playing an important role in the information acquisition and cultural communication. With the process of globalization, foreign movies and TV shows enter into China’s market and now are gaining popularity in China. Consequently, subtitles translation which helps the audience better understand the plots of foreign TV shows and appreciate foreign cultures, is of great importance. Recent years have witnessed the booming of various subtitles translation groups, most of which are made up of English lovers. Thus, it is not unusual that the quality of the translated versions is not guaranteed.

At the same time, the attention paid to subtitles translation by scholars is far from enough compared with that of the west. And there are no mature theories formed on the issue of subtitles translation in China except some scattered papers and some fragmented idea.

Friends, which is regarded as the most popular TV series in America, becomes the classic material    for English learning and cultural experience after entering China’s market. This thesis will discuss about several specific aspects in subtitles translation of humor with the material of the first two seasons of Friends. Meanwhile, case study research method, comparative method and searching literatures method will be adopted to study the examples of the subtitles translation of humors in Friends. With the analysis of the functional equivalence theory and subtitle translation in this paper, the author comes to a conclusion that Nida’s Functional Equivalence could offer a new approach in subtitle translation. Also, the author points out that the most important task in subtitles translation is not the fluency of sentences but the similar responses between the target audience and the audience of the source language. In this way, the humor effects will be best expressed.

Key words: subtitle translation; functional equivalence theory; Friends; humor

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

   1.1 Present Study of Subtitles Translation at Home-1

   1.2 Present Study of Subtitles Translation Abroad-2

2. Brief Introduction of Subtitles Translation-4

   2.1 Definition of Subtitles-4

2.2 Classification of Subtitles-4

     2.2.1 Same-Language Subtitling-4

2.2.2 Pre-prepared Subtitles-4

2.2.3 Real Time Subtitles-5

2.2.4 Hybrid Subtitles-5

2.3 Features of Subtitles-6

3. Functional Equivalence Theory and Subtitles Translation-7

3.1 Studies of Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory-7

3.1.1 The Development of Functional Equivalence-7

3.1.2 The principles of the functional equivalence-8

3.2 Applicability of Functional Equivalence Theory to Subtitles Translation-8

4. Subtitles Translation of Friends from the perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory-9

4.1 A General Introduction of Friends-9

4.2 Classifications of Humor-9

4.3 Translation of Humor in Friends from the perspective of Functional Equivalence-10

4.3.1Universal Humor-10

4.3.2 Cultural Humor-12

4.3.3 Wordplay-14

Conclusion-17

References-18