A Study On Subtitle Translation Of Game Of Thronesfrom The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

As a popular and effective communicative tool,films and TV dramas play a crucial role in the cultural exchange between different countries.Chinese subtitles are indispensible for those who are interested in watching foreign films and TV dramas,because these subtitles can help them understand the meanings of the dialogues,catch up with the progress of the plot and better comprehend foreign cultures.As a result,subtitle translation is an essential part in the film industry.A good film must be equipped with elaborate subtitles.Only in this way can the audience really feel artistic conception of original works.However,the subtitle translation in our country is in the preliminary stage and its quality differs,which brings a number of disturbing factors.Therefore,how to adopt an appropriate principle to guide subtitle translation is a subject worth exploring.In the author's opinion,Skopos theory comes to the first place among translation theories applied in subtitle translation.According to Skopos theory,the purpose of translation action determines the whole translation process.Meanwhile,the anticipated purpose and the receivers of the target text determine the choice of translation techniques.In subtitle translation,the anticipated purpose of the target text is cultural communication.Its receiver is the audience,who possesses their own cultural background,expectations from target texts and needs for communication.Skopos theory has three rules: Skopos rule,coherence rule and fidelity rule.Skopos rule argues that every translation activity has a purpose,which is the focus of translation;the coherence rule requires the target texts to reach the standard of intra-textual coherence.The fidelity rule means the target texts must be faithful to the original.What is the most important for the three rules of Skopos theory is that the coherence rule and fidelity rule must be subordinate to the Skopos rule.This thesis is divided into three chapters.In the first chapter,tells about the literature review.There are two parts in this chapter.One is about the definitionand feature of subtitle translation.The other part is about previous study on translation theories applied in subtitle translation.Thenthe theoretical framework of this thesis is introduced in the second chapter,including an introduction of German functionism and Skopos theory,the three rules of Skopos theory and the techniques for subtitle translation based on Skopos theory.In chapter three,taking all the above factors into consideration,a lot of examples are quoted from this TV drama to explain the application of those translation techniques.And also this is the main body of this thesis.First of all,there is a brief introduction of this TV drama.And then the thesis illustrates the purpose and function of the subtitle translation in this TV drama.At last,the thesis analyzes the application of some special translation techniques of subtitle translationunder the guidance of Skopos theory in this TV drama,including literal translation,annotation,amplification,omission and free translation.Through the research on the Skopos theory and its application in subtitle translation,the author has twofindings.First,according to Skopos theory,blind pursuit of literal faithfulness to the source text can bringgreat confusion to the target language audience,so,on the guidance of Skopos theory translators should be endowed with more freedom to adjust translation techniques according to the anticipated function and purpose of the target text.Second,the three rules of Skopos theory should be the guidance rules during subtitle translation.Only when subtitle translators have a clear understanding of the relationship of the three rules of Skopos theory and strictly follow them,can they adopt proper translation techniques to achieve a successful target text.