An Analysis Of Domestication And Foreignization In Chinese-English Subtitle Translation Of The Road Home

As important channels for entertainment and information, films are essential in modern society. To see foreign films also facilitates exchanges and communication among various cultures. As a result, recent years have seen a growing demand for film translation. Subtitling is one kind of film translation. Compared with Europe, China relatively legs behind in terms of subtitling practice, study and standards. This thesis is an attempt to apply the functionalist theory to subtitling.The process of seeing film is in fact a means of cultural communication. Subtitle translation is significant for foreign viewers to understand the culture reflected in the movie. However, due to the constraints such as the time and space constraints and the cultural-specific expressions and cultural vacancy, subtitle translation becomes quite complicated. To deal with the relationship between source language and target language in subtitle translation, the translator has to choose between two basic translation strategies, namely, domestication and foreignization, which is the hot topic in translation field. By analyzing the specific purpose in the film The Road Home, the author comes to the conclusion that domestication and foreignization should be combined to fulfill the skopos of subtitle translation of the film. And the later study on what specific translation methods are employed in the film under domestication and foreignization better verifies the conclusion. And the author at the end makes her own suggestions on the improper translation in the subtitle of The Road Home.