The Reproduction of Humor in the Subtitle Translation of Sitcoms from the Perspective of Relevance Theory

Abstract

Based on Relevance Theory, this thesis takes humor and subtitle translation as two starting points and selects representative humorous subtitles from the American sitcom Good Luck Charlie for case analysis, aiming to explore the reproduction of humorous elements in subtitle translation within the context of cross-cultural communication. The focus of this study lies in translation strategies, which mainly analyzes and discusses how translators preserve the humorous effect of the source text by adopting different translation strategies and a series of specific translation techniques under the guidance of Relevance Theory, while seeking the optimal relevance between the source language and target language. It is found that successful translation in sitcoms requires translators to deeply understand the original meaning, find expressions that can produce similar effects in the target language, so as to ensure that the audience can obtain the best contextual effect through minimal processing efforts and that the desired communicative and humorous effects can be achieved.