3.2 Analysis of Translated Versions Conforming to Coherence Rule 6

3.3 Analysis of Translated Versions Conforming to Fidelity Rule 7

4. Conclusion 9

Works Cited 10

1. Introduction

With the development of the Internet, the American TV drama has gone deep into people’s lives and studies. With the number of American TV drama fans growing larger and larger, many websites of American TV drama spring up. The audiences also require more and more authentic and excellent screen translation from the websites. From the beginning, people just want to know what they are talking about. Then, people intend to understand the theme and plot. But now, subtitling would not stop at this simple level. Instead, the level gets higher. Translation has to convey the current popularity, cultural differences and historical backgrounds of the original drama. 

A good translation costs the translator much time and energy for he has to deal with abundant factors in two languages and cultures. Most American TV drama fans in China generally have received a good education, but they still find it difficult to understand the plot completely without the help of subtitles. What’s more, the audiences have different understanding abilities and English levels, which determines that the audiences are not able to comprehend the whole American drama by themselves. Therefore, the translation of American drama subtitles is very fundamental and necessary. (Cheng Can, 2013:14) However, the subtitle translators’ abilities and conditions are different. So, collating the subtitles in a short time and getting them published for the first time are not easy for translators. 

2 Broke Girls is set in the Williams-burg neighborhood of the New York City. Its plot line follows the misadventures of the roommates, Max Black and Caroline Channing, both of whom are financially poor, and follow their efforts to start a cupcake business. The drama has received generally mixed to positive response since its debut. It was nominated for three Emmy Awards in 2012, winning "Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series" in the end. In this thesis, the author takes American TV drama subtitles of 2 Broke Girls as reference, from the perspective of the Skopos Theory, to probe into the translation and concludes the main methods in the subtitle translation of TV drama, so as to help translators complete the subtitle translation faster and better.源:自*吹冰~·论,文'网·www.chuibin.com/

2. Literature Review

2.1 Review on Subtitle Translation 

Subtitles, always showing below television screen, work as the explanations of words, such as the title, dialogue, instructions and other video contents. Transforming the speech contents into subtitles helps the audiences understand the content. In addition, subtitle translation can also be used in foreign language programs, helping the audience who don't understand the language hear the original voice and comprehend the content at the same time. The Skopos Theory is regarded as the most important theory in the functionalist approach. It plays an important role in the research field of translation theory. The Skopos Theory is also introduced into Chinese translation and there appear, in recent years, many articles related to and based on it. But mostly these researches focus on the applied texts, such as the subtitles, news items, advertisements, operating instructions and etc. They usually explain basic theories and rules of the Skopos Theory and the application of the theory in the above types of texts, but comparatively, less attention has been paid to the application of Skopos Theory in the subtitle translation.