Study on the C-E Translation of Verbal Play in Films from the Perspective of SFL

Taking Nezha, Goodbye Mr. Loser, and Successor as Examples

Abstract

This study, from the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), focuses on the translation of verbal play in films, exploring the preservation and reconstruction of its interpersonal and experiential meanings across languages. By analyzing typical examples of verbal play from the dialogues in Nezha, Goodbye Mr. Loser, and Successor, this paper reveals the core tension among creativity in language form, functional dependency, and cross-cultural adaptability in translation and proposes transcreation to compensate for cultural defaults and activate audiences’ emotional resonance aiming to provide theoretical references and practical pathways for the cross-cultural communication of verbal play in audiovisual translation.