Abstract

An increasing number of Western films and TV dramas have swarmed into China in the wake of the cultural globalization trend. Along with it, many American sitcoms have become favorites of Chinese youngsters, especially the educated. One of the most popular sitcoms, The Big Bang Theory, for instance, has enjoyed great popularity in China. 

In this sitcom, puns are very often used in the conversations. For more Chinese people to better understand the sitcom, there is a need for a better translation of puns in the play. Puns, as we often say, are a play of words, based on the customs of a nation including its culture as well as the structure of the language itself from which the puns come. Due to the differences between two languages, it is hard, or almost impossible, to translate a pun perfectly from one language to the other. Nevertheless, with the economic globalization, there has been an integration of cultures worldwide. Not surprisingly, a lot of Chinese people, youngsters in particular, have learned English and American culture in schools and colleges. So the educated ones often find it easier to understand the thoughts of Westerners. 

Subtitle translation is a special kind of literary translation, limited by the consistency of plots, pictures and sound on the screen. Confronting puns in the subtitles, translators always choose one or more, theories and strategies to follow, such as Nida’s functional equivalence theory, which emphasizes equivalent effect. In short, the source audience and the target audience should react in the same way to an expression. In this thesis, the author studies the English-Chinese translation of puns in the subtitles of The Big Bang Theory, guided by the functional equivalence theory. The author summarizes some strategies for translators to follow in this field, taking several examples from this sitcom. Firstly, when translating homographic puns, the translator should highlight the character which indicates the pun by adding double quotation marks or using the same character in the two phrases if there exists a counterpart expression in Chinese. Secondly, as for homophonic puns, for English and Chinese belong to different language families, the translator can hardly find a Chinese counterpart so that they often use annotation strategy－adding explanation after the translated line or at the top of the screen in case of covering the pictures.

Key words: The Big Bang Theory, puns, translation, functional equivalence

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Research Background-1

1.2 Objectives and Methodology-1

1.3 Thesis Structure-2

Chapter Two Literature Review-3

2.1 Introduction of Functional Equivalence-3

2.2 Previous Studies on the Translation of Puns-3

2.2.1 Translatability and Untranslatability-3

2.2.2 Previous Studies on Puns Translation Abroad-4

2.2.3 Previous Studies on the Translation of Puns in China-4

2.3 Current Studies on Subtitle Translation-5

2.3.1 Introduction to Subtitle-5

2.3.2 Features of Subtitle-5

2.3.2.1 Colloquial and Cultural-loaded-5

2.3.2.2 Synthetical and Popular-6

2.3.2.3 Time- and Space-limited-6

2.3.3 Current Studies on Subtitle Translation-6

2.4 Previous Studies on Puns Translation from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence-6

2.5 Summary-7

Chapter Three Theoretical Framework-8

3.1 The Theory of Functional Equivalence-8

3.1.1 Definition-8

3.1.2 Formal Equivalence vs. Dynamic Equivalence-8

3.1.3 Major Points of Functional Equivalence Translation-9

3.2 The Feasibility of Functional Equivalence Theory in Subtitle Translation-10

Chapter Four Analysis of Puns in the Subtitle Translation of The Big Bang Theory-11

4.1 The Big Bang Theory and Its Puns-11

4.1.1 A Brief Introduction of The Big Bang Theory-11

4.1.2 Classification of Puns in The Big Bang Theory-11

4.2 Puns Translation in The Big Bang Theory under Functional Equivalence Theory-13

4.2.1 Equivalence at the Phonetic Level-13

4.2.2 Equivalence at Semantic Level-15

4.2.3 Equivalence at Cultural Level-17

4.3 Summary-18

Chapter Five Conclusion-19

5.1 Conclusion-19

5.2 Limitations of Present Research-19

5.3 Suggestions for Future Study-19

Reference-21

文献综述报告-23