A Research On The Sitcome Subtitle Translation From The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics Theory

As more and more foreign films and TV programs are being introduced intoChina, subtitle translation begins to arouse people’s interest and has gradually becomean important field of translation. The current practices of subtitle translation are sometentative and voluntary practices by individuals or fansub groups, and to some extent,the quality of translation cannot be guaranteed. As one of the major forms of screentranslation, subtitle has occupied a significant position in the transmission of culturalvalue. However, subtitle translation has not received its deserved concern intranslation studies. Therefore, the thesis makes an attempt to dip into subtitletranslation from the perspective of Reception theory in the hope that it’s of somevalue for subtitle translation practice.This thesis makes an effort to study subtitle translation in the context ofReception Aesthetics, and chooses The Big Bang Theory, one of the most popularsitcoms in China, as the subjectivity of the case study. As a type of paradigm andmethodology in literature research, the reception aesthetics theory transfers the focusof literary criticism theory from the author and the work to the text-reader relationship.From the perspective of the horizon of expectations, we know that the targetaudiences enter the text with their horizons of expectations, which is subdivided intodirected expectation and creative expectation. With directed expectation, they wish tosee something familiar in the target culture, while with creative expectation, theyexpect to see something strange or new to them. Moreover, the directed expectationand the creative expectation will not remain unchanged. The individual’s assimilationof foreignness makes the foreign elements gradually be absorbed in the targetlanguage. To satisfy the horizon of expectations of the readers, the author shouldchoose different translation strategies.As for the sitcom subtitle translation, domestication should be applied as thebasic strategy. The functions of the sitcoms are mainly to ensure that the audiencescan enjoy the sitcom. In order to achieve the same effect as in the original culture,domestication is widely made use of. Moreover, foreignization is necessary and can not be gotten rid of. Based on the theoretical analysis and the case study, theconclusion of the thesis can be drawn as follows: in subtitle translation, domesticationshould be taken as the basic strategy while foreignization is supplementary.