1.2　Research Background

Since“cinema has its own forms of language policy and language planning which dictate the design and management of foreignlanguage dialogue”(O’Sullivan 2011:31),subtitlers have a key role to play in this communication process,being required to have the ability to translate one language into another and to distil the essence of a culture into the limited space of a screen subtitle.As language and culture are intertwined,subtitlers must constantly be aware of the cultural elements in the subtitles that they create.Appropriate forms of expression can convey foreign cultures and modes of expression vividly to the target audience,while effective subtitling can achieve this successful intercultural communication,facilitating a film’s reception in another country.The genre of animated films represents a particularly interesting subject in terms of the increasing need for subtitling to be of high quality.In recent decades,animated films produced by Disney and others have moved far beyond their original target audience of children,who represented the audiences to whom classic films such as Cinderella (1950),Sleeping Beauty (1959) and The Sword in the Stone (1963) were aimed in the mid-20th century.By contrast,the scripts for many recent animated films work on several levels,combining spectacular visuals for the benefit of younger viewers with dialogue whose humour,irony and idiosyncrasies are clearly aimed at adults.In this new context,subtitling that fails to convey the richness of language contained in the scripts of today’s animated films will cause them to lose much of their communicative impact on segments of a typical 21st century audience.

Film subtitles as “communicative translation” is a form of written translation or written rendering,which is projected on the lower part of the screen in synchronization with the original dialogue.Today,professional subtitlers usually work with specialized computer software and databases.In European countries,current film subtitling studies have focused mainly on quality aspects,from European perspectives (Bittner 2011),and as a manifestation of “a multi-talent task” (Gottlieb 2004).Scholars in the field of translation studies have established the theoretical branches of AVT,of whom the most influential have been Chaume (2004),Diaz-Cintas (2004),Gambier (2008),Gottlieb (1992),Ivarsson (1992) and Karamitroglou (2000).Their respective studies have shaped the theoretical framework of subtitle translation and consolidated effective translation strategies.These achievements represent a firm foundation for the study of AVT on a worldwide scale.(https://www.daowen.com)

That said,there is little research that has focused on a comparative study between the Occident and China.In China,most existing research,however,is interested in the practice,rather than theoretical bases.According to recent studies,an increasing number of scholars have acknowledged the importance of cultural elements within AVT,in particular E-C; however,any discussion at the theoretical level regarding this new perspective is still limited.China represents an increasingly important market for commercial animated films,which are produced in the English-speaking world,particularly the USA.

Moreover,in terms of culture,traditions and language,there are vast differences between these regions of the world.The input of subtitlers is therefore particularly important in the context of these films,given that modern day Chinese audiences are not always familiar with what has become,in other areas of the world,globalized and/or Americaninfluenced cultural and linguistic reference points.In the last decade,although the study of subtitle translation in China has steadily increased,scholars such as Li (2001),Zhang (2011) and Wang (2007) have discussed subtitle translation strategies for different film genres.That said,specific investigations into the subtitle translation of English animation films are still limited.Thus,this comparative study of E-C subtitle translation in 15 selected animation films should make a useful contribution at both the theoretical and practical levels of E-C subtitling in animation films.