Analysis of strategies and principles of subtitle translation for the movie Bedtime Stories
《魔法童话夜》字幕翻译策略与原则分析

摘要

影视翻译是跨文化传播的重要载体，字幕翻译作为其主流形式，受时间、空间、受众认知等多重约束，无法直接套用传统文本翻译模式。本文以迪士尼奇幻喜剧电影《魔法童话夜》（Bedtime Stories）中英文字幕为研究语料，以归化、异化翻译策略为切入点，结合功能翻译理论中的目的论，剖析影片字幕翻译的实践技巧与遵循原则。研究发现，影视字幕翻译需以传播理解为核心目标，根据语境灵活搭配归化与异化策略，同时兼顾字幕的时空限制、语言通俗性与人物情感表达，以此实现源语信息、文化内涵与观影体验的有机统一。本研究可为同类欧美喜剧电影字幕翻译实践提供参考。

Abstract

Audiovisual translation is an important medium for cross-cultural communication. Subtitle translation, being its mainstream form, is constrained to several factors, including time, space, and audience perception. Therefore, traditional text translation models cannot be directly adopted to subtitle translation. This paper uses the Chinese and English subtitles of the Disney fantasy comedy movie Bedtime Stories, as the research corpus. This paper takes the translation strategies of domestication and foreignization as the starting point, and combines them with the Skopos Theory from functional translation theory, to analyze the practical skills and guiding principles of movie subtitle translation. The study finds that movie subtitle translation must prioritize communication and comprehension as its core objective, and adopting strategies of domestication and foreignization according to context, while balancing the temporal and spatial constraints of subtitles, linguistic accessibility, and the expression of characters’ emotions at the same time. This approach achieves an organic integration of source-language information, cultural connotations, and the viewing experience. This research can serve as a reference for the practice of subtitle translation for similar Western comedy movies.