论文总字数：37845字

摘 要

作为媒体时代喜剧的一种主要形式，电视情景喜剧以频繁的喜剧冲突，幽默的人物对白以及鲜明的人物塑造广受人们喜爱。美国情景喜剧始于上世纪四五十年代，发展至今不仅在美国国内有广泛的影响，而且在中国也深受喜爱，尤其是年轻人，将观看美剧当作一种时代潮流。 美国的情景喜剧在中国的流行一方面是由于作品本身具有的艺术魅力,另一方面也来自于人们对幽默的共同热爱。同时,翻译者们对翻译作品的再创造，对美剧在中国的流行也起到了至关重要的作用。 不同国家的人们虽然使用着不同的语言,但他们有个共同的愿望-----传递和共享彼此语言中所蕴含的幽默。由于中国和美国的语言和文化差异,我们理解美剧中的幽默非常困难,因此,对美国情景喜剧的幽默字幕翻译研究任重而道远。

《好汉两个半》是由哥伦比亚广播公司播出的一部电视情景喜剧, 该剧中各种修辞手法和文字游戏的使用,让跨文化交际更加困难。也就是说，因为这些修辞手法的使用，别国文化的观众很难理解该剧中的幽默。翻译者在翻译字幕时不仅要传达幽默效果,而且要准确地表达字幕所传递的意思。然而目前并没有一套固定的理论或规则来指导字幕翻译。翻译者在对字幕进行翻译时不仅要传达原语言的意思，还要顾及到译文对使用目的语的受众的影响。本文通过对《好汉两个半》中各类幽默的举例分析，期望从奈达“功能对等”的研究角度归纳出不同类别幽默较合理的翻译方法。

关键词：幽默翻译；功能对等；《好汉两个半》

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

2.1 A Brief Introduction of Functional Equivalence 2

2.2 The Definition, Classification and Features of Subtitle 3

2.3 The Definition, Classification and Features of Humor 4

2.4 A Historical Review of Translation of Humor in Subtitles 5

3. Two and a Half Men and Its Humor 6

3.1 A Brief Introduction of Two and a Half Men 6

3.2 Classification of Humor in Two and a Half Men 7

4. Translation of Humor in Subtitle in Two and a Half Men from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence 8

4.1 Translation of General Verbal Humor 9

4.2 Translation of Culture-related Humor 10

4.3 Translation of Humor in Wordplay 13

5. Conclusion 15

Works Cited 17

1. Introduction

The sitcom is a main form of comedy in the media era. It earned much popularity with its frequent comedy conflicts, facetious dialogues, and vivid characterization. American sitcoms originated in 1940s have incurred great effects in our China as well as in America. By watching American sitcom, Chinese audiences can get access to real and vivid American local customs, thinking modes, and cultural connotations. Nowadays the young Chinese consider watching American sitcom as a trend of times.

With the improvement of the English levels especially that of the young, many Chinese people prefer to watch original American TV series rather than dubbed ones which sound awkward. But audiences cannot understand the dialogues in the series correctly and exactly all the time. So subtitles play a vital role in conveying information suggested in the series. It is not difficult for the audience to understand Chinese subtitles, but it is hard for translators to produce proper subtitles. How to convey precise humor effects as well as messages without leading to ambiguity? How to get the equivalent response between target audiences and source language audiences? Some kind of embarrassment is caused by the failure of subtitle translation when the target audiences should laugh but they do not. Because of this, the requirement concerning the quality of the media production becomes higher and higher.

Two and a Half Men tells a story of two men and a little boy and it wins the comedy series ratings repeatedly with impressive results and several Emmy Awards which makes people sit up and take notice. A descriptive-contrastive methodology is applied in this thesis to study translation of humor in subtitles of Two and a Half men. As is known to all, theory is to serve the practice and meanwhile makes practice the ultimate purpose. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the research of descriptive direction. This thesis applies a descriptive-contrastive methodology. It firstly classifies the humor in Two and a Half Men, and then analyzes the versions of humor rendered with diverse translation methods. A conclusion could be drawn that the translator could achieve functional equivalence in humor translation making good use of different methods. That is to say, when watching sitcoms with much humor in subtitles, the target readers should respond quite similarly or the same to the source language readers.

2. Literature Review

2.1 A Brief Introduction of Functional Equivalence

Among the scholars’ researches on functional theory in translation, Nida’s efforts are the most influential theoretically and practically. Equivalence is one of the core issues in translation studies. Nida emphasizes a closet natural equivalence in the meaning and form between the target and source languages. One of the most important goals of translation is recreating the messages of the source text. The translator should consider equivalence rather than identity as the translation principle. An ideal translated version should be natural and like a text written by native people rather than a translated one. Nida holds that there are mainly two important kinds of equivalence--formal and dynamic equivalence. The formal equivalence focuses on the message itself, including the form and content of those messages. Explanation is one of representing translation strategies of this translation theory. To let the readers comprehend the clues and the thoughts under different customs better, extra necessary explanations are often added to the translation version. Formal equivalence is source language-oriented translation theory. However, the translators usually ignore the relationship between the messages conveyed by source language text and target language text respectively in dynamic equivalence translation. On the contrary, they pursue a dynamic relationship between target language readers and target language text which is equivalent to the relationship between source language readers and source language text. The inner requirement lying in dynamic equivalence translation for the translators is to express naturally and abundantly. During the process, the side effects generated by language and culture will be an obstacle to be solved by the translators. In results, some restrictions can be realized in terms of dynamic equivalence translation.

In 1986, Nida put forward the conception of functional equivalence. He explained that there are no essential distinctions between functional equivalence and dynamic equivalence. In his point of view, dynamic equivalence is meant to stress the superiority of content equivalence comparing with form equivalence. People would misperceive that there is contradiction between content and form. To highlight the communicative function and avoid the misunderstanding, Nida firstly put forward functional equivalence theory. He pointed out that “Basically, dynamic equivalence has been described in terms of functional equivalence．The translation has been defined on the basis that the receptors of a translation should comprehend the translated text to such all extent that they call understand how the original receptors must have understood the original text.” (Nida, E.A. 1993: 30) In his book, Language, Culture and Translating, Nida claimed different degrees of adequacy from minimal to maximal effectiveness on the basis of both cognitive and experiential factors. The Minimal definition is “The readers of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they call conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and appreciated it.” And the Maximal definition is “The readers of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did.” (Nida, E.A. 1993: 118)

2.2 The Definition, Classification and Features of Subtitle

Subtitles are the simple and precise words which occur at the bottom of the screen. It is used to help audience to better understand the play. Subtitle translation is a visual track of target language subtitles added to the source language sound track, repeating the instant dialogue in the form of text. In order to convey audience the precise message, the subtitle need to be defined and the primary theory to guide the subtitle translation practice need to be found out. Although the ultimate goal of subtitle translation is to serve the audiences, there are different standards to judge the different kinds of text. For example, when translating science and technology text, the translator must be careful in the use of words. While for the literature works the translator had better apply some rhetoric devices.

Gottlieb (Gottlieb amp; Henrik, 1999: 132) divides subtitles into two categories: intra-lingual and inter-lingual subtitle, both of which appear at the bottom of the screen. However intra-lingual subtitle does not include target language. Sometimes, it is difficult for audiences to catch the character’s accent in such a short time. So subtitle is needed for the purpose of better understanding in the play. Inter-lingual subtitle translation involves two languages-the source language and the target language. Subtitles are desperately needed for our Chinese people to enjoy American sitcom because not all Chinese audience could understand English and it is the only way to overcome the language barriers.

Transience is the first feature of subtitles to be mentioned here. Multimedia products are composed of large numbers of motion pictures with characters’ dialogues, and subtitles are also shown on simultaneously to interpret those dialogues. Different from literary works, subtitles would pass very quickly and can neither be browsed again except on purpose, nor be noted with explanations. It is closely restricted by space, time, characters of the role, and subjective elements of the audience and so on. Popularity is another characteristic of subtitles which is decided by the specialty of the sitcom language itself. It is different from novels, essays and poems due to its creation. Literature works are created to meet the needs of readers with special education backgrounds, so their languages are elegant. But sitcoms are enjoyed by groups, with various education backgrounds.

2.3 The Definition, Classification and Features of Humor

As to humor, different scholars have different definitions. Lin Yutang has his unique perception of humor and also thinks highly of it:

“As humor necessarily goes with good sense and the reasonable spirit, plus some exceptionally subtle powers of the mind in detecting inconsistencies and follies and bad logic, and as this is the highest form of human intelligence…this I conceive to the chemical function of humor: to change the character of our thought. I rather think that it goes to the very root of culture, and opens a way to the coming of the Reasonable Age in the future human world…now it happens that subtle common Sense, gaiety of philosophy and simplicity of thinking are characteristic of human and must arise from it.” (Lin Yu, 2008: 23)

According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary, humor is “the quality that makes it funny or amusing or the ability to laugh at things that are amusing.”(A.S. Hornby and Sally Wehmeier, 2009: 567) The talent of a comedian to make their audiences laugh is a good example of humor.

Humor is easy to recognize and is a sign of intelligence which is found in comics, epigrams, jokes and also in audiovisual works. People with a sense of humor show the ability to appreciate, or express amusing or comical things. Humor can make people laugh and relax, can ease the tension and can help people to create friendliness. Various researches have been done on humor. However, there are commonly three main theories concerned with humor: the superiority theory, the relief theory, and the incongruity theory. The first theory points out that people with a sense of humor always think highly of themselves in the aspect of competence. The second theory holds that psychological tension can be reduced by laughter which is a homeostatic mechanism. Incongruity theory is the most widely accepted and the most influential theory relating to humor and laughter.

All in all, humor can be found everywhere, and is always welcome. The audiences are glad to understand and appreciate the humor.

Three major features of humor are introduced here. The first one is ridiculousness which is the basis and the essence of humor. No laughter, no humor. If humor fails to make people laugh, it does not function well. The second one is subtleness. Humor is an indirect expression of opinions. Instead, humor effects can only be achieved by applying devious words or subtle words. The last feature of humor is uniqueness. People live in different places in the world where the climate, natural scenes vary widely. Therefore, people in different places form their diverse eating habits, lifestyle, even a certain way of speaking. Because of this, they have different concepts and expressions of humor. Sometimes, what people in this country feel funny is considered embarrassing in another country.

Normally humor can be classified into two categories: situation humor and literal humor (Pocheptsov and GG, 1981: 65). The former one relates to the plot. It is included in a certain language environment and brings about unique charm instantly. The latter does not relate to plot. It is mainly about language itself. Literal humor can also be called humor derived from rhetorical devices which are often used in literal works.

2.4 A Historical Review of Translation of Humor in Subtitles

Professor Qian regards the study of the betterment of subtitle translation as a translation field of potential in his papers and calls on the experts as well as advanced English learners to pay more attention to it (Qian Shaochang, 2010: 61). In the second international conference of dubbing and subtitling held in October of 2002, Professor Qian emphasized that nowadays, the subtitling and dubbing did not evolve to maturity and it had not drawn enough attention. The general quality of subtitling and dubbing is not so satisfactory. In addition, translators cannot obtain the adequate repayment which they should have from translating the media products because they are almost ignorant of copyrights.

Through looking for information about previous studies on subtitle translation, the author found that few studies are about humor subtitle translation. This indicates that the field of subtitle translation has attracted people’s attention, while humor subtitle has not been taken full consideration. Humor exists in everywhere in people’s lives, however, it is difficult for people in different countries especially where people use different languages to share their humor with each other. Humor has been a research target of scholars for a long time. It was from 1970s to 1980s that humor research came to its golden time. In the field of psychology, sociology, and also linguistic humor was widely studied especially when the masterpiece of Mark Twain and some other humorous literary works were produced. From then, the importance of humor translation began to attract people’s attention. But the situation of humor translation studies is still in its infancy, “Whereas the immense practical act of translation itself is also increasingly being theorized in what has come to be known as translation studies, the combined object of humor translation must have seemed until now so vast，disorienting and dangerous an ocean that few academic efforts were made to theorize the processes, agents, contexts and products involved." (Jeroen, 1990: 52) In China most scholars put their efforts on the translatability of humor and whether the rhetorical devices employed for creating humorous effect can be reproduced in target text.

3. Two and a Half Men and its Humor

3.1 A Brief Introduction of Two and a Half Men

Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that was first broadcast on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show is originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper, his uptight brother, Alan, and Alan"s growing son, Jake. After Alan divorces, he moves with his son to share Charlie"s beach-front Malibu house and makes Charlie"s free-wheeling life complicated. Because of its frequent comedy conflicts, facetious dialogues and vivid characterization, the sitcom has won the comedy series ratings repeatedly with impressive results and won several Emmy Awards which makes people sit up and take notice.

3.2 Classification of Humor in Two and a Half Men

Nida’s Functional Equivalence is considered as the most suitable theory for subtitle translation. According to Nida, the equivalence between the target audiences’ response and the source language audiences’ response is the yardstick of evaluating the subtitle translation for the TV program. It is a unique and innovative thought for subtitle translation.

The theory aims to guide the practice. However, features of the source material should be made clear before translating. This thesis attempts to study the humor translation in subtitle in Two and a Half Men. It is necessary to make clear that all the features of it before researching it because the options for strategies of translation are affected by these features. According to dynamic equivalence, translating is not tied down to the source language form, but is much wider. It caters to the receptor’s linguistic and cultural needs. Therefore, the translator should know something about the audiences’ mood, psychology and interest, in order to conclude the elements that affect the equivalence.

Numerous scholars and dictionaries have defined “humor” from different perspectives. But the very notion of humor as well as its scope varies from scholar to scholar considerably. Luo Hui classified humor in American sitcoms into three types: humor about scenarios, semantic humor and humor concerning background knowledge (Luo Hui, 2009: 56). Wang Jing gives many ways to make a division of American sitcoms by different standards. According to her there are situational humor and non-situational humor. Wang Jing sub-divided the latter into many categories, including hyperbole, irony, pun, anti-climax, oxymoron, satire and comic definition. She analyzed humor in details but not specializing in humor in Two and a Half Men. I’m honored to refer to these scholars’ efforts for the research. A new division of humor expressions in Two and a Half Men is coming out after much adequate consideration about the merits and demerits of different divisions by those scholars. The scenarios of Two and a Half Men set foot almost in every field of human life. So the humor elements range from a cup of milk to divorce. The first type of humor in Two and a Half Men is defined as general verbal humor, which is a common form of humor but gets a wide popularity among the audience. The two nations, China and America, could find they share a lot in appreciating humor due to the similarity in human being’s daily life. On basis of this, the target audiences could comprehend the humor of this type easily. Culture-related humor comes in the second place. As is known to all, many differences lie in history, cultural values, living habits and customs between China and the US, which cause culture vacancy and overlaps occasionally. Humor, as a unique kind of spiritual culture, is deeply rooted in peoples’ minds. Because of different ways of thinking, the reactions of audiences from different countries might be quite diverse. Last but not least, there is a kind of humor mainly caused by wordplay which makes jokes by making full use of the word category and the word formation. The aim of it is to express witticism in an amusing and joyful way.

4. Translation of Humor in Subtitle in Two and a Half Men from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence

More work will be done to probe into translation of humor in subtitle in Two and a Half Men in this part. In order to explain the point of view exhaustively, the author quotes many examples downloaded from the Internet legally on top of many different authorized Chinese versions of subtitle of Two and a Half Men. In the existing researches, many authors pick some popular folks to illustrate their points of view, which bring out some problems without proofreading more details of the sitcoms due to the lack of abundant time. So it’s inevitable to have some misunderstandings that affect our language study and culture recognition greatly. The author chooses subtitle translation from the internet to overcome the shortcomings. Meanwhile, it works better to draw a conclusion about the humor translation in subtitle.

4.1 Translation of General Verbal Humor

With wide involvement of general verbal humor translation in our daily life, more same things can be found in China and America. On basis of this, the target audience can comprehend the humor effects easily. Word-for-word translation is recommended for general verbal humor translation. Some examples with the positive and negative aspects from Two and a Half Men’s scripts gotten from the Internet are analyzed.

Example One:

Alan: Twelve years,

and she just throws me out.

I mean, what was the point of our wedding vows?

You know, till death do us part.

Who died? Not me. Not her.

艾伦：12年了,

她居然这么把我赶出来了。

那结婚誓言还有什么用呢?

直到死亡将我们分开。

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