Analysis of the Subtitle Translation of The Shawshank Redemption from the Perspective of the Skopos Theory

Abstract

Translation is an important communication skill between different languages. In modern society, audiovisual products are distributed to worldwide areas as a popular means of mass media. As the globalization of economy and culture is advancing in the new century, audiovisual subtitle translation plays an increasingly important part. Good subtitles can enhance the audience’s experience of appreciating foreign films and make cultural communication more effective. This thesis conducts a brief survey on the strategies for film subtitle translation using the case study of the famous film The Shawshank Redemption. In this paper, based on Skopos theory, the author made a comprehensive analysis of subtitling activities and pointed out that subtitling, as a specialized area of translation, is not only guided by translation studies but also under the constraints of film properties. The Skopos theory of film subtitle translation is to provide, within the constraints of time and space, a well-translated subtitle that can contribute to a good understanding of what is happening on the screen. In short, the end justifies the means. Therefore, during the process of subtitle translation, the subtitler should take all the factors into consideration to identify the translation purpose, and then adopt corresponding translation strategies. From this perspective, the author takes the Skopos theory as instruction and applies the reduction and addition method to analyze the film subtitle translation. In the age of globalization, foreign films are increasingly entering people’s lives. Watching foreign films is a popular and effective way to understand foreign cultures. However, in China, subtitle translation has not attracted as much academic attention as it deserves and few theories could be appropriately applied to subtitle translation. Therefore, the author hopes that subtitle translation could be paid more attention in terms of crosscultural communication.