Film Subtitle Translation From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Globalization stimulates the cultural exchanges between nations. As a carrier of culture, film has become an indispensable and tremendously influential way of cultural expression. Foreign films and TV serials flow across boundaries in increasing numbers, which results in a greater demand for audiovisual translation. Consequently, the academic study on audiovisual translation has gained an increasing popularity.Skopos Theory has opened up a new perspective to subtitle translation studies. According to Skopos Theory, subtitle translation is a purposeful activity and the purpose or skopos determines the translation process. The ultimate purpose of subtitling is to make the film accepted by the target audience and realize the commercial value of the film in target culture. This thesis makes an attempt to explore the subtitle translation of the animated film Kung Fu Panda from the perspective of Skopos Theory by making use of a qualitative analysis. Transcription, descriptive and comparative analyses, and exemplification are applied. Principles and techniques of subtitle translation are the main focuses of the thesis. It is verified that Skopos Theory is explanatory and applicable to film subtitle translation, and it is hoped that much more importance can be attached to subtitle translation.