A Study On The Translation Of Humor In TV Subtitles From The Perspective Of Skopostheorie

In recent years, American television comedy is increasingly popular with Chinese audiences because of the increasing cultural interactions between China and western countries. A great many humorous expressions appear in some television series. Due to different levels of English language proficiency, most audience get to understand what the actors say in the program mainly with the help of TV subtitles. Therefore, it is of great importance for translators to get the humorous expressions in television series translated effectively and fully.Owing to the universality in general life experience and the common nature of life, people share their perception of humor across nations. However, there are differences in the ways they interpret and express humor owing to the diversities of culture and language. Under the circumstances of being subtitles, the translation of humorous expressions should both meet the requirement of screen translation and retain the humorous effects of the original lines.Skopostheorie maintains that the most important factor which affects the process of translation is the purpose of translation action. Humorous remarks in comedy television works, for one thing, are meant to please the audience, for another, are used to show the wit of the characters. Therefore, if the humorous effect can not be transmitted in the translated subtitles, it will result in humor loss in the viewers’perception while watching the TV series. Consequently, the audience will not be able to fully grasp the essence of humor which is intended to entertain and highlight characteristics of the figures in the TV play. Translation of humor in subtitles is of great significance in the spread of TV series. According to the skopostheorie, translating humorous subtitles is a specific translational action, the skopos of which is to get maximum humorous effect transmitted. It is suggested in this thesis that the purpose to reproduce the comic effects in the target language should take priority in the process of translating. And the translator should choose adequate translating strategies so as to make the target audience perceive the humor of the source language in accordance with their expectations and the cultural customs of the target languages. Taking subtitles of humor from Desperate Housewives as instances and analyzing the transmission of humorous effects, this thesis tends to study the translation strategies and methods of humor in TV subtitles, thus to generate the findings that just as "all roads lead to Rome", as along as the translator keeps in mind the skopos of the translated works, different methods and strategies could serve the same ends.