The Translation Of Subtitles Inamerican Sitcom Friends: A Study Based On Rewriting Theory

With the importation of increasingly more foreign films and television dramas,the practice of subtitle translation is thriving and has constituted an important sectionin the field of translation. Due to the negligence of the relationship between translationand environmental factors, however, subtitle translation on the whole is still sufferingfrom certain inadequacies on the part of the translator and misunderstandings on thepart of the audiences. With the flourishing of subtitle translation practice, the study ofsubtitle translation has also made much progress in the understanding of the principleand methods for subtitle translation. Subtitle translation studies so far, however, arestill weakened by its limitation to too many prescriptive studies instead of descriptivestudies, resulting in the proposal of various principles and strategies but a lack offundamental understanding of the nature and features of subtitle translation.Oriented to the current situation of subtitle translation practice and theorization,on the basis of Andre Lefevere’s Rewriting Theory, especially from its three mainenvironmental perspectives—ideology, poetics and patronage, and through themethodology of theory-based case study, this study attempts to provide a systematicanalysis of the Chinese translation of the subtitles in the imported American sitcomFriends so as to obtain an understanding of the environmental constraints on theprocess of subtitle translation. Through the analysis, the study arrives at the followingunderstandings:(1) From the perspective of ideology, as Friends represents thecapitalist ideology in western countries and includes some contents inconsistent withthe socialist ideology in China, the erotic and obscure subtitles in it are thus rewrittento some extent in the translation process to pass the censorship or to adapt to therequirements of official and mass ideology in China.(2) From the perspective ofpoetics, as the subtitles in Friends are composed with a poetics partly different fromthat of China under the influence of the western cultural systems, the subtitles that are produced in a different poetic style are therefore rewritten according to Chinese poeticstyles in order to be well understood and accepted by Chinese audiences.(3) From theperspective of patronage, since subtitle translation is influenced by the social status ofthe teleplay and economic factors besides being influenced by the ideological factors,American humor in subtitles is thus rewritten as Chinese humor to gain the acceptanceand appreciation from Chinese audiences and enhance the social status of Friends inChina; at the same time, the advertisements in Friends are also rewritten in thetranslation of subtitles according to patronage’s requirements in order to achieve moreeconomic benefits.This study may be of both theoretical and practical significance to subtitletranslation. On the level of practice, the findings of the study may help to enhance thepractice of subtitle translation in terms of both the translation and the acceptanceprocess. On the level of theory, this study may help to stimulate the interests oftranslation scholars in the fundamental investigation of subtitle translation instead of inthe prescriptive proposition of principles or methods of subtitle translation.