A Case Study On The Documentary Subtitle Translation Of The Last Supper From The Perspective Of Skopostheorie

With the implementation of China’s opening-up policy and rapid economic development, Chinese curiosity and aspiration to western society and culture arise people’s interest in foreign language learning. Meanwhile, foreign television series and movies jump into Chinese audiences, not only satisfying their recreational demand for foreign culture, but also providing a new way to study English. Although a large number of audiovisual works come into China, subtitle translation, unlike literature translation, scientific text or academic references, fails to obtain much attention and due investment from professional translators.A series of good documentary films become the first choice when choosing import TV series and movies. Documentary film is a special category in audiovisual works which representing realistic picture and telling realistic stories by scene reproduction. It aims to inform, instruct and entertain audiences. With more frequent cross-cultural communication and media communication techniques advancing, a large number of English documentary films come into China, providing a new perspective of world and western culture. To offer Chinese audiences an easier and accurate understanding of English documentary films, study on documentary subtitle translation is of great importance.Based on skopostheorie, the present report concentrates on the subtitle translation of The Last Supper in BBC’s documentary Private Life of A Masterpiece. According to skopostheorie, transaltion is an intentional behavior and the intention of translation determines translation strategies. Chapter one introduces the translation task. Chapter two describes the process of task including works before, in and after translation. Chapter three studies the basic theory of skopostheorie. Chapter four analyzes seven translation strategies adopted in documentary subtitle translation of The Last Supper based on skopostheorie. Chapter five concludes the translation activities.By studying on documentary subtitle translation, I expect more scholars will pay attention to documentary translation, and translators will ensure the quality of documentary subtitle translation based on the understanding and acceptance of target language audiences so as to achieve cross-cultural transmission and communication.