A Study On Strategies And Methods Of Subtitle Translation In TED Talks From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Since global village has sprung up, a large number of foreign online video websites such as TED, Youtube, Coursera, came to our life, which have provided the opportunity for us to view the world culture and have a glimpse of knowledge in different industries and various fields. It has been the global trend for people to learn something new and fresh with mobile devices at their hand and sitting in front of the screen, which calls for the high quality of those videos in their content and message,which should be positive,while the medium to convey the content and message, i.e. the language should be precise,faithful, and appropriate.Considering the promptness and freshness of TED (Technology,Entertainment,and Design) Talks, both the knowledge and language have to be updated to provide professional knowledge for the audiences, thus the demand for the language and subtitle translation is accordingly high. On the one hand, expressive and faithful subtitle translation enables the audience to embrace the real exotic culture and grasp professional knowledge in certain field with excellent viewing experience. On the other hand,low-quality subtitle translation crammed with improper words or expressions might lead to misunderstanding and hamper the audience to acquire new knowledge. As we know,the relevance theory belongs to the explanatory cognitive linguistics, and holds that translation is a cross-cultural communication and emphasizes the optimal relevance as well as the cognitive environment; therefore it can offer both theoretical guidance and practical reference for the study and practice of subtitle translationBased on her translation practice of TED subtitles in Taiwan, the author in the present study attempts to make analysis on the appropriate translation strategies and methods of Ted subtitles under the guidance of relevance theory with the aim of improving the quality of subtitle translation, and to achieve the optimal relevance as well as to enrich the audiences with the best viewing experience.