Translation strategies for humorous and witty subtitles of American dramas from the perspective of functional equivalence theory--taking Modern Family as an example

School of English Studies, Sichuan International Studies University, Chongqing, 400030, China

^* Corresponding author: haley0625@uok.edu.gr

Abstract

With the development of globalization, American dramas have received widespread attention worldwide, especially in China, where their popularity is staggering. However, the development status of subtitle translation in China, especially the development status of humor subtitle translation, cannot keep up with the development speed of American dramas in China. The theme of this study is to analyze the humorous subtitles of the famous American drama Modern Family from the perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory and further explore the translation strategies of humorous subtitles of American dramas under that perspective. This study mainly concludes by screening out the most representative humorous subtitles in Modern Family and conducting a detailed case study on them. This research shows that the subtitle translation of Modern Family is done by choosing its applicable translation strategies according to the humor types of different lines, so as to skillfully transform the humorous original subtitles into the target-language subtitles that have the same humorous effect. It also proves that Nida’s theory of functional equivalence is a correct guide for the translation of humorous subtitles in sitcoms.