On Application Of Annotations In Subtitle Translation From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Film and TV series usually involve a variety of cultural knowledge such as historical background,religious element,geography,characters,etc.,which may be familiar to target audience who have the same background as the producer,but confusing to those living in different countries,especially in a short period of time.How to make the meaning fully conveyed without losing the original intention is a challenge for translators.Therefore,the translator needs to adopt some compensation method to supplement the missing cultural information contained in the source text.Annotation is an effective compensation method to achieve this target,because it can help compensate the loss in translation,make the author’s original intention better conveyed,and help target readers better appreciate literary works.Movie subtitles,however,are different from literary works as the former are subject to time and spatial constraints.This requires that annotations in film and TV series be more clear,concise and easy to understand.Ma Hongjun put forward two major compensation methods,which will be used in this thesis.From the perspective of Skopos theory and the two compensation methods,this thesis studies strategies used in the subtitle translation of The Big Bang Theory.Specifically,this thesis selects classic plots of the The Big Bang Theory to analyze translation techniques used in the subtitle annotation in terms of acronyms,weights and measures,exotic names and places,cultural backgrounds,puns,coherence,as well as humorous parts.In addition,relevant principles of subtitle annotation will be discussed.In terms of untranslatability,this thesis also makes analysis of the drawbacks of annotation in the subtitle translation of The Big Bang Theory,hoping in the future,these findings can be used as reference in the subtitle translation of film and TV series.