（外国语言学及应用语言学专业论文）《老友记》汉语字幕幽默翻译之分析——基于功能主义的研究.pdf

华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 iii 摘摘 要要 本文以功能翻译理论为理论框架，对美国著名情景喜剧老友记中文字幕的英 汉翻译进行了个案研究，重点强调其幽默的翻译。文章讨论了影响和制约字幕译者选 择翻译策略的各种因素，分析了译者在翻译老友记字幕时采取的具体策略及其得 失。 文章指出，目的论论者认为翻译是有明确的目的和意图、在译者的作用下，以原 文文本为基础的跨文化的人类交际活动。根据这一理论的观点，字幕翻译作为一种特 殊形式的翻译，也是一种有明确意图的行为。在我们目前要研究的个案中，中文字幕 的主要功能是在时间和空间的限制内， 以最有效的形式向中文观众提供最有关联的信 息，帮助中文观众理解这部情景喜剧，更重要的是，令中文观众获得和英文观众尽可 能相似的感官体验。本文以翻译目的理论(skopostheorie)中的目的性原则为主要标 准，分析中文字幕是否以及如何在译入语文化中实现其目的。 字幕翻译也是一种跨文化的交际活动。交际通过符号(sign)实现。符号具有规约 性和文化特殊性，同时，符号的使用具有目的性，它要达到特定的目标。交际活动的 成功要求交际符号必须在意义方面达成某种共识。在翻译过程中，译者将原语文化中 具有特定意义的符号转换成译语文化中的符号， 因此翻译是跨文化的交际活动。 此外， 翻译是文本处理的活动，而这种文本包括语言的、非语言的因素，情景因素和隐藏的 或预设的信息，在特定的历史、社会、文化情景中，在何种程度上，把非语言文本因 素转化为语言文本因素具有文化特殊性(culture specificity)。翻译目的论认为原 文只是译者利用的多种信息中的一种。原文不再是译者决策的至高无上的依据，它只 是一种信息提供。因此，译者可选择有利于实现翻译要求和目的的内容并采用有益于 实现其目的的表达方式来生成文本。 在本个案中，译者还要受到老友记字幕本身特性的限制。考虑到多媒体文本 多模式的特点， 作者从语用、 符号两方面入手， 详细探讨了该剧中文字幕翻译的得失， 其结果证明了 toury (1995 )和 venuti (1995)的观点:译者能够积极地、有创造性地 对源语文本进行干预，以达到翻译的目的。 关键词关键词: 字幕翻译 幽默翻译 功能理论 多模式文本 老友记 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 i abstract this paper presents a case study of the chinese subtitling of the famous american sitcom friends, focusing on the translation of its humour. functionalist approach is adopted in the research as a theoretical framework, with the analysis of multimodal texts acting as an indispensable supplement. the study attempts to discuss various factors and constraints that will influence translators decision-making in subtitling friends, and to describe and analyze specific strategies chosen by the translator. the objective is to analyze whether and how the translator translates in a way that enables the subtitles to function in the situation in which it is used and with the people who want to use it and precisely in the way they want it to function. in terms of skopostheorie, subtitling is a purposeful activity. in the present case, the dominant function of the chinese subtitles is to provide, within the constraints of time and space, the most relevant information in the most effective way, serving the target-language viewers as a tool to make the sitcom comprehensible and more importantly, to help the viewers come as near as possible to the experience the sl viewers have of the sitcom, to entertain the tl viewers. in this paper, the author uses the top-ranking skopos rule of skopostheorie as the major criterion for analyzing whether and how the translation serves its given purpose in the tt. in terms of the theory of translational action, subtitling is an interpersonal action as well as an intercultural action. among all the people or agents involved in the interaction, the initiator or the person playing the role of initiator decides on the translation skopos. intentions of other agents also influence the translators decision-making on choosing appropriate strategies during the subtitling process. besides, since subtitling is primarily a cross-culture transfer, the translator has to be very aware of the rich points relevant to the subtitling task between the groups or sub-groups on either side of the languaculture barrier. 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 ii in the present study, the translator is also restricted by the general features and constraints of subtitling as well as some special features of the subtitles of friends. in view of the multimodal nature of multimedia texts, the analysis in this paper is divided into two sections: (a) the linguistic dimension, where the contextual focus, intentionality and conversational maxims of the source text and their translation in the target text are analyzed; (b) the semiotic dimension, where the author concentrates on the translation of ideological and cultural components and intertextual references; and the conclusion seems to confirm the idea put forward by theorists such as toury (1995) and venuti (1995) that the translator intervenes actively and creatively in the text to make it suit his or her purposes. key words: subtitling humour translation functional theories multimodal texts friends 独创性声明独创性声明 本人声明所呈交的学位论文是我个人在导师指导下进行的研究工作及取得的研 究成果。尽我所知，除文中已经标明引用的内容外，本论文不包含任何其他个人或 集体已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。对本文的研究做出贡献的个人和集体，均已在 文中以明确方式标明。本人完全意识到，本声明的法律结果由本人承担。 学位论文作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日 学位论文版权使用授权书学位论文版权使用授权书 本学位论文作者完全了解学校有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，即：学校有权 保留并向国家有关部门或机构送交论文的复印件和电子版，允许论文被查阅和借阅。 本人授权华中科技大学可以将本学位论文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检 索，可以采用影印、缩印或扫描等复制手段保存和汇编本学位论文。 保密 ，在_ _年解密后适用本授权书。 不保密。 （请在以上方框内打“” ） 学位论文作者签名： 指导教师签名： 日期： 年 月 日 日期： 年 月 本论文属于 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 1 introduction in an increasingly globalized and frequently interacting world, cultures collide and integrate with each other with each passing day. films and television programs of other countries enables people to have an extended vision of the world ，absorb information and experience the manifold life. for various reasons, people have to get assistance from various forms of language transfer to comprehend or better appreciate foreign films and programs. study on multimedia translation has been extensively and intensively carried out in europe. the european continent is divided into nine linguistic regions with some thirty different languages. various forms of language transfer have been used since the advent of cinema film and television to overcome the language barriers imposed through the linguistic fragmentation in europe. cinema-goers and television viewers in the various non-english speaking linguistic regions of europe are well used to watching foreign audiovisual productions in a dubbed or subtitled version. china also has a tradition of watching foreign films. recent years have seen skyrocketing development in imported audiovisual products, which gives rise to a prospering translation practice in this field. this thesis is a research on one form of audiovisual translation(avt), namely subtitling, by applying the functionalist approach to find out underlying principles and strategies as well as problems worth noticing of the translation activity in china. the current state of subtitle translation the findings of a survey on preference of translated films initiated by a major website() indicate that out of the total 1178 persons voting, 271 prefer dubbed films, accounting for 23.01%，while 829 prefer subtitled films, accounting for70.37% and the rest 6.62% does not have special inclination (translated).this, though not carried out on an extensive basis, can partly picture the trend of avt development. the laypeople may vote just because of their personal taste or simply on an irrational basis, 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 2 however the choice of language transfer methods to localize an audiovisual opus is never made at random and each form has its own characteristics and suitability. there are various reasons for an increasing demand for language transfer in audiovisual production. expanding market is the major reason for audiovisual language transfer. the development of the audiovisual industry justifies every effort that producers have made to have their products understandable, acceptable and suitable for their target audience. nowadays american cinema has proceeded and managed to “cover about 85% of the european market” and all of us can personally experience the overwhelming influence of hollywood films here in china. in addition to the universal communicative, narrative and rhetoric devices, namely the plot, the americans employ to enhance maximal empathy from an international audience, predominance of american films also lies in their successful and penetrating localization effort. the european producers are blamed for “paying insufficient attention to the way in which the technical aspects of language, dubbing and subtitling could affect the distribution of films”. usually，language transfer has a double function: to make bought-in television programs from a foreign source language understandable in a domestic target language; and to facilitate the export of films and television programs throughout the world. a further need for language transfer comes from the continuing political and economic globalization of the world and the multiplication of television channels. continuing political and economic globalization interacts with information and cultural exchanges. the multiplication of television channels generates an increased demand for programs. this is especially true in china. before liberation, there was no television in china, but now there are 32 television stations at the provincial level and cctv alone owns 16 channels, let alone those tv stations at municipal and lower levels and of various types. this, in turn, results in an increased demand to transfer foreign programs into chinese at tv stations which do not produce many programs of their own. nowadays，subtitling is kept at a prominent and assuming increasing importance here in china for various reason. 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 3 first, subtitling is comparatively cost-effective，compared with dubbing. with subtitling, only one person is needed to translate the dialogue and write the subtitles. in the case of lip-sync dubbing, on the other hand, the translator usually only provides a literal translation of the original text. an adapter then composes a dubbing dialogue which is synchronous with the original one. when the adapted text is ready, the even costlier operation of actual revoicing begins lip-sync revoicing, the dubbing process itself lasts much longer and therefore has higher labor requirements, with higher salaries having to be paid, particularly for experienced dubbing directors and actors. second, subtitling saves time. while subtitling a one-hour television program requires around four working days, the translation and adaptation for revoicing alone may take around twelve working days. the actual production time for the lip-sync revoicing for one hour of television spent in studio rehearsal and recording is between five and fifteen working days. the entire process of subtitling a television program can be carried out by one subtitler (and, in some cases, an additional technician). it requires36 hours on average (four and a half working days) for one hour of subtitled program. to deal with the same volume of program by the method of voice-over narration requires between five and twenty hours, and can be achieved by one or two people. in the case of dubbing, a translator/adaptor, a dubbing director and dubbing actors are needed in addition to the sound-track mixer. it usually takes at least two to three weeks to lip-synchronize sixty minutes of feature film. third, subtitling can retain the original flavor of the audiovisual products to the largest extent. of course this effect is only limited to certain groups of people such as those who are better educated, or with an appropriate language background. they may prefer to the subtitled version with the original soundtrack. the above-mentioned survey carried out on internet, where young and more educated people often go shows the popularity of subtitled films among a certain group of people in china. fourth, the advanced digital technology also expands the horizon for subtitling 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 4 practice. take dvd as an example, “the dvd format is capable of storing up to different soundtracks (the original plus max seven dubbed version) plus 32 different sets of subtitles for the same film”, “it was estimated that by the end of 1998 in the us alone more than 800,000 households should possess dvd players and more than 1,700 film titles should be available. the forecast for europe is that by the year 2000 more than 600,000 units will have been sold and the estimated annual film output should exceed 700 titles a year.” as statistics showed, china produced more than 60million sets of dvd players in 2004.therefore, in many context subtitling is a preferred language transfer method and has the potential to achieve prominence, which is especially so in todays china. the significance of studies on subtitle translation an adequate subtitle translation perfectly fits into the film, leading the audience to appreciate the original flavor and glamour of a film without being aware of being exotic. good translation can also serve as materials for language learners. yet inadequate, wrong and sometimes totally absurd translations always get the audience nowhere, losing interest in a film which maybe originally extremely attractive. good subtitle cannot save a bad film, but bad subtitle can spoil a good one. many people complain not infrequently that some subtitled films or programs drove them crazy. the reality indicates it is imperative that some academic and official efforts be needed to guide and discipline the development of subtitling. furthermore, in comparison with literary translation or technical translation, subtitling attracts much less academic attention. there exists only very limited theoretical and scholarly knowledge about the specific linguistic implications of the language transfer process in the audiovisual media. there are few precise descriptions of what the language transfer activity should and should not do, how it could be improved, or what its scope and limitations are. the lack of scholarly concern and interest in the language transfer activity appears to be matched-with a few exceptions-by the lack of interest of practitioners and their employers in any theoretical preoccupation with their craft. a clear paradox exists 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 5 which emphasizes the surprising imbalance between the little research on avt and its enormous impact on society. in numerical terms, the translation carried out in the audiovisual realm is maybe the most important translation activity of our time. the first reason is the high number of people it reaches, mainly through television. the second is the large quantity of translated products which crossover to other cultures: documentaries, films, news, debates, concerts, television series, etc. the third is the immediacy of its reception: television, cinema, dvd. in a context where the exchanges are so great, and in a period in which all the experts are in agreement that subtitles are bound to play an increasingly more important and prominent role in our societies, the elaboration of detailed studies which analyses the history and socio-cultural implications of this activity seems imperative. and also there is a need for better understanding of the semantics and linguistics of language transfer so that better translations, more appropriate to audiovisual products, can be achieved. i checked (中国期刊网)in order to get an idea of what the film and subtitling study is like in china. as the search result shows, there are 37 concerning film translation, in which 32 essays are about translation of film names, 3 are under the general title of film language translation without specific reference to subtitling(actually these essays are about dubbing or translation of film script), 2 are about subtitle translation. translation studies in china focus on literary translation, and once in a while oral interpretation is touched on. however, rarely are there concerns and discussions given to dubbing or subtitling in spite of the outstanding contribution of dubbing to imported foreign films and television programs in cross-cultural communication and the increasingly extensive application of subtitling since the reform and opening-up policy was carried out. furthermore, the current state of screen translation studies tends to be experiential and prescriptive. some of the papers are in essence a summary of personal practice of subtitling. on the basis of their experience they go on to prescribe what methods and strategies should be adopted when translating film dialogue and subtitles. there may be 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 6 the following possible reasons for lack of study in this field. the recurring question of whether we are faced with a case of translation or adaptation has led many people to avoid this field of study altogether, as they consider it outside the scope of translation. authors like whitman-linsen have echoed this situation and have highlighted an urgent necessity “to dispel the disdain of literary intelligentsia, who seem to dismiss film translating and the degree of difficulty involved in it as not worthy of their attention”. many of the translation concepts and theories that have been historically articulated cease to be functional when scholars try and apply them to avt. this has traditionally led scholars to focus on the analysis of less complex empirical phenomena, instead of complicating their academic life with the re-elaboration of existing postulates or the development of new theories capable of accounting for the specificity of avt. this lack of research is responsible for the perception of avt as a marginal activity, mainly if compared to the translation of canonical works such as the bible and literary classics. throughout history, translation has played a very important role in cultural exchanges, and yet its study is relatively recent. even in its most glamorous and canonical dimension, translation has been absent from academic exchanges and so it is not surprising that studies into avt are even more neglected. another obstacle lies in the polymorphic nature of audiovisual programmes. it is not as laborious to work with two written texts, in the source and target languages, as it is to work with dialogue lists, videotapes or dvds, television sets, video players, etc. furthermore, we encounter the added difficulty that access to work materials is