Euphemism In E-C Subtitle Translation From The Perspective Of Skopostheorie

Different aims and situations require that people take different communicative methods and language forms. When facing some embarrassing, nervous, unpleasant situations, people always resort to euphemistical or indirect language forms. That is just euphemism in use, a common and widely-used phenomenon in human languages. Euphemism is always regarded as one of the important communicative ways adjusting the harmonious and smooth interpersonal relationship. Due to the development of human civilization and interpersonal communication, euphemism used in different cultures and contexts has different meanings and functions. These differences will definitely impact the accurate understanding and translation of euphemism in cross-cultural communication. Up to the present many scholars have made plenty of studies on the translation of euphemism from different perspectives, however, most of which are only confined in researching the translation of euphemism in the literary texts while few involve the translation of euphemism explicitly based on the audiovisual subtitling from the perspective of Skopostheorie.Audiovisual subtitles, the reflection of the content and language in audiovisual works, have such remarkable features as instantaneity, synchronization, popularity, and conciseness and so on. It is just the striking features that constraint subtitle translation in such respects as time, space, language forms, images, characters’actions or voices, etc., so subtitle translation should "make the most of the limited time and space to convey the information necessary for the audience to understand the film with ease"(Li Yunxing,2001). Thus subtitle translation different from common literary translation and business documents translation is a purposeful translating activity rooted in the relevant audiovisual works. In addition, the translation of euphemism usually requires a specific situation or purpose, so it is a purposeful translating activity rooted in a certain culture.In view of this, the thesis will specifically explore the translating strategies of euphemism in English subtitles from the perspective of Skopostheorie, combining the communicative functions of English euphemism and the features and constraints of audiovisual subtitles. Skopostheorie, an influential translation theory put forward by German Functionalist School in the1970s, holds that translation is a purposeful action and the receiver is one of the most important factors determining translation purposes. Skopostheorie includes Skopos rule, coherent rule and fidelity rule, among which Skopos rule is the prime principle to determine the overall translational action and strategies. Thus it just shows that the translation of euphemism should be based on the specific cultural background and relevant communicative purposes. Especially when translating euphemism in movie culture a translator should fully consider the demands of the target audiences and take the relevant strategies based on the Skopos, coherence and fidelity rules so as to enable them to completely understand the purpose and content of the ST by "watching" the information in the TT.This thesis totally includes six chapters. Chapter one is introduction summarizing the research background, methodology and the structure of the thesis. Chapter two is literature review about the previous studies on the translation of English euphemism and subtitle translation of American TV series. Chapter three generally describes English euphemism and its translation involving the definition, communicative functions of English euphemism, the importance of translating English euphemism and the translation of euphemism in audiovisual subtitles. Furthermore the definition, the features of subtitles, the constraints of subtitle translation and the difficulties on translating English euphemism in subtitles are explored separately. Chapter four is the theoretical framework. First the nature and three important principles of Skopostheorie, and then the feasibility of the study on translating English euphemism in the light of Skopostheorie are described separately. Chapter five is the case study. Typical euphemistic expressions in American TV series Desperate Housewives are carefully selected to analyze relevant strategies and unique skills of translating English euphemism in audiovisual subtitles under the guidance of Skopostheorie. Chapter six is conclusion summing up this thesis in general indicating Skopostheorie is applicable for guiding the translation of euphemism in English subtitles and has opened up a new perspective for subtitle translation, which has certain significance for further study.