On The Official Version Of Subtitle Translation In Sherlock (Series 3) From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

With the advancement of science and technology as well as the acceleration of globalization, many foreign films and television works get into Chinese market. Watching foreign television works will enable us to acquire knowledge, broaden horizons, experience exotic culture and promote cultural exchanges. However, language barriers between countries prevent the public audiences from a full understanding of the foreign films and television even less enjoying. The BBC TV series Sherlock enters into Chinese market over the network. People wateh the foreign TV series with the assist of subtitle translation. Therefore, subtitle translation plays an important role in the aspect of language exchange.This paper attempts to probe the official version of subtitle translation of the popular English series entitled Sherlock (series 3) under the guidance of Verschueren’s Adaptation Theory. According to Verschueren, language use must include the continuous making of linguistic choices for language internal and language external reasons. The possibility of choice making lies in the three properties of language: variability, negotiability and adaptability. The former two provide the possibility and modes for making the adaptability of language, the latter adaptability, the crux of language use, allows the dynamic choice-making within the possible range according to the communication requirements. Subtitle translation is a special communication form. Thus it is also a form of language use, whose translating process is full of making adaptation with regard to context and language. This paper applies descriptive analysis to explore the interpretation of adaptation theory in subtitle translation. First, Adaptation Theory will discuss adaptational phenomena in the official version of subtitle translation in Sherlock (series 3). Second, the paper tries to analyze and summarize the translation strategies adopted in the official version of subtitle translation in Sherlock (series 3).From above analysis, some conclusions are given. First, Adaptation theory interprets the adaptaional phenomena in the official version of subtitle translation in Sherlock (series 3) in the four angles that is contextual adaptation, structural adaptation, dynamic adaptation and adaptation to the degree of salience. Restricted by time and space on the screen, the official version of subtitle translation in Sherlock (series 3) should make a dynamic adaptation between context and language structure, and it proceeds that subtitle translation consciously trends to adapt the expression of target language. Therefore, context, language structure and degree of salience dynamically link from each other during the process of subtitle translation. Second, subtitle translation adopts some translation strategies which are addition, domestication, generalization, substitution, explicitation, paraphrasing, and omission to present the adaptational phenomena from the perspective of adaptation theory.