On Subtitle Translation From The Perspective Of Skopostheorie

Since the time when films were invented, they have won the advantages over other media as the most important carrier of culture and played a leading role in the cross-culture communication. With the rapid development of Chinese economy and the deepening of China's opening-up, China's communication with other countries is becoming more frequently, among which film exchanges occupy a large proportion. More and more Chinese movies are launched in foreign countries; meanwhile, an abundant of foreign movies flood into China, and attract more attentions. Therefore, film translation plays a very important role in the process of films'export and import and thus in cultural communications. This thesis conducts a study on film subtitle translation from the perspective of Skopostheorie.According to Skopostheorie, translation is a purposeful activity. The chief factor that decides the whole translation is the translation purpose. The intended purpose of target text and the target-text addressees determine which strategy to choose. From the perspective of Skopostheorie, the thesis intends to analyze, with Giuseppe Tornatore's first English movie—The Legend of 1900 as a case study, how to deal with the English to Chinese subtitle translation guided by the purpose of target text and what are the factors affecting the choice of strategies in film subtitle translation, especially how to fulfill the director's intention and meet the audience's expectations.The thesis firstly summarizes the major concepts of skopostheorie, subtitle translation and its related previous studies, and then lists out and analyzes the factors to be considered in the process of the subtitle translation within the framework of skopostheorie. Thirdly, a detailed comparison between the English and Chinese Subtitle of this film is made, the preferable translation examples are picked out, and also the adopted translation strategies and the relevant purposes they have fulfilled are analyzed. Meanwhile, some undesirable translation examples are also listed out to show room for improvement. Lastly, a conclusion is arrived that translators have done quite a good job in the subtitle translation of this film, and the intended purpose of target text is achieved. The thesis has not only provided an empirical study for the application of Skopostheorie in the field of film subtitle translation, but also given a conductive guidance for the practical film subtitle translation.