「Pride and Prejudice」字幕翻譯研究

Abstract

American movies have taken 80 percent of Taiwan’s movie market. Among these movies, most are adapted from novels. For Taiwaness audiences foreign movies require subtitles. This research discusses the differences among three versions of subtitle translations found in Taiwan Universal Studios’, China TLF’s and the writer’s translation of the movie “Pride and Prejudice” (2005). This research studies two aspects: The first one is the practice of subtitle translation strategy, which includes speed & space, simplification and interjection. The second one is the practice of communicative translation strategy, which includes story coherence, story background and the traits and characteristics of each role in the story. By studing these aspects, this research can offer some suggestions to the subtitle translator. The result of this research reveals that the most common mistakes of subtitle translators are disobeying the subtitle translation strategy, mistranslation and typing mistakes. In addition, insufficient knowledge of the novel, the story background and traits found within individual story roles influence the quality of the subtitle translation as well. These mistakes run counter to communicative translation strategy and discount audience’s enjoyment of the movie.